Colorado Rockies history: 1995 playoffs and comparing to 2017

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25 May 1997: Outfielder Larry Walker of the Colorado Rockies hits the ball during a game against the Houston Astros at Coors Field in Denver, Colorado. The Rockies won the game, 8-5. Mandatory Credit: Brian Bahr/Allsport. Getty Images. /

We continue with our top 32 moments in Colorado Rockies history with a moment that is one of the number one seeds that we have. In 1995, in just the third year of the club’s existence, the Rockies won the National League Wild Card, the first wild card in baseball history (due to the 1994 MLB players strike that wiped out all of the postseason).

In 1995, the Colorado Rockies qualified for the playoffs in just their third year of existence. They secured their postseason spot on the final day of the season, October 1, 1995 in a 10-9 win against the San Francisco Giants. The Rockies needed to lose and the Houston Astros needed to win against the Chicago Cubs to have a tie for the Wild Card but since the Rockies won, the Astros’ win was pointless.

These were the lineups for each of the teams on the final day of the regular season.

San Francisco Giants

Colorado Rockies

The Rockies were behind early as in the top of the first inning, Matt Williams hit a two-run home run. However, in the bottom of the first inning, Dante Bichette cut that lead in half with a sacrifice fly to score Eric Young.

In the top of the second, J.R. Phillips hit a lead off homer off Saberhagen to make it a 3-1 game but in the bottom half of the inning, Vinny Castilla had a sac fly to pull the Rockies within one.

In the third innings, the Giants busted their lead wide open. Barry Bonds had an RBI double to score Mike Benjamin and Mark Carreon had a two-run double. After Phillips walked, Rockies manager Don Baylor pulled Saberhagen from the game for reliever Mark Thompson.

Thompson gave up two sac flies to Aurilia and Manwaring to make it a 8-2 game and eventually, Thompson stopped the bleeding.

In the bottom of the third inning, the Rockies narrowed the gap again, though, as they hit two, two-run home runs by Eric Young and Larry Walker to knock starter Joe Rosselli out of the game.

After three innings, the score was already 8-6.

No further scoring happened for another inning and a half…and the magic came.

13 Jun 1998: Manager Don Baylor of the Colorado Rockies looks on during a game against the Los Angeles Dodgers at the Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, California. The Rockies defeated the Dodgers 4-2. Mandatory Credit: Vincent Laforet/Allsport. Getty Images. /

In the bottom of the fifth inning, the Rockies took the lead. They faced pitcher Mark Leiter and Leiter gave up an RBI single to Larry Walker, a RBI double by Andres Galarraga, a RBI groundout by Vinny Castilla, and a RBI double by Walt Weiss to make it a 10-8 game.

In the top of the seventh inning, the Giants cut the lead in half on a Kirt Manwaring sac fly to make it 10-9 but neither team would score any more runs.

The Rockies, with their win, would face the Atlanta Braves in a few short days. It was one of the best teams ever. Their team would feature three players that are currently in the Baseball Hall of Fame (Tom Glavine, John Smoltz, and Greg Maddux) and one future Hall of Famer (Chipper Jones).

On October 3, 1995, the Rockies would face the Braves in Game 1 at Coors Field, which was in it’s first season as the Rockies home (FYI: Coors Field is the third oldest stadium in the National League behind Wrigley Field and Dodger Stadium now).

Braves manager Bobby Cox‘s lineup, in game one, looked like this:

Marquis Grissom, CF
Mark Lemke, 2B
Chipper Jones, 3B
Fred McGriff, 1B
David Justice, RF
Ryan Klesko, LF
Charlie O’Brien, C
Jeff Blauser, SS
Greg Maddux, SP

Rockies manager Don Baylor made his lineup look like this:

Eric Young, 2B
Joe Girardi, C
Dante Bichette, LF
Larry Walker, RF
Andres Galarraga, 1B
Ellis Burks, CF
Vinny Castilla, 3B
Walt Weiss, SS
Kevin Ritz, SP

7 Mar 1998: Outfielder Ellis Burks of the Colorado Rockies in action during a spring training game against the Arizona Diamondbacks at the Hi Corbett Field in Tucson, Arizona. Mandatory Credit: Todd Warshaw /Allsport. Getty Iamges. /

The first two innings, the game was scoreless for both teams. However, in the top of the third inning, with two outs, Marquis Grissom hit a solo home run to make it a 1-0 Braves lead.

