Yes They Can!: Colorado Rockies Have My Vote To Win Wild Card, Maybe N.L. West

Ah, late August. The best time to head down to your local ball park and experience all the wonderful smells of popcorn, hotdogs, and other salty things.

Blood, sweat, and tears.

The joy of winning and the sadness of defeat are magnified during this part of the season, as every game has more meaning in this marathon that is the MLB season.

Six straight months of playing almost every single day wears on the fans as much as the players, if their favorite team is losing.

This season started out that way for Rockies' fans, as it seemed after the first two months that Colorado would struggle mightily again in 2009.

The Rockies started 18-28 under Clint Hurdle this season, and everything was as per usual for Colorado's baseball team. They were underachieving, even though their payroll is in the bottom half of the league at $75 million, and it looked as if they were going to be basement dwellers in the NL West once again. But after Hurdle was fired on May 30, the team exploded.

To start new manager Jim Tracy's reign began, the Rockies were energized, and free-playing, as many players admitted after his firing, Hurdle demanded perfection. And we all know baseball is not about perfection, it's about going out and playing the game with love and passion, but most of all just having fun.

After losing their first few with Tracy, the Rockies knocked off an incredible 17-of-18 wins, putting them into wild card contention in June. In all, Colorado is 51-26 under Tracy and now find themselves solidly in first place in the NL Wild Card standings.

With this huge win, Colorado goes up three games on the Giants, four on the Braves.

Team	Games Back	Overall Record
Colorado Rockies	--	70-54
San Francisco Giants	3	67-57
Atlanta Braves	4	66-58

The Rockies now need to pull off another win against the Giants 4-2, and are 2-1 in their current series against San Francisco. This is likely the most crucial time of the entire season for Colorado, as after tomorrow night's last game against the Giants, the Rockies play the division-leading Dodgers.

As of now, the Rockies are 3-and-a-half games back of LA as they lost to Chicago today, and have a real chance of winning the division, not just the Wild Card. If Colorado can take two or even sweep the Dodgers, it would be a veritable dead heat with the Rockies back only a half a game behind LA.

Then, after seven straight games against division rivals, Colorado has three more games against the Giants in San Francisco. In all, if the Rockies can win 7-of-10 games during this stretch, they will likely expand their Wild Card lead further, while running down the Dodgers at the same time.

And really, today's game was indicative of the entire season, a microcosm if you will.

Young fireballer Ubaldo Jimenez pitched a gem of a game, besides the two-run homerun he gave up to Edgar Renteria in the second inning. In all he went eight innings deep, giving up six hits and two walks with a strong nine strikeouts. Huston Street came in and saved his 32-of-33 game since becoming a Rockie earlier this year.

The pitching was great, better than expected, and it was needed today.

The Giants sent out ace Tim Lincecum and he was dominant until the end. Seth Smith hit a two-run homerun and Lincecum gave up another run in the seventh before getting out of the inning. He went seven innings giving up three runs on three hits, walking five and punching out seven.

Even though the Rockies faced a great pitcher, they hung in there and would never give up, just as they have fought back all season.

Now, the Rockies have won 6-of-7 overall, and if they can keep this hot playing up, they will make the post season, and may even catch the Dodgers.