Team overcomes late nine-game skid, tops Mets 8-1 in Majors’
National League Championship Game
Hollister – After a late-season, nine-game losing streak, murmurs questioned whether the Rockies even belonged in the Majors’ National League Championship Game. But the Rockies silenced any of their doubters with a decisive 8-1 victory over the Mets on Thursday, a win that crowned them champions.
“Wow,” said Rockies manager Craig Vallejo as the reality of winning the title set in. “That’s all I can say is, ‘Wow.’ Very satisfying.”
The Rockies qualified for the NL Championship by virtue of winning the league’s first half, and then promptly dropped the first eight games of the second half and nine overall heading into the home stretch. But the team returned to its early offensive dominance in winning its final two regular-season games by a combined score of 33-4 to hit the playoffs on a serious roll.
“We just kept the kids loose,” Vallejo said, “told ’em, ‘It’ll come, it’ll eventually come,’ and it did.”
The Rockies (9-11) jumped out to an early lead at Veterans Memorial Park Thursday night and never looked back. Shortstop Michael Bocksnick drew a walk to open the game and then No. 2 hitter Dylan Ito reached on an infield error. After Rockies pitcher Matt Vallejo, no relation to the manager, advanced both runners with a groundout, the team got the big hit it needed.
Clean-up hitter Cade Vallejo, the manager’s son, slammed a double to rightfield, driving in both runners to give the Rockies a quick 2-0 lead.
The Mets (14-6) battled back to within 2-1 in the second when shortstop/pitcher Tyller Smith crushed a solo home run to center.
But the Rockies calmly padded their lead on a pair of RBI doubles by Matt Vallejo and Nick Chicoine in the third. And with Vallejo, the team’s left-handed starter, buckling down on the mound to allow just three more hits, the peaking Rockies proved too much for the Mets on this night.
Craig Vallejo said his pitcher’s complete-game four-hitter was the difference.
“He won the game for us,” said the Rockies’ manager of Vallejo. “I mean, our bats won the game, but he shut ’em down.”
Mets manager Dale Barns said his team’s early deficit was too much too overcome.
“It kind of just snowballed from there,” Barns related. “It always happens. The team that scores first takes the momentum and they scored in the first inning.”
The Rockies added three runs on just one hit in the fourth. Right fielder Oscar Yerena hit a solo home run in the sixth to complete the scoring.
Both teams qualified for the Majors’ Tournament of Champions, which begins on July 24, by advancing to the NL title game. The Mets play the AL runner-up Orioles in Hollister at 10am and the Rockies face North County at Hartnell Park at 2pm.
The AL champion Angels face Salinas’ Ferrasci at Hartnell Park at noon.
Vallejo, the Rockies’ manager, said the TOCs hadn’t even entered his mind.
“Going to the TOCs?” Vallejo asked. “I wanted to play this game and win this game. This was the game I wanted to win. Going into the TOCs, we have a chance to win it all. We’re unstoppable as long as we’re hitting the ball.”
Despite coming up just short of the NL Championship, Barns believed his team will be primed to rebound as the playoffs continue next week.
“They’ve been bouncing back all year,” Barns said of his players. “They just need to play their game. They’re a resilient group.”
