Haven't known what to say the last several days as the Rockies have swung from yet another low (another disappointing home series against a bottom-feeder, losing two of three to Florida) to yet another high (sweeping a doubleheader against wild card rivals Los Angeles). Every time I've praised the Rockies this season, they've immediately gone on a cold streak, and I'm too tickled by the idea of having printed playoff tickets to call my very own to want that to happen. I'm a pessimist, but I'm not that vengeful. And if Colorado does finish hot I can attribute it all to Willy Taveras's season-ending injury.

It was something old, something new for the Rockies in the doubleheader sweep Tuesday: Todd Helton finished out the night win with a throwback homer and in the day game Colorado got a much-needed acelike performance from Jeff Francis, who struck out 10 in beating the Dodgers 3-1. Francis was lousy in his last start in Philadelphia, and the Rockies really needed him to be his old self with their bullpen running on hope and baling wire at this point.

I'll tell you a secret: I still feel pretty confident that the Rockies aren't going to make the playoffs, as I have for some time now. There's just too many teams ahead of them and too many weeks have passed with there be no change in the number separating Colorado in games back from the wild card leader. Every time they have a chance to make a move, like the two games they blew in Philadelphia or the pathetic showing against the meaningless Marlins, they show they're not ready. Some players are, Matt Holliday, Helton, Francis, and Manny Corpas notable among them, but as a team they need more healthy starters, more reliable bullpen help, and a manager with a steadier hand and more winning credibility.

So is a best-ever win total and a mention in the postseason races up until the last homestand of the year good enough? It's better than I expected for the team, and remarkable given the plague of injuries that for the second time in three years has mysteriously befallen what ought to be (given its extreme all-around youth) a mostly healthy organization. I still think it's going to take a multi-round playoff run AND a seriousness-proving long-term investment in a homegrown player like Holliday to get Denver-area sports fans back into Rockies baseball. But with such an encouraging second half this season, the possibility of those two conditions coming together in the near future seems far less remote than it did in the early months of 2007.

I am an NYY fan (usually spend my time on the Banter) but live in Denver. I got a chance to go to two of the three yankee/rockies games this season. Although I did not like the outcome, I was really impressed with the Rockies. They are an exciting young team. I ended up going to a couple of games after that series because of what I saw. I hope that your conditions do occur, as I think it would be great for Denver to have increased interest in baseball and in this team.

The two best wins for the Rockies all season and not a SINGLE highlight or recap on Baseball Tonight. I want the Rockies to make it to the postseason just so these media idiots are FORCED to talk about Rockies Baseball!!!

And also, BBT, I want you to know that more dumb ex-players you have on, the worse your show gets. These guys couldn't narrate their own bowel movements, much less highlights on games in a pennant race. I just can't believe it, it's not like we're the Devil Rays or anything. They're only 4 1/2 out !!! They could hold a winning record against almost every winning team in the NL !!! ESPN and BBT can both eat shit and die.

Oh AND can you name another team with an MVP candidate AND a ROY candidate? Seriously, programming directors for BBT can kiss the fattest part of my ass!

And to top it all off, from Dodger Thoughts:

"157. Gen3Blue
Hey Clint. Your a beaut!

You have to know that Holliday is just a creation of Coors field, I've seen a bunch of guys look like him for a year or two. "

Right...

So if the Rockies win in a slug-fest, it's the altitude and if they win a pitching duel, it's the humidor.

So recap:

BBT, ESPN, Dodger Thoughts and baseball fans in general can bite it sideways.

If there is a positive note, at least the anchor of FSN Final Score thinks Holliday is the MVP.

Now it's off to sleep and dreams of the Rox stealing Game 7 of the World Series from the Yankees and waking up the next morning to find the cast of Baseball Tonight has committed some bizarre ritual involving group suicide.

The two best wins for the Rockies all season and not a SINGLE highlight or recap on Baseball Tonight. I want the Rockies to make it to the postseason just so these media idiots are FORCED to talk about Rockies Baseball!!!

