Standing in line at the Department of Motor Vehicles on Thursday, Ryan Speier spotted his picture on the wall.

Ordinarily, that might be a bad sign, but nothing much has been ordinary for the former Radford University and Salem Avalanche pitcher these days.

Speier and his Colorado Rockies teammates have amassed an improbable 21 wins in their past 22 games to climb all the way to the World Series.

"It's been a crazy run," Speier said in a phone interview from Coors Field in Denver. "We've been sitting around wondering when this is all going to hit us. ... We come to the ballpark and expect to win."

The city of Denver has gone nuts. Neon "Go Rockies" signs have sprouted in store windows around town, and even the DMV has put up a Rockies poster.

That didn't mean Speier didn't have to wait in line to trade his Virginia license plates for Colorado ones. It was the DMV after all, and besides, "I try not to name drop or anything. People might think I'm a jerk," Speier said.

Speier is one of five former Avalanche players on the Rockies' playoff roster.

Outfielder Matt Holliday, most valuable player of the National League Championship Series and a candidate for National League MVP, played third base for Salem in 2000 and the first half of 2001. Third baseman Garrett Atkins was a first baseman for Salem in 2001, helping lead the Avalanche to the Carolina League championship.

Brad Hawpe was the Carolina League's MVP and batting champion in 2002, while fellow outfielder Cory Sullivan was leading the league -- and the Rockies organization -- in doubles.

Speier, who pitched four years at Radford, spent the second half of 2002 coming out of the bullpen for the Avalanche.

Aaron Cook, a starting pitcher, could become the sixth former Salem player in the World Series if he is deemed healthy enough after being out since Aug. 10 with a strained muscle in his side. He pitched in a simulated game Monday and said he is ready to go.

Of the former Salem players, Speier would have been voted least likely to play in the World Series. Speier might have been the first to cast a vote.

"When I was in high school, I didn't expect I would play in college. In college, I didn't expect to play in the pros. Once I was in the pros, I didn't expect to play in the big leagues. It was a dream, but it was a distant one," Speier said. "The World Series? That's unbelievable."

Speier wasn't alone in his skepticism. Born in Frankfort, Ky., Speier grew up in Springfield, Va., and spent his first three seasons at Radford in the bullpen -- not the first place scouts look for big-time prospects -- before becoming a starter as a senior. He went 8-14 with a 5.09 earned run average in 74 college games.

No one called Speier's name in the 2001 draft. The Rockies signed him as a free agent after seeing him pitch in the Cape Cod summer league and sent him to their rookie club in Casper, Wyo. The Rockies also sent him back to the bullpen. He advanced to low-A Asheville (N.C.) to start the 2002 season, then jumped up to high-A Salem in June.

Speier spent the last half of Colorado's last season as Salem's big league affiliate coming out of the bullpen for the Avalanche. He went 2-2 with a 3.93 ERA and picked up four saves in 24 appearances.

But Speier wasn't the same pitcher in Salem that he is now. Never a fireballer, Speier relied on the movement of his upper-80s fastball and slider -- a sharp breaking ball -- to get hitters out.

To move up, Speier needed more. The next season, he was back in high-A. The Avalanche had traded in their Rockies affiliation for one with the Houston Astros, so the Rockies' high-A team was Visalia in the California League. It was there that Speier learned a changeup -- a pitch designed to look like a fastball that comes across the plate 10-12 mph slower. Being able to change speeds helps a pitcher keep hitters off balance.

By midseason, the Oaks made Speier their closer and he finished the season with 18 saves -- third best in the California League. He went 4-2 with a 1.53 ERA.

Speier was finally a "prospect." In 2004 Speier had 37 saves and a 2.04 ERA for Double-A Tulsa (Okla.), and was named the Rolaids Relief Man for all of minor league baseball.

He made -- and won -- his major league debut on Opening Day of the 2005 season. When he came in from the bullpen that day to face the San Diego Padres, Speier took a moment to savor the experience.

"One of my teammates told me 'When you get the ball, look up,' " Speier said. "I think I actually got dizzy."

Speier's inexperience made him fit right in with the Rockies.

"We grew into manhood together. We grew into ballplayers. We grew into big-league ballplayers," Speier said. "A lot of us just got here in 2004 and 2005 and there was really one [experienced] guy, and that was Todd Helton.

"We didn't know how to act. We were kind of in awe."

Speier was up with the Rockies and down to Triple-A Colorado Springs three times that season, struggling at times with pitching in high altitude. But when he was called up for the third time in September when major league teams expand their rosters from 25 to 40 players, Speier finished out the season going 1-0 with a 1.54 ERA in nine appearances.

But Speier could not build on that success. Five months later, in February of 2006, he had surgery to repair two partial tears in the labrum of his right shoulder.

"It was such a long process. There were so many good days and so many bad days," Speier said of his recovery. "I worried 'was I ever going to pitch again?' "

Speier healed enough by fall to pitch in the relaxed atmosphere of the Arizona Fall League. Still, the recovery was gradual.

"I didn't start feeling normal until spring training," he said. "And even as the season went on it got better."

Again, he split time between the big-league club and Colorado Springs this summer, this time making four trips to the big club.

Speier was called up for the final time in September. But this September in Denver was different. The Rockies, at long last, found themselves in playoff contention.

The Rockies were 6 ¹₂ games out on Sept. 15, but Speier pointed to a doubleheader sweep against the Dodgers on the 18th as the day they realized that something special was happening. They won the opener 3-1. In the second game, a 9-8 victory, Ryan Spilborghs hit a two-run home run in the eighth inning to bring the Rockies back into the game, then Helton blasted a two-run shot in the bottom of the ninth to win it.

"The Dodgers have the best relievers, at least the eighth and ninth innings, in the league," said Speier, who pitched a perfect ninth to get the win. "To do that against the Dodgers. And it was Helton who hit the homer to win it. I said, 'This is the kind of win that can start something special.' There's so much to do with momentum and confidence in baseball.

"But I was thinking we'd win 10 or 12 in a row -- not 21 of 22 or whatever it is now."

The Rockies needed every bit of that hot streak, and even an extra day of the regular season to overtake the Padres for the final spot in the playoffs.

Speier went 3-0 with a 2.79 ERA in 12 appearances over the past month. He came in with two outs and a runner at second in the fifth inning of that tiebreaker game against the Padres the Monday after the regular season was supposed to end and struck out Scott Hairston.

When he came out, he noticed that he could actually see his pulse pumping through his finger. He looked in the mirror and saw the same thing in his neck.

"I asked the trainer, 'What are the symptoms of a heart attack?' " Speier said.

The Rockies won that game when Holliday dived into home plate to score on a shallow sacrifice fly in the bottom of the 13th inning.

Speier's September earned him a spot on the playoff roster and in the midst of the action as Colorado swept the Philadelphia Phillies, who'd made an improbable run to the postseason themselves, in the division series and then swept the Arizona Diamondbacks in the National League Championship Series to earn a trip to the World Series.

"The day I signed, I dreamed of being on the team to get the Rockies back to the playoffs. It had been six years then and it's been six more years -- which is too long," Speier said. "It was a big dream to pour champagne over Todd Helton's face. And I did that."

And then, on a day off while the Boston Red Sox were wrapping up their seven-game victory in the American League Championship Series, Speier spent a little time in line at the DMV, finally making his move to Colorado official.

"They'll probably trade me next week now," Speier said.