Colorado Not Going Anywhere in NL West Race

The last four games were bittersweet for the Dodgers and Joe Torre this week. Despite winning three out of four against the Cubs, Colorado managed to keep the Dodgers division lead at three and a half games going into play Monday. The Rockies had the added bonus of taking two out of the first three against San Francisco pushing them back in both the division and wild card. With a critical three game set that starts in Colorado Tuesday, the red hot Rockies have a great chance to make the division race closer than it has been since opening day.

Everyone remembers the amazing run the Rockies went on in 2007 to win the division from San Diego. Forget about that. If Rockies are somehow able to overtake Los Angeles this year, it would be right at the top of the list for greatest division collapses in the history of the game. Not even the Mets’ monumental failure of a couple of years ago would come close to this.

Another sprinkle of salt in the wounds of Los Angeles is the more than solid outing John Smoltz gave St. Louis Sunday. With the Dodgers passing on Smoltz, they missed out on getting a starter with one of the best postseason records in history. It would have been a gamble to take a chance of Smoltz after his poor performance in Boston, but they really do not have that much to lose at this point. A guy with a fifteen and four postseason record looks a heck of a lot better than what they ended up with in Vicente Padilla. He has never made a postseason start.

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This series is definitely a must win for the Dodgers. Colorado really has them on their heels for the first time this year. A series loss to the Rockies could not only strike a huge blow to them in the division race, but conceivably put them in a position to not even make the playoffs. With a fifteen game lead a one point in the season over Colorado, not many people would ever imagine this being a possibility just a month ago.

By: Charles Dimino
Los Angeles Dodgers Correspondent

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