Head First into the Playoffs

[I wrote this for my sportswriting class, so it might not be what you are used to, but I threw it up here anyways...Enjoy, or don't. I guess that's up to you]

There’s nothing more exciting in major league baseball than an extra-inning, sudden-death, loser-go-home, game to decide who goes on to the post season and who sits at home and watches from their couch.

Last night the Colorado Rockies won the National League Wild Card after beating the San Diego Padres in a 13-inning one-game playoff at Coors Field in Denver, Colo.

It wasn’t just that the Rockies beat the Padres and secured a place in this year’s playoffs, it was how they did it. The Rockies won an astonishing 13 of there last 14 regular season games to catch up with the Padres and force this dramatic one-game playoff.

The Padres had every opportunity to win the wild card. In fact, they were one out away from beating the Milwaukee Brewers, locking up the wild card and solidifying their position in the post season, but thanks to a Tony Gywnn Jr. game-winning hit, the Rockies lived to see another day and the Padres were forced to play for their lives last night in Denver.

Unfortunately for the Padres and their fans, they lost the game and their premature playoff lives. To their credit, the Padres didn’t go quietly into the night. They battled back from a 3-0 early deficit, and in dramatic fashion took their only lead at 4-3 thanks to an Adrian Gonzalez 4th-inning grand slam. From that point on, the game became an instant classic as the Rockies battled back.

You can’t write the drama that sport provides, and that was certainly true for this game. It had all the makings of a jaw-dropping classic.

I’m a Pittsburgh native and a Pirate fan, and with that comes the inability to get excited for much of anything that happens on a major-league diamond, but I can say without a shred of a doubt that I was more than excited last night.

Fast forward to the top of the 13th inning where the real drama happened as the Padres took an 8-6 lead off of a Scott Hairston two-run homerun. At that point, I thought the Rockies were done, and couldn’t come back and win and so did the rest of the civilized world.

The Rockies, as they have all year, had other plans and knew they could mount a comeback and slide head first (quite literally) into the playoffs. The Rockies came out in the home half of the inning and hit back to back doubles followed by a clutch triple from a National League MVP candidate, Matt Halladay. Keep in mind this all came off of the majors all-time leader in saves, Trevor Hoffman.

Todd Helton was then intentionally walked if only because it only seemed inevitable that he would end this game with a walk-off hit since he has been a Rockie since Prince was cool. The Padres and Hoffman took that opportunity away from Helton and took their chances with Jamey Carroll, who ultimately ended the game with a walk-off sac liner to Brian Giles in right field.

As Halladay tagged up and raced home, he and the Rockies slid into the playoffs head first with a face full of dirt as his hand may or may not have touched the dish. That doesn’t matter, though. He was called safe, and his team won the game because of it.

Don’t hate, appreciate. The Rockies are in the playoffs.

Celebrate the Rockies and the one-game playoff structure.