No further scoring happened until the bottom of the four inning. In the bottom of the fourth, the Rockies responded with a sacrifice fly by Ellis Burks to tie the game. Two pitches later, Vinny Castilla connected for a two-run home run off Maddux to make it a 3-1 Rockies lead.

In the top of the sixth inning, then-rookie Chipper Jones connected on the first pitch of the inning for a home run that pulled the Braves within one. Three batters later, Luis Polonia (who was pinch-hitting for Charlie O’Brien) reached on a fielder’s choice that score David Justice that tied the game at three apiece.

In the top of the eighth inning, Dwight Smith (who was pinch-hitting for Jeff Blauser) had a RBI single to score Ryan Klesko to make it a 4-3 Braves lead.

In the bottom half of the eighth, Ellis Burks hit a RBI double to score Dante Bichette on the first pitch off of new reliever, Alejandro Pena, who had just replaced Greg McMichael who had come on at the beginning of the inning in relief of Maddux. That tied the score at 4-4.

Curt Leskanic came on to try to preserve the tie but he allowed a homer to Chipper Jones, his second of the game, to make it a 5-4 game

The Rockies nearly got to Braves’ closer Mark Wohlers as they got the bases loaded with only one out but Wohlers struck Andres Galarraga and pinch hitter Lance Painter (who was a reliever pinch hitting for Leskanic because the Rockies were out of bench players) swinging to end the game.

Painter would see action in Game 2. However, he would be the starting pitcher for the Rockies in it.

25 Jun 1995: First baseman Andres Galarraga of the Colorado Rockies throws the ball during a game against the San Diego Padres at Jack Murphy Stadium in San Diego, California. The Rockies won the game 11-4. Mandatory Credit: Stephen Dunn /Allsport /

For Game 2, both teams saw lineup changes in their starting eight (and, obviously, the starting pitchers). For the Braves, their lineup looked like this:

Grissom, CF
Lemke, 2B
Jones, 3B
McGriff, 1B
Justice, RF
Javy Lopez, C (who didn’t start in game 1)
Klesko, LF (who hit sixth in game 1)
Blauser, SS
Tom Glavine, SP

The Rockies lineup looked like this:

Young, 2B
Burks, CF (who hit sixth in game 1)
Bichette, LF
Walker, RF
Galarraga, 1B
Castilla, 3B (who hit seventh in game 1)
Girardi, C (who hit second in game 1)
Weiss, SS
Painter, SP

In the first inning, the Braves scored as early as they could. On the first pitch of the game, Marquis Grissom hit a solo home run to make it 1-0 Braves.

In the top of the third inning, Javy Lopez added to the Braves’ tally with a sacrifice fly to make it a 2-0 game.

In the top of the fourth inning, Marquis Grissom hit his second home run in as many at-bats.

Heading to the bottom half of the sixth inning, the Rockies had only tallied two hits off of Glavine. However, in the sixth, Burks reached on an error and Bichette singled. On the first pitch to Larry Walker, Glavine gave up a three-run home run to Larry Walker to tie the game at three.

In the bottom of the eighth inning, the Rockies took the lead on a RBI by Andres Galarraga for a 4-3 lead. However, for the second straight night, the Rockies bullpen could not hold it.

Curt Leskanic gave a double up to Chipper Jones to lead off the inning. Mike Munoz gave a RBI single to Fred McGriff to tie the game at four. Four batters later, Mike Mordecai, who was pinch-hitting for reliever Alejandro Pena, hit a RBI single to take the lead. On the next pitch, Rafael Belliard, who had come in to play shortstop the previous half inning, got on with a throwing error by Eric Young that scored two runs to make it a 7-4 game.

The Rockies ended up scoring by that score. They would head to Atlanta down 2-0 in the series.

1 May 1997: Shortstop Walt Weiss of the Colorado Rockies tags out shortstop Shawon Dunston of the Chicago Cubs during a game at Coors Field in Denver, Colorado. The Rockies won the game 5-4. Mandatory Credit: Brian Bahr /Allsport /

For Game Three, the Rockies were in a must-win situation. The bullpen had blown two leads late in Colorado and it would be a daunting task to take on the Braves on their home turf. However, they did not die this night.

