Rockies inspired by the power of 64

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BOSTON.

The Washington Nationals took some satisfaction from playing the role of spoilers in the final week of the season, helping decide who would win the National League East.

They also unknowingly may have had a role in deciding the NL West as well. As a result of a loss exactly two months ago, it's easy to argue the Nationals played a small part in Colorado's miraculous run in the final weeks of the season, a stretch that ultimately led to the Rockies' appearance tonight against the Boston Red Sox in the World Series.

It was Aug. 24 at Coors Field in Denver, and the Nationals were about to wrap up a win over the Rockies. Shawn Hill had pitched a great game, giving up just one run over seven innings to a powerful Colorado lineup. Chad Cordero came in in the ninth up 5-1 to close out the victory.

But the first batter, Troy Tulowitzki, singled up the middle. Matt Holiday homered. Todd Helton reached on an infield single. Garrett Atkins doubled, and Cordero walked Brad Hawpe to load the bases. Cordero left the game, but Jon Rauch gave up a two-run single to Yorvit Torrealba, and Washington shortstop D'Angelo Jimenez booted Kaz Matsui's ground ball up the middle to allow the winning run to score in a 6-5 loss.

The most important number, though — the meaningful one — for Colorado was "64," written on the top of its lineup card that night.

Earlier in the day, Rockies manager Clint Hurdle visited Kyle Blakeman, a 15-year-old whom he had befriended two years earlier, when Kyle had been diagnosed with a rare cancer that usually kills within weeks. Kyle managed to fight it off with some aggressive treatment that included stem cell transplants, but it returned again this summer, and there was nothing anyone could do for him now.

The Rockies were falling, having lost seven of their last 10 games, including an embarrassing 5-1 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates the day before. So when Hurdle visited Kyle before the Nationals game, knowing the high school sophomore was days away from dying, the manager said, "You know what? We need a little something. ... He kind of looked at me like, 'What do you want from me?'

"Do you have a number, something I can play with?" Hurdle asked. "I don't know how I'm going to use it."

Kyle said his baseball number had changed often but that his favorite football number was 64. That night, Hurdle wrote it on the top of the lineup card.

After the game, Hurdle rushed over to the hospital with the lineup card to see Kyle.

"Here's mom and dad, and there's Kyle, and they're just laughing, like, did you ever not expect something good to happen?" Hurdle said. "I handed him the lineup card, and we had a bunch of giggles about it."

Five days later, Kyle died.

Every game since that win over the Nationals, Hurdle has written "64" on the Rockies' lineup card. And since that game, the Rockies have gone 33-10, including their improbable run of 21 wins in their last 22 games.

"It's not magic," Hurdle said. "It's very meaningful."

The Rockies are a team with no shortage of inspiration. Hurdle's 5-year-old daughter, Madison, has Prader-Willi Syndrome, a genetic disorder, and he choked up with emotion talking about her before yesterday's workout at Fenway Park.

"It's like many things in life — you look for good, you're going to find the good," he said. "You look for bad, you're going to find bad. ... When Maddie has a good day, everybody has a good day."

The team also has voted to award a full playoff share — which could be as much as $400,000 — to the widow of the organization's Class AA team first base coach, Scott Coolbaugh, who was struck by a ball and killed during a game July 22.

Teams don't go as far as the Rockies have come just on talent. A team has to find its heart for a run like this.

Before every game, Hurdle fills out a lineup card with the players' names and positions from catcher to shortstop. Playing heart tonight for the Colorado Rockies — No. 64.