Tulowitzki, Rockies make a race of it

It was near the midway point in his rookie season of 2007 that the first outward sign of shortstop Troy Tulowitzki’s inner drive surfaced in the Colorado Rockies clubhouse.

"I’ve never played on a losing team, and I didn’t come to the big leagues to do it for the first time," Tulowitzki uttered.

Tulowitzki immediately won over his teammates, and helped lift them to a season-ending surge – 14 wins in the final 15 games including a wild-card playoff game with San Diego – that took the Rockies to the first – and so far only -- World Series appearance in franchise history.

Three years later, nothing has changed, other than the fact in that in 2008 Tulowitzki did play on a losing team for the first time.

Tulowitzki was the force that helped the Rockies rebound from a 20-32 start to the 2009 season to make a postseason appearance for the third time in franchise history. And he’s stirring things up again in 2010.

He has hit 11 home runs in September, one shy of the franchise single-month record, with 13 games still to play, and he put an exclamation point on his season with the second seven-RBI game of his career, and his third multi-home run effort in eight games in a 9-6 must-win victory against San Diego on Wednesday.

That victory wrapped up an 8-2 homestand, during which the Rockies cut two games off their deficit to the Padres, who also saw their edge on second-place San Francisco slip to a half game. The Gaints pulled out a 2-1 victory, their 10th win in 14 games (two of the losses were 1-0), which allowed them to also move within a half game of Atlanta for the NL wild card..

Now, however, comes the real challenge of just how much magic the Rockies can muster.

While San Diego opens a four-game series at St. Louis on Thursday night, and the Giants wrap up their series against the Dodgers on Thursday before hosting Milwaukee in a three-game weekend series, the Rockies on Friday embark on a 16-game season-ending stretch that has them on the road for 10 games.

The Rockies are an unsightly 29-42 away from home, much to the chagrin of manager Jim Tracy.

"You get the impression that people think, 'All you have to do is get them out of that building and they'll fold like a sheet of paper,'" Tracy said. "That's not the case and I take offense to that, because that's not how we play."

What provides some hope is that the Rockies did sweep a three-game series at San Diego in their most recent road adventure. It was their first sweep of a road series this year, and their first against a team with a winning record in 15 months.

Most of all, however, the hope of the Rockies revolves around the middle of the lineup.

Carlos Gonzalez is the Rockies' MVP candidate, but Tulowitzki remains the driving force in their most recent battle to beat the odds and rally in the closing weeks to advance to the playoffs for the third time in four years.

"I have confidence that I can be that guy, but the game's not that easy," Tulowitzki said.

However, it is not as difficult for Tulowitzki as it is for most.

Good as Gonzalez has been, he’s even better when he is part of a 1-2 punch with Tulowitzki, arguably the most impactful 1-2 punch in the National League. Nothing against the likes of Albert Pujols and Matt Holliday of the St. Louis Cardinals, Chase Utley and Ryan Howard of the Philadelphia Phillies, or Ryan Braun and Prince Fielder of the Milwaukee Brewers.

Gonzalez and Tulowitzki bring an added dimension. They bring Gold Glove abilities at shortstop and in the outfield to their offensive ability. And they do have offensive ability that is enhanced by hitting back-to-back in the Rockies lineup, the left-handed threat of Gonzalez backed by the right-handed threat of Tulowitzki.

"People don't realize how important that is," said Tulowitzki. "If they pitch around you, you have no choice but to be patient and wait for that one pitch, but if there's someone behind you that's protecting you, they're going to come right after you. I always let (Gonzalez) know the reason why he's having such a good year is because his protection's there."

And Gonzalez returns the good-natured needle.

"Well, Tulowitzki was out for like a month and I was doing pretty well too," he said with a grin. "We feel really comfortable hitting together. We're showing to everybody that we can lift the team."

And Gonzalez did do "pretty well" without Tulowitzki, but the numbers show how much better Gonzalez and the other Rockies have been since July 27, the date that Tulowitzki returned to the active roster after being sidelined for six weeks with a broken wrist.

With the Rockies fresh off a 2-9 road trip to open the post-All-Star portion of the schedule, and go from two games out in the NL West to eight games behind, there was a two-game feeling-out period when the Rockies lost back-to-back home games to Pittsburgh.

Since then, however, the Rockies have turned a season that appeared headed for utter disappointment into another late-season surge. They have won 29 of their last 46 games. After falling as many as 11 games back of the division lead as late as Aug. 22, they woke up Thursday morning just 2 1/2 games back in both the NL West and wild card races.

Since Tulowitzki’s July 27 return, Gonzalez has regularly hit third with Tulowitzki stepping into the cleanup sport. In Tulowitzki’s absence, the Rockies auditioned without success Jason Giambi, Ryan Spilborghs, Seth Smith, Melvin Mora and Brad Hawpe.

And since July 27, Gonzalez and Tulowitzki have combined to hit .383 with 29 home runs and 90 RBIs. Gonzalez hit .415 with 15 home runs and 42 RBIs, and Tulowitzki has hit .351 with 14 home runs and 48 RBIs, his power numbers exploding in recent weeks as fears of a lingering problem from the broken wrist have disappeared.

"I'm just hot right now and continually trying to remind myself to enjoy this while it lasts because it's not going to last forever," said Tulowitzki

Maybe, too, the Rockies' hot spell doesn't last. But the 8-2 homestand provided a reminder to the Padres that Colorado isn't about ready to pack it in. The Padres had, after all, come to Coors Field on Monday and provided an answer to the season-long domination of the Rockies to win the first two games of the series.

"You get swept at home by San Diego, a team that you're chasing, you're in trouble," Tulowitzki said. "(Wednesday) was really a must-win game. You don't ever like to drop that on games, but if we've had one this season, (Wednesday) was the must-win game."

And Tulowitzki wasn’t about to allow the Rockies to lose.