MEDIA CLIPS – Sept. 21, 2018

Rockies' road gets steeper after sweep in LA

Katie Woo | MLB.com | Sept. 19, 2018

LOS ANGELES -- The Dodgers gut-punched the Rockies with a late home run for the second straight game in

Wednesday night's 5-2 loss to complete a three-game sweep at and move Colorado 2 1/2 games back in the West.

The Rockies are now 1 1/2 games behind St. Louis for the second NL Wild Card spot.

Yasiel Puig became the latest Dodger to sink the Rockies. With the game tied at 2 in the seventh inning, Puig faced off against Scott Oberg as a pinch-hitter with runners on second and third. Puig unloaded on a 0-1 pitch, sending it into the left-field bleachers for a three-run homer.

"That started out from the get-go to be a hard-fought game," manager said. "We have all the confidence in the world the way [Oberg's] thrown this month. The way he's thrown the ball, we felt he could get Puig."

With one out, the Rockies elected not to intentionally walk Puig to load the bases and put a potential inning-ending double play on the table. They chose rather to throw "chase pitches" to Puig, hoping he'd bite. But Puig connected on a breaking ball that was low and outside.

"We weren't necessarily trying to walk him, but with the way he's been swinging the bat, we weren't trying to give him anything to hit," catcher Chris Iannetta said. "We were mostly trying to pitch to him like he had two strikes on him.

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"Personally for me, there's not much I would've done differently," he added. "We still would've tried to pitch him with chase pitches. If you're going to pitch to him in that situation, you pitch to him carefully."

With 10 games remaining in the regular season, the Rockies have their work cut out for them if they want to claim their first division title in franchise history. They've gotten no help from their offense, which has struggled in the last week.

They've mustered just nine total runs in their last six games.

"These last two games especially came down to a couple big swings," Black said. "They got them and we didn't. We had a couple of opportunities through the course of yesterday and tonight to get that hit and to swing the game our way. But that's ."

The Rockies searched all series for their own big swing, but never got one. Colorado's first three batters of the game reached and loaded the bases against Dodgers starter Walker Buehler, but Buehler battled back to retire Nolan

Arenado and Gerardo Parra. delivered, though, sending a sharp ground ball to center field for a two-out, two-run single.

It certainly seemed to be the key hit the Rockies were seeking, but Colorado wasn't able to put anything else together against Buehler. He struck out a career-high 12 batters and allowed just three baserunners over the next five innings. The

Rockies mustered one hit over that span -- a single in the third inning by David Dahl -- and didn't record another hit until

Arenado's single in the eighth inning.

"Obviously everyone's going to look at our offense right now," Iannetta said. " You can see it as a tale of two teams right now with the Dodgers getting hot over the last week and a half. We've been grinding a little bit the past week and a half.

We've had moments, but we haven't had consistent production at the plate."

The Rockies will head to Arizona to close out the road trip and their final road series of the regular season. They won't have an easy test ahead of them as they attempt to break out of their offensive woes. The first two they face are Zack Greinke and Patrick Corbin.

ANDERSON KEEPS IT TIGHT

Tyler Anderson followed up his last outing with another quality start, again spinning six innings of two-run ball. He yielded

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just three hits, but they were big ones. Anderson was tagged for his first hit when Matt Kemp unleashed a solo shot to left field in the second inning to cut the Dodgers' deficit to 2-1.

He bounced back with perfect third and fourth innings, but surrendered a single to Joc Pederson to lead off the fifth. Brian Dozier made Anderson pay two at-bats later when he lined a double in the left-center gap to tie the game at 2.

"They hit the ball hard, but the pitches they hit were good," Anderson said. "As a you can take that and say that I'm executing."

Anderson notched back-to-back starts spanning six innings or more for the first time since the end of July. In five starts against the Dodgers this season, he has gone 1-1 with a 3.58 ERA and limited Dodger hitters to a .228 batting average.

SOUND SMART

Desmond's two-run single accounted for RBIs No. 80 and 81 this season. He's now the eighth player in franchise history to have notched 20 home runs, 80 RBIs and 20 steals in a season and joins Trevor Storyas the second to do so this season.

HE SAID IT

"Losing tonight's game is tough. Throughout the course of the season, we've always said to try to wipe out as many losses as we possibly can, but obviously with the impact this has on the standings, it's a bigger loss. It makes our job a lot harder if we want to get in the playoffs. We have to rely on other teams as well as play really well with 10 games to go. It's definitely tougher." -- Iannetta, on the loss and being swept

UP NEXT

After an off-day on Thursday, German Marquez will take the mound for the Rockies Friday night as Colorado heads to

Arizona. Marquez has given up three runs or less in each of his last 10 starts. He'll take on Greinke, with first pitch scheduled for 7:40 p.m. MT.

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Slumping Rockies need a turnaround, fast, or playoff hopes will be gone Failure to get clutch hits has haunted Rockies all season

Patrick Saunders | Denver Post | Sept. 19, 2018

The not-ready-for-prime-time Rockies no longer control their own fate.

After a disastrous 1-5 West Coast road swing through San Francisco (1-2) and Los Angeles (0-3), the Rockies’ chance of winning their first National League West title is slim. What remains is a chance for a wild-card berth. The problem is,

Colorado’s going to need help in order for that to happen.

“Now we have to rely on other teams, as well as we have to play really well with 10 games to go,” veteran catcher Chris

Iannetta said late Wednesday night after a 5-2 loss to the Dodgers left Colorado 2 ½ games behind Los Angeles in the

National League West. “I still don’t think it’s hard to stay even (keeled). By the time the next game rolls around, you reset.”

The next game arrives Friday night at Arizona, which has fallen six games behind L.A.

The Rockies, in their 26th season, have never qualified for the playoffs in back-to-back seasons. The chance to accomplish that remains, but it will take a combination of the Rockies snapping out of their funk, and, most likely, St. Louis stumbling a bit.

The Cardinals (84-69) head into a three-game weekend series vs. the Giants with a 1 ½-game lead over Colorado (82-70) for the second wild-card spot. Milwaukee (87-66) holds the top wild-card spot, with a three-game edge over the Cardinals and a 4 ½-game lead over the Rockies. The Brewers, at Pittsburgh for three games this weekend, still have hopes of catching Chicago in the NL Central, but trail the Cubs by 2 ½ games.

To beat Arizona this weekend, the Rockies must find a way to jump start their offense. Their team average was .158 in the six games at San Francisco and Los Angeles. They struck out 54 times and hit .108 with runners in scoring position (4-for-

37).

Third baseman Nolan Arenado is in the midst of a huge slump, having hit .160 (4-for-25) over his last six games, with five over the final two games at Los Angeles.

“These last two games, especially, came down to a couple big swings,” Rockies manager Bud Black said of the losses to

L.A. on Tuesday and Wednesday night. “They got them and we didn’t.”

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Unfortunately for the Rockies, failure in the clutch has been a reoccurring theme.

• .254 overall batting average ranks fifth in the National League but would rank as the worst in franchise history (.258 in

2011 was the previous low).

