1995 Colorado Rockies season

The Colorado Rockies' 1995 season was the third for the Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise located in Denver, Colorado, their third in the National League, and first at Coors Field. The team competed in the National League West, finishing with a record of 77−67, second in the division. The Rockies simultaneously won the first-ever National League wild card berth in the first season of the revised postseason format and first playoff appearance in franchise history. They faced the eventual World Series champion Atlanta Braves in the National League Division Series (NLDS), who won this first round series in four games, with the Rockies taking game three.

1995 Colorado Rockies
NL Wild Card Team
Major League affiliations
Location
Other information
Owner(s)Jerry McMorris
General manager(s)Bob Gebhard
Manager(s)Don Baylor
Local televisionKWGN-TV
(Dave Campbell, Charlie Jones)
Local radioKOA (AM)
(Wayne Hagin, Jeff Kingery)
KCUV
(Francisco Gamez, Carlos Bido)
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Offseason

Regular season

The start to the 1995 MLB regular season was delayed over three weeks by the 1994–95 Major League Baseball strike that ended on April 2nd. As a result, the season only lasted 144 games (instead of the typical 162 game season) and "official" opening day for Coors Field was changed to April 26th. The Colorado Rockies played two exhibition games on April 2nd and 3rd against the New York Yankees as the first baseball to be played at Coors Field.

In his Rockies debut and inaugural game of Coors Field on April 26 versus the New York Mets, Larry Walker doubled three times, including one that tied the score with two outs in the ninth inning.[8] Dante Bichette hit a walk-off home run in the fourteenth inning for an 11−9 win. On May 7, 1995, Walker hit his 100th career home run versus Hideo Nomo of Los Angeles.[8]

The Rockies led the NL in hits (1,406), runs scored (785), triples (43, also the most in the Majors), home runs (200), runs batted in (749), batting average (.282) and slugging percentage (.471). Conversely, they also allowed the most hits (1,443), runs (783), earned runs (711) and produced the fewest shutouts (1).[9]

A quartet of Rockies hitters who became known as "The Blake Street Bombers", consisting of Dante Bichette, Vinny Castilla, Andrés Galarraga (Walker's former Expos teammate), and Larry Walker, each contributed at least 30 home runs in 1995. The Rockies simultaneously won the first-ever National League wild card berth under the revised postseason format and first playoff appearance in franchise history in just their third season of play.

On October 1st for the final regular season game, the Rockies needed a win at Coors Field versus the San Francisco Giants to avoid playing a tie-breaker game with the Houston Astros for the National League Wild Card post-season berth.[10][11] Using seven pitchers during the nine inning game, Curt Leskanic earned his 10th save and threw the final pitch of the game in a 10-9 victory for the Rockies. During a post-season interview, Leskanic recalled the pitching mound shaking like a mild earthquake with the vibrations from fans in the stadium anticipating their first ever appearance in the MLB post-season.

During the playoffs, Larry Walker collected three hits in 14 at bats in the National League Division Series (NLDS) versus the Atlanta Braves. He hit his first career postseason home run off Tom Glavine in the sixth inning of a 7−4 Game 2 loss. The Braves defeated the Rockies in four games.[12]

Season standings

NL West W L Pct. GB Home Road
Los Angeles Dodgers 7866 0.542 39–33 39–33
Colorado Rockies 7767 0.535 1 44–28 33–39
San Diego Padres 7074 0.486 8 40–32 30–42
San Francisco Giants 6777 0.465 11 37–35 30–42

Wild Card standings

Team W L Pct. GB
Colorado Rockies7767.535
Houston Astros7668.5281
Chicago Cubs7371.5074
San Diego Padres7074.4867
New York Mets6975.4798
Philadelphia Phillies6975.4798

