Rockies Rolling Right Along

The Colorado Rockies took the field at Dodger Stadium Tuesday night like they were a seasoned team of veterans with plenty of experience to fall back on. They took charge of the ballgame, and did not fail to respond when Los Angeles mounted a comeback. Colorado edged out the ballgame 9-7, their ninth win in a row, and stayed 1 game back of San Diego in the NL Wild Card race.

The Rockies do not have much business being this close to a playoff birth this late in the season. Yeah, right. Tell that to them.

An offense backed by a young core of players, it is refreshing to see the type of energy that is brought to the field each night with this ballclub. They play the game hard and they play it to win. This is not the Rockies of old that would crumble towards the finish line and look as if they have been waiting for the offseason to come.

Troy Tulowitzki is becoming one of the best players in the league. Not one of the best shortstops. One of the best all-around players. Period.

The rookie out of Long Beach State put the Rockies ahead 6-5 with a 2-run homerun and then doubled off the left-centerfield wall in his next at-bat to get the late inning rally started.

It is not Tulowitzki's offense that makes him jump out as a superstar player. He leads all National League shortstops in fielding percentage, and that isn't even what first stood out about him.

The confident swagger he portrays as he non-arrogantly struts out to his position in between each inning. The way the youngster trots around the bases after he crushes a baseball over 400 feet. He doesn't take his time and cadillac it, nor does he look like a rookie who has never done it before. His homerun trot spews confidence, and an attitude that screams "winner". These are the things that stand out before all of the physical tools take over.

It is apparent that the shortstop has become a leader for this Rockies ballclub. The energy and gamer-attitude he takes the field with has swallowed up every other guy on the field and has produced one unit that is absolutely on fire.

Matt Holliday is an absolute monster in the middle of the order and is only 26 years old. He is emerging as one of the games best hitters and is a serious candidate for this years NL MVP.

Brad Hawpe and Garrett Atkins are nice additions to the lineup. Not quite superstars, but above your average role player. They are role players in a certain sense, the only difference being that they are on the field everyday and they do what they do best day in and day out.

With all of that, there still is Todd Helton, who despite a drop off in his numbers, is such a pure hitter that he is capable of hitting .330 with 30 homeruns. Helton has a lot of good baseball left in him and he is finally being rewarded with a competitive team. A lot of credit should be given to Helton who signed a 10 year contract with the Rockies which he is about half-way through. Helton could of easily gotten sick of the losing and have demanded a trade. But due to his character and motivation, he said that he was the one who signed the contract and therefore had a responsibility to honor it. If only there were more men in this game like Todd Helton.

The pitching staff is young and inconsistent, but the Rockies do have a bonafide ace in Jeff Francis. Not bonafide in a Johan Santana way, but certainly bonafide in a Colorado Rockie way. The southpaw has won 17 games this year and is on the verge of breaking out and being one of the games top pitchers.

If the Rockies get any type of consistency from the rotation, and back it up with a fearless bullpen, they will get into the playoffs and make plenty of noise. This team is arguably the hottest in all of baseball and will be quite a challenge, especially considering the talent level of other National League ballclubs. The most important part of this all, is the players actually believe they are going to win when they come to the park. Just take a look at the shortstop. Do not be surprised if Colorado is representing the National League in this years World Series.