Okay, the euphoria of the 2011 edition of the Colorado Rockies is long past. Was that really this year, that the Blake Street Bombers started 10 and 2, with the best record in the Major Leagues? It seems like sooooo long ago. The team has gone 10-16 since then, and there is no end in sight to the slide with tonight's game against the defending World Champs and two-time Cy Young Award winner Tim Lincecum (even though the Freak hasn't pitched that well here in his career). In the last month of games, the Rockies have gone through periods of good pitching with no hitting, good starting pitching with terrible relief and unexplicable faith by manager Jim Tracy in players who are obviously struggling.
When the Rockies were playing well and winning, all facets of their squad were contributing. When the starter gave up a few runs, the offense scored just enough to pull out a win. When the opponent started mounting a threat, the relief staff slammed the door. When one player sat out with an injury, another filled in and produced. But, even then, when things were going well, there were certain signs that it was more smoke and mirrors than powerhouse contender. Ubaldo Jimenez has not been the same as last year's Cy Young contender and All-Star Game starter. Huston Street, even though he converted his first 10 save opportunities, was a purple heart attack waiting to happen. Ian Stewart has fallen off the grid, literally. Newcomers Felipe Paulino and Matt Lindstrom have been mostly ineffective, with Little Paul just plain horrible. Jose Lopez's two singles yesterday had Tracy gushing that Lopez is "right on the cusp of breaking out." Jason Giambi came back to the Mile High City this season specifically because this team was supposedly poised to do something really special. He's 3 for 25 with 4 walks (.120) while going 0 for 2011 as Jim Tracy's 'big-bat-off-the-bench-in-late-game-situations' pinch-hitter, no hits, one walk, no RBIs in 7 pinch-hit appearances (where's the Golden Thong?). Tracy may want to use him as a pinch-runner, so that he can get familiar with where the hell first base is. Carlos Gonzalez? If it weren't for his marvelous defense and 2010 statistics, Seth Smith should be our starting left fielder. Troy Tulowitzki has 10 homers and 24 RBIs, only 2 errors in 118 chances, but it just seems that he's struggling with CarGo scuffling in the 3 hole ahead of him.
There have a been few bright spots. Jonathan Herrera has been all you can ask for in a second baseman and two-hole hitter. I'll put Dexter Fowler in the positive column, even though he is among the league leaders in strikeouts, his on-base-percentage is still very good. He needs to utilize his speed and learn how to use that speed to steal and bunt more. His reading of pitchers' moves and awkward lead-and-first-step are terrible, and his bunting skills are below average. Willy Taveras got tons more infield hits, and he was strictly a right-handed batter. By the way, Willy's just 65 miles south of Coors Field down on the farm, but no real threat to join the big club anytime soon. Jorge De La Rosa has been good, Jhoulis Chacin has been excellent, Jason Hammel (until yesterday) was throwing well, tonight's starter, Clayton Mortensen will be making his second start for the Rockies, boasts a 0.55 ERA in 4 appearances this year (1 earned run in 16+ innings of work). But, he'll be hard-pressed to win tonight. This will be the second time in ten days that the Giants will have faced him, and as I mentioned earlier, Tim 'the Freak' Lincecum is on the hill for the Bay Area Bastards. Chris Iannetta has handled the catching duties well above expectations. He's thrown out 50% (10 of 20) attempting to steal, has no errors and no passed balls. He's got 5 homers and 14 RBIs and is batting .225. (Forget his OBP of .397, he's batted mostly 8th, so with the pitcher batting behind him, he's walked 25 times.)
The Rockies' best player this year, hands down, has been Todd Helton. This is his 15th year as a Colorado Rockie, and we have taken him for granted as he has been a soft-spoken and humble ballplayer throughout his entire Hall of Fame career. He has foiled countless hits and runners this year, as he has done consistently in his 4-Gold-Gloves career. He's batting at a .325 clip (career .324 avg), has hit a suprising 6 dingers, only one error in 296 chances (.997 fielding percentage, career .996).
All-in-all, it's fairly predictable to determine how well your team is doing if your best performer this season is a soon-to-be-38-year-old 15-year veteran. Much like the Baltimore Orioles when Cal Ripken, Jr. and a new ballpark (Oriole Park at Camden Yards) were the only reasons to go see a game in B-More. The good news is: there are 124 more games to go in the regular season. IF, just maybe, IF the Rockies can beat Lincecum and the Giants tonight, and IF Ubaldo can get on track tomorrow, and IF the offense and defense can get on the same page, and IF the Rockies would call up Matt Daley and Rex Brothers........then probably they won't fall out of contention before the end of May. After all, it's more fun to root root root for the home team, if they're not the current Rockies or Yankees.
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