• .256 batting average with runners in scoring position is tied with the 2008 club for the second-lowest ever (2011 team hit

.245)

• .220 batting average with two outs and runners in scoring position would be the worst in franchise history. (.230 in 2006

was previous low)

“Obviously everyone’s going to look at our offense right now,” Iannetta said. “You can see it as a tale of two teams

right now with the Dodgers getting hot over the last week and a half. We’ve been grinding a little bit the past week and a

half. We’ve had moments, but we haven’t had consistent production at the plate.”

Veteran outfielder Matt Holliday, brought in late in the season to add some oomph to the offense, tried to put a positive

spin on the Rockies’ playoff chances.

“We control what we control, which is playing well everyday and coming to the park with enthusiasm and excitement,

because we still have a great opportunity in front of us,” Holliday said. “We’ll take a deep breath, and come back on

Friday.

“From what I’ve seen, this is a group of guys who grind and who love the game. They sort of take it home with them, and

it makes it important to them. That’s also one of the things that makes us resilient.”

Looking ahead

Rockies RHP German Marquez (12-10, 3.96 ERA) at Diamondbacks RHP Zack Greinke (14-10, 3.20), 7:40 p.m.

Friday; ATTRM, 850 AM

The Rockies’ season is on the brink, and the Diamondbacks’ has gone over the cliff, but this remains a compelling

pitching matchup. Marquez wasn’t at his best in his last start, allowing three earned runs on seven hits and a walk while

striking out four across six innings in a loss at San Francisco on Saturday. But Marquez has been mostly terrific during the

second half of the season, posting 10 consecutive quality starts. His combination of a fastball-slider-curve has enabled

him to strike out 48 over his last 34⅔ innings. But Arizona all-star first baseman Paul Goldschmidt has owned Marquez,

batting 10-for-23 (.435) with four home runs, two doubles, eight RBIs and a 1.579 OPS. Greinke pitched 6⅓ innings

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Sunday but wasn’t sharp, allowing four runs on eight hits and two walks in the 5-4 loss to Houston. The veteran right- hander gave up a home run and struck out just two while taking the loss. He is 3-1 with a 2.45 ERA in four starts against the Rockies this season. The durable Greinke needs just 5⅔ innings to reach 200 for the eighth time in his career.

Saturday: Rockies RHP (5-6, 4.81) at Diamondbacks LHP Patrick Corbin (11-6, 3.09), 6:10 p.m., ATTRM

Sunday: Rockies LHP (15-7, 2.95) at Diamondbacks RHP Zack Godley (14-10, 4.79), 2:10 p.m., ATTRM

Monday: Phillies RHP Zach Eflin (11-7, 4.09) at Rockies LHP Tyler Anderson (6-9, 4.76), 6:40 p.m., ATTRM

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Rockies Insider: For all the declarations of Colorado’s season being “over”, Rocktober’s still within reach Going by the pulse of the Twittersphere, Colorado’s season has been “over” many times in 2018

Kyle Newman and Jeff Bailey | Denver Post | Sept. 19, 2018

Going by the pulse of the Rockies’ Twittersphere, Colorado’s season has been “over” many times in 2018.

Wednesday’s loss to the Dodgers, which clinched Los Angeles’ sweep, brought on the latest such proclamations.

First, the unsympathetic eulogies poured in following a 3-2 loss to the Cubs at Wrigley on April 30, a defeat that dropped

Colorado to 15-15 and six games back in the division race.

The Rockies are screwed, this team can’t hit! It was true they couldn’t, really, batting a paltry .220 as a team in April.

But then the Rockies ripped off six straight wins, and slowly but surely over May and into June, the bats warmed up.

Then Colorado entered its June swoon, and the death notices once again ran rampant on social media, especially after

Wade Davis surrendered four runs in a disastrous walk-off loss for the Rockies in Arlington on June 17.

The team got romped by 10 runs by the Mets to open a homestand the next day, and again, the Rockies found themselves six games back in the division.

Colorado is toast, this $100 million bullpen is trash! It was true the relieving unit was a walking dumpster fire, posting a major-league worst 7.78 ERA in June.

But then guess what happened? The Rockies rebounded with a 17-6 record in July, a

.738 winning percentage that was the second-highest for a month in franchise history.

These last couple months have brought more “it’s over!” cries, however — notably after beginning August with four difficult road defeats, and most recently amid Colorado’s consecutive series losses to San Francisco and Los Angeles.

Yet here the Rockies stand, 10 games to play, 2½ out of the division and 1½ out of the second wild card spot. It’s been a roller-coaster, no doubt, and they should be in a better position than they’re currently in.

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But throughout the final stretch, with Colorado still within striking distance of another Rocktober, don’t write off this season

as “over” until the very final 162nd game is played.

— Kyle Newman, The Denver Post

What’s on tap?

• At Arizona Diamondbacks, 7:40 p.m. Friday, ATTRM

• At Arizona Diamondbacks, 6:10 p.m. Saturday, ATTRM

• At Arizona Diamondbacks, 2:10 p.m. Sunday, ATTRM

• Philadelphia Phillies, 6:40 p.m. Monday, ATTRM

• Philadelphia Phillies, 6:40 p.m. Tuesday, ATTRM

• Philadelphia Phillies, 6:40 p.m. Wednesday, ATTRM

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Kiszla: As Rockies stumble in playoff race, what’s wrong with Nolan Arenado? Is he hurt? Or choking? In the batter’s box, he lunges at sliders, a blindfolded man taking hacks at a piñata, instead of driving home teammates in the clutch.

Mark Kiszla | Denver Post | Sept. 19, 2018

With each ugly thump of a slider being buried in the catcher’s mitt, the dream of October baseball in Colorado is dying. In his biggest week wearing a Rockies uniform, Nolan Arenado is striking out.

Again and again and again.

What’s wrong with Arenado?

In the batter’s box, he lunges at sliders, a blindfolded man taking hacks at a piñata, instead of driving home teammates in the clutch. Long admired for creating works of art from the dirt at third base, Arenado now more closely resembles the

Venus de Milo stuck in a hot dusty corner, stiff as a statue with no right arm. During a disastrous road trip in which the

Rockies are slowly sinking in the National League West, their MVP is MIA.

What’s the trouble with Nolan?

There are two choices, neither one of them good for a team that now will require a baseball miracle to qualify for the playoffs.

Arenado is hurt. Or he’s choking.

I don’t play a doctor on television, but my guess: Arenado is suffering worse pain than he lets on. While he insists the soreness in his right shoulder that flared up Aug. 10 is not adversely impacting his performance, I hope that is a lie.

Because Nolan hasn’t been Nolan in six weeks.

Arenado craves to play on a championship contender. But there’s no way to sugarcoat it. In the month of September, he has failed to play winning baseball.

His statistics for this month are brutal for a superstar, with a .239 batting average and three home runs. When a hitter at the heart of the order has an on-base plus slugging percentage of .761, it’s no wonder the Colorado offense barely has a pulse.

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While refusing to use his aching right shoulder as an excuse, Arenado’s shoulders have sagged under the burden of trying to carry this team on this road trip. The Rockies lost a grip on first place by dropping five of six games in San

Francisco and Los Angeles. All Arenado has to show for his 25 at-bats in those six games are three singles, a double, one lousy RBI and a whole lot of frustration. In big, MVP-defining moments at the plate, Arenado has not only struck out, he has appeared clueless.

