Colorado Rockies: Wild Thing, Dominant Pitching and Ceremony

This morning, I’m throwing out some World Series-themed thoughts after the Cleveland Indians grabbed a 1-0 lead over the Chicago Cubs in the Fall Classic last night. And yes, I’ll find a way to get a Colorado Rockies spin in here as well.

No Wild Thing on Tuesday night

Contrary to rumors leading up to Game 1, Charlie Sheen didn’t reprise his Major League role as Cleveland’s “Wild Thing” and throw out the first pitch. Our FanSided cousins at WahoosOnFirst.com had an excellent article about why that was the right decision that you can read here.

Of course, Colorado has its own Wild Thing in reliever Carlos Estevez and he spent some time with Sheen over the summer. You can read the interesting tale from MLB.com’s Thomas Harding here.

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Colorado’s first pitch hurler would be …?

So who will be throwing out the ceremonial first pitch when the World Series returns to Coors Field? Yes, I said “when” and not “if.”

Certainly there are plenty of candidates but Todd Helton would be a logical choice thanks to his 17-year career in Denver. The Toddfather batted .320 in 2007 to push the Rockies toward their lone World Series berth. It would be great to see him back out at Coors Field again with the Fall Classic in town.

Also, former Indians manager Mike Hargrove participated in the first pitch ceremonies on Tuesday night. It would certainly be interesting to see if Clint Hurdle would be a part of anything like that in Denver.

Dominant pitching is a powerful weapon

As Cleveland’s Corey Kluber showed on Tuesday night, a dominant pitching performance can make a world of difference on baseball’s biggest stage. His pinpoint accuracy had the Cubs guessing throughout the game as evidenced by his record eight strikeouts in the game’s first three innings.

Next: Matt Herges Reflects on 2007 World Series with Rockies

Jon Gray, Tyler Chatwood and Chad Bettis each had games this season where they flashed that kind of dominance. While none of those outings happened in October, it was enough to remind all of us that the Rockies do have pitchers who can dominate when they’re at the top of their game.