Last night was definitely the most fun we’ve had watching a baseball game since 2006, and all it took was one inning. We feel like a fish with a little musical gleam in our eye. Or, more precisely, we feel like a person with a few things to say about an amazing team and an impressive comeback:

*We look at Matt Holliday and we see Dale Murphy. Since Murphy was our hero for a good decade growing up, that works in Holliday’s favor. He is the MVP, hands-down.

*For the Rockies to fall behind 8-6, then face the game’s all-time save leader, then go double-double-triple in their first three at bats of the bottom of the 13th? With all three of those balls positively smoked? We will adopt a team with moxie like that. Colorado, consider yourself annexed.

*On a down note: Holliday never touched home plate, and the way the game ended was unfortunate. Not surprisingly, that angle seems to be an afterthought in much of the news coverage, but it was played up pretty high in the RandBall household. “That was shady,” the RandBall Better Half said. The thing we liked least about it: the umpire waiting two seconds or so before giving the safe sign. That pause usually means there is no call — as in, not out yet (haven’t been tagged with the ball) and not safe yet (haven’t touched home plate). It could have been a pause while the ump made sure the catcher didn’t have the ball; but it looked more like a “wow, this team has sure been through a lot, and there’s no way I’m calling him out in front of this crowd” call. In summary: it should have been 8-8, runner on second, two outs. Then the next batter would have singled and life would have gone on just fine. Because Trevor Hoffman? He had nothing.

*Aug. 15, 2007: The Twins trade Ramon Ortiz to the Rockies for minor league infielder Matt Macri. Perhaps a little lost in the craziness of the 13th is the superb job done by Ortiz after Colorado had gone down 8-6. He came in for Jorge Julio, who came into the game with several gas cans and a book of industrial-strength matches, determined to sabotage the Rockies’ season. Ortiz came in with a runner on first and no outs, then proceeded to go strikeout-fly out-pop out to keep the lead at just two. We’ve watched plenty of games over the years in which a team gets down after an emotional run, and next thing you know 2 runs becomes 6 runs. Kudos to last night’s winning pitcher, Ramon Ortiz. He started the regular season well and ended it well. The stuff in between was pretty awful, but it doesn’t really matter right now.

Quickly: The most maddening statistic from Kevin Seifert’s excellent story on the Vikings’ running back situation today: Chester Taylor was on the field for 41 plays Sunday; Adrian Peterson was on the field for 25. We won’t belabor the point that was pounded home in the Monday Meltdown, but Peterson simply needs the ball more, and it appears Brad Childress and the rest of the offensive coaching staff are the last people on Earth to realize this. … Trade Santana? Go ahead and get the debate going if you wish. … Hey man, Ricky Williams wants to play football and stuff again. Right after this Phish concert … With 9 correct answers (and the tiebreaker based on point differential in the Giants/Eagles game), Toonces51 is this week’s U Pick’em winner. Congrats. Tell us everything you know about football. Us? We got six right. That’s terrible. The only saving grace is that Randy Moss — and we suspect he did this for millions of fantasy owners — tipped the scales for us in one of our fantasy leagues with his late TD last night.

Mystery link! One of the greatest bands ever.

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