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When your season has been over for months, September baseball must get pretty boring. The Padres did a nice job on Wednesday afternoon of livening things up when they paraded their rookies around Coors Field in Hooters uniforms. For their troubles, each Padres rookie will receive a fat child-support check from Larry Wayne Jones.

Our playoff hopes are essentially gone.  We’ve dropped to 4th in the NL West.  Last season’s euphoria has officially been replaced with this season’s disappointment.  So why watch the Padres series at all?  I’ll give you 3 big reasons.

1. Dexter Fowler - Dex is very likely to play a big part in the future of the organization, if not next year than the following year.  He can hit, he can run and he can cover plenty of ground in the spacious Coors outfield.  We’ve already seen his first major league assist, gunning a runner down at third the other night.  I’d expect him to make at least one start against the Padres.  The opposing pitching may not be too good, but at least it’s an opportunity for Fowler to display his multiple talents on the big stage.

2. Greg Reynolds - Due to injuries and poor performance from our starts earlier in the year, we got a premature glance at what the #2 overall pick in the 2006 draft has to offer.  His stuff is good and he showed that he has potentail to be a successful starter in the bigs.  He’s already had his taste of the majors and has had the opportunity to make some adjustments and fine-tune his game down in Colorado Springs.  The nerves should be eased this time around and it’ll be interesting to see how he handles the no-pressure situation the Rockies now find themselves in.

3. Todd Helton - Todd is back!  Well, not quite.  Until he is hitting the ball and getting on base at an abnormally high percentage, Todd’s not really back.  I want to see Todd Helton, not some guy with the name Helton on his jersey that strikes out in his pinch hit at-bats.  Not that I’m mad at Todd for his performance.  Recovery from a back injury can be a long, slow process.  I’m just hoping that he’ll show signs of his old self by the end of this season.  If not, I’d at least like to see an indication that he’ll be ready to produce next season the way we all know he is capable of.

Billingsley vs Francis - While the Rockies may no longer be a realistic postseason contender, there are still a few things I would like to see as we close out this season.  One of those is consistent, strong performances by Jeff Francis.  I will feel much better about next year knowing that his early season struggles this year were mainly do to shoulder issues and that it is something we don’t really need to worry about anymore.  A good game against the likely NL West Champion Dodgers would go a long way to prove that point.  Billingsley is certainly no pushover and is going to be a very good pitcher for many years to come, but my money is on Francis in this one.  With essentially nothing left to lose, look for the Rockies to play as if a weight has been lifted off of their collective shoulders as they have fun out there trying to play spoiler. Rockies win.

Kershaw vs DLR - When the DLR is under control, he has some pretty nasty stuff and can put his team in a position to win.  When young Clayton Kershaw is locating his pitches, he can make hitters look silly.  It’s more likely that the DLR is on target than Kershaw at this point, but my gut is telling me Kershaw will take this one. Dodgers win.

Maddux vs Cook - Old Man Flabby finds himself in the familiar situation of trying to help his team get into the playoffs.  I expect this to bring out the best of what he’s got left.  He’ll be tough, but only for about 6 innings before Joe Torre has to go to the bullpen.  Oddly enough, the Cookie Monster is going up against a guy that looks like he can eat many more cookies than he can.  Cook hasn’t faced the Dodgers since June 4th, quite a long time for a division rival.  He dominated that game, but he was dominating most games at that point.  He hasn’t looked quite the same recently as he did back then.  I think he’ll pitch well enough to keep the Rockies in the game, but for the first time this season I think I have to go against Cook on this one.  I hate to do it and I hope I’m wrong, but I’m feeling the Dodgers in this one.

The Braves NL East dynasty is over.  If their recent failures to capture the division title aren’t enough proof, take a look at their 62-81 record.  It’s been a long time since anyone has been able to say this, but the Atlanta Braves are a bad baseball team… on a good day.  The timing of this series couldn’t be better, as the Rockies need to win three games.  They sit 6.5 games back in the division and need to pass both the Diamondbacks and the Dodgers to claim the division title.  Forget pitching match-ups.  PLEASE forget this last series.  Forget everything.  Just win.  That goes for you too, Padres and Giants.

Tough series coming up.  The Astros are a hot team, bringing an 8 game winning streak with them to Coors Field.  Fortunately, the pitching matchups seem to favor the Rox.

