Happening Elsewhere is your daily reminder that there is, in fact, a
wide world of sports occurring outside the City of Brotherly Love. So
we hear, anyway.
Things happen a lot in baseball, so whenever the phrase "never happened before" comes up in reference to the game, it tends to draw attention. Apparently, no team in MLB history had ever scored nine runs in the bottom of the ninth before the Colorado Rockies made the Phils' recent bullpen flubs look like Herculean performance of valors by comparison against the St. Louis Cardinals last night. Down 9-3 in the final half of the final frame, the Rox battled back against Cards relievers Dennys Reyes and Ryan Franklin to tie up the game at 9-9, then put two more on for Seth Smith to go yard with a walk-off, capping Colorado's nine-run inning and 12-9 victory.
A bummer for all associated with the Cardinals organization, no doubt, but perhaps none moreso than left fielder Matt Holliday. Returning to face the team he was once the face of, Holliday hit a three-run homer in the sixth to seemingly put the game out of reach--his first-ever blast in Coors Field as a visiting player. "I felt the next pitch it was going to be over,” said the shell-shocked all-star. "You feel like your guys are going to get it done and you’ll walk away
with a
scare." Not so fast, Rodriguez.
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The Rock Boys entered this season as a trendy pick to challenge the Phils for NL supremacy, having put a scare into our boys in last year's NLDS and seemingly boasting one of the majors' best young cores with position players Carlos Gonzalez, Dexter Fowler, Ian Stewart and Troy Tulowitzki, and pitchers Jorge De La Rosa, Jeff Francis and Ubaldo Jimenez. It hasn't always worked out like that this year for the Rox--injuries and minor regressions hit them early, and at 45-38, they're still four games behind the Padres in the West.
But we should know from '07 and '09 to never count out the Mile High club in the second half of the season, and should we end up facing them in the playoffs for the third time in four years, I doubt anyone would be terribly surprised. (Although at this point, they might actually be more surprised about our being in the playoffs--gulp.)
I do love this song, too. Don't you love this song?
ESPN : Rockies score nine in ninth to rally past Cardinals