The Colorado Rockies eight game winning streak that the Padres snapped last night was so impactful on their October chances that their playoff odds have hardly wiggled despite losing last night even as the Marlins and Braves won. The upshot is that while San Francisco is having to scramble to get Tim Lincecum and Randy Johnson ready to play before their slim chances of a postseason appearance have slipped away altogether, the Rockies have the luxury of taking their time reconditioning injured players like Aaron Cook, and the recently returned Troy Tulowitzki.
It's a good thing that they have this luxury too, as the injuries continue to mount with just three weeks of the season left to play. Yorvit Torrealba was the latest Rockies player to go down with an injury, as a jammed kneecap might keep him out a little longer than just the expected day of rest after a night game today.
The Giants push to get Lincecum back for their last series with the Rockies shows that they've reached the desperate, win at all costs stage of the season, and how San Francisco responds to this kind of pressure might be good to catalog away for the next few years as both the Giants and Rockies figure to continue to contend for the foreseeable future. If you've seen highlights from the last couple of nights, they seem lethargic against the Dodgers, as if their mental fight is still there, but the physical ability to throw punches has already left the building. The Rockies can only hope this continues when they start the series with the Giants tomorrow night.
At any rate, in the case of the wild card, it seems that the Rockies have reached that stage where they can clinch just by not falling down the next two weeks. I mentioned a week or two ago that this is a race that you don't know exactly where the finish line is until you are nearly there and it's looking like we'll have a pretty certain idea of what the bare minimum wild card win total will be by the end of the series against the Giants.
Denver Post:
- Padres end Rockies' 8-game win streak - The Denver Post
- Rotation plans don't include sidelined Cook - The Denver Post
- Tulowitzki returns from back injury with a bang - The Denver Post
- Renck: Yanks mirror past success - The Denver Post
- Torrealba jams left knee on base but stays in game : All Things Rockies Colorado