Ooooohbaldo vs Moehler - Moehler’s only appearance against the Rockies this season has come out of the bullpen, giving up 3 runs in 3 innings.  Ubaldo has not been the dominant pitcher he was in July.  His August wasn’t nearly as impressive, but August is over.  A new month, a new time to dominate the opposition.  Rockies win.

Francis vs Oswalt - Who’s up for a pitchers’ duel?  This one should be great to watch as long as your not one of those “fans” that watches baseball for all the homeruns.  It should be a low scoring affair, at least until the bullpen gets involved.  It’ll be close and can go either way, but with the expanded rosters I like the Rox and their depth.  Rockies win.

DLR vs Rodriguez - Since rejoining the rotation, the DLR has been awesome.  Starting with 3 appearances on the road, the DLR looked great.  Returning to Coors field for his last appearance, he looked even better.  That’s a trend that I like to see.  Wandy Rodriguez is one of those guys that has the ability to shut down an offense, but will also occasionally collapse on the mound.  That is, of course, if he takes the mound.  He was scratched from his last start with a strained oblique and there is a chance he won’t be ready to take the mound on Sunday.  Either way, if the DLR can continue his impressive performance on the mound, this one will be out of reach for whoever pitches for the Astros.  Rockies win.

It’s September.  If we’re going to make a move, it’s got to be now.  Bring on the Giants!

Monday - Sanchez vs DLR - Sanchez returning to the mound for the first time since his trip to the DL.  DLR returning to the mound after a solid outing last time out.  Rockies win.

Tuesday - Lincecum vs Livan - We know what Lincecum is capable of.  He’s silly good with the baseball and after Webb’s terrible outing on Sunday night you may start to hear his name a lot more often when people talk about Cy Young candidates.  Livan finally came around in his last outing and was able to at least keep the Rox close against Lincecum last tiem around.  He needs to limit the damage the Giants offense can do, which isn’t much to begin with.  If the Rox can be patient and make Lincecum throw a few extra pitches per at bat, they might be able to get him out of the game after 6 or 7 and take a crack at the Giants bullpen.  They can’t have many 2 or 3 pitch at-bats in this one and I’d rather see a 4 or 5 pitch strikeout than a 2 or 3 pitch long fly out to the warning track.  IT’s not quite as sexy, but it’s how they can get Lincecum out of the game earlier.  Then they hit the long fly balls… over the fence.  Easier said than done.  Tough to go against Timmy in this one.  Giants win.

Wednesday - Zito vs Cook - The Giants send to worst contract in the history of contracts to the mound.  It’s funny that the Giants will grossly overpay this guy to take the mound on Wednesday and it will likely result in the people of Colorado underpaying for delicious tacos on Thursday from 4-6pm.  Fun Fact: Barry Zito is 8-16 (I don’t know where those 8 wins came from either) and is making $14,500,000 this year.  That’s $1,812,500 per win so far this season.  Aaron Cook: 16-8 and $5,125,000.  Rockies win (in a most cost-effective way).

Hopefully the Cardinals can do some damage in Arizona and the Padres can keep up their unexpected romp through the NL West when they head to LA.  I’d like to be 5 or less back by the time this series is over.

The month of August saw some very predictable mancrushes and some very unlikely mancrushes. I guess this is about how Rockiescast would like the mix to look every month: the 3-4-5 hitters are all represented, the front office makes the list, and we get an emotional lift from an unexpected place. It’s got all the makings of a Shakespearean play. You know, one that’s full of baseball and completely heterosexual homoerotic mantension. It’s like reading the Cliff’s Notes for Othello.

7/28-8/3

The Man: Matthew Thomas Holliday, LF, Colorado Rockies
 
The Crush: Entering the season, Matt Holliday was easily the favorite to be the subject of the most mancrushes this season.  I mean, just look at the man.  He’s also a pretty good ballplayer.  Surprisingly though, this is the first mancrush on MTH since the second week of the season.  It seems when expectations are so high, it’s hard to catch Rockiescast’s undivided attention.  MTH’s 10-26, 4 home run performance this week stomped on all expectations.  Perhaps even more impressive, this week fell in the midst of a 15-game scoring streak for ol’ Matt.  That’s right: he scored at least a run in every Rockies game for over half a month, and he touched the plate every single time.

