Has it really been nearly 10 years since the Colorado Rockies went on that magical run that culminated in the club’s first National League pennant?
In this anniversary series, Rocktober Revisited, we’re looking back on how the Rockies fared throughout the 2007 season. It’s a month-by-month look at what transpired to lead Colorado to the World Series and a special place in the sports memory banks of everyone in the Mile High City.
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After working their way up to the fourth spot in the National League West, the Rockies held steadfast throughout July, slowly chipping away at game deficits but steadily working their way toward the top of the West.
In fact, “steady” perfectly described July in the Mile High City that year, as Colorado never surpassed a five-game streak at any point – winning or losing. The team did, however, manage to nearly double their wins overs losses, with a 15-9 record in July to get them back on the right track toward the eventual World Series run.
To start out the month, the Rockies faced a bad omen when the Houston Astros routed them, 12-0, on the first day thanks to nine combined RBIs from Lance Berkman, Mike Lamb and Luke Scott. But, like real winners, they bounced back and won their next five games against the New York Mets and Philadelphia Phillies.
From there, they worked a schedule during which they would win a few, lose a few and so on. On July 16 in Pittsburgh, they managed to pirate a win from their hosts as the offense – led by Matt Holliday, Troy Tulowitzki and Yorvit Torrealba – terrorized pitcher John Van Benschoten by putting up nine runs on him in just the first three innings.
Despite that early 9-1 advantage, the game was far from over. Inch by inch, the Pirates worked their way back into the competition, slowly chipping away at the lead until they trailed by only a single run, 9-8, in the bottom of the fifth. In the end, they held on for the unexpectedly narrow victory, 10-8.
That game was perhaps the greatest analogy for how the rest of their season would go, and how much work the team would have to put in to make it all the way to Rocktober. When they Rockies seemed like they were down for the count just a few months later, that scrappy team pulled itself together and went on one of the greatest runs the franchise has ever seen to put them in the position to sweep their way through the playoffs, just so they could get swept by the Boston Red Sox in the end.
From there on out, the Rockies played the good ol’ back-and-forth with the W’s and L’s, before they ended the month on a high note with three straight victories 6-3 victory over the Florida Marlins.
For the first time that season, the Rockies ended a month with an overall winning record. At that point of the season, they had improved to a 54-51 overall record, boasting a 15-9 mark (.625 winning percentage) for the month of July. But the best was yet to come for this scrappy bunch of ballplayers.
