After watching portions of the Diamondbacks-Brewers game 1, the Cardinals-Phillies game 1 and the Rays-Rangers game 2, I am struck by two things. 1) How much fun playoffs are, and 2) how much the Rockies truly lack in order to reach the playoffs. The atmosphere surrounding a team, its fans and the ballpark when the World Series elimination process begins is electric. I remember the first time the Rockies made it into the post season. It was the very first year of Coors Field, after the strike in 1994-95 wiped out the entire season after August 12th. No playoffs, no World Series, no spring training and no real games until April 25th, with the regular season shortened to 144 games. The Rockies, fueled by record attendance and the Blake Street Bombers, finished the season with a 77-67 record and won the very first National League Wild Card spot in history as the best second-place divisional finisher. The New York Yankees won the AL Wild Card that season. The Atlanta Braves beat the Rockies 3-1 in the NLDS and went on to win the World Series over the Cleveland Indians 4-2.
After a 24-hour and 18-minute rain delay, the Tigers-Yankees game resumes with Jorge Posada leading off the bottom of the 2nd with a single. Russell Martin doubles to left, and the Yankees threaten, first and third, no outs. The Rangers just scored to take a 4-3 lead over the Rays in the 4th inning. Brett Gardner grounds out to third baseman Brandon Inge as Jorge blunders into an out as he wandered too far off third. Balk is called on Tiger pitcher Doug Fister, so back to second and third, one out. Jeter strikes out. Texas now leads Tampa Bay 5-3 after 4 innings. Curtis Granderson up. Strike out, Detroit survives the inning without surrendering a run. The Yankees are very Colorado Rockie-like so far, oh-for-six with runners in scoring position in two innings.
Back to the second reason why the Rockies are watching, instead of playing, in the playoffs. They are too pampered and soft, and display no joy at being at the ballpark. Watch Prince Fielder and Ryan