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Rockies should worry about Giants, not Dodgers

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Tracy Ringolsby

Tracy Ringolsby is a Hall of Fame baseball writer. He is in his 36th year covering Major League Baseball, is a co-founder of Baseball America, and is in his third year as pregame and postgame analyst for Colorado Rockies games on Root Sports.

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Updated Aug 27, 2009 10:43 PM ET
     
 

DENVER

Talk about a setup.
The Dodgers arrived at Coors Field on Tuesday whispering sweet nothings. They left town slightly more than 48 hours later, having served a reminder to the Rockies about who is the boss in the NL West. The NL wild card is still viable for the Rockies — if they don't get sidetracked by the last two games. The NL West, however, is the Dodgers' — even if manager Joe Torre was talking nice about his team's closest pursuer this week. "We feel (the Rockies) coming,'' said Torre. "That is a good team. They hustle all the time and play fundamentally sound baseball. If you do that and believe, some good things will happen.'' A lot of good things have happened of late with the Rockies, who have won 54 of 81 games since Jim Tracy became manager; have rallied from a 15 1/2-game deficit and 12 games below .500 back on June 4 to their current 72-57, four games behind the Dodgers, and are talking about their focus being on a division title, not a wild-card invite to the postseason. The last couple of days, however, the Dodgers did reinforce some reason for doubt. The Rockies pulled out a 5-4, 10-inning victory in the series opener on Tuesday night, but after that, they became the victims. The Dodgers took advantage of fill-in starter Josh Fogg in a 6-1 victory on Wednesday and finished off the series with a 3-2 victory on Thursday. Matt Kemp, the second batter of the game, hit a two-run home run to give the Dodgers a lead they never gave up. "That's a good team over there,'' said Tracy. The Dodgers have made sure that the Rockies know that. The Dodgers have won 12 of 15 games against the Rockies this season. The two teams won't meet again until the final three games of the season. "Wouldn't it be something if those three games matter?'' asked Tracy. It might be worth watching, but the history the Dodgers have built this year would hang over the Rockies if those three games did matter. How dominant have the Dodgers been so far against the Rockies? So dominant that the Rockies will point to the fact they have won two of six games against the Dodgers since their managerial change, but two of the losses were by one run and a third came in extra innings. "We didn't win the series, but we played great,'' said Tracy. But not great enough. The back-to-back wins over the Rockies came at a time the Dodgers needed something good to happen. They have reached such a point of desperation that they have turned to Vicente Padilla to help out an ailing rotation. Yes, Padilla gave them a solid six innings against the Rockies, but don't overlook the fact this is the guy that another team with postseason ambitions, Texas, released, swallowing more than $2 million that remained on his contract because he had become such a complete clubhouse headache that it almost came down to a him-or-us ultimatum from his own teammates. But then the Dodgers embraced Manny Ramirez a year ago, and his one-way approach to life was reinforced again this week when he announced to his teammates that he'd be back next year. Like he has a choice. Who else is going to shell out the $20 million contained in his personal option to return to the Dodgers to a player who has become a defensive debacle, was given a 50-day in-season, unpaid vacation for violating baseball's drug agreement and now, when the Dodgers need some offensive life, is in a legitimate offensive funk? Over his last 73 at-bats not only has he hit just one home run, but he's driven in only five. But when the Dodgers needed wins, while Ramirez was twisting his dreadlocks, they did find salvation from the bats of the overshadowed stars in their lineup. Andre Ethier, who homered twice off Fogg on Wednesday, and Kemp, who had a double and a single to go with his two-run home run off Jorge De La Rosa on Thursday, delivered when Manny couldn't. And it's the ability-under-pressure of those two, along with the disruptive abilities of Rafael Furcal and Orlando Hudson that will be what carries the Dodgers offense, allowing them to keep the Rockies and possibly San Francisco Giants at bay. For all their problems with the Dodgers, the Rockies are still in control of their own postseason destiny. They came out of the Dodger series still holding a 2 1/2-game wild-card lead on San Francisco, pending the outcome of the Giants game with Arizona on Thursday night.
What's critical for the Rockies now is that they don't get distracted by the disappointment of the last two games. They have a schedule that gives them an edge. They have to keep their focus on getting the job done each night. And the job they face the next three nights will be as challenging as any job they have dealt with this year. It's a three-game trip to San Francisco, and the Giants, who lost three of four at Coors Field last weekend, have their rotation aligned exactly how they would like it for a showdown series. There are the overpowering right arms of Tim Lincecum and Matt Cain on Friday and Sunday with the crafty left-handed ways of Barry Zito set to throw in the middle on Saturday night. If the Rockies come out of that series still in charge of the wild card, the schedule does lean in their favor. Not only do they have 19 of their final 31 games at Coors Field, but they have only nine of their final 31 games against teams with winning records — three at San Francisco Sept. 14-16, three against St. Louis at Coors Field Sept. 25-27, and the final three at Los Angeles Oct. 2-4. "We've got to keep trudging forward,'' said Tracy.
Tagged: Barry Zito, Giants, Rockies, Rafael Furcal, Matt Kemp, Andre Ethier, Dodgers, Matt Cain, Vicente Padilla, Orlando Hudson, Manny Ramirez, Jorge De La Rosa

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