Record vs. opponents

1995 National League Records

Sources:
Team ATL CHC CIN COL FLA HOU LAD MON NYM PHI PIT SD SF STL
Atlanta 8–48–59–410–36–65–49–45–87–64–25–27–17–5
Chicago 4–83–76–78–45–87–53–54–36–18–55–75–79–4
Cincinnati 5–87–35–76–612–14–38–47–59–38–53–63–38–5
Colorado 4–97–67–55–74–44–97–15–44–28–49–48–55–7
Florida 3–104–86–67–58–43–76–77–66–75–83–25–34–3
Houston 6–68–51–124–44–83–29–36–65–79–47–45–39–4
Los Angeles 4–55–73–49–47–32–37–56–64–99–47–68–57–5
Montreal 4–95–34–81–77–63–95–77–68–54–47–57–64–3
New York 8–53–45–74–56–76–66–66–77–64–36–75–83–4
Philadelphia 6-71–63–92–47–67–59–45–86–76–36–66–65–4
Pittsburgh 2–45–85–84–88–54–94–94–43–43–64–86–66–7
San Diego 2–57–56–34–92–34–76–75–77–66–68–46–77–5
San Francisco 1–77–53–35–83–53–55–86–78–56–66–67–67–6
St. Louis 5–74–95–87–53–44-95–73–44–34–57–65–76–7

Transactions

  • June 1, 1995: Todd Helton was drafted by the Colorado Rockies in the 1st round of the 1995 amateur draft. Player signed July 1, 1995.[13]
  • June 1, 1995: Ben Petrick was drafted by the Colorado Rockies in the 2nd round of the 1995 amateur draft. Player signed August 9, 1995.[14]
  • July 31, 1995: Bret Saberhagen was traded by the New York Mets with a player to be named later to the Colorado Rockies for Juan Acevedo and Arnold Gooch (minors). The New York Mets sent David Swanson (minors) (August 4, 1995) to the Colorado Rockies to complete the trade.[15]

Major League debuts

  • Batters:
    • Jason Bates (Apr 26)
    • Jorge Brito (Apr 30)
    • Craig Counsell (Sep 17)
    • Quinton McCracken (Sep 17)
  • Pitchers:
    • Roger Bailey (Apr 27)
    • Juan Acevedo (Apr 30)
    • Bryan Rekar (Jul 19) [16]

Roster

1995 Colorado Rockies
Roster
Pitchers
  • 16 Curtis Leskanic
Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders Manager

Coaches

Game log

Playoffs

1995 Post-Season

Player stats

= Indicates team leader

Batting

Starters by position

Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Pos Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI
C Joe Girardi 125 462 121 .262 8 55
1B Andrés Galarraga 143 554 155 .280 31 106
2B Eric Young 120 366 116 .317 6 36
SS Walt Weiss 137 427 111 .260 1 25
3B Vinny Castilla 139 527 163 .309 32 90
LF Dante Bichette 139 579 197 .340 40 128
CF Mike Kingery 119 350 94 .269 8 37
RF Larry Walker 131 494 151 .306 36 101

Other batters

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI
Jason Bates11632286.267846
Ellis Burks10327874.2661449
John Vander Wal10510135.347521

Pitching

Starting pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Kevin Ritz31173.111114.21120
Bill Swift19105.2934.9468
Marvin Freeman2294.2375.8961
Armando Reynoso2093.0775.3240
Bryan Rekar1585.0464.9860
Juan Acevedo1765.2466.4440

Other pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Joe Grahe1756.2435.0827
Mark Thompson2151.0236.5330
Lance Painter3345.1304.3736
Bret Saberhagen943.0216.2829
Bruce Ruffin3734.0012.1223

Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G W L SV ERA SO
Curtis Leskanic7663103.40107
Steve Reed715232.1479
Darren Holmes6861143.2461
Mike Munoz642427.4237
Roger Bailey397604.9833

Farm system

Level Team League Manager
AAA Colorado Springs Sky Sox Pacific Coast League Brad Mills
AA New Haven Ravens Eastern League Paul Zuvella
A Salem Avalanche Carolina League Bill Hayes
A Asheville Tourists South Atlantic League Bill McGuire
A-Short Season Portland Rockies Northwest League P. J. Carey
Rookie AZL Rockies Arizona League Jack Maloof

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Colorado Springs[17]

References

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