8/4-8/10

The Man: Dan O’Dowd, GM, Colorado Rockies

The Crush: This was the week the Rockies picked up the remainder of Livan Hernandez’s contract from the Twins.  Thanks, waiver system!  While Livan’s pitching for the Rockies so far has left something to be desired, Rockiescast recognizes that this move was never really about him.  As the trade deadline passed, the Rockies found themselves barely clinging to playoff hopes with some holes in the rotation.  And after a month of rumors that the front office would soon pull the plug on the season and cash in some high profile players, the Rockies’ players and fan base needed some reassurance that the 2008 campaign wasn’t over yet.  The usually conservative Dan O’Dowd provided that reassurance when he picked up the remaining $1.5 million or so of Livan’s salary for two months of work.  With a few pen strokes, O’Dowd sent a signal to the baseball universe that the Rockies front office still has playoff hopes for 2008.  Among fans and local writers, it also showed that the Rockies are willing to throw some cash behind a playoff push under the right circumstances.  Now if only we could get this Livan character to pitch well at Coors Field.

8/12-8/17

The Man: Brad Hawpe, RF, Colorado Rockies

The Crush: This week, Brad Hawpe once again proved that you don’t need to be named Walker or Helton to be a heartthrob on the left side.  It’s fair to say that Brad’s a streaky player, but when he’s on…holy jeez is he on.  If you throw out his numbers from August 12 (a day before there was an audible “click” coming from LoDo), his work at the plate this week was a masterpiece.  Brad went 10-20 with 3 doubles and 3 home runs.  In his usual clutch fashion, 2 of those home runs turned out to be game winners.  The other one was still awesome.  Speaking of awesome, this was also the week Brad used his cannon arm to make Ronnie Belliard look silly running the bases.  Okay…in fairness, Ronnie’s weight made him look silly running the bases; Brad’s cannon made him look foolish.

8/19-8/24

The Man: Omar Quintanilla, SS-2B, Colorado Rockies

The Crush: Admittedly, Rockiescast has been looking for an excuse to fall head-over-heels for Omar for several years now.  It’s hard to maintain such a high level of respect for a ballplayer without it spilling over into mancrush.  After flirting with a .300 batting average (and our hearts) for the month of June, Omar’s playing time and offensive production dropped in July and August.  Then one Sunday afternoon, Omar belted his way back into the hearts and minds of Rockies fans everywhere with his 12th inning walk-off home run.  And that’s how you turn the lemon of being a late-inning defensive replacement into glorious mancrush lemonade.  When can we see you again, Omar?

8/25-8/31

The Man: Garrett Atkins, 3B-1B, Colorado Rockies

The Crush: Garrett Atkins’ swing is a thing of beauty.  Rockiescast feels tingly all over for a few seconds when Garrett gets the swing just right.  That happened so many times this week, there was little doubt the mancrush moment would be dedicated to Mr. Atkins.  He went 2-5 in each of the Rockies’ three victories this week, driving in 7 runs in the process.  Garrett’s swing was at its prettiest on Friday night in San Diego, when he crushed 2 home runs in the heavy sea air.  So uh, Garrett…you still want to sign a long-term deal to stay in Colorado, right?

The excitement of the Rockies playing back into the playoff hunt makes this one easy:

Friday - Rockies win!

Saturday - Rockies win!

Sunday - Rockies win!

Monday - Holliday vs Cain - Ok.  I know that Matt Holliday is not pitching for the Rockies against Matt Cain.  This is in no way meant to be an insult to Jeff Francis, but this opportunity doesn’t come along very often.  Rather than the pitching match-ups, I prefer to look at the battle of the Matthew Thomases (Matthew Thomasi?).   In his one appearance against the Rockies this year, Matthew Thomas Cain gave up 4 hits and walked 5 in 5 1/3 innings.  Somehow, the Rockies were not able to drive in any of those 9 base-runners.  They’ll need to be more efficient if they want a shot at winning this game, as Cain has looked very impressive since the all-star break.  Cain’s ERA against righties is significantly better than against lefties, at 2.88 & 4.23 respectively.  We’ll need some contributions from lefty sluggers Hawpe and Stewart to get things going.  The Rox should still be riding the high from Omar Quintanilla’s 12th inning walk-off blast and should ride that momentum into San Francisco.  A spark like that followed by 2 series against bottom-feeding teams is the perfect combination for the Rox to go on a tear.  Francis will beat Cain, Holliday will win the Matthew Thomas Battle, and the Rockies will win the game.

