Mile High Maniac
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Rockies Roll to Fifth Straight as Story Explodes

By Michael Longhofer

DENVER, CO - SEPTEMBER 5: Trevor Story #27 of the Colorado Rockies hits a home run off a pitch from Andrew Suarez #59 of the San Francisco Giants in the first inning on September 5, 2018 at Coors Field in Denver, Colorado. (Photo by Julio Aguilar/Getty Images)
DENVER, CO - SEPTEMBER 5: Trevor Story #27 of the Colorado Rockies hits a home run off a pitch from Andrew Suarez #59 of the San Francisco Giants in the first inning on September 5, 2018 at Coors Field in Denver, Colorado. (Photo by Julio Aguilar/Getty Images) /
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The Colorado Rockies completed a sweep of the San Francisco Giants at Coors Field on Wednesday.  Trevor Story hit three home runs to pace the Rox.

With the sweep of the Giants, Colorado extended their division lead to 1-1/2 games over the Dodgers, who dropped two-of-three at home against the New York Mets.

As the season winds down to it’s last 23 games, the Rockies are in good position to take the NL West division and we are witnessing a bit of transfer of power from Nolan Arenado to Trevor Story.

With Arenado mired in an extended slump (hitting just .154 over his last seven games and .204 in his last 15) there’s been a hole formerly occupied by the MVP-level third-baseman.

Enter Story, the shortstop continuation of Troy Tulowitzki.  While Arenado had a brief fling with MVP mention, Story has remained steady and spectacular for the entire season.  By the numbers, Story is:

8th in the NL in Batting Average at .298.

3rd in the NL in RBI with 95.

3rd in the NL in Home Runs with 31.

1st in the NL in Doubles with 39.

5th in the NL in Stolen Bases with 25.

3rd in the NL in Slugging Percentage at .566

6th in the NL in OPS at .920 (OPS is on-base plus slugging percentage)

Add that Story is currently 3rd in the NL in fielding percentage at .982 and his selection to the 2018 All-Star team to round out the completeness of his game.  As of August 2nd, Nolan Arenado was second in the NL MVP race.  With the latest surge from Story and decline by Arenado, Trevor has a legitimate shot at the award.

To bolster his late-season push and in the most important home stand of the season, Story, for lack of a better term, went off.

His 3-for-4, 3HR performance is legendary enough.  Two of the three home runs traveled an absurd distance.  His lightest shot was a monster 416 feet.  His other two traveled 494ft and 505ft, respectively.

The total of 1,415 feet means Story’s hits on Wednesday night traveled a literal quarter of a mile.  He is Uncle Rico.

Speed, arm strength, fielding, hitting for average and hitting for power are considered the “five tools” of baseball.  Story excels at all five, as detailed above.  He will have as much as anyone in the Rockies clubhouse to do with the team’s success.

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Overshadowed by Story’s epic night was the win and series sweep for the Rockies.  Antonio Senzatela gave Colorado five innings of uneven work.  He struck out six but walked two and gave up nine hits and three earned runs.  Colorado got a rare, shutout performance from the relief combination of Harrison Musgrave, Yency Almonte, Scott Oberg and Adam Ottavino to hold San Francisco to three and secure the win (which went to Musgrave).

Offensively, a DJ LeMahieu triple and Carlos Gonzalez double stand out.  The struggling Arenado had an RBI on a sacrifice.  The night, however, belonged to Story.

Next up, Colorado has a set with division rival Los Angeles for three at Coors Field.  Colorado resurgent ace Jon Gray (11-7, 4.70 ERA) looks to outduel the Dodgers Clayton Kershaw (6-5, 2.40) in a hyper-important series.

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