Savvy rookie shortstop leads Rockies to cusp of Series

Rockies shortstop Troy Tulowitzki has been one of this postseason's breakout stars. AP

World Series Coverage   Monday John Donovan: Rox, Sox built to last Albert Chen: Ellsbury an unlikely hero Joe Sheehan: Scenes, notes from clincher Red Sox celebrate World Series victory Sunday Sox clip Rockies 4-3 to win World Series John Donovan's Report Card for Game 4 Jon Heyman's 15 Greatest Mr. Octobers Lowell takes home Series MVP honors Dynasty in the making for Red Sox? Clock strikes midnight for Rockies' ride Time.com: Red Sox are the new Yankees Saturday Red Sox down Rockies 10-5, take 3-0 lead John Donovan's Report Card for Game 3 Tom Verducci: The Sox are superior John Donovan: The Coors Field factor Jon Heyman: Four keys to Game 3 Friday Melissa Segura: Corpas gets his wish John Donovan: Rockies' lumber slumber Jon Heyman: How the Sox got Beckett Joe Sheehan: Electric night at Fenway Thursday Schilling, bullpen shut down Rockies 2-1 John Donovan's Report Card for Game 2 Tom Verducci's five cuts for Thursday Albert Chen on the Red Sox's bullpen John Donovan: Rockies turn to a rookie Joe Sheehan: Postseason drama lacking Tale of the Tape: Rockies vs. Red Sox World Series Fungoes Joe Lemire on Rockies-Red Sox Schedule/Box Scores Game 1: Red Sox 13, Rockies 1 Game 2: Red Sox 2, Rockies 1 Game 3: Red Sox 10, Rockies 5 Game 4: Red Sox 4, Rockies 3

Also in this column:
• Joe Torre update
• Forty million for Rivera?
• Barry Bonds to Japan?
• More news and notes

DENVER -- The thing about these Rockies is that no one on the team seems all that high on themselves. Not a mile high, not a few feet off the ground, nothing. Someone, please, inform them that they've won an incredible 20 out of 21 games.

"It hasn't seemed like that many games,'' rookie shortstop Troy Tulowitzki said.

Tulowitzki said what he said in such a calm way that you wanted to check his pulse. One reporter was inspired to ask whether he really was that calm, or whether he was "putting on a show.''

"No,'' Tulowitzki said. "It's mixed emotions. I'm calm but I'm excited.''

Even as things remain oddly placid in their clubhouse, they are going nuts here in the stands in Rocky town. And why not? This young, calm group looks destined to win the World Series.

This postseason, decidedly short on stars and long on Cinderella stories, might appear to baseball's powers as their form of the Rocky Horror Picture Show. But anyway you view it, you have to know that these guys have earned their way in.

The Diamondbacks, another team of 25 slipper wearers, aren't going to give up yet, not just because they're down 3-0 after the Rockies' 4-1 win on Sunday night. The D-Backs know what's possible. They won the most games in the National League despite injuries to three key players (Randy Johnson, Orlando Hudson and Chad Tracy), and despite posting the lowest batting average and on-base percentage in the league. They've also seen what's possible from their greatest adversary, their geographic rival, beginning with their spring in Tucson together: 20 of 21.

"There's always hope,'' says Diamondbacks GM Josh Byrnes, who was a Red Sox executive in 2004, when Boston came back to beat the Yankees after going down 3-zip in the ALCS, the one times it's happened at this level. "It's a tall task. Right now, we need to win a game, and get some momentum going to try to get the series back home.''

Home? Road? Day Night? Nothing seems to matter to the Rockies, who have been winning under the worst of circumstances. It hasn't been a smooth road, but it's been a wonderful ride. And anyone who doesn't believe that there's something slightly magical going on around here just hasn't seen this team, or studied their path, or experienced the calm of their clubhouse. Here's what else I see and hear ...

• Tulowitzki is amazing, and not just amazingly calm. He's the best shortstop in baseball at turning the double play, and he may be the best shortstop in baseball, period. It's hard to imagine that he's a rookie. He grew up idolizing Derek Jeter and now he's emulating him. As a rookie, the Captain of Calm already seems like the captain of this amazing club.

• Matt Holliday is just as amazing in his own way. He looks as confident as any hitter in the game. And shouldn't he be? Coors or no Coors, he's as good a hitter as anyone not named A-Rod.

• Yorvit Torrealba is this year's Yadier Molina. The veteran catcher, who has never hit more than eight home runs in a season, keeps getting big hits. He inadvertently induced some premature fireworks when he slammed a double high off the center-field wall early on Sunday (apparently, the fireworks guy assumed the ball was out) before slamming the decisive three-run homer off Livan Hernandez.

• The biggest hit, everyone agrees, came from the longest-suffering Rockie, Todd Helton, who beat the Dodgers' usually unhittable closer Takashi Saito 9-8 with a two-run, two-out, two-strike walkoff home run that made it three straight wins en route to 11 straight to start the run. To that point the Rockies had exactly zero hits against Saito this year.

• The road isn't as Rocky as it used to be. During their streak the Rockies are 10-0 on the road, which had been their downfall for a decade. "That's our biggest thing,'' Brad Hawpe says. "That's something we haven't done since I've been here.''

• They won games started by the likes of like Brad Penny, Derek Lowe, Greg Maddux and Jake Peavy.

• They went 6-0 on a trip to Southern California, a place where they usually wilt.

• This may be hard to believe, but 19 of the 20 victories have come against winning teams, the lone exception being the 13-0 win over the Marlins on Sept. 16 that started all this.

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