1+2+3+4=8K

Another day, another strong pitching performance, another futile day at the dish.  The 1-2-3-4 hitters for the Colorado Rockies finished a collective 1 for 12 with 8 strikeouts.  The Rockies came to the plate in 9 innings, and went down 1-2-3 seven times.  Giants 2, Rockies 1.

Except for C Chris Iannetta's solo home run in the 5th, his 8th of the season, the anemic Colorado squad pushed a runner past first base only one time.  Nobody on the Rockies roster is exempt from this contagion of piss-poor at-bats.  LF Carlos Gonzalez, seemingly wilting under the pressure of expectations, struck out all four times he faced San Francisco Giant pitchers in this forgettable game.  The game plan to pitch to CarGo is to stay away with breaking and off-speed pitches, show him the fast ball out of the strike zone, and he'll get himself out.  In the last 10 games, the Rockies' record is 3-7, and CarGo is 10 for 38 (.263) with one extra base hit (double) and 13 strikeouts.  The Rockies have averaged less than 2 runs per game on this crucial road trip thus far.  Crucial, because all 9 games on the trip are against NL West Division foes.  Barring a miraculous lumber revival in San Diego, the Rox will limp home in 4th place and in danger of falling out of the playoff chase before Father's Day.

As Yogi Berra once said, and this could be true for the Rox, "It's getting late early this year."  The Rockies are 27-31, with 104 games remaining in this season that began with such hope and promise and optimism.  If we extrapolate that the division winner will need to win 90 games (no division winner last year won less than 90), that means the Colorado Rockies will need to win 63 out of 104 games.  That means going 63-41, or 22 games over .500!  That is a .606 winning percentage.  Let's see, how many teams in all of the Major Leagues is playing at a .606 winning pace thus far?  Oh, none !  That means that the Rockies will have to perform better than every team in both the American and National Leagues has performed so far just to get to 90 wins.  What do you think?  I think it's a longshot that this team will win 90 games this year.  That means that the best and only hope for Rockies fans, is that the rest of the West Division stumbles along at the same pace and the Rockies can play at least .575 ball the rest of the way.  The Rockies play the Giants in 7 out of the last 14 games this season in September, you know, stay close, and kick the Giants at the end.  Do you think 87 wins will be enough to get into the playoffs?  The Los Angeles Dodgers won the West with 84 wins in 2008.  The Minnesota Twins won the AL Central Division in 2009 with 87 wins.  Why, even the Chicago Cubs took the NL Central Division flag in 2007 with 85 victories. 

So, it is possible to get to the playoffs with less than 90 wins.  That's the good news.  The bad news?  The collective funk that this 2011 edition of our Colorado Rockies is missing, that key ingredient necessary to be competitive day after day.  What is that ingredient?  Many theories, few answers, otherwise manager Jim Tracy and his stellar group of coaches would not be wearing the deer-in-headlights blank looks after every loss.

Optimism makes me think that "the Rockies will sweep San Diego to salvage a 5-4 road trip, giving them momentum for a return home to Coors Field to seek revenge on the Dodgers with a 4-game series sweep, and continuing mastery of the Padres for another 3-game sweep, giving the streaking Rockies a 10-game winning streak going into InterLeague play with series against the Detroit Tigers, Cleveland Indians, New York Yankees and Chicago White Sox."

We can dream, can't we?