I guarantee this slump makes Arenado sick to his stomach, and the pain in his shoulder is nothing compared to the agony in his heart should the Rockies fall short of the playoffs.

It doesn’t take a sabermetric genius to realize: When Arenado mashes the baseball, the Rockies win. When Arenado has smacked a home run, including his multi-dinger games, Colorado’s record is 20-12 this season.

There’s no crying in baseball, but plenty of reasons to curse the game’s cruelty. At 27, Arenado is the youngest third baseman in history to produce 30 homers and 100 RBI in four consecutive years. History, however, has been extremely unkind to the Rockies, who have never won a division title.

Barring the Los Angeles Dodgers getting lost on their way to the ballpark, the N.L. West crown is now all but out of reach for Colorado. To have a shot at a wild-card berth, the Rockies probably need to win no fewer than seven of their final 10 games.

Does this team have one more run in it? Say your prayers, because it feels like the end of an era that’s only just begun.

The heavy hammer of financial reality is poised to break the bonds of genuine brotherhood in the Colorado clubhouse.

These are almost certainly the final days of DJ LeMahieu and Carlos Gonzalez in a Rockies uniform. What’s more alarming? Once the calendar flips to 2019, the clock will tick louder every day on Arenado’s impending free agency in

2020.

I don’t know if a white paging phone still exists. But Arenado better pick it up.

Or what little prayer Colorado has of making the playoffs will go unanswered.

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In bullpen hindsight, could Rockies have avoided sweep by Dodgers with intentional walk to Yasiel Puig? With a base open and two men on in the seventh, a free pass to the Dodgers’ slugger could have set up a one-out, double-play

Kyle Newman | Denver Post | Sept. 19, 2018

LOS ANGELES — By smacking Scott Oberg‘s seventh-inning slider 420 feet into the Dodger Stadium bleachers on

Wednesday night, Yasiel Puig cemented Los Angeles’ sweep of the Rockies to put his club in the driver’s seat for its sixth consecutive NL West crown.

And as usually occurs when the Colorado bullpen has imploded this season, there were plenty of armchair managers out there who were flabbergasted as to why Bud Black even let Oberg pitch to Puig. There was a base open and an intentional walk with one out would have set up a potential inning-ending double-play.

The case for going after Puig, as Black mentioned post-game, was Oberg’s utter domination as of late as he’s been

Colorado’s clear-cut best reliever down the stretch. Black clearly has a level of faith in the right-hander that he doesn’t have with many other arms out in the bullpen.

Coming into the game Oberg had a 1.19 ERA in 22.2 innings pitched since August 1, including just two home runs given up, both of which were hit by left-handers. Against 41 right-handed batters in that time span, Oberg had yielded just five hits and one earned run.

But the hot bat canceled out the hot arm in this case as the right-handed hitting Puig — out of the starting lineup the final two games of the series due to poor reverse splits against lefties — blasted his second career pinch-hit home run that he followed with an array of celebrations as he trotted the bases.

A quick glance at Puig’s September stat line forms the convincing argument for why Colorado should have given him a free pass, and potentially avoided his back-breaking home run.

Sure, putting Puig on would have meant having to face another one of the dangerous bats off the Dodgers’ ridiculously deep bench, but it also would’ve meant avoiding a men among boys right now who is hitting .452 (14-for-31) with seven homers, nine runs scored and a dozen RBIs in his last dozen games.

And now, by pitching — and getting beat — by the Dodgers’ most brazen player, Puig’s homer and the sweep have only emboldened Los Angeles’ belief that it will emerge victorious in the divisional chase.

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“We’re going to win the West again,” Puig told Los Angeles reporters after the Dodgers took their largest divisional lead this season at 2½ games.

It’s a sentiment that Puig might not have been able to relay with such confidence had he been intentionally walked, and a subsequent ground ball caused the game to turn out differently.

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Rockies playoff hopes dive after disastrous California road trip There’s still time, but it’s running out

Adam Peterson | Purple Row | Sept. 20, 2018

Like an aspiring actor who goes west hoping for big screen glory and ends up spending years playing an extra in movies starring much bigger stars, the Rockies had a pretty terrible trip to California this week. First they went to San Francisco and, despite the Giants being mired in an 11-game losing streak and the Rockies having season-long success against them, the Giants took two-of-three. The pitching staff allowed a total of seven runs in the three games, but the Rockies managed to score in just one inning out of 27 during the series. Then, in perhaps the biggest series of the season (or maybe franchise history), the Rockies laid an egg in the first game and had their hearts broken by late home runs two nights in a row. They even nearly lost their MVP-candidate shortstop.

A mere six days ago the Rockies were the odds-on-favorite to take not only a playoff spot but also their first division title in franchise history. They went into California with a 1.5 game lead in the NL West but, thanks to their 1-5 trip and the Dodgers going 5-1 in the same timeframe, they now find themselves 2.5 games back with 10 games left in the season. They’re also 1.5 games behind the Cardinals for the final Wild Card Spot. Times are getting desperate, and the

Rockies playoff odds reflect this.

2018 National League Playoff Odds

Run BP Playoff FanGraphs Five Thirty-Eight ROS Opponent

Team Record GB Differential Odds Odds Odds W%

Cubs* 89-63 -- +112 100.0% 100.0% >99% .474

Brewers+ 87-66 2.5 +60 99.3% 99.3% 99% .470

Dodgers* 85-68 4.5 +156 96.4% 98.2% 96% .506

Braves* 84-68 5.0 +92 98.9% 96.4% 97% .475

Cardinals 84-69 5.5 +77 74.8% 75.8% 75% .512

Rockies 82-70 7.0 -9 27.9% 25.3% 29% .524

Diamondbacks 79-74 10.5 +57 1.1% 0.5% <1% .523

Philliies 78-74 10.5 -7 1.4% 4.3% 3% .504

*=Division Leader, +=Wild Card Leader Rest of Season Opponent Win Percentage courtesy FanGraphs 13

For those keeping track at home, that’s nearly a 50% drop in playoff odds over a six day span for the Rockies. They no longer have to put their heads down and win their own games, but now need help from other teams. Had the Rockies won just one or two more games on the road trip they would be still within reasonable striking distance of the division title, but now it will take the Dodgers dropping some games against the Padres (home for three), Diamondbacks (at Arizona for three), or Giants (in San Francisco for three) for them to have any chance at the division title. The situation for the second

Wild Card spot is a little better, as the Cardinals have to host the wild card leading Brewers for three next week and then close the season with three at the Cubs. The Cubs and Brewers may still be competing for the NL Central crown, so

Chicago may not be in rest mode.

All of that is predicated on the Rockies dropping as few games as possible. And while FanGraphs has theirs as the toughest schedule among remaining contenders, all nine of their games are against teams (Arizona, Philadelphia,

Washington) that are relying on an absolute miracle to qualify for the playoffs.

National League Remaining Schedules

Team Sep 20-23 Sep 24-27 Sep 28-30

Rockies 3 @ ARI 4 v PHI 3 v WAS

Dodgers 3 v SD 3 @ ARI 3 @ SF

Cardinals 3 v SF 3 v MIL 3 @ CHC

Braves 4 v PHI 3 @ NYM 3 @ PHI

Brewers 3 @ PIT 3 @ STL 3 v DET

Cubs 3 @ CWS 4 v PIT 3 v STL

Dbacks 3 v COL 3 v LAD 3 @ SD

It has come down to the last ten games of the season for the Rockies. They need a little help to get in, but they also need to win their own games to have anything resembling a chance at going to the playoffs in back-to-back seasons for the first time in franchise history.

