Holliday and crew try to bring another year of Rocky Mountain refreshment to NL West. There’s no argument; the Colorado Rockies were the surprise of the 2007 baseball season. Going on an improbable run in September that saw them win over 20 games in a row, the Rockies surged up the National League West standings into the playoffs and eventually the World Series. Even though Colorado’s mile high run through the playoffs ended in a mountain of disappointment at the hands of the Red Sox, the Rockies have an avalanche of young talent that is here to stay.

Bats. Pound for pound, the Colorado Rockies may have the best lineup in the National League. The emergence of two unbelievable talents in Troy Tulowitzki and Matt Holliday (finally) has turned this lineup into one of the league’s most potent. All Tulowitzki did in his first major league season was rake .291 while hitting 24 home runs and driving in 99 RBI’s. Combined with his superb defensive ability, Tulowitzki was a stand out rookie and finished second to Ryan Braun in the Rookie of the Year voting. Unlike former Rockies flashes in the pan, Tulowitzki isn’t allowed to carry deer meat up stairs. He’s also not going to be given any room to slack off from his 2007 success, setting the bar high enough that he’ll be expected to perform like an all-star for seasons to come whether he likes it or not. Like Tulo, Matt Holliday had an unbelievable 2007 campaign. The runner-up in MVP voting to Jimmy Rollins hit .340 while slugging 36 home runs and driving in 137 RBI’s. In one swoop, Holliday took Todd Helton’s leader torch and ran with it to left field, carrying the burden of being the featured offensive threat in the lineup with him. Don’t expect teams to sleep on Holliday anymore; not after last year’s success and the publicity generated by it. He’s one of the most dangerous hitters in the National League and, combined with the way balls fly out of Coors Field, should put together another MVP caliber season. Speaking of Helton, the gritty first baseman returns for yet another year in Colorado. Unlike years past where Helton was rumored to be traded, he’ll remain the wily veteran in the clubhouse and come up with big hits in big moments. Helton can still play, and if he has to take you out “on a hunting trip deep in the woods” to prove it, he will.

Garrett Atkins is a guy who doesn’t get much attention with all the focus being on Helton and Holliday but still puts up great numbers. Last season he hit .301 while hitting 25 home runs and driving in a respectable 111 RBI’s. I can see Atkins putting up numbers similar to last year while getting the same minimal amount of attention. Hell, he’s better than Vinny Castilla was when he was with the Rockies (you know, before color television was invented) and nobody wants to talk about him. Give Atkins some air time damnit!

Pitching. Lets talk about achilles heels. Lets talk about the Colorado Rockies pitching staff. The Rockies have never put together a top notch rotation, burning through guys like Mike Hampton and Denny Neagle trying to find a cure to the Coors pitching curse. Well, the Rockies think they might have found something in young canuck Jeff Francis. Francis, a product of the Rockies system, is a 12 year old look-alike with a 95 mph fastball and a crazy arm angle. Francis’ side delivery compounded with the fact that he’s a lefty instantly make him a tough guy to hit on any given night. Francis won 19 games last year for the Rockies, a pretty astounding number given the Rockies pitching history and that his ERA was over 4. Behind him is Aaron Cook, a guy who gets jocked by a lot of people but hasn’t ever done anything to warrant it. “But, but, but, but he’s got potential!!!1″ You show me “potential” and I’ll show you a guy that’s only had an ERA under four once in his career (and that was in just 13 games) and has never won more than 9 games in a season. And we’re talking about him being a bona-fide number two pitcher in the tough National League West? Come on.

I’m just as skeptical about buying prescription drugs in a dark alley as I am about the rest of this Rockies rotation. Franklin Morales has only started 8 major league games in his career and Ubaldo Jimenez was, lets face it, less than spectacular in the less than encouraging 15 games he started last year. The Rockies said good riddance to Josh Fogg, the one veteran that they had in the rotation in favor of another veteran in Mark Redman. Yes, this is the same Mark Redman of 2006 Kansas City Royals lone All-Star representative fame. The problem is that since that magical season in 2006 of which he had an ERA of 5.71, Redman has done nothing but disappoint. Redman had no objection losing 4 of the 6 starts he made while with the Braves in 2007 before being shipped to Colorado. His dazzling 2-0 record in 5 games with the Rockies earned him the fifth spot in the rotation.

The bullpen, specifically the back end, was a fairly stable unit for the Rockies in 2007. Manny Corpas moved into the closers role for the first time in 2007 and was dominant, closing 19 games and finishing with an ERA around 2. Brian Fuentes was moved to the set-up role and had equal success getting the ball to Corpas in the 9th. Admitted ‘roid user Matt Herges was also dominant last season despite not being able to get his fix of juice. In addition, the Rockies took Luis Vizcaino from the Yankees after Vizcaino had arguably the best season of any Yankees reliever in 2007.

Outlook. The outlook for Colorado is sky high in 2008. This is a team fueled by offensive power with pitching that gets by. They’ll remain competitive in the National League West on the backs of Tulowitzki and Holliday alone and it should be interesting to see if they can rekindle the Rocky Mountain magic of last year.

Note: As a note to the Rockies P.R. group, Rocktober was one of the dumbest slogans I’ve ever heard. Please don’t bring it back.