Baseball Magic

Did he touch the plate?

Monday night, Colorado brought their September magic to October.With a three-run rally in the bottom of the lucky 13th inning, the Rockies beat San Diego 9-8 to grab a spot in the playoffs for the first time since 1995.

What is more magic, the Rockies or David Copperfield?

In a play that will live on in baseball mythology, Holliday scored the winning run with sleight of hand. When folks retell this story 100 years from now, he still will not have touched home plate. With a monster year in which he led the National League in almost every meaningful offensive category,Holliday carried the Rockies home.

The Rockies or Magic Johnson?

It's not as if Colorado cheated anyone in victory. To record their incredible 14th win since Sept. 16, the Rockies saved the trickiest piece of magic for last, beating San Diego closer Trevor Hoffman, whose place in Cooperstown was reserved long ago. Of course, for a team that required 163 regular-season games to qualify for the playoffs, maybe facing the game's all-time leader in saves was the perfect situation for the Rockies, who have repeatedly proved the impossible is just another box to check off on a list of chores.

While recording 524 saves, Hoffman owns a 2.70 earned- run average and regularly reduces even an all-star to a hapless scrub who struggles to hit his weight. Against the Rockies, however, Hoffman is nothing more than a master of disaster. In the past three years, Colorado has pounded him with a .357 batting average and torched him with a 9.00 ERA.

Kaz Matsui, Troy Tulowitzki and Holliday opened the 13th inning with consecutive extra-base hits to tie the game at 8-8. Hoffman did not record an out until Jamey Carroll lifted a fly ball to right field, as Holliday tagged up at third base and then chugged home. The throw from San Diego outfielder Brian Giles took a high arc, but was a nearly perfect strike, with the ball, Holliday's hand and the foot of catcher Michael Barrett colliding inches from home plate in precisely the same fateful second. The ball bounced away. Barrett scrambled to fetch it. Holliday collapsed in a heap, bleeding from his dazed head. From the on-deck circle, teammate Brad Hawpe demonstratively could be observed shouting: "Touch the plate!"

The Rockies or David Blane?

The playoffs are shaping up to be one of the most intriguing since 2003.

Are the Angels or Indians for real? Will the Yankees meet up with the Red Sox yet again? Can the Cubs get back to the World Series? Does Colorado have enough of the Karma to keep the run going??

Hey it must be October!

Somebody call the band Pilot…. Because for the Rockies… “Ooh Ooh its magic”.