Jock Itch Rocktober may already be over (don't go crazy)

The Rockies hold everybody’s fragile mental health in their oiled, leather gloves—and that’s amazing considering they were toast by June. Two months into this season, the team’s record was dreadful and it had assumed its usual position as the inept joke of Major League Baseball. The hangover the players experienced from their miraculous World Series run in 2007 lasted throughout the next season, and apparently was still dragging them down at the start of the ’09 campaign.

Things in Colorado were looking bad across the board in June: Jay Cutler had been gone for two months, the Nuggets were unceremoniously bounced from the NBA playoffs, and the Rockies were stinking up the place. Morale was at an all-time low for the Denver sports fan and something had to give.

Clint Hurdle was that something. A necessary sacrifice that appeased not only the baseball gods, but the downtrodden fans as well, Hurdle got the axe and a crazy thing happened: The Rockies got good fast. Parked at an almost insurmountable 15 games back from the Dodgers at the beginning of June, the Rox came roaring back and now sit a mere five games behind the division leaders (they were as close as two at one point). MLB now jogs into its final three weeks and the Colorado Rockies are making things interesting.

And by interesting, I mean they are very close to blowing their postseason chances with uneven play, which surely threatens to send us into a long downward spiral that would make even Sylvia Plath sit back and say, “Day-um!” The Rockies were the only thing keeping this city together over the past few months while Brandon Marshall pouted and people wondered if we still had a hockey team. But the summertime strut to a guaranteed wild card spot is certainly not in the bag; spotty late-season play could put that all in jeopardy.

Rockies fans were so emotionally invested in the three-month long hot streak that after Denver Post sports writer and world-class curmudgeon Mark Kiszla found it in his black, little heart to write something positive about the team, fans actually agreed with him. And if people are agreeing with Kiszla, then you know it’s been a wacky season. And it just got wackier. The Rockies are now four-and-a-half games ahead of the San Francisco Giants for that valuable wild card spot with a mere 12 games remaining. Three of those are against National League powerhouse the St. Louis Cardinals, with the final three against NL West foe Los Angeles Dodgers. It has the makings of a grand finish or a tremendous flop depending on whether or not those bad habits from early in the season kick back in.

It would be horrible for the Rockies, who showed such promise during the dog days of summer, to revert to their loser-ish ways just in time to miss the playoffs. The fragile psyche of the local sports fan may not be able to take it. Sure the Broncos are playing above expectations, but they’re heading into a stretch of games that could require a king-sized Xanax to be rolled into the parking lot of Mile High; the Avalanche may have to provide grief counselors at the Pepsi Center by the end of its season; and the Nuggets are looking at a playoff hangover to rival any fortified wine binge you’ve inflicted on yourself. I don’t expect the Rockies to go to the World Series (although perfectly acceptable), but if they blow this shot at the playoffs they’ve worked so hard for, I think the upcoming winter will be one of discontent.