First, happy 24th birthday to Troy Tulowitzki! A year ago today, he turned 23 and was ready to take the field in his first National League Championship Series a day later. It was a tough baseball year for him between that day a year ago and today. But he is resilient. His 2008 second half showed progress from his abysmal first half. So, to Troy Tulowitzki: May you have a great 2009 campaign!

Having swept the Philadelphia Phillies, the Colorado Rockies had to wait and wait and wait to start the next series. As did the Arizona Diamondbacks, who swept the Chicago Cubs. For four days, fans of both teams endured the wait. Just read what Rox Girl had to say the day before the first game:

Dear diary,

I haven't seen the Rockies in four days. The media tries to comfort me with the last vestiges of the Yankees/Indians series and the downfall of the Bronx Empire, but it's a poor substitute. I don't know how much more of this I can take. Distantly, I remember of something called the "off-season" and how it would last for months at a time and I marvel that I was once able  to endure that long without Rockies baseball. I am told that there are many baseball fans enduring that right now, and I pity them. Thankfully, my own torture is about to end soon, the players are back on the field practicing, the manager is recovering from the flu and I am told tomorrow there will again be Rockies baseball for me to watch and absorb. Thank the heavens. -RG

That taste of October baseball with the Rockies in it had made us addicts. We wanted it to keep going; we wanted the next game right now because the Rockies looked like an unstoppable machine (even if we did have some doubts). Without that fix, we were lost.

Did the Rockies have it in them? Well, we all know the answer to that, but stay tuned anyway.