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Colorado Rockies: Don’t panic. Just start winning games.

Lucas Coryell | Rox Pile | Sept. 20, 2018

The odds are against them and the task is tall, but all the likely have to do is win and they’re in.

The Colorado Rockies have had a rough stretch, losing five out of six and being swept in an all-important series against the Los Angeles Dodgers. They’ll also be without for an unknown amount of time. The Dodgers are proving the gurus and computers right by seizing control of the division. However, with all of that said, tap the brakes, Rockies fans. There are still 10 games left in the regular season.

Right now, the Rockies are 2.5 games back in the division and 1.5 games out of the Wild Card with 10 games remaining.

The opponents’ records and most other odds are against the Rockies at this point, but the likelihood of the Rockies making the playoffs only increases one way … if they win. It won’t come easy, but they’ve done a lot of it this season and have the potential to get back on track.

After a tough sweep in Chavez Ravine, the Rockies have an off day before facing a tough road matchup against the

Arizona Diamondbacks. However, the Diamondbacks are fading so the Rockies simply have to want it more … and have the bats come back to life.

The Rockies follow that with a seven-game homestand with the Philadelphia Phillies and , so 7-3 isn’t an unreasonable dream to hope for after the Dodgers series.

If the Rockies can win seven or eight games in their next 10, the Rockies will put themselves in a position to be in the playoffs. It’s that simple.

So things haven’t gone their way but the Rockies still have time to right the ship. They need to get things right ASAP and then carry on that momentum throughout the next three series.

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Colorado Rockies fans, you’re needed at Coors Field next week

Kevin Henry | Rox Pile | Sept. 20, 2018

The Colorado Rockies suffered a disappointing sweep at the hands of the Los Angeles Dodgers this week.

OK, it wasn’t disappointing. It was heart-breaking. It was maddening. It was emotion-filled and, when Yasiel Puig hit his pinch-hit homer off Scott Oberg on Wednesday night, it was also the culmination of the worst nightmare for every Colorado Rockies fan.

Not only did the Dodgers zip past the Rockies in the National League West standings, they also likely once again secured the division with the sweep. If that happens, that would keep Colorado still without a division title in its franchise history.

Sure, anything can happen, but that is the likely scenario.

Sure, there have been close calls before, but in a season with Nolan Arenado and Trevor Story playing at MVP levels and Kyle Freeland and German Marquez flashing dominance on the mound, it seemed this could be the season for the

Rockies to grab the NL West. Maybe that’s what hurts the most.

As fans, we (and yes, I am including myself in here) have an emotional tie to the team we support. We savor every win and mourn and dissect every loss, whether it’s April or September. It’s just that the September ones hurt perhaps a little more, especially when a division title is so tantalizingly close.

It’s OK to be upset. It’s OK to vent. It’s OK to rail on Twitter or whatever social media outlet you choose to use. Don’t let anyone tell you it isn’t. Part of being a fan is sometimes being a fanatic about the team you choose to support.

Was I upset last night? You bet. Did I wonder why Puig wasn’t walked with a base open rather than having Oberg pitch to him? Absolutely (and I still am, by the way). But am I ready to give up on the season? Absolutely not.

If the Rockies can rediscover their offense (and yes, I know that’s a big if, judging by recent games), the upcoming 10 games provide an opportunity for Rocktober to happen again. With just 1.5 games separating the Rockies from the second Wild Card spot and seven home games remaining (at Coors Field, where Colorado is 41-33 this season, including

7-3 in September), anything is possible.

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I ask this of you, my fellow fans. Show your emotion. Show your passion. Show it online … but also show it in LoDo this upcoming week. If the Rockies are going to make the postseason, they’re going to need every amount of support they can get. Come out. Wear purple. Cheer (but don’t do the wave) and make noise, whether there are two strikes or not.

If the Rockies are an important part of your life and you’re in the Denver area, show them your passion and support next week against the Philadelphia Phillies and Washington Nationals. Be an in-person fan and let’s see what kind of LoDo

Magic can be created together. Anything is possible.

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Colorado Rockies: It feels like déjà vu to 2010 all over again

Aaron Hurt | Rox Pile | Sept. 20, 2018

As demoralizing as the series sweep to the Los Angeles Dodgers was, here is some more bad news. There is something eerily familiar to all of this and that is definitely not a good thing. The last time the Colorado Rockies were attempting to reach back to back Rocktobers, they were on the verge of winning the National League West until the bottom completely fell out on the season.

Way back in 2010, the Colorado Rockies were trying to make the playoffs in consecutive years for the first time in franchise history. With 15 games left in the season, they were in a three-team battle for the NL West lead, only a game and a half back of first place and one game out of the Wild Card.

Then the season turned ugly. The Rockies would go on to lose 13 of the final 15 games of the season, finishing with a 83-

79 record, nine games out of first place and seven games out of the Wild Card.

What is strikingly similar to this season is the fact that with 15 games left, the 2010 Rockies and the 2018 Rockies had the exact same record at 81-66.

September 17, 2010 NL West

Tm W L W-L% GB RS RA

SFG 83 65 .561 — 638 550

SDP 82 65 .558 0.5 621 535

COL 81 66 .551 1.5 709 637

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table

September 14, 2018 NL West

Tm W L W-L% GB RS RA

COL 81 66 .551 — 698 695

LAD 81 67 .547 0.5 702 564

ARI 78 70 .527 3.5 646 579

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table

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The reason to bring this up now, just like in 2010, is that the Rockies’ season is on the verge of collapsing after losing five of the last six games (including last night’s heartbreaker in Los Angeles at the hands of the pinch-hitting Yasiel Puig) and their playoff hopes are slipping through their fingers.

In 2010, the downfall began with a soul-crushing walkoff, they can’t allow the last two games against the Dodgers to lead to a similar fate.

The good news is that the Rockies still have hope. Starting Friday, there are 10 games left in the season and they are only 1.5 games back of the St. Louis Cardinals for the final Wild Card. The Rockies must right the ship and not let the

Dodgers series derail the entire season before history repeats itself and this season ends in a complete disaster.

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Dodgers deal huge blow to Rockies division chances with sweep

Drew Creasman | BSN Denver | Sept. 19, 2018

LOS ANGELES – The Los Angeles Dodgers have dealt a massive blow to the Colorado Rockies chances at winning their first ever division title, sweeping the club from Denver in a three-game set, getting the finale by a score of 5-2 thanks to a huge home run from Yasiel Puig.

The offense once again struggled to get anything going. They went 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position and their star third baseman struck out three times in brutal fashion, giving him five consecutive punchouts in this important series.

Starter Tyler Anderson did his job for the second game in a row, allowing just two runs over six innings of work. He got some help from his defense and pure good fortune on a few hard-hit balls but got the results necessary to keep his team in the game.

The Rockies got on the board in the top of the first, though it looked for a moment like they were going to blow a golden opportunity. began things by extending his hitting streak to 12 games with a single to center. Colorado then caught a big break on a Baltimore chop off the bat of DJ LeMahieu. Justin Turner made a great pickup on a short hop after the high one but was short on the throw, allowing LeMahieu to reach and Blackmon to get to third.

