The Playoffs........Kind of!

I love me some long shadows games that matter! No Rollie on the hill, but it's still pretty special.

What a turn of events down at Coors today. Padres were up 3-0 at the start of the game and then dissolve. I was there by myself getting my baseball nerd on, drinking a margarita and yelling "C'mon, super Bradley!" I question whether this is a high or a low point of my life. No matter, we live to see another day. Fans were pumped. I acted like a complete fool I'm sure. And I scored a pair of seats for tomorrow night's showdown with the Fathers (pretty much in the butt crack)while hanging out post-game down at Slinky's putting down 3 PBRs in celebration. I knew the bartender, that's it.

Peavy will be going tomorrow night, so it's going to be tough, but it's at home and that should negate the pitching advantage somewhat. Morales? Fogg? A combination? I guess we'll see.

Fun times......go Rockies!!!

Go Rockies

Fuentes comes up huge in the 7th! Come on O!

It ain't over yet beotches

Brew crew comes through in the bottom of the 11th! Around the same time the Badgers seal the deal against MSU. CU over OU and the Phillies lose as well. Is something magical happening......

Booze Will Help

A very disappointing night in the world of the mlb. Almost enough to drive a man to drink. Ok, I was already drinking after having a triple and two double bogeys on the first 6 holes at Willis Case this afternoon. But, I thought my inability to hit a straight drive or putt today would be erased from my memory by a twelfth straight Rockies win. Well, a combination of "Pittsburgh afternoon rain" and lack of any timely hitting by the Rox prevented that from happening.

Can't even blame this on Hurdle, which might be the most frustrating part of this devastating loss. Not to mention Craig Counsel (the Scorpion) grounding into a critical double play against the Padres and ending a 1 out bases loaded threat for the Brewers. Shit.

The playoffs, while not totally out of reach, are looking pretty impossible at this point. I still love me some Rockies.

And we accomplish a first - finishing above the Dodgers.......props to the 50,000+, what took you so freaking long!?!?!?

I Like Announcing 11 Game Winning Streaks

Well, KTH has brought you this far, it's up to you to take it on home. And by that, I mean stress out, regret your lack of MLB extra innings, and maybe strut into Patrick O' Carrol's (JC's) and say "fuck you" to that dickhead manager who said back in June when myself and Deathtruck were clamoring for a little local baseball coverage in a Denver bar, to no avail, only to hear no one cares about baseball. Wait for football season, we have Direct TV and no local Rockies coverage......Hey JC's Dickhead....."f-you."

A sweep in LA was a nice way to end this road trip. No one that I know figured we'd sweep the Padres and Dodgers (twice with one 4 game series).

Who wants a piece of this?!?!?!

God bless Drew and George for their patience. I hope they're as buzzed as me at this point of the ride....

I (still) hate James Loney, but I rather like 10 game Rockies winning streaks

"no, it's not too much to ask at all..."

I hate James Loney, but I rather like Tulo.

is 10 in a row too much to ask?

Great start to the night...

Watched the last part of the Braves (my Braves?) semi-beatdown of the Philadelphia toinght on the mlb.com.tv. Gives the Rocks at least a chance to become tied up with the phills after this evening's games. It's good to see Atlanta not giving up on the season quite yet, hopefully they'll keep that shat up. Also got to be routing for the Brewers to stay in contention here on out, so they can give the whale vagina competitive games for their weekend series (that and the fact that I like the Brewers and hate the Cubs).

Good to see Nomar, Gonzo, Furcal, and Abreu out of the lineup, and Holliday in it. You got to think the Dodgers are a little pissed off at us considering we single handedly ended the season for them last week, with a couple of the games being quite the heartbreakers (for them). Currently in the top of the 2nd, and Ubaldo seems a little shakey after getting out of a huge jam in the 1st. Let's hope he settles down.

C-N in attendance?

Out Of Luck

Yesterday marked the first egg of the year laid by the Denver Broncos. They were uninspired on defense and their offense never really “got on track.” Unfortunately for Jay Cutler and the Bronco offense, the defense just spent way too much time on the field. 39 of the game’s 60 minutes were controlled by the Jaguars, leaving just a measly 21 minutes that the Broncos actually held possession. Despite all of the 4th quarter dramatics (and I do believe there were some) the game might have been determined during Jacksonville’s 11 minute-plus scoring drive that spanned the first and second quarters. The drive not only kept the Denver offense from being able to work their magic, but maybe more importantly, gave our defense little rest.