Tuesday - DLR vs Some Guy - The Giants send 29-year-old Matt Palmer to the mound as he makes his third career start while filling in for the injured Jonathan Sanchez.  In his last outing, he was able to significantly lower his ERA from 23.14 all the way down to 8.64.  Hopefully the Rockies can send that back up to over 20.  Based on his minor league numbers with the Fresno Grizzlies this season (70 BB and 137 K in 135 IP), he appears to be a power pitcher.  That’s a pretty high walk total and if the Rox can be patient they should see plenty of base-runners and an early call to the Gaints bullpen.  That would be very nice, because a depleted bullpen heading into Wednesday’s game may be the Rox only chance in the series finale.  Rockies win.

Wednesday - Livan vs Lincecum - With CC Sabathia absolutely dominating the National League since joining the Brewers, there has been a lot of talk whether or not he can take the Cy Young Award from Brandon Webb.  Sabathia has been absurd and Webb should lead the majors in wins this year, but I don’t know how you can have a conversation about the NL Cy Young and not include the guy leading the National League in ERA and Strikeouts.  The 24-year-old fireballer has not seen his ERA climb higher than 2.79 all season.  He has 6 double-digit strikeout games and only 4 games in which he gave up more than 3 earned runs, never more than 5, in his 27 games pitched this year.  Unless the Rockies get a dominant performance out of their starting pitcher and keep this close when the Giants go to their pen (Lincecum has not pitched a complete game this year) I don’t see them taking this one.  With Livan on the mound, I don’t see that dominant performance.  Not until he shows me he can start a game and give up fewer than 6 runs.  Should they turn to Glendon Rusch and he can go 6 innings while limiting the damage to 3 runs or less, they’ll have a shot.  Either way, the match-up certainly falls in favor of the Giants in this one.  Giants win.

Rox take two of three.  Now if they could just get a little help from the Padres and the Nationals…

The Cincinnati Reds.  After a loss in LA, the Reds visit to Coors Field is just what the doctor ordered to get a new winning streak going.  After a sweep of the Nats and taking two of three from the Dodgers, it’s time to break out those brooms once more.

Friday – Harang vs Livan – Since joining the Rockies, Livan Hernandez has not pitched well.  In his two starts, he is averaging 4 1/3 innings pitched and 7 ½ Earned Runs per game.  Fortunately for the Rockies, Aaron Harang has been even worse since returning from the DL.  In his two games since, he has averaged 3 2/3 innings and 8 Earned Runs per start.  This may be one of those unofficial “Turn Back the Clock” nights.  The potential for a ridiculously high scoring affair may bring back memories of the pre-humidor days.  If they are all in the lineup, I’m feeling homeruns from Matthew Thomas, Tulo, and Ian Stewart.  How’s that for a bold prediction?  Rockies win.  Cheap tacos for all (at participating Colorado Taco Bell locations).

Saturday – Volquez vs Cook – Volquez has had a rough go since the All-Star Break, but has looked much better in his last two outings.  A trip to Coors field is not exactly the best remedy for a young pitcher trying to build confidence and regain his early season, dominant form.  His outing should be on par with his previous one vs. the Rox in which he lasted only 4 innings while giving up 5 runs.  I see a big game at the plate for Chris Ianetta (I reserve the right to retract that statement if he does not play!).  If he’s in the lineup, expect 3 hits including at least one double.  Pitching at Coors against a poor lineup, I think if we see any pitcher regain his early season form it is going to be the Cookie Monster.  Look for him to go 7 strong innings and earn his 16^th win of the year.  Rockies win.

Sunday – Cueto vs Oooooh-baldo - Ubaldo will dominate.  If Matthew Thomas Holliday is not getting the day off on Sunday, he’s going yard.  Rockies pull away early.  Rockies win.

Since coming back from his illness, Garrett Atkins has not been the same. He is now 3-27 in his seven games since.  Looks like he could use a day of rest and with no off-day for the Rox until Thursday I would expect Hurdle to give him a rest at some point this series.  Rest he shall, and Hurdle will be rewarded for his decision with a pair of hits from Atkins to break his slump in his first game back in the lineup, whenever that may be.