So in a bad sign for the Colorado Rockies, University of Oregon baseball coach George Horton seems a little more confident that Tyler Matzek will wind up at school instead of going pro after meeting with him yesterday. Here's what Horton told the Oregonian's Jeff Smith:
"It's a sign of his seriousness to be a Duck," Horton said. "I think right now his mindset has switched to going to school and that's the most significant part. We're all aware that this might be an exercise in futility, but I think if (Colorado) was closer together with what Tyler wanted, he might have hung back in California."
The story goes on to say that a potential future teammate of Matzek, Drew Gagnier thinks that Matzek will sign with the Rockies, and the team has until 10:00 mountain time tonight to work something out. We'll keep an eye on the day's developments as the deadline approaches.
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The Rockies wound up splitting yesterday's double header with Florida and the end result of the three games in Miami only saw the team's playoff chances fall slightly. A lot of people still don't seem to realize how significant Colorado's home field advantage is going to be down the stretch, after their three game set in Washington, the Rockies will have 26 games ramaining at home, only 15 on the road. This is the last road trip the Rockies take outside the NL West, at this point I think the only other wild card contending team that has a really good shot at catching them is the Giants because there are so many head to head match-ups. That's not to say the Rockies have anything locked or teams like the Marlins or Braves are out, it's just going to take some out of the ordinary dramatics for them to get ahead.