In the second half, when the defense needed to get stops, they couldn’t. The HUGE fumble aside (which the Broncos did nothing with), I really was disappointed with the defense’s ability to stop someone who I openly felt was a sub-par quarterback, in David Gerrard. The dude killed the Broncos with big 3rd down completions, not to mention his 52 yards on the ground.

My main issue, however, was with the coach, Mike Shanahan. Just one week removed from a win that could largely be attributed to some savvy coaching moves, Shanny suffered several brain farts. The decision to go for it TWICE on fourth down turned out to be monumental gaffes. The first one seemed innocent enough, until it became apparent, that if they had just kicked the field goal instead, it would have continued to be a one-possession game. The second attempt (inside our own ten) was punctuated by Daniel Graham’s apparent drop, but again gave the Broncos no chance to come back in the game.

To be honest, I am usually for going for it on fourth-down. I would even somewhat love to see the punters done away with, completely. In this spot, however, I hate them both. I do realize that the second one was probably necessitated by the first one’s failure, but not punting with over four minutes left in the game (yes, they had already wasted all of their timeouts, two on that first attempt at 4th down, ironically enough) is inexcusable.

Yes, it shows how little trust Shanny has in his defense. Yes, it shows tremendous, if not a little premature and maybe misguided, faith in his young quarterback. What team will this become? How closely are they to being a 0-3 team traveling to Indianapolis? Either way, it was a bad home, conference loss. One of those games they might look back at the end of the year and wish they could have back.

War Terrell Davis.

"This is exciting. It's getting fun," owner Dick Monfort said.

Agreed, Dick.

Remember this feeling, Dick. Especially when these players want to resign with you. Don't blow it.

Props to the Rockies for taking some of the sting out of the phantom Broncos appearance today.

Rest up and be ready to pound Penny and Dodgers on Tuesday like you did last week.

Not only are we talking about Rockies baseball after July, we're talking about Rockies baseball on September 23.

We're definitely in the mix and it IS exiting and fun. Finally, something we can agree about, Dick.

Giving TD Some Love

At today's B'cos game at Invesco, Terrell Davis will be inducted into the Ring of Fame. There is no doubt he is one of the greatest Broncos ever. While the successes of RB's that have come after TD has led some to speculate anyone can take handoffs in a Denver backfield and put up dizzying numbers, having watched TD and his successors, I can say he was clearly in a class by himself when it comes to play-to-play consistency(almost a guaranteed 4-5 yards) and the ability to break the long one. The dude barely fumbled at all, and what can you say about SB XXXII (with apologizes to Chain Lightning). Without TD, Elway's legacy might have been more like that of Dan Marino.

He was a pleasure to watch play during his all-too-short career and it will be pretty cool to give him a salute today during halftime.

Go Broncos!

Welcome to the Seth Smith Era!

Sweet catch, Cameron!

This Seth Smith kid looks like a suitable replacement for Matt Holliday.

The H in Hawpe stands for Hero

Lefty on lefty! How did that slide past our manager of the year candidate?

WE BELIEVE!

That's a Sweep

Not much to say about this ass-kicking, other than it was really never in doubt once the Rox posted a six-spot in the bottom of the 2nd. Sure, the dodgers pulled within 3 runs, but Tulo quickly quashed any fears of a comeback with a 2-run jack. Ubaldo with a solid outing and yes Holliday hit another homer, of the 3-run variety. I haven't done my research, but I'm willing to bet this is the first 4-game sweep of the dodgers ever by the Rox. Of course, the Bucs lose again to the Pads, so no ground is made up in the wildcard. The math is starting to get worse as the Rockies pile up wins. Nonetheless, great to see the brooms out at Coors on a lovely Thursday afternoon. (No regrets about taking the afternoon off of work.) If the sweeping continues this weekend for the Rox (a very tall order), things could get very interesting.

And how about the Das Boot victory!!!

WEEK 3; NFL

Another weekend of football is just minutes away! Week 3 of the NFL season gets underway with another marquee (JV) match-up involving a couple of the league heavyweights in Dallas and Chicago on Monday night. The Chargers have to face another tough opponent, when they travelto Lambeau? The Bolts are just lucky that it ain’t cold weather Wisconsin, yet. I haven’t made my picks yet, but as you could imagine, “make mine, Green Bay.”

