How about them Rockies?

In Montana, we've got two regional cities with professional teams: Seattle and Denver.

Gee, lucky us. It's about 373 miles to Seattle and 746 to Denver. Still, television blackout restrictions apply to us when the Seahawks, Mariners, Broncos or Rockies don't sell out their home games.

That's always made a lot of sense to me.

But speaking about those home teams, how about them Rockies? They're having the best season in their 16-year history.

With all the local baseball hype on the Mariners, the cards ended up stacked against them as five American League teams surpassed or approached 90 wins. It was especially tough for us Montana fans because Butte native Rob Johnson was a late-season call-up for the Mariners. The Butte Central grad got his first MLB hit Wednesday.

But lucky us, we've got another team charging hard to the finish - the Colorado Rockies.

Holy cow, where'd they come from? I took a week off of work two weeks ago to get married and came back to reality to see my Dodgers had choked and the Rockies were in the middle of a double-digit winning streak and pushing both Philadelphia and San Diego for the wild card spot, as well as Arizona for the NL West title.

Weren't they in fourth place, 6 1/2 games out of first place just two weeks ago?

If you were to pick a team to get wildfire-hot down the stretch, Colorado would have ranked down the list. The Rockies hadn't made the postseason since 1995. They were the only major league team without a win streak of at least five games in 2005 or 2006. And their salaries rank 27th in the league.

But the Rockies caught fire when they needed to and should now be considered the team to beat in the playoffs.

And, boy, do they have the characters.

Rookie shortstop Troy Tulowitzki leads a team that committed the fewest errors in the majors by far. The 22-year-old Californian with awesome range and a cannon for an arm should be the NL Rookie of the Year.

"There were a lot of pieces in place, and he became the piece that pulled it all together," Rockies manager Clint Hurdle told the Denver Post. "He's brought a fire and a passion that is unique."

Tulowitzki hit close to .300, hit more than 20 home runs and approached 100 RBIs.

Then there's left fielder Matt Holliday, who could be the NL MVP. The 27-year-old from Oklahoma finished with a .340 batting average, 36 home runs and 135 RBIs.

But Holliday and Tulowitzki have plenty of support.

All told, there are three players with more than 100 RBIs and five with more than 90 RBIs. Four of them have more than 20 home runs.

Garrett Atkins, a 27-year-old third baseman from California; right fielder Brad Hawpe, a 28-year-old Texan; and Todd Helton, a 34-year-old first baseman who started at quarterback at Tennessee before Peyton Manning, are the big contributors. But there's also center fielders Ryan Spilborghs and Willy Taveras, who split time and both hit better than .300. Plus, the team has decent speed with Taveras and former Met second baseman Kaz Matsui each getting 30-plus stolen bases.

The weak link of the team is its pitching staff, which had only two opening-day starters survive the season.

With the offensive excitement of an American League team, but following Rule 1.01 of Official Baseball Rules (which AL teams don't), the Rockies are the team to cheer for in the playoffs.

-----

Carl Hennell is a sports reporter for the Daily Inter Lake. He can be reached by e-mail at chennell@dailyinterlake.com or 758-4446.