“Junetober” stirs memories of Rockies’ ’07 October run
A friend began circulating the term a week ago. “This is some great Junetober weather!” he exclaimed, a reference to the Rockies’ 2007 October run to the playoffs. I told him, “Sure, I’ll hop on the bandwagon. But there had better be beer.” And with that a little cart pulled out of Union Station down the street from Coors Field with a handful of battered, bruised (but surprisingly faithful) Colorado Rockies fans chanting something about a run at the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Now, dethroning the Dodgers (even with Manny Ramirez locked away in a luxury suite somewhere) is a mighty tall order. The slightly older Kid Rocks may be on an 11-game winning streak, but the Dodgers are still 10.5 games ahead in the NL West standings. A more realistic goal would be a climb over the six teams ahead of the Rockies in the NL Wild Card race.
Only two of those teams have played better than .500 baseball over their last ten games, with the Marlins and Giants winning six games apiece over that stretch. The vulnerable Cubs, Reds, Mets and Cards sit between the Marlins at the bottom of that pile and the Giants at the top. The Rockies stand just below them all, ready to pounce, a mere three games back from the Wild Card slot.
Colorado has spent two and a half weeks under new manager Jim Tracy. In that time, the team has won 13 of 17 games to go with their current 11-game win streak. After taking two of three games at home against the division-rival Padres, the Rockies took their revamped show on the road and immediately lost three of their four games at Houston before salvaging game four with a momentous 10-3 win.
That game proved to be a catalyst for the Rockies, who have played on consecutive days since Tracy took over on May 29th. They went into Saint Louis and Milwaukee and came out with twin sweeps over two of the better teams in the National League. The Rocks followed that up with a home sweep over the Seattle Mariners, one of the hottest teams in the American League.
Now the Rockies have another AL team coming to town in the Tampa Bay Rays. The last time these two teams played, in 2007 with the Rockies having battled to a 33-33 midseason record, Colorado came away with a two games to one series win.
Strong play in that series, followed by their late-season rally, eventually translated into a World Series birth for the Rockies. A series win over three games versus the Rays this time around would put the Rockies at 33-33 once again. A win tonight would break Colorado’s record for consecutive regular season wins. Another series sweep, and these Rockies will be in the thick of the race for another playoff birth. Junetober continues tonight at 6:40pm at Coors Field.