The local team will be hosting the Jax Jags this Sunday as they look to improve upon their mesmerizing offensive inequities. #1 in the league in total yards, but only 17th in points? Since the departure of Elway, this has been a problem for Coach Shanny’s teams. This year, however, it just seems like a matter of time before Henry starts punching a few more in, as Cutler, Javon Walker, and Brandon Marshall figure out their timing. One topic that has gotten some pretty good play over the week has been the lack of tight end production. That “extremely heavy white canvas sack with the huge dollar bill sign on it” that we gave the Daniel Graham needs to start paying more dividends than just his mashing, run-blocks. I’m thinking in the red-zone, a la Shannon Sharpe.

This Jacksonville team is a one-headed monster. Defense. With the full-time switch to David Gerrard, the Jags are sealing their fate to mediocrity. The defense is tough, fast, and will make things hard on the Broncos all day. But like last week, I just don’t think that the Broncos defense will allow for much on the other end. Yes, the Raiders made plays/should have won the game. Yes, the Broncos don’t have the best history with playing this team on the west side of downtown. (To steal a dorky Harry Potter reference, THE GAME THAT SHALL NOT BE MENTIONED.) But the (degenerate) straight up play here is the home team for many reasons. The Broncos have actually defended Fred Taylor much better than many of the other teams around the league. David Gerrard is their quarterback (not a racially charged statement, he just kinda sucks.) And finally, the Broncos’ coach will make Jack Del Rio melt under the pressure.

“Remember, Coach Del Rio, if you get the chance, call a timeout and ice the kicker, it works.”

Like I mentioned in my preview a couple of weeks ago, a win in this spot would put the Broncos at 3-0 and in a nice position to figure out where they stand. A week-four trip to Indianapolis will allow Denver to measure out the length of the gap between them and the league/AFC’s elite.

Broncos 31 Jags 10 is gonna be my call today. I think the Broncos are busting out (did I say that last week, too?) and despite the stoutness of the Jags defense, the Broncos have the ability (and the arm strength) to counterattack. If the Jags want to sell the farm with their two big defensive tackles in an attempt to stop Henry, let the kid throw. Want to pressure Cutler and bring blitz packages, let the Atomic Dog go wild, buck wild.

If the weekend culminates with the Broncos sitting two games ahead of San Diego, the future looks bright for the Orange and Blue. The Packers have the defense to take down the Bolts and their (suddenly?) mortal leader, Felipe Rios. Oh yeah, DeathTruck, Sammy Winder, TroutDog, and myself will be accepting. BRING IT!

More Late Inning Drama

Things have been pretty crazy at Coors Field the last couple of nights. Again, the game looked just beyond reach, with a 5-6 eighth inning deficit and the Dodgers formidable bullpen standing in the way. The hero tonight - a badly slumping Brad Hawpe. The dude has been a strikeout factory lately and after drawing a 3-0 count and pinch runner Kazmat (who is suddenly back in action to steal bases after a hammy injury?) moving to second base with no outs , Hawpe quickly runs the count full. It looked like another strikeout at the worst possible time. But, as he's often done this season, Hawpe comes through with a big hit, this time a towering 2-run shot into the right field stands. Not quite as dramatic as Helton's 9th inning walkoff 2-run blast last night, but pretty stunning all the same.

Not to be lost in Hawpe's heroics - Holliday with two solo blasts (I'm even thinking of picking up a Creed cd), Yorvit adding his first homer since July, and a pretty solid string of relievers in Assfeldt, Buchholtz, Fuentes (dude seems way more comfortable in the setup role), and my main man Corpas. This was all after Ryan Spiers blew a sixth inning lead with a miserable relief outing. Mad props to Corpas on his tshirt jersey night (damn, wish I had one!), who entered a pressure cooker after the 8th inning fireworks and the heart of the Dodgers lineup coming up. After surrending a single to Kent, Manny settles down and gets the Kemp, Gonzo, and Nomar in order. No easy feat with the slimmest margin of error.

Keep the streak rolling tomorrow boys.......go Bucs!!

Helton's Goatee Pays Off Bigtime

While playoff hopes are pretty much nil at this point, yesterday's double-header sweep over the Dodgers was pretty sweet. A picture perfect September afternoon for Game 1 (myself, Deathtruck, and Sammy Winder in attendance) followed up by perhaps the most dramatic game of the year for the Rox. Who doesn't like to see Helton get a little Sept drama? It was a complete team effort with major contributions from Holliday and Spilly, but Helton stole the spotlight with his 2-out, 1-2 count homerun off of the masterful Takashi (I drink to that) Saito. Todd's stage dive into home plate might need a little work, but his clutchness down the stretch has been undeniable.

Let's get another win tonight. Fogg has his work cut out for him tonight against Brad Penny.

Go Rox!!

They Play Football on Saturdays, Too!

