Rock – NOOOOOO – Ber: The Collapse of the Rockies 08’ Season

Ding…Ding…Ding… Can you hear that? That’s the clock striking midnight on the Rockies Cinderella season just one year ago.  In one of the most improbable runs in MLB history the Rockies strung together 21 wins in 22 games to reach the 2007 world series only to have it unceremoniously ended by a sweep at the hands of the game Boston Red Sox. 

So here we sit a year later and it appears as though the Rockies are still trying to sleep off the hangover this run has caused.

Entering the final week of the 2008 season the Rockies reside in 3d place of the lowly NL west division with a record of 71 and 85.  But what happened to the team that many people picked to win the NL West if not represent the National League in the World Series?

What stayed the same:

Matt Holliday – Coming off of what should have been an MVP season (damn you Jimmy Rollins and you east coast bias voters /snarl), Holliday followed up his 2007 campaign with another fantastic season in 08’.  He currently leads the team in hitting (.323 average) and home runs (25).  He also started stealing bases this year (27 entering play today) which is amazing for somebody of his size.

Garrett Atkins – Garrett Atkins remained Garrett Atkins in 08’.  He has consistently been a 300 100 20 guy (batting average, RBI’s, homeruns) and this year was no different.  He also showed his versatility this year as he has played 1^st base (replacing the injured Todd Helton) since mid-July.

Brad Hawpe – Hawpe continued to develop on the offensive end as he maintained his career averages in batting average (.287) and homeruns (25).  His RBI’s dipped down to 83 this season from 116 in 2007 but a lot of this can be attributed to the lack of production in front of him.

Pleasant surprises:

Aaron Cook – Though he has struggled some in the second half of the season Cookie has still put together his best season to date in the majors.  Setting personal bests in wins (16), complete games (2), strikeouts (96) and ERA (3.96).

Brian Fuentes – After losing his closer position to Manny Corpas at the end of last season, Fuentes recaptured the position after Corpas struggled at the beginning of the 08’.  He has since saved 29 games and has a low Coors Field ERA of 2.77.

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