With all of the heroics of the last couple of days from Ryan Spilborghs and Troy Tulowitzki, one story that I think might be getting overlooked is the toughness of one Carlos Gonzalez. Remember this is a player whose attitude was called into question frequently as a prospect for Arizona an attitude issue which led many scouts and observers (unfortunately including me at the time via secondhand information) to suggest that he wouldn't make it as a major league player.
Let nobody question this man's desire or heart again. For the early part of the month, his bat carried the team when others were going silent (he's still hitting .381/.438/.762 in August). For the last two nights, despite being physically unable to swing a bat, Gonzalez has found himself playing in Rockies rallies in the season's two most important games (thus far) against our two biggest rivals. Last night's key bunt single led to Tulo's heroics. Look, I know being an Internet baseball writer means I should be cynical when it comes to the subject of grit or passion, I know that we should dismiss the team's 35-8 record when he starts, but really, Gonzalez just deserves a lot of respect from Rockies fans right now. It's not quite Matt Holliday's bloody chin, the steak knife accident ranks up there as a pretty silly off field injury, but give him props for being willing to put himself out there for the sake of the team the last two nights. And I'm going to lose my blogging credentials for writing this, but the way he plays the game probably has something to do with the way the Rockies perform when he starts.
At any rate, G-Gon, we salute you and you honor the #5 jersey. May Rockies fans see many more years of your outstanding play in it.