And then Tulo doubled, and I hoped.

Holliday's triple...as soon as he rolled into third, I knew we had it won.  We had two outs to get a fly ball to the outfield....it had to be.  Somehow we had tied the game off of Trevor Hoffman, Mr. Automatic for the NL.

And Carroll delivered.  And I screamed like a five year old, and jumped up and down in my house.  And then I started getting phone calls.

Best sports moment ever.  Better than U.S. soccer beating Portugal in 2002, better than the last Redskins Super Bowl win.  Best Ever.

But wow, that is one of the best games I've ever watched even if there were a lot of mistakes made. I don't know how I am supposed to sleep now.

As a Broncos fan, this doesn't quite match the superbowls (yet). Although, I have been giggling spontaneously for about the last 2 hours. Notice how the talking heads on ESPN now refer to the Beard as "Future Hall of Famer?"

I wish my Dad was still here to see this, because he would really, really love this team.

It's been such a great ride, I can't wait to see what happens next.

Go Rockies!!!

I love this team.

I couldn't sleep last night, couldn't eat all day, paced back and forth through the whole game. Almost ripped my rox hat apart on several occasions. Watching Holliday slide in safely set us off into the girliest celebration ever. Jumping up and down together, screaming, hugging. I'm just now cooling down after running up and down my street yelling about our win. What a night.

It's been great sharing the ups and downs of the season with you cats. What a season, what a team. It's not over yet. ROCKIES IN OCTOBER!

What a great game.  One of the best I've ever seen.  Oh, and I don't want to see Julio in a game again.

The only thing I have to add is this:

This is the night Rockies fans came of age.  It was so intense in there -- real baseball fans hanging on every pitch.  Loudness throught -- never prompted by those stupid "get loud!" commands.  A few folks tried to start a wave and they were shouted down -- no waves in our park tonight.  This is about baseball, brother!

I've been to many big games at Yankee Stadium -- this one was every bit as intense.  It was flat out awesome.

But as most baseball enthusiasts, I was compelled to sit and watch the game tonight. However due to unforseen circumstances I was left tubeless and kept track of the game from the 9th inn. on, on MLB's Gameday. I've been a constant over at Pinstripe alley. But for some reason I never swung by this blog. I finally did after the Rox came back in dramatic fashion (I was pulling for you guys even though we were swept earlier in June or July).

I wanted to read some of the posts you guys put down just to gauge the fans and see how big Colorado baseball was to some. Well first I was shocked to see over 600 someodd posts between threads. And after I got through some of the early posts I skipped to the good part lol. I mean it was so much fun to see everyone say "fuck this, when does spring training start?" lol Which is completely normal after your team goes down 2 runs in xtra.

But after you guys came back and everyone was happy again it really showed that baseball isn't just everything to me or Yankee Red Sox fans. But that it means everything to everyone who relishes in the excitement. As a diehard Yankee fan I would love to congratulate the Rockies org. and fans who never peeled their eyes off their games. You make me feel guilty for being in the post-season every yr. and expecting a World Championship on top of it lol. That being said I want to wish you the worst luck because by no means do I want the Bronx Bombers in Colorado. Although another early post-season bow out will make me a Rockie fan for the time being.

Have fun slugging it out with Philly. And I'd also like to add that Todd Helton deserves this chance. he looked dumbfounded on the postgame interview, it was awesome. I can't believe it only Oct. 2.  

HOWEVER THAT WAS THE BEST GAME IN FRANCHISE HISTORY. HOWEVER THE WORST UMPED GAME. IM AM SOOOOO EXCITED FOR THIS WEEK

Since I'd decided a week ago that I was really pulling for you guys -- the guts shown in making the run, Helton long being one of my favorite players, Tulowitzki reminding me of Cal Ripken -- I thought Jorge Julio was, in fact, haunting me. Sorry about Julio, and I don't care how good his regular season was, I would pray to not see him in a pivotal moment in the postseason.

But, congrats. Now kill the Phils!

2 questions & a comment related to the 3 ex-'Stros who came over in "The Trade".  Some of the devoted fans on this board should know the answers, I figure:

1.  A TBS announcer said Willy T was in Fla. instructional league working to come back for the playoffs.  Is that right?  
2.  Taylor B. got the Rox out of a man-on-2B, 0 out jam when he relieved Fogg.  His stats as a starter sucked this year, but his middle reliever stats were pretty good.  With 2 rookie starters & Fogg not looking so sharp Mon. night, isn't it likely Buchholz will be on the roster as a middle reliever?  Boy does my daughter hope so.
3.  I was hiking in RMNP & slipped on a wet rock the day Hirsch took one off his leg.  We both broke our right fibulas.  He pitched 6 innings; I walked 2.5 mi. on mine.  I'm about 90% healed, but no way I could push off it enough to pitch a lot of rehab throws or 6 innings in a game.  But Hirsch is younger & has more training resources, so he may be 100% healed. Still, my 2 cents worth on that:  he's a rookie, too, just like Jiminez & Morales. You don't gain much experience if he comes back, he was inconsistent anyway, there are no minors rehab starts available, and you don't need 5 playoff starters.  I can't imagine they'd try to bring him back unless another starter gets hurt in the 1st round.

He's a no doubter.

As for Julio -- I'd love to see him left off and replaced with Ramirez or, to a lesser degree, Redman.  

One final thing re: Willie T -- it's vital he gets back because he will restore some effectiveness to the pinch hitting situation.  With Spillborghs and Sullivan splitting most games, we've been left with Stewart, Koshansky and Smith as the pinch hitters.  I doubt if any of those guys is on the playoff roster (though Smith deserves a thought or two), so we need Spilly and Sullivan on the bench for pinch hitting duty.

• Seth Smith.  that triple was HUGE
  
• Ryan Speier, Jeremy Affeldt, Taylor Bucholtz, Latroy Hawkins -- Quietly and effectively did their jobs
  
• Ramon Ortiz -- The guy hasn't pitched in ages.  Gets the ball in what could have been a demoralizing situation and finishes off the Padres.  Big.
  
• Kaz Matsui -- For my money, a criticial moment of the game was his AB in the 6th to put the Rox up.  He was fooled badly on two pitches and managed to pull it together to get the sac fly.  That was massive.
  
• Tulo in the field.  He made some ridiculous plays which we've grown to view as routine.  
  
• The fans who stood above the Padres pen during Peavy's warmups and got inside his head.  That's called home field advantage baby!