Jim Tracy

With all due respect to the Cardinals' Tony La Russa, the National League Manager of the Year award was the easiest in the bunch. On Wednesday, Colorado Rockies Manager Jim Tracy was announced as the winner of the prestigious honor.

A week after walking away being told that their gloves are simply made of leather and not gold, the Colorado Rockies were finally recognized on Wednesday for their spectacular season.

They say that sometimes you can predict the outcome of a baseball game strictly from the first batter to take his hacks.

Unfortunately for the Colorado Rockies, that saying rang true in their opening bout with the Philadelphia Phillies in Game One of the National League Division Series.

When Dexter Fowler swung at Cliff Lee's first pitch of the game, flying out weakly to right field, it was a sad portent of things to come for the red-hot Rox in their eventual 5-1 drubbing at the hands of the NL East Champions.

As the unending pageantry of the All-Star pregame show continues its free-fall from glitzy longing for past glories to sob story shlock, I think it's high time to take a look back at the first half of the season that was for yours, mine, and our Colorado Rockies.

On May 27, when the Rockies record stood at 18-28 and the team had just suffered through a, well, insufferable three-game sweep at the hands of the Dodgers, the outlook appeared a bit grim for the boys in the purple pinstripes.