David Dahl followed that with a walk to load the bases with nobody out. But once again Nolan Arenado didn’t look comfortable for an at-bat and struck out swinging after working the count full. Gerardo Parra was able to put the bat on the ball but only managed a weak grounder up the first-base side. Buehler made a smart play to get the force out at home, keeping the scoreboard clean for the moment and forcing the Rockies to come up with a two-out hit or walk away in extreme frustration.

That’s when Ian Desmond unleashed a rocket (108 mph) back up the middle on the very first pitch he saw, scoring

LeMahieu and Dahl to give his club a 2-0 lead before Anderson had thrown a single pitch.

The Dodgers struck back in the second when Matt Kemp jumped all over the first pitch he saw, an inside fastball that was blasted into the left-field bleachers.

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Colorado missed a chance in the third after another error allowed LeMahieu to reach first base and Dahl ripped a single to right. But Arenado struck out again, as did Parra, and Desmond wasn’t able to come through this time as his comebacker was fielded for the final out.

Los Angeles tied it up in the fifth thanks to a lead-off single from Enrique Hernandez who came all the way around to score on a one-out double into the left-center field gap from Brian Dozier, sliding in just ahead of a good relay throw by shortstop-for-the-day, Desmond.

Scott Oberg, who has been absolutely fantastic in the second half, came on for the seventh inning and got into trouble with a one-out walk to Max Muncy that was followed by a double for Yasmani Grandal. Muncy was unable to score on the play thanks to a nice defensive effort from Dahl in right but that mattered little when pinch-hitter Yasial Puig turned on a slider and launched it beyond the wall in left-center field for a three-run homer, putting the Dodgers ahead 5-2.

Chris Rusin came on to get the final two outs of the frame in quick succession.

Seunghwan Oh and Jake McGee combined for a clean eighth but the offense could not rally, ending the third straight remarkably frustrating game.

Colorado falls to 82-70 and are now 2.5 games back in the division with 10 to play. They stand 1.5 back of a Wild Card spot.

FINAL STATS:

Tyler Anderson: 6 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 4 K

Scott Oberg: 0.1 IP, 2 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 0 K

Chris Rusin: 0.2 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K

Ian Desmond: 1-for-3, 3 RBI

David Dahl: 1-for-2, 1 R, 1 BB

WHAT’S NEXT:

After an off day, the Rockies head to Arizona for one last series against the flailing Diamondbacks. German Marquez will face off against Zack Greinke in the Friday opener. First pitch at 7:40.

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The Rockies are on the brink of their most disappointing season ever

Drew Creasman | BSN Denver | Sept. 20, 2018

LOS ANGELES – The universe seems to have it out for the Colorado Rockies.

The 2018 campaign has been so fraught with irony that the whole thing feels like some kind of cosmic joke.

They spent over $100 million on their bullpen so, of course, it was in shambles from May through August.

The Los Angeles Dodgers are having a down year because of injuries to key players and perhaps a bit of a hangover after their long 2017 postseason… so of course, most of the Rockies’ roster is simply not playing up to their career numbers.

Colorado has had the best starting pitching in franchise history, by a wide margin. But their starter had to be sent to Triple-A and most of the rotation looks lost in this most important stretch of the calendar.

It’s been an absolute rollercoaster ride of a season with losses that shouldn’t have been losses and wins that quite easily should not have been wins. Over 40 come-from-behind victories are matched by 27 blown saves and yet, somehow, the team hasn’t gone on any long winning or losing streaks.

They are as consistent as they are volatile.

They brought back Carlos Gonzalez and then, a while later, Matt Holliday for some of the best feel-good moments of this, or any other, season.

But those heart-warming feelings will freeze and shatter if the club fails to make the postseason after spending the entire year in the thick of the hunt.

With 10 games remaining on the docket and the team 2.5 games back of the NL West and 1.5 back from a Wild Card spot, there has simply never been a more important time for the Rockies to find their fire.

They are good enough. They are deep enough. And, doggone it, people like them. But none of that matters now. What matters the most is how much heart they have.

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Much of baseball comes down to mechanical adjustments, strategy, mental fortitude, and pure raw talent. But right now there has to be something more for Colorado. As ambiguous as it may sound, they need to fight for their lives with every ounce of energy they have left in the tank. Leave it all out on the field.

The 162-game season is a grinding marathon that beats you down and wears you out. And at the end of it? You still need to sprint.

Bad losses in San Francisco and frustrating ones in Los Angeles have put the team in a position where, if they can’t find that extra gear, they will find themselves on the outside looking in. And that will be a punch to the gut for everyone involved.

At the beginning of the year, narrowly missing the postseason in a division that was expected to be among the best in baseball, would not have been a major disappointment. But now? It’s hard to see any other way to put it.

Because progress is not linear, missing the playoffs does not spell doom for the future of this franchise. Barring they don’t do anything crazy in the offseason, they would still be a favorite pick to be back in the race again in 2019. Though, that’s not what anyone in this fanbase or in that clubhouse wants to hear right now.

They have played some of their worst baseball and the most important times and it starts at the top with their best players.

Everyone not named Kyle Freeland bears major responsibility for this slide and needs to dig deep and make up for it starting right now.

The collapse in 2010 was mathematically much worse than anything these Rockies could accomplish, but this is the more talented club which twists the knife that much more.

But, in the immortal words of the Monty Pythons, they are not dead yet. The Rockies have been pronounced as such many times this season but refuse to go on the cart.

The season was over when they didn’t make the “right” offseason acquisitions. It was over again when the offense couldn’t hit the baseball for the first month or so. It ended again in June with a swooning record marred by the ugliest losses of the season, usually featuring epic bullpen collapses.

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The season was over at the trade deadline when almost everyone else in the National League made big trades while the

Rockies were content to add a bullpen piece and call it good. Then, of course, the season was over when they didn’t make any huge splashes on the waiver wire, going instead with a 38-year-old veteran who hadn’t played all year.

The season ended once more on Wednesday night when Yasiel Puig launched one into the night sky punctuating a sweep.

Oh yes, the Colorado Rockies season has died more times than Dracula, and yet here they are.

The first 152 games showed us who this team is. The last 10 will tell us what they are made of.

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Rockies swept by Dodgers as division title hopes dwindle

Rich Kurtzman | Mile High Sports | Sept. 20, 2018

What a rocky road it’s been.

Colorado came into Los Angeles as the NL West leaders, but after three straight losses to the Dodgers, the Rockies chances of winning their division for the first time ever have been diminished greatly. On Wednesday night, after leading

2-0, Colorado was beaten 5-2 by LA.

Everything started great for the Rockies on Wednesday, they singled, reached on an error and walked to load the bases in the first inning. And then Ian Desmond singled to score Charlie Blackmon and DJ LeMahieu for the 2-0 lead.

Even Tyler Anderson, who’s struggled mightily this year, was on. He gave up a solo home run to Matt Kemp in the second inning, but that was the only run Anderson allowed in the first four innings.

In the fifth inning, the Dodgers tied the game up at 2-2 when Enrique Hernandez singled and Brian Dozier’s double sent him home.