On this night, Friday October 6, 1995, Don Baylor’s lineup would look like this:

Eric Young, 2B
Mike Kingery, CF
Dante Bichette, LF
Larry Walker, RF
Andres Galarraga, 1B
Vinny Castilla, 3B
Joe Girardi, C
Walt Weiss, SS
Bill Swift, SP

Bobby Cox’s lineup would be as follows:

Marquis Grissom, CF
Mark Lemke, 2B
Chipper Jones, 3B
Fred McGriff, 1B
David Justice, RF
Ryan Klesko, LF
Javy Lopez, C
Jeff Blauser, SS
John Smoltz, SP

The Rockies got the ball rolling quickly in the first inning as Eric Young scored on a wild pitch with Larry Walker at bat to make it 1-0.

In the top of the third, Young added to the tally as he hit a two-run home run to make it 3-0.

However, in the bottom of the fourth inning, the Braves tied it up after a RBI double by Klesko and a two-run single by Lopez.

In the top of the sixth inning, though, Vinny Castilla launched a two-run home run to knock Smoltz out of the game and it make a 5-3 Rockies lead.

In the bottom of the seventh inning, with Mike Munoz on in relief for the Rockies, pinch hitter Mike Mordecai got a RBI double to narrow the lead.

Pinch hitter Luis Polonia tied the game up at five in the bottom of the ninth when he recorded a RBI single.

The game went to extra innings but not far. In the tenth inning, Andres Galarraga and Vinny Castilla both recorded RBI singles off Mark Wohlers to make it a 7-5 Rockies lead and they would win game four by that margin.

They would head to game four with a little bit of momentum after winning game three.

DENVER – MAY 1: Vinny Castilla #9 of the Colorado Rockies bats during the game against the Atlanta Braves in the first game of a double-header at Coors Field on May 1, 2004 in Denver, Colorado. The Rockies won 3-2. (Photo by Brian Bahr/Getty Images) /

In Game Four, the Rockies featured the same lineup as they did in Game Three with the exception of the ninth spot. That was filled by starting pitcher Bret Saberhagen. For the Braves, they had another different lineup that looked like this.

Marquis Grissom, CF
Mark Lemke, 2B
Chipper Jones, 3B
Fred McGriff, 1B
David Justice, RF
Ryan Klesko, LF
Charlie O’Brien, C
Rafael Belliard, SS
Greg Maddux, SP

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The first scoring happened in the top of the third inning as Dante Bichette hit a three run home run off of Maddux to make it 3-0. However, the Braves, in the bottom half of the inning, would take the lead on a two-run double by Chipper Jones. Fred McGriff followed with a two-run home run.

Two more runs scored in the bottom of the fourth as Klesko scored on a fielder’s choice with Belliard batting and Grissom notched a RBI double to make it a 6-3 lead.

Fred McGriff hit a solo homer off of Kevin Ritz, who came on in relief of Saberhagen in the bottom of the fifth to make it 7-3.

Vinny Castilla made it 7-4 on a home run in the top of the sixth but that would be the end of the Rockies scoring. After the Braves scored three more in the bottom of the sixth, the Rockies would be vanquished a few, short innings later by a score of 10-4 to end their season and end their ride.

Final Thoughts

In each of the first three games of the 1995 NLDS, the bullpen faltered as they gave up the lead late in the game (but the offense won it for the Rockies in the 10th inning of game three). It is something that is obviously of vital importance in the postseason. Most postseason teams who thrive have good bullpens. For example, for the Cubs and Indians in 2016, their bullpen ERA was fourth and second in their respective leagues.

In 2017, it’s not surprising that the Dodgers and Indians have the best bullpen ERA’s considering that they have the top two records in their leagues.

This season, the Rockies bullpen ERA is 21st in baseball at 4.45 (Cleveland leads baseball with a 2.86 bullpen ERA entering Sunday).

In the month of August, the Rockies bullpen had their best month as they had an ERA of 3.94. However, they have an ERA of 4.78 in the month of September (entering Monday).

Next: An outlook on the Rockies remaining 2017 schedule

It will be something to pay attention to in the next two and half weeks or so and in the playoffs.

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