FanHouse Rockies

Footprints in the Snow is FanHouse's look at the paths to be forged by MLB teams this winter as they look ahead to 2010.

After an awful start to 2009, the Rockies fired Clint Hurdle, promoted Jim Tracy and proceeded to play like the best team in the National League for the rest of the regular season. They lost an exciting playoff series to the eventual NL champion Phillies, but there is no reason to think the Rockies are going away with all their young talent.

In fact, the Rockies are in position to make themselves a candidate to be a dynasty. Seriously. They can move forward with a starting lineup of Todd Helton, Clint Barmes and six proven guys who are 27 or younger. The pitching staff and minor-league talent are equally as impressive. Now it's simply a matter of cultivating their young talent while making sure they don't halt any momentum.

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The Rockies and manager Jim Tracy are nearing a three-year extension, the Denver Post is reporting, though an official announcement on an extension will likely wait until after the World Series. Tracy took over for Clint Hurdle after Hurdle was fired on May 27 and led the Rockies to a 74-42 record and the wild-card berth in the National League playoffs.

When Tracy took over, the Rockies were 18-28 and 14 games behind the Dodgers in the NL West. Under Tracy, they challenged L.A. for the division title. That sprint to the playoffs makes this extension more or less a foregone conclusion. What team in their right mind wouldn't extend the interim manager that had his team playing at a 103-win pace over a large chunk of the season?

The playoffs are almost over and the stage is set for the defending World Champion Philadelphia Phillies to face the dreadnought New York Yankees ... or the Los Angeles Angels Angels, pending a dead Christopher Lloyd-style miracle.

The bottom line is this: the World Series is like one block to our left, and we're going to have to start buckling down and making some declarative statements. Before we do that, though, today's Dugout features some pre-ALCS decision arguing and some sad realities.

Playoff Pulse is our morning rundown of the night that was and the night that will be during the MLB postseason.

Looking Forward ...

Let's keep this section short, since there will be plenty of looking ahead here over the next few days. TBS took a hit in the first round of the postseason, with three sweeps robbing the network of a more dramatic finish to the Division Series.

The League Championship Series ought to make up for it.

DENVER -- How the Philadelphia Phillies were able to sneak all those cases of Bud Light into Coors Field is another story. But it was quite evident what the beverage of choice was following the team's scintillating playoff-clinching win Monday over the Colorado Rockies.

Sure, champagne was sprayed at the start. But, other than shortstop Jimmy Rollins walking around with a bottle of Domaine Michelle, eventually nearly every Phillies player was content to be chugging a jumbo can of suds.

"It's definitely more of a beer team, no doubt about it,'' said Philadelphia reliever Brad Lidge. "Champagne tastes great for celebrating and when it's in your face. But after that it's beer.''

The Phillies are a gritty team from a hard-working town, so it's only appropriate in beer they trust.

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In Advanced Scouting, MLB FanHouse's professional talent evaluator breaks down the playoffs from a scouting perspective.

There is one lesson that we learn year in and year out as the postseason unfolds. The team that has their bullpen clicking is often the team that wins. Game 4 on Monday night was a microcosm of the series between the Phillies and Rockies. While they were not dominant out of the 'pen, the Phillies were able to slam the door where Colorado could not.

In the final two innings of Monday's game, the Philadelphia bullpen surrendered just one walk against Colorado's four. As close as the Rockies came to winning the game, it is unrealistic to feel confident in winning a contest in which your bullpen surrenders that many free passes to a lineup that hardly needs the help.

Let's start by looking at two stat lines. Some of you have probably already guessed where I'm going with this, but bear with me.

Player A: .319/.395/.691, 1 HR/11.56 plate appearances
Player B: .207/.298/.356, 1 HR/37 plate appearances

If you haven't already figured it out, both of those players are Ryan Howard. "Player A" is Howard against righties in 2009 and "Player B" is Howard against lefties in 2009. To simplify, Ryan Howard is Albert Pujols against righties and David Eckstein against lefties. So why does no one question Jim Tracy's decision to leave right-hander Huston Street in the game to face Howard with the Rockies' season on the line?

Playoff Pulse is our morning rundown of the night that was and the night that will be during the MLB postseason.

Looking Forward ...

TNT purports to know drama. Its sister network TBS knows all too well the absence of it. At least when it comes to the Division Series, that is.

DENVER -- The temperature was ideal for a Coors Light, but not a Coors night at the ballpark.

When the first pitch was thrown, the temperature at Coors Field on Sunday was announced as 35 degrees, tying the record for baseball's coldest postseason game ever. And that might have been a generous figure since several services had reported readings in downtown Denver to be barely above 30.

But perhaps the only people who froze were the umpires.

The Philadelphia Phillies defeated the Colorado Rockies 6-5, thanks to a sacrifice fly by slugger Ryan Howard in the top of the ninth inning. But Howard might not have been able to put the Phillies up 2-1 in their National League Division Series had a controversial call not gone their way.

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With two series over, Major League Baseball has updated the schedule for the rest of the Division Series.

The Rockies and Phillies will play their Game 4 at 4 PM ET if the Yankees-Twins series is still going on. Should the Yankees finish off a sweep Sunday night, the NL Game would move to 6 PM ET.

Series-by-series times are after the jump (all times Eastern).