Anderson finished the game going 6.0 innings pitched, giving up three hits and two walks with four strikeouts. Scott Oberg replaced Anderson and Oberg gave away the game.

First, the Rockies bullpen pitcher forced a pop out. That was good. He then walked Max Muncy, which was bad. And then gave up a double to Yasmani Grandbal, which was worse.

But the game was decided when Oberg was not instructed to pitch around pinch-hitting Yasiel Puig, but to go after him.

That was a massive mistake by manager Bud Black which cost the Rockies the game, and likely the division, as Puig went yard to win the game.

With the win, the Dodgers improved to 85-68 on the year while the Rockies fell to 82-70, 2.5 games back of the NL West lead with only 10 games to play.

Colorado takes a much-needed day off on Thursday before playing another crucial series against the Arizona

Diamondbacks starting Friday.

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Rockies’ AWOL offense wastes Freeland’s pitching in 3-2 loss to Dodgers

Shawn Drotar | Mile High Sports | Sept. 19, 2018

Like Wile E. Coyote rocketing off a cartoon cliff, the Colorado Rockies have gone from flying high atop the NL West to holding a hand-painted “Help” sign right before they plummet into the chasm below.

The staggering ineptitude of the Rockies’ offense continued on Tuesday in a 3-2, 10-inning loss to the Los Angeles

Dodgers that saw young hurler Kyle Freeland go toe-to-toe with future Hall-of-Famer Clayton Kershaw. Freeland pitched

6-2/3 innings of two-run ball, pitching through early wildness to keep the Rockies in the game. Kershaw was no better, throwing seven innings and allowing two runs (one earned) while walking five batters.

The Rockies’ pop-gun offense, however, had no answer for Kershaw, just like it had no answer for Hyun-Jin Ryu the night before, or Giants starters Chris Stratton and Madison Bumgarner, who both led the way in shutouts earlier in the road trip.

Losers of four of five games, the Rockies’ 4-for-33 (.121) night has the team batting a pathetic 26-for-157 (.166) on the road trip thus far.

In truth, the Rockies are lucky they’ve even won one. The flailing and foundering club will finish their series with the

Dodgers on Wednesday night in a nationally-televised game. Now 1-1/2 games back of the Dodgers, the Rockies must win to stay with reach; a loss will put them 2-1/2 back with only 10 games to go in the season. Moreover, their skid has dropped them out of wild-card position, 1-1/2 games back of the St. Louis Cardinals.

If the Rockies don’t want to be scoreboard-watching, tonight’s the night – starter Tyler Anderson needs not only an excellent pitching performance, but the backing of an offense that can at least approach the Mendoza line.

Fail, and the Rockies become likely to go from one of their finest regular seasons to one of the most disappointing in their history.

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'We go where he goes': Rockies' DJ LeMahieu faces wild finish, free agency

Jerry Crasnick | ESPN.com | Sept. 20, 2018

DJ LeMahieu ranks down the list of recognizable Colorado Rockies players, behind Nolan Arenado, Charlie

Blackmon, Trevor Story, Carlos Gonzalez and Matt Holliday, to name a handful. For the uninitiated, LeMahieu's given name is "David John." He grew up in Michigan as a hardcore hockey fan, laced up his first pair of skates at an early age, and remains a devoted fan and season-ticket holder of the NHL's Detroit Red Wings.

Here's another piece of LeMahieu trivia courtesy of a Colorado teammate: He's the Rockies' player most likely to spur a bench-clearing incident if he ever ends up on the receiving end of a message fastball.

"Obviously, you don't want Trevor or Nolan or anybody to get hit," said Blackmon. "But if a guy on our team were to be plunked on purpose, I think you might piss off the most people in the Rockies' clubhouse if you went after DJ LeMahieu."

Since his arrival in Colorado from the as part of a four-player trade in 2011, LeMahieu has produced at a level that transcends his public profile. His resume includes two All-Star appearances, two Gold Gloves and a National

League batting title in 2016. He ranks second among MLB second basemen to Jose Altuve with 817 hits and fourth behind Brian Dozier, Altuve and Ian Kinsler with 423 runs since his first full season at the position in 2014.

Now LeMahieu is about to discover how the Rockies -- and the industry -- value his contributions. In April, the Rockies retained a popular face of the franchise when they signed Blackmon to a six-year, $108 million extension. Over the next

14 months, they'll have to resolve the status of Arenado, a four-time All-Star and perennial MVP candidate who becomes a free agent in November 2019.

Between those two seminal contract negotiations, they'll contemplate the future of LeMahieu, who is eligible for free agency in November. If this turns out to be LeMahieu's final season in Denver, he's going to remember it as one wild, emotional ride.

The outlook was bright for the Rockies on Sept. 12, when LeMahieu hit a walk-off homer to beat Arizona and help

Colorado maintain a 1½-game lead over the Los Angeles Dodgers in the National League West. At the time, FanGraphs calculated Colorado's chances of making the postseason at 60 percent.

Then California beckoned, and the odds fell to 25 percent. The Rockies have dropped five of six in San Francisco and Los

Angeles to fall 2½-games behind the Dodgers, and their best route to the postseason now lies with the wild card as they 27

begin a pivotal three-game series in Arizona on Friday night. LeMahieu, who is 2-for-23 on the road trip, is feeling a tad wistful amid the realization that his time with Blackmon, Arenado and his other Colorado teammates could be nearing an end.

"The three of us have played pretty much every game together since 2013," LeMahieu said. "So, yeah, you kind of wish we could all play together as long as we wanted to. But that's when the business of baseball comes in, and it doesn't always work out that way.

"For me, this has always been a great place to play. I just feel like the situation with the team, the city and the fans allowed me to flourish. It was the right situation at the right time for me. I'll forever be thankful for that."

For a while now, it's been widely assumed in baseball circles that the Rockies would go in a different direction once

LeMahieu's contract expires. Colorado's $141 million Opening Day payroll ranked 15th among the 30 MLB teams, and the

Rockies have an opportunity to stretch their resources next year with two low-cost options. Brendan Rodgers, the third pick in the 2015 draft, recently earned a promotion to Triple-A Albuquerque at age 21. The Rockies also like what they've seen from , a 2016 third-rounder who's hitting .269 in 17 games as a September call-up.

But the decision is more complicated than it appears. Rodgers hasn't hit well in the Pacific Coast League, and he just turned 22 last month. Rockies general manager Jeff Bridich is also determined to keep an open mind because he understands the ramifications of cutting ties with a player who's been a popular teammate and an important part of the clubhouse dynamic for so many years.

"This has been a pretty continuous group, and the continuity has created some bonds in our clubhouse," Bridich said.

"Ideally, that's what you're looking for. The guys are close and they play for each other, and they can lean on each other in tough times. DJ has been right in the middle of that. Personality-wise, he's on the quieter side, but he's set a great example to a lot of our players with his preparedness and the way he goes about his business.

"If fans knew how much we appreciate DJ and saw how much we care for him and how important he is to this team, they'd realize what a big factor he is. ... He sets the standard for us. We go where he goes, really."

"We're taking things step by step, because you never know what can happen. We very much believe in the abilities of

[Rodgers and Hampson] and even more guys in our system. But we're not in the business of gifting opportunities to young players just because they happen to be in the organization. They have to earn it."