And also, BBT, I want you to know that more dumb ex-players you have on, the worse your show gets. These guys couldn't narrate their own bowel movements, much less highlights on games in a pennant race. I just can't believe it, it's not like we're the Devil Rays or anything. They're only 4 1/2 out !!! They could hold a winning record against almost every winning team in the NL !!! ESPN and BBT can both eat shit and die.

Oh AND can you name another team with an MVP candidate AND a ROY candidate? Seriously, programming directors for BBT can kiss the fattest part of my ass!

And to top it all off, from Dodger Thoughts:

"157. Gen3Blue
Hey Clint. Your a beaut!

You have to know that Holliday is just a creation of Coors field, I've seen a bunch of guys look like him for a year or two. "

Right...

So if the Rockies win in a slug-fest, it's the altitude and if they win a pitching duel, it's the humidor.

So recap:

BBT, ESPN, Dodger Thoughts and baseball fans in general can bite it sideways.

If there is a positive note, at least the anchor of FSN Final Score thinks Holliday is the MVP.

Now it's off to sleep and dreams of the Rox stealing Game 7 of the World Series from the Yankees and waking up the next morning to find the cast of Baseball Tonight has committed some bizarre ritual involving group suicide.

2 (also 3 ): I've been reading the Dodger Thoughts threads the last couple of days and they really seem to have an irrational hatred of the Rockies. Even the Dodger's radio guys do this, after their last visit to Coors, they blamed the long infield grass for their losses. They don't seem as personally offended, for some reason, when they lose to other teams.

Anyhow -- if King Soopers has any of the $8 tickets left for today's game, I'll be there rooting for the sweep.

A sweep of the Dodgers? How novel. At the very least it's nice to see the Rocks demoralize a team that's feasted on them for their entire pathetic existence. A lot of memorable moments this year from a team that, given the injuries to a bad rotation to begin with, has very much overachieved. Playoffs or no, by far the best season I've ever seen. Now go beat Peavy.

Who helped you type that with your elbows ralf? This is why Denver fans can't have a rational discussion about sports. There are far too many people like you out there, whose ape-drape covers everything but the F and the G on the back of your knockoff Avalanche jersey. Denver might be a good sports town if it weren't for all these garbage people.

Are you really going to cite one comment as representative of the entire DT community? There are plenty of people on Dodger Thoughts that have respect and admiration for Holliday. I know I feared him any time he came to the plate this past week.

10 You have a point, it's not universal over there. There were plenty of fair-minded comments as well. I just noted a surprising amount of bitterness along the lines of (paraphrasing) 'losing is bad enough, but to the Rockies?!?!?'

psprowls: They did have that segment and I did see it, but the two nights previous there wasn't a single highlight segment devoted to the LA vs. COL series. The double header win was only mentioned on the "Touch em' all" segment. Can you imagine only mentioning a Phillies win this time of year while showing Howard hit a home run in minute 53 of a 60 minute show? Remember Hawpe hitting a homer in the 8th to take the lead? The BBT and the ESPN News highlight for that was Holliday homering, which while cool, was hardly the tipping point of the game.

Minor lip service from BBT regarding the legitimacy of Holliday's MVP run is hardly what I call appropriate coverage of the Rockies.

And I'm not even asking for fair coverage here. I fully understand that if the Yankees were 10 games under right now, they would lead off every BBT and Sports Center because people would tune it to the freak show to see if they would go as low as 15 under. All I'm asking for is appropriate coverage based on the team's post season chances and their level of play and response on the field in proportion to said playoff chances. With that in mind, the BBT coverage lately, while greater than it has been in sometime, is still woefully lacking.

I agree. The segment was nice, but to not have any highlights of the doubleheader was bush league. Especially with a walk-off from a player as high profile as Helton. And no one other than the FSNRM people seem to be talking about Holliday as a legit MVP.

Comment status: comments have been closed. Baseball Toaster is now out of business.