The collegiate game finished up its third week of action and surprisingly not much has changed around the Front Range. CU and CSU continue to disappoint. Wyoming wants to be the next up-and-coming Boise State-type. But it’s those Falcons from the Air Force Academy that still continue to be the class (in many ways) of the area. (Oh yeah, and the punters up at UNC stab each other for starting jobs.)

The Buffs from Boulder hosted a national late-night game against the aging Bobby Bowden and the Florida State Seminoles. I was able to sit through much of the game, but lost consciousness towards the end of the third. To me, the game was won with speed. Despite being supposedly in a “down” year (and they most assuredly are) the Seminoles still made the Buffs look like they were running in snow boots. The Buffs have gaping deficiencies at many positions, including wide-out where they continue to drop perfectly placed balls by Cody Hawkins. Wee Hawk again looked impressive at times, but the anemic running game is doing little to aid. Still a work in progress. DeathTruck, did you accept the game?

My boys down at the Academy pulled off another upset this week beating the Mountain West favorite, TCU, in an overtime thriller, eerily similar to that of the game that went on downtown on Sunday. Again, an upright was clanked, which allowed for game-winners to follow. Thursday night’s win came just five days after the Falcons beat perennial MWC titan, Utah in the SLC. That win was nicely highlighted and accentuated by what the Utes did to the #11 ranked UCLA Bruins this past Saturday. Beat ‘em by like FORTY! Guess, UCLA isn’t back. Basically, the Falcons better get some votes for the top 25. Period.

Rammies were off, Cowboys got beat by Boise State and Notre Dame sucks, bad.

While there is a lot of talk about parity finally coming to college football (see Boise St./App St.) this season there seems to be an ever bigger than normal rift between the elite and the rest. USC (face Corn) LSU and Oklahoma are far and away better than everybody else. BCS Title Game is already figured out. Two of the three will be in it! Season over!

NFL Head Coaches Should Not Be Younger Than Me

Prepubescent Oakland Raider Head Coach Lane Kiffin must be smartin’ this morning. Not only did his Raider squad have a divisional road opponent “on ice” with the game in the balance, but they snapped defeat from the jaws of victory for a second week in a row.

I don’t need to rehash what went down yesterday at Mile High. The Broncos dodged a huge bullet eeking out a 23-20 OT win, helped in large part to a frozen Jablonski (with a nod to Irv Brown.) I’ll be honest; I was standing next to the TV when his first kick went through the uprights from 52 yards out. My hand reached out to manually turn the set off when my immediate thoughts of, “did we really just lose to the Raiders at home?” were thankfully dashed by the supple, silky smooth voice of Kevin Harlan. Shanny had called timeout! Brilliant! You’re paying attention over on the east sidelines, right Kiff? Seabass promptly stepped back up and proceeded to drill a deep laser, but alas, it took a fortuitous (for Bronco fans, at least) kick off the top of the goal post. As Jay Cutler (he of the back-to-back come from behind wins) put in the locker room following the game, “Dude, that would have been good from 70!” For some reason, Kiffin didn't want to bite on Shanny's style, and gave no effort to ice Elam in OT.

The win puts the fortunate (and very easily 0-2) Broncos at 2-0 and atop the AFC West. They sit in first alone, as the Super Chargers got punked badly by the New England Patriotic Espionage Agents. Speaking of incompetent head coaches, I bring you Norv Turner and his offensive #2, Felipe Rios. Speaking of overrated, incompetent quarterbacks!

The Chiefs' loss at the hands of the Chicago Bears rounded off the perfect AFC West weekend. Additional conference defeats for the Cincinnati Bengals and the New York Jets make my heart warm. The Pats and Colts still look to be the class of the conference, with the former still working with a depleted roster. Believe me that I shant forget about the Chargers. Their defense is just flat out nasty. Or at least, I thought so before last night. Maybe Merriodman needs some more clomid.

I apologize for my inability to come through with a preview on Friday, but I put down some mean chainsawing this weekend. Have no fear, however, my skills will return!

Passing the Torch

Not much of a preview here, but thought I'd try to get the ball rolling. Cutler making his home-opener debut. Let's hope it's the start of many years of glory. Today's game is supposed to be easy, but so was the last regular season home game we had (still recovering from that one).

I'll be in attendance for today's showdown with the Raiders. This is one of 5 home games I currently have tickets for this year. Currently, I'm not holding tickets for the Steelers game. Would like to attend with gsquints, so if anyone knows how come about these tickets, let me know.

Chained Lightning - how things going on at Dickeytohold.com?