Summer Vacation Is Over

Okay, it's been three weeks sinced I've spewed out any pearls, and alot has happened.  The last I wrote, the Colorado Rockies were 6-1/2 games behind the San Francisco Giants in the National League West Division, Ubaldo Jimenez had just pitched a gem for his 4th win of the season for the Rockies against the Washington Nationals, Derek Jeter had just joined the 3,000 hit club, NFL players and owners were threatening to curtail the 2011 football season, the U.S. Women's soccer team was on its way to the 2011 World Cup title and I was still the reigning Third Flight Longmont City Golf Champ.

I choked in the City Golf Championship by spraying seven drives out of bounds in three days, accounting for fourteen penalty strokes in a contest that I lost by nine strokes.  I was 24 strokes worse than last year in the three rounds, proving that success in golf is illusory and totally temporary.  Still, the game is addictive and I may never be as good as I can be, but my fear is that I'll never be as good as I was yesterday.  But there's always today and tomorrow.

The Rockies today are 10 games out of first, 5 games below .500 and Ubaldo Jimenez, the best pitcher in the 19-year history of the Colorado Rockies, is now a Cleveland Indian.  Inevitably, regretably and sadly, we say good-bye to an individual whose personality and charisma was a bright light on the Denver sports scene for the better part of 6 seasons.  Signed by the Rockies in 2001 as a 17-year-old out of the Dominican Republic, his bright smile, polite demeanor and the lightning in his right arm quickly developed him into the ace of the Colorado pitching staff.  Jimenez owns the only no-hitter in franchise history, was the starting pitcher for the National League in the 2010 All-Star Game and dominates the franchise record book for pitching statistics.  Beyond his stats, he is a genuinely beloved sports personality in the Rocky Mountain time zone, and will be missed. 

The Rockies received four minor league players from Cleveland in exchange for Ubaldo.  Three pitchers and a catcher coverted to an outfielder-first baseman.  It points out the true deficiency in the Rockies' overall talent-evaluation and player-development skills.  The cupboard in the minor league system is close to being bare of quality prospects, since most of the nearly-ready-for-prime-time prospects in the minor league system have already been forced into action this year to try and avoid where they are anyway:  mediocre and under-performing.  Juan Nicasio? Keeper, needs to improve slider and changeup command.  Rex Brothers? Great stuff, future closer, keeper.  Charlie Blackmon before the broken leg? Marginal, another Ryan Spilborghs, backup outfielder.  Eric Young, Jr.? Fast, but not proficient at any particular position, including hitter.  Chris Nelson? Probable career utility backup infielder.  Clayton Mortensen? Please, his fault CarGo crashed into the wall.  Esmil Rogers? Possible third or fourth rotation starter.  Jonathan Herrera? CarGo's best friend, good enough as a backup and a switch hitter.  Matt Reynolds? Keeper, tough lefty with good stuff.  Jhoulys Chacin? Definite keeper, might have to be Rockies ace with Ubaldo's departure.  Dexter Fowler?  In a proficient batting order, a plus, in the Rockies' batting order, a liability, but has promise, if he can cut down on strikeouts.  Great outfielder with a plus arm, a great complement to a healthy Carlos Gonzalez.  Keeper.  Jim Tracy, manager? Exactly one game over .500 since opening day 2010.

The Rox are on a three-game winning streak after beating the San Diego Padres 10-6 last night.  It was a win of a game that Ubaldo made a cameo appearance, starting and pitching  in a situation where he was basically traded before the game, but started because the trade was not consummated until just after the national anthem.  To say that he was distracted and struggled is an accurate appraisal.  It was strange, to see him smiling and hugging all his teammates in the dugout after he was informed by manager Jim Tracy that he was a Cleveland Indian.  Even weirder that he was interviewed, live, in the seventh inning, in his street clothes, bags packed, and on his way to the airport, bound for Cleveland, before the game was over.  Will Iannetta be traded today?  Wigginton?  Belisle?  Betancourt?  EY?  Spilborghs?  Who would take Ian Stewart off our hands?  The face of the Rockies is changing, and we shall see.

Oh, NFL action is hot and heavy, the owners and players kissed and made up, training camps start today, free agents and draft picks signing and trades happening.  Tebow or Orton or, gasp, Brady Quinn?  Will the Broncos start Tebow all year, thereby guaranteeing a terrible season and put themselves in a position to draft Andrew Luck out of Stanford?  Can they gracefully pull off a 3-13 season, enabling them to lock down the first overall draft pick?  Or will they wallow in mediocrity year after year, like our vanilla Rockies?

And the Japanese Women beat the favored USA Women's soccer team for the World Cup, and left their shirts on.