Opinion: Rockies silence Byrnes on last at-bat

DENVER -- There’s something to be said about poetic justice.

Eric Byrnes, the Arizona Diamondbacks’ loudmouth who said his squad had outplayed the Colorado Rockies, was the last man at bat in Game 4 of the National League Championship Series on Monday.

With a man on base, Byrnes had the chance to take one pitch and tie the score. Instead, Byrnes hit a dribbling ball that Rockies shortstop Troy Tulowitzki grabbed and tossed to Todd Helton.

In baseball terms, the play wasn’t even close.

Play over. Game over.

As the Rockies celebrated a 6-4 victory that sends them to the organization’s first World Series, Byrnes lie face down on the outfield side of first base.

Byrnes remained there about five seconds before popping up and jogging back to the Diamondbacks’ dugout a 4-0 loser in a best-of-seven series.

So while Byrnes wiped Coors Field dirt off his face, the Rockies bathed in Coors.

Most people with a pulse would agree that the past six weeks have been incredibly special for the Rockies.

Whether the Rockies go on to win the World Series or not, their place in baseball and sports history is set. It will be written and watched over and over.

Denver’s professional sports scene has never had a team go on the type of run the Rockies have enjoyed the past month and a half.

The Rockies join the 2001 Oakland A’s and the 1977 Kansas City Royals as the only teams in the past half-century to have a 20-1 streak at any part of the season. And in 71 years, no National League team has done what the Rockies have done.

The Rockies aren’t worried about history right now. Maybe in “November when this is all over we’ll think about all that,” reserve outfielder Ryan Spilborghs said.

The past six weeks the Rockies have talked about one game at time. Sure, it’s a cliché and hackneyed. Folks hate hearing it because it’s so boring.

One pitch takes that boring to the next level. However, boring is what has almost gotten this team to baseball’s pinnacle.

This Rockies team has gone beyond the whole one-game-at-a-time philosophy. This has been broken down to one pitch at a time by any number of players.

“I definitely think that way when I’m playing defense,” Tulowitzki said. “That’s one thing my coach in college taught me. As an infielder, there’s a circle in front of you, and you have to step into it every time, every single pitch.

“You have to be into every single pitch. If you’re not, you might get a bad jump on a ball.

If you’re not into every pitch, you’re just not preparing yourself.”

If there’s one thing the Rockies have been, it’s prepared. They’ve been prepared for every pitch. Their defense has shown it. The Rockies had the best defensive team in major league history this past regular season.

That’s largely because at some point, every Rockies defender bought into the thought that he had to forget about the last pitch, not worry about the next pitch and explicitly know his job for this pitch.

“I think we all realize now how important defense is because it’s got us this far,” Tulowitzki said. “At the beginning of the season, I don’t think a lot of people on our team took defense as serious as it needed to be. Our guys get our work in now to make sure they’re prepared for every pitch.”

The Rockies are no different offensively.

One pitch that Todd Helton knocked over the Coors Field wall. One pitch that Seth Smith whacked into the deepest parts of Coors for a triple.

One pitch that Yorvit Torrealba sent over the left field wall. One pitch that Matt Holiday popped into the fountain behind centerfield.

One pitch turns to two, to three to four to an at bat, which turns to an inning and to a game.

We count the games played, the wins and losses.

But the Rockies made this trek one pitch at a time.