If the Colorado Rockies are out of the race, someone forgot to tell the players.
On Saturday, Troy Tulowitzki gave the Rockies the victory on a double to left-center field that scored Carlos Gonzalez all the way from first base in the 10th inning. The Rockies won 10-9.
Tulowitzki’s hit came after he tied the game up with a double in the eighth inning off Giants closer Brian Wilson. That hit came after Tulo gave the Rockies a 6-4 lead in the fifth inning with a two-run home run to left field.
The five-RBI night for Tulowitzki gives him 40 for the month of September. That is three shy of a Major League record set by some guy named Babe Ruth in 1927.
He also now has 15 home runs in the month, which is also a Rockies record and ties him for the most in September. The most ever hit in a single month came in 1998 when Sammy Sosa clubbed 20.
While it may have seemed like Tulowitzki did it all by himself on Saturday, the truth is, he had quite a bit of help from Gonzalez. The outfielder was nothing short of phenomenal.
He went 3-for-6 with a triple and a RBI to set the table for Tulowitzki. He also showed why he is the definition of a five-tool player when he laid out to catch a Buster Posey line drive destined for the gap in the sixth inning.
The catch was nothing short of incredible, as Gonzalez caught the ball fully extended and three feet off the grass. Just to get to the ball was impressive enough, but the catch caused the outfield stands to erupt in cheers.
The Rockies find themselves four games out of the National League West race, which is led once again by the Padres after the Giants loss at Coors Field. They also trail the Giants and the Braves by 3.5 games in the wild card race.
Even if the Rockies win the rest of their eight games, there is a good chance that they still won’t make it into the playoffs. However, it doesn’t seem like that fact is keeping them from trying their best to make a run for it.
The win comes on the heels of a controversy that has been brewing since just before the All-Star break, when Giants radio broadcaster and ESPN Sunday Night Baseball play-by-play man Jon Miller questioned whether the Rockies cheat at Coors Field by having opposing pitchers throw balls that were left out of the humidor.
The controversy came full swing when Tim Lincecum was caught on camera throwing a ball back and using an expletive to go along with the term “juiced ball.”
At first it seemed to be a fire that was simply brewing among fans, until it came out that the Giants had actually filed a complaint with the league.
The complaint came the day after the Rockies and Giants had set a Coors Field record for least combined hits, with five, and a day after the only home run that was hit came off of the bat of a Giants hitter.
The Rockies insist that they have nothing to hide and that they play the game with integrity. However, the fact that the Giants would even question the integrity of the Rockies staff is a slap in the face to everyone within the Rockies organization.
It takes quite the intestinal fortitude to file a complaint in the middle of a series in which the executives for both teams will have to look each other in the eye.
If nothing else, the claims seemed to light a fire under the Rockies, which may have helped propel them to victory on Saturday night.
The Rockies may need some help down the stretch to get into the playoffs, but the fun thing for Rockies fans is that they have clearly shown that they have no intention of packing it in.
They are going to fight until they can’t fight anymore. That is all a fan can ask for.
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