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LeMahieu's offensive production in Colorado is subject to the usual dissection. His overall numbers are skewed by his

.330/.388/.450 career slash line at Coors Field. But over the past two seasons, he's hit 16 of his 23 homers on the road.

The team ethic referenced by Bridich is a product of shared experiences through time. Coors Field can be a boon to a hitter's statistics. But the Colorado teammates have bonded through the physical toll of 81 games each year at altitude and the challenge of going back and forth between sea level and baseball at 5,280 feet. Arenado, Blackmon and

LeMahieu also have shared the frustration of having their numbers pooh-poohed because of the Coors Field factor, year after year.

LeMahieu takes anonymity to a different level because of his Nick Markakis-like aversion to self-promotion. He can get just as rowdy as his teammates when they take part in "slap shot regattas" with the hockey sticks they keep stored in the clubhouse. But his fun-loving side is rarely on display for public consumption. LeMahieu has a Twitter account, but he hasn't posted an original tweet since July 5, 2017, when he endorsed former teammate Mark Reynoldsfor an All-Star spot through MLB's Final Vote. While unfailingly polite with the media, he will never be mistaken for a quote machine.

"DJ is the quintessential Rockie who never gets heard from," Blackmon said. "He's the guy you take for granted, because he's always out there. Every ball that's hit to him is an out. He always has professional at-bats, and he's always doing the right thing. If someone gets hit by a pitch or someone throws a ball that's up and in on Nolan or someone slides hard, I always look to see how he's going to react, because he knows exactly what's going on. He's very in tune with the game.

Second baseman DJ LeMahieu, left, and third baseman Nolan Arenado have won a combined seven Gold Gloves for the Rockies' infield. Courtesy of Joel Wolfe

"He's here to play good baseball and be a good teammate and win games, and that's what he's all about. He's not looking to change just because [Alex] Bregman looks into the camera after he hits a home run. That doesn't help you win games.

DJ knows that, so he's not doing that."

LeMahieu's competitive edge doesn't rise to the level of, say, Chase Utley, but he has the same helping gene. When he missed time earlier this season with hamstring, thumb and oblique injuries, he routinely watched video for signs of opposing pitchers tipping their offerings or catchers giving away signs, and then passed along his insights to his teammates and the coaching staff.

While he's a man of few words, the words resonate. LeMahieu's fellow Rockies say he notices everything, and he's quick to offer encouragement or advice to hitters who whiff with the bases loaded and relievers who hang sliders at precisely the 29

wrong time. "He's the same guy every day, good or bad," Arenado said. "That's something I wish I could do sometimes.

Sometimes I get a little frustrated or upset, but with DJ, you can never tell.

"If fans knew how much we appreciate DJ and saw how much we care for him and how important he is to this team, they'd realize what a big factor he is. He brings a calmness to our team. But when he gets fired up, you know it's something serious. It's something he really feels in his heart, and we feed off that. We wouldn't be where we are now without him. He sets the standard for us. We go where he goes, really."

LeMahieu recently hired the Wasserman Media Group's Joel Wolfe, Arenado's agent, to handle his contract talks. While it's hard to predict what he might command on the open market, some recent free-agent contracts for middle infielders could provide a road map. Daniel Murphy's three-year, $37.5 million deal with the Washington Nationals and Zack

Cozart's three-year, $38 million contract with the Los Angeles Angels are two that spring to mind.

LeMahieu's elite glove could be an additional selling point. He ranks second to St. Louis' Kolten Wong among second basemen with plus-17 defensive runs saved this season, and he's a lot more agile than his 6-foot-4, 220-pound frame would suggest.

Arenado, who's watched LeMahieu make so many of those stellar plays from the left side of the Rockies' infield, will be paying attention as events play out this winter.

"We understand that it's a business," Arenado said. "It's above my pay grade. But I think our ownership and GM understand how important he is. When DJ was hurt, it was weird not having him on the field every day with us. It just didn't feel right. I think everyone on our team would agree that without him, it wouldn't feel right."

For the moment, it's time to stow the feelings and the speculation. The Rockies have 10 games left to salvage their season, and everything they know about LeMahieu tells them where his focus lies. He's too consumed with making sure they're still playing in October to worry about what happens in November and beyond.

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A year after Hurricane Maria, memories of tragedy, triumph endure

Marly Rivera | ESPN.com | Sept. 20, 2018

There are days that change the course of your life forever. If you ask my mom and dad, they might say the birth of their children, the death of their parents or the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

For me, it's Sept. 20, 2017, when Hurricane Maria made landfall on my native island of .

I had a trial run decades earlier, on Sept. 18, 1989, with Hurricane Hugo. As a kid, I thought it was exciting, and the good kind of scary, to follow the hurricane's path and wonder what a direct hit from a Category 5 storm would be like. I became a bona fide 13-year-old expert on the Saffir-Simpson scale.

And Hugo was devastating, with winds in the 100-mph range hitting the northeast coast of the island, where my family lived. But it was classified as a Category 3 storm when it arrived, so in my warped teenage brain, I was disappointed.

The few weeks we were without power were fun. There was no school, we played board games and I got to stay up late

(with my very own flashlight!) and listen to the radio. There were no cell phones back then, so the big treat was to watch a black-and-white, 6-inch, battery-powered TV for an hour.

Flash forward to 2017. I was in Seattle covering the Mariners and Houston Astros, and Hurricane Irma was the main topic of discussion among the large concentration of Puerto Rican coaches and players at Safeco Field that Sept. 6, including

Alex Cora, Carlos Beltran, Carlos Correa, Alex Cintron, Edgar Martínez, Edwin Diaz, Emilio Paganand even George

Springer, whose mom's family is from the small town of Utuado.

Irma ended up skirting the island. I was able to check on most of my family and friends. My brother Rey's house was slightly damaged and they lost power, but Irma did not have the level of devastation we had all feared.

Two weeks would make all the difference. On Sept. 16, Hurricane Maria formed out of just a "tropical wave," but two days later it had turned into the deadliest storm of the hyperactive 2017 Atlantic hurricane season.

Maria hit Puerto Rico on Sept. 20. It slammed ashore in the southeastern town of Yabucoa at 6:15 a.m. local time.

The were scheduled to play the second of a three-game set against the Los Angeles Angels on ESPN's

Wednesday Night Baseball. At 3:15 a.m. PT in Anaheim, I was glued to the Weather Channel. 31

Maria became the first Category 4 storm to make landfall in Puerto Rico since 1932. And the 13-year-old inside of me knew exactly what that meant.

Power and communication were completely cut off to the vast majority of the island, which led so many Puerto Ricans -- including our hodgepodge group of Francisco Lindor, Roberto Perez, Sandy Alomar Jr., Martin Maldonado and

Cleveland's assistant strength and conditioning coach Nelson Perez -- scrambling to check on each other's families.

None of us knew if our relatives were still alive. It wasn't until a week later that I got a message from my mom. Her town was devastated, but she was OK. My mom, being my mom, comforted me as I wept.

I still had not heard from my dad and stepmom. I texted and called everyone I could think of, to no avail. All I could do was immerse myself in my work. But with the playoffs about to start, I didn't have half a mind to focus on baseball.

Then, on the morning of Oct. 4, my phone rang. The caller ID read "Papi" -- a term of endearment used in Spanish to refer to your father.

