When I laid my head on the pillow last night after the Colorado Rockies gave up a two run lead in the ninth inning to get knocked out of the National League Divisional Series, I had planned on penning a harsh sports column demanding the head of Rox closer Huston Street, who got blasted for a loss on Sunday evening and Monday evening, in the final inning of those two games. While that disappointment still lingers, I don’t think a harsh column right now saying anything negative about the Rockies is really called for.

After all, they started this season off as one of the worst teams in baseball, before they decided to tell former manager Clint Hurdle to take a hike and bring up Jim Tracy to turn the team around – and turn the team around he did. When Tracy took the job back in May, his team was 18-28. Not completely in the cellar, but certainly not a playoff team and not a team that looked like they would have much success. But then Tracy brought some sort of Zen to the team and settled them into 92-70 season that was a rollercoaster ride of fun. (I had bloodshot eyes and some rough mornings at work because of late-game wins this year thanks to the boys on Blake Street. What a great time.)

Yes, I would like to put the Rockies 5-4 playoff loss strictly on the shoulders of Street, but it really wasn’t just his loss either. The Rockies forgot to take a play out of their own playbook on clutch hitting. While they did finally score three runs in the bottom of the eighth inning, the Rockies failed to come through on clutch hits throughout this whole postseason series with the Phillies. Coming through on clutch hits is a big reason why the Rockies made it into the postseason in the first place. Remember those games against the Giants when they were actually in the running for the wildcard slot? It was clutch-hit city for the Rockies when they needed them most. Oh, yeah, Street was also the hottest closer in the game at the time. That’s really the nut of these last two losses. No clutch hitting and unreliable closing pitching is the cause for an early exit out of the playoffs. For once it wasn’t about the starting pitching. They were great getting into the postseason and didn’t do bad in the postseason either. (I would like to have seen Jorge De La Rosa pitch the second game but you can’t be an injured starting pitcher in baseball, I guess).

So now we fans must decide whether or not to watch the rest of the playoffs and the World Series without our beloved Rockies in the game. It was nice to see the Red Sox go down in flames to the Angels for sure. I guess if I am going to have to go for anybody now, it should probably be the Phillies.

Why? Because I am tired of fans of American League teams talking trash that the AL is far superior to the National League (in most aspects it is). Those people say that watching the NL teams play is like they are watching some form of little league baseball. I would like the NL team to stick it to the AL in the World Series to shut those people up for awhile. (At least NL pitchers are man enough to bat each and every game.) Go Phillies. Onward to world champions, I say. Beat the Dodgers. And if the Dodgers beat the Phillies, I say, go Angels because I hate Manny and the Dodgers worse than any AL team except the Yankees. Confused? Me too.

Go Broncos.