CarGo's home run to end Rockies losing streak a thing of beauty

Most were asleep, but the few still awake witnessed history early Thursday morning.

With the Rockies trailing 4-2 in the top of the ninth inning, there were two out and two on when Carlos Gonzalez approached the plate. The Colorado slugger in a slump saw fastball after fastball from Yimi Garcia before turning into Ken Griffey Jr. reincarnated, turning on a heater and driving it deep into the second level of vacated seats at Dodger Stadium.

As CarGo rounded the bases and basked in the boos barking out from the few faithfuls willing to wait-out an hour-and-a-half rain delay, the slumping star transformed back into that god-like figure. (Watch the sweet swing here.)

The homerun pushed Colorado ahead 5-4, and after a sensational stab to save a hit by second baseman D.J. LeMahieu in the bottom of the 9th, the Rockies were victorious.

This win wasn’t just significant for Gonzalez’s clutch bomb that dove deep into the hearts of the rival Dodgers, but because it broke the Rockies’ 11-game losing streak. The Rox were plummeting and had already hit rock-bottom of the NL West at 11-19. This win barely boosts them in the standings, but it does bump up their confidence.

The Rockies needed this win. They needed it now, against the division-leading Dodgers in Los Angeles.

Colorado was hurting. It wasn’t just the 11-game losing streak, but Manager Walt Weiss is currently recovering from emergency appendectomy surgery. CarGo was slumping at the plate, hitting a paltry .182 with only two homeruns on the season before his clutch slam Thursday morning. Oh, and the team’s best player Troy Tulowitzki, is likely to be traded.

It’s enough to frustrate anyone associated with the team.

Unfortunately, due to the rain delay, few of the die-hard Rockies fans were able to witness the win around 1 a.m. MT.

But know this; it was a victory that should be vaunted, a clutch crush by CarGo which will live on for years to come.