With the San Francisco Giants having lost earlier today, 10-2 to the Cincinnati Reds, the Rockies had a chance to move to within 3-1/2 games of the first-place Giants. Colorado also had a chance to even their season record to .500 with a win over the Dodgers at Coors Field. Guess what happened. Typical of this disappointing season on the brink, the Rox threw another one away.
The score was 1-0 after 4 innings, in favor of the Rockies, based on 3B Ty Wigginton's 6th home run of 2011, leading off the second inning. The Dodgers tied it in the 5th as Matt Kemp drove in Andre Ethier with his 14th double and 55th RBI. Ethier should not have been on base. He should have been the tail end of a twin-killing, but neither 1B Jason Giambi nor P Jason Hammel covered first base, and SS Troy Tulowitzki's relay throw to first went awry, allowing Ethier to stay alive, reach second, and score on Kemp's double.
Dodger LHP Ted Lilly kept the Rockies at bay for 5 innings as the Dodgers built a 7-1 lead with three runs in the 6th and three more in the 7th. Hammel's back tightened up in the 6th, as he threw eight consecutive pitches out of the strike zone, walking Rod Barajas and Aaron Miles to open the inning. After a meeting on the mound with C Chris Iannetta, manager Jim Tracy and trainer Keith Dugger, Hammel left to seek treatment in the training room. Enter LHP Matt Reynolds. LF Tony Gwynn, Jr. attempted a sacrifice bunt, but reached first base to load the bases, no outs. Casey Blake came in to pinch hit for P Ted Lilly. Bases-clearing double, Dodgers lead 4-1. Rockies go down in order 1-2-3 in the 6th.
Recently demoted-to-the-bullpen RHP Clayton Mortensen came in to pitch the 7th. Disaster. Error by Wigginton, single, another successful sacrifice bunt (see that Tracy?), double, successful ground ball out to the right side of the infield (see that Rockies hitters?), another single, and the Dodgers lead 7-1 going to the seventh inning stretch. As the refrains of "Hey Baby" subside, the Rockies go down in order, 1-2-3.
Dodger reliever Scott Elbert enters in the bottom of the 8th. Double to CarGo, single to EY, walk to Giambi. Bases loaded, no outs, as Elbert is replaced by RHP Matt Guerrier. Tulo singles, driving in two runs. Wiggy flies out for the first out in the inning. Seth Smith pinch hits for the pitcher, singles to center and Matt Kemp lets the ball get by him for a two-base error as both Giambi and Tulowitzki score. Rookie LF Charlie Blackmon singles to drive in Smith for his first Major League RBI. Chris Iannetta and Jonathan Herrera kill the inning with a fielder's choice groundout and strikeout. Dodger rookie SS Dee Gordon made a spectacular play on Iannetta's grounder up the middle to turn it into a force-out at 2nd of Blackmon for the 2nd out. But, the Rockies rally for 5 and trail only 7-6, as the crowd of 34,290 was roaring their approval.
The crowd was quickly silenced by the Dodgers' bats and tactics. Rockies reliever, Matt Lindstrom, came in to pitch the top of the 9th. Single by 1b James Loney, double by C Rod Barajas, drives in Loney. 3B Aaron Miles singles, Barajas to third, still no outs. Tony Gwynn, Jr. bounces a routine ground ball to 2B Jonny Herrera at 2nd, he hesitates, considers tagging Miles as Miles proceeds toward second, which gives Barajas time to break for the plate. Herrera's throw home is late, Barajas scores, still nobody out. Trent Oeltgen pinch hits for pitcher, and successfully sacrifices (see that Tracy, it works again!), Miles to 3rd, Gwynn to 2nd, one out. Gordon grounds into a Miles-thrown-out-at-home play, as Lindstrom has a chance to slam the door with only two runs scoring. But, no, not so lucky. Speedy Dee Gordon takes second on another of those 'defensive indifference' situations, where there is no attempt to throw him out at second. Still, two outs, runners on 2nd and 3rd. You guessed it, former Rockie Jamey Carroll singles to drive in two more runs. What began as promise for the Rockies, they closed a 7-1 deficit to one run with a 5-run rally in the 8th, was slammed by Lindstrom surrendering 4 runs in the 9th to give the Dodgers a 5-run cushion.
The Rockies made it interesting. CarGo doubled to lead off, but Tracy did not order EY to bunt, and EY promptly lined out to the pitcher Javy Guerra, who then tossed out Gonzalez who was on his way to third, for a rally killing double play. Too bad, because three straight singles (Giambi, Tulowitzki and Wigginton) produced a run. Spilborghs, pinch hitting for Lindstrom walked to load the bases, and I thought, just for a split-second, maybe, just maybe. Charlie Blackmon sliced a liner to left that was destined to be a bases-clearing three-run double, but the speedy Tony Gwynn, Jr. made a diving, sliding head-first dive to spear the ball, and kill the Rockies hopes. Still can't hate Gwynn. He's the one who smacked a bases-clearing triple back on the last day of the 2007 regular season to defeat the San Diego Padres, which necessitated a one-game play-in game against the Rockies to decide who got into the playoffs, the one where Matt Holliday still doesn't remember touching the plate chin-first to score the winning run in the 13th inning to send the Rockies, eventually, all the way to the World Series.
I saw signs last night, as I have all season, that this Rockies squad almost expects to lose, and seems overly happy, almost surprised, when they win. The manager and coaching staff are kid-gloving this team to death. The regulars are watching a parade of young, potential replacements come up from the minor leagues to try out their wings to try and impress Tracy and general manager Dan O'Dowd. The lineups have changed more often than Barry Obama's teleprompter screen. Everybody in that clubhouse needs to turn it into a locker room, where some goddam furniture gets smashed, where heated words are exchanged between competitive teammates, tired of the soft nature of this team's makeup.
Or, we can all just hug each other, don't rock the Love Boat, and watch as the Rockies stumble to a so-so 83-79 season, finish in third place in the West, miss the playoffs and promise to do better next year. Todd Helton, and Rockies fans, deserve better. Come on Tracy, shake up this team, quit pussy-footing. Grow a pair.
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