I'd say that last night's latest loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks was disappointing, but disappointment is not the word that really captures the mood of Rockies fans right now. Let's try to put this all in perspective. There are still 113 games left in the regular season, so it's not like the Rockies are out of contention. They are only 3 games behind the West Division leaders, the San Francisco Giants, who lost their best player, catcher Buster Posey to a broken leg Wednesday night. They are 1-1/2 games behind the second-place D-Backs, who, by most accounts, don't have the firepower to hang in there for a whole season. The San Diego Padres and Los Angeles Dodgers are not really a threat to contend. So, it stands to reason that the Rockies should be able to right the ship and assume their deserved spot atop the National League West. Hold on. This team looks and plays like they expect to lose. Trying too hard?
Now that we are into the 9th inning of tonight's game with the Cardinals, and the home town baseballers are down 10-3 to the St. Louis Cardinals, I'd say that this team needs major counseling. Ubaldo Jimenez allowed 12 hits and 6 runs in 6 painful innings. Something's wrong with Ubaldo's arm, elbow or shoulder. And head. He's lost out there on the mound, and Major League batters are having their way with him. I don't care that coaches, trainers and Ubaldo himself insist that there's nothing wrong, healthwise. There is. Definitely.
After the 3rd inning, the Rockies go 1-2-3 out in the 5th, the 6th, the 7th, and only one baserunner each in the 8th and 9th, both reaching on HBP (hit by pitcher). Anemic, anemic, pathetic.
The Rockies cut loose of Jose Lopez, who was supposed to supplant traded Clint Barmes. They gave up on Felipe Paulino, whom they traded for from the Houston Astros, for, you guessed it, Clint Barmes. With Jorge De La Rosa out for the year, the Rockies called up Bruce Billings (who?) from Colorado Springs (2-2 record, 18 relief appearances, 5.06 ERA, 39 hits allowed, 14 walks and 27 strikeouts in 32 innings). Pedestrian numbers, and he's making his Major League debut right now, and he's getting hit pretty hard, 10 batters faced, 5 hits, one run in two innings. He'll be back in the Springs in a day or two. Thanks kid, enjoy your cup of coffee, leave the uniform in your locker before you go. Eric Young, Jr. was also called up to replace the departed Jose Lopez, and the Rox are hoping that his .363 batting average down on the farm translates into some success in the bigs. I thought the triple that Colby Rasmus hit in the 6th, Dexter would have caught. Rasmus even slowed up when he hit it, thinking it would be caught. EY took a bad route and had the ball go over his outstretched glove to the wall. Also, the Yadier Molina double in the 9th quite possibly would have been tracked down by Dex. But, none of this would have kept the Cardinals from winning. 19 hits, 10 runs off three Colorado pitchers. 3 runs on 5 hits for the Rockies, none after the starter, and winner, Jake Westbrook departed the game after 5 innings with a 6-3 lead. Oh, by the way, Westbrook was the Rockies' 1st round draft pick in the 1996 draft. Take that!
Just another ho-hum loss by the sinking Rockies. It makes me sad that devout and hopeful Rockies fans are really starting to doubt the direction of the team. By direction, I mean the directors of this sour orchestra. Why is nobody calling out manager Jim Tracy, pitching coach Bob Apodaca, hitting coach Carney Lansford, even Dan O'Dowd? It's time for the kid gloves to come off. The first closed-door meeting with coaches and players resulted in one measly 12-4 blow-out (of the Diamondbacks). A 7-18 record in May (so far) is reminiscent of the September collapse last season when they lost 10 out of the final 11 games of the season to fall completely out of playoff contention. The fall may happen sooner this year, at the present rate, and with the present manner of operation.
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