Ryan freaking Spilborghs. I flipped on the TV last night to watch Jason Marquis take on the Giants and former pitching phenom, Barry Zito. I planned on listening while I was cooking dinner, knowing that I could sit down and enjoy the last half with a plate of hot food in front of me. The game started at 7 MT, I had no idea that I would still be watching close to 5 hours later.
It’s not that I haven’t watched long games before. There are at least 2 games every year that stretch long into the night, games where managers are forced to dig deep into their bag of tricks, hoping to pull out a win. Yeah it’s just one win in a 162 game season, but games like this can mean a lot to a team. Baseball is a cerebral sport. Much like a game of Chutes and Ladders, one late August game can damage a team’s psyche, sending them down a slide and out of the playoff race or it can galvanize them at the core, providing the strong foundation necessary to climb their way into the playoffs and beyond.
That is what happened 2 years ago when the Rockies earned their first World Series berth. The Rockies won 13 of 14 games to earn a spot in the one game playoff against San Diego. The rest is history. There isn't a big difference between this year's team and the 2007 version. Some of the players are different: Barmes replaced Matsui, Ianetta replaced Torrealba (still on the Rockies but the backup), Stewart replaced Atkins, Street replaced Fuentes, and MVP runner up Holliday and Taveras have been replaced by a platoon of young outfielders (Spilly, Smith, Fowler, and Gonzalez). The ingredients may be different but the recipe is the same: quality pitching, clutch hitting, and a group of players that go to war for each other every night. The Rockies put all of those on display last night.
Marquis started the night off by giving up a base hit to Eugenio Velez who promptly stole 2nd base, was sacrificed to 3rd, and scored on a Pablo Sandoval sacrifice fly. He wouldn’t give up another run in 8 innings and over 120 pitches. Zito was equally impressive giving up 1 unearned run. As the game wore on, it started to look like 9 innings might not be enough. Managers were doing anything they could to squeeze out a run. Jim Tracy sent Carlos Gonzalez to pinch run for one of his best hitters, Todd Helton, in the bottom of the 10th. Gonzalez has not been available for a few days because he injured his hand in an apparent knife-juggling accident at his home. But duty called for one of the fastest runners on the team, CarGo could play as long as he didn’t have to swing a bat. Seth Smith and Quintanilla were sent in as pinch hitters and Hawpe was taken out in a double switch. Many of the relief pitchers for both teams had already appeared in the game, including the normal late inning guys. Basically both teams were playing with half a deck; this game would be decided by the few who were left.
Disaster struck in the top of the 14th. Adam Eaton retired the first batter before Edgar Renteria laced a pitch into the right field corner that netted a triple. When the dust finally cleared, the Giants were up 4-1 with only 3 outs to put the Rockies away. The Rockies needed to score at least 3 runs, Carlos Gonzalez (who could not swing a bat) was slated to bat 3rd in the inning and Adam Eaton (the pitcher) was up 5th. They had one batter remaining on their bench, the backup catcher Chris Ianetta, which meant they could not pinch hit for both Gonzalez and Eaton. Dexter Fowler led off the inning and immediately fouled a pitch off his knee. He fell to the ground in extreme agony. The Rockies could not afford to take Fowler out so he got up and drew a walk to lead off the inning, hobbling to 1st base in obvious pain (note: Fowler was placed on the 15 day DL today with a knee injury). After Barmes was retired, Gonzalez’ spot came up. Tracy decided to send Ianetta in to hit for him. Gonzo couldn’t swing a bat and they could not afford to have him bunt again (as he did earlier in the game) because advancing the runner at 1st did them no good (being down 3 runs) and Fowler may not have beaten a throw to 2nd anyway. Ianetta singled up the middle, advancing Fowler to second. Next up was Tulo. With the pitcher batting next and the Rockies having no option to pinch hit for him, the Giants pitched around Tulo and Eaton came to the plate. Just before Eaton went out to the on-deck circle, Tracy was shown talking to him. It was later learned that Tracy basically told Eaton that if Tulo walked, under no circumstances should Eaton take the bat off his shoulder. If he had to take the strike out then so be it but this game would not end on a double play by Eaton with the bases loaded and Ryan Spilborghs batting next. Don’t let anybody tell you that Adam Eaton can’t follow directions. He earned a 5 pitch walk and did not swing the bat once; the walk earned him an RBI, 4-2 Giants.
You may know what happened next, Spilly hammered a pitch to right-center that sailed over the wall for a walk off grand slam (the first in Rockies history). Spilly cleared the bases faster than I have ever seen anybody, I joked that Usain Bolt could not have beaten him around the bags. He later explained that he couldn’t wait to get to his teammates. He came around 3rd base, threw his helmet to the infield and ran straight into a wall of teammates. The group soon morphed into a mosh pit, it’s a wonder nobody was injured in the celebration. I stayed up to watch the replays and Jim Tracy’s press conference. He looked like a proud papa, praising his players for their heart. A reporter asked what he planned on doing in the field had the Rockies merely tied the game. Tracy responded, "you really don't want to know." It really was an amazing win. Though I thought it improbable, I knew it could happen because I have seen it before with a similar group. That group won the National League pennant.
-JA
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