My mom and dad have this uncanny ability to always call at the worst times -- as I'm boarding a plane, or in the middle of an interview, or during the bottom of the ninth inning with the bases loaded and two outs. Not this time. I leaped from the bed and stood by the window of my Arizona airport hotel, where I had just checked in. I struggled to hear my dad's broken words.

All I wanted was to hear my dad's voice, but I kept hearing static on our broken connection and could barely make out the word "Yankees." I was confused.

Finally, I figured out what he was saying: "¿Qué pasó con los Yankees?"

My father, who with former Astro Jose Cruz, is the source of my love of "béisbol," was asking me, "What happened with the Yankees?"

Since he had no power or communication, my dad had no idea the New York Yankees had beaten the in the wild-card game, advancing to the division series against Cleveland.

I muted the phone and laughed for the first time in a long while, and cried at the same time. Then I told my baseball- obsessed papi that the Yankees had moved on and that I was in Arizona for the National League wild-card game.

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And then the phone cut off.

I couldn't speak to my family regularly for weeks. Many were without power for five or six months. Countless houses and businesses were destroyed, including so many belonging to my family and friends.

During the playoffs, every time anyone from Puerto Rico was around, Maria was the only topic discussed. And though those weeks are now mostly a blur, I clearly remember Cintron hugging me, in tears, as the Astros celebrated beating the Boston Red Sox in the ALDS, without him having heard a word from his mom.

I remember Chicago Cubs rookie catcher Victor Caratini asking me to check if my father had heard from his father. My father and Victor Caratini Sr. have known each other most of their lives, having grown up in the small town of Coamo in the center of the island.

And more than anything, I remember a crying Carlos Beltran, powerless to send aid to the island.

I flew home for the first time after Maria with Beltran and his wife, Jessica, in mid-November, one of the many trips organized by active and retired Puerto Rican athletes to help in the recovery.

To see the island in such a condition, with no power and without a single working traffic light, was heartbreaking. I wondered how, in barely six months, Puerto Rico would manage to host its first regular-season MLB games since 2010, in a 56-year-old stadium that was extensively damaged.

Yet on April 18, 2018, ESPN broadcast the Minnesota Twins and Indians at Stadium in San Juan. In the middle of unbearable sadness and devastation, and the many lives we might never know were lost, Puerto Rico turned tragedy into triumph.

A year after the storm hit, the rebuilding process is ongoing. And while our lives have been forever changed, the strength of the Puerto Rican people, including the 19 Puerto Rican players in the major leagues this season, has never been more evident.

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Puig's pinch-hit homer helps Dodgers sweep Rockies, 5-2

Associated Press | ESPN.com | Sept. 20, 2018

LOS ANGELES -- Late September, a crucial series, and a postseason berth on the line. Yasiel Puig thrives in big-game situations, and once again he delivered.

Puig didn't start despite being on a tear at the plate. But he came off the bench to slug a tiebreaking, three-run homer in the seventh inning that sent the Los Angeles Dodgers past the Colorado Rockies 5-2 on Wednesday night to increase their NL West lead to 2 1/2 games.

"We're going to win the West again," Puig said.

Walker Buehler struck out a career-high 12 and the Dodgers completed a three-game sweep of the second-place

Rockies, giving the five-time defending NL West champions their largest division lead this season. They outscored

Colorado 16-6 in the series, with homers proving to be the difference in each game.

"It's impressive," manager Dave Roberts said of the sweep. "I believe our guys can sustain it."

The Rockies remained 1 1/2 games behind St. Louis for the second NL wild card.

"Like I've said all along, I think this is going to come down to the end," manager Bud Black said. "I really do."

After falling into a 2-0 hole in a 36-pitch first inning, Buehler settled down and showed why he has become a dependable complement to Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw. The rookie right-hander allowed three hits and one walk over six innings, and neither run he gave up was earned.

"I just slowed down a little bit," Buehler said. "The later you get in the year the bigger it all feels."

Puig's second career pinch-hit homer came off Scott Oberg (7-1) and ignited the crowd and his teammates, some of whom came out in front of the dugout to cheer. The always-excitable Puig raised both arms as he circled the bases.

"I saw his first swing and I saw him hit the top half of the ball," Oberg said. "I'm like, `OK, it's probably a decent pitch to throw again.' Sitting on it. Put a good swing on it. Over the fence. That's it."

Puig is hitting .400 this month, with seven homers, nine runs and 14 RBI. He hit five homers in two days recently.

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The Dodgers showed off their depth in the seventh. After pinch-hitter Joc Pederson fouled out, Max Muncy drew a pinch- hit walk. Yasmani Grandaldoubled to deep right field, moving Muncy to third and setting up Puig.

"This series was emblematic of our ballclub," Roberts said. "How many people had their hands in to help us win three ballgames."

Caleb Ferguson (7-2) got two outs and Kenley Jansen closed for his 36th save.

Buehler gave up a two-run single to Ian Desmond in the first after the pitcher made a run-saving throw to the plate when Gerardo Parra grounded into a fielder's choice.

Matt Kemp homered on the first pitch from Tyler Anderson in the second, giving the Dodgers seven players with 20 or more homers in a season for the first time in franchise history. That left them trailing 2-1.

Brian Dozier's RBI double tied the game 2-all in the fifth. Enrique Hernandezsingled leading off and made a headfirst slide at the plate, with his feet barely eluding the tag of catcher Chris Iannetta.

Anderson gave up two runs and three hits in six innings. He struck out four and walked two.

The Dodgers went 12-7 against the Rockies this season and swept them twice. Colorado, which lost two of three at home to Los Angeles earlier this month, fell to 1-5 on its nine-game road trip.

"You can see it as a tale of two teams right now with the Dodgers," Iannetta said. "They're getting hot over the last week and a half and we've been grinding a little bit the last week and a half. We've had moments, but we haven't really had consistent production."

TRAINER'S ROOM

Rockies: SS Trevor Story is receiving treatment for right elbow inflammation in Arizona, and the team is encouraged that he could return soon. Story might participate in some baseball activities at the club's spring training facility in Phoenix, where the Rockies are headed next to play the Diamondbacks.

TROUBLE AT HOME

Things aren't going as well for Puig at home. TMZ reported that the slugger's home in the San Fernando Valley was broken into for the fourth time on Tuesday night when he was at the ballpark.

"I (did) not sleep too much yesterday," Puig said, without offering details about the incident. 35

Previous break-ins occurred in March 2017, during Game 7 of last year's World Series and then last month.

DODGERS AT HOME

With three home games left in the regular season, the Dodgers are 42-36, their worst record in LA since going 42-39 in

2011. Their latest win allowed them to clinch a 13th straight winning season at Chavez Ravine.

BLACKMON'S STREAK

Charlie Blackmon singled in the first, extending his hitting streak to 12 games, the longest active steak in the majors. He's hitting .390 with nine runs, five doubles, four homers and eight RBI since Sept. 8.

UP NEXT

Rockies: Off on Thursday before sending RHP German Marquez (12-10, 3.96 ERA) to the mound against third-place

Arizona.

Dodgers: After an off day Thursday, LHP Rich Hill (9-5, 4.02) starts the opener of a three-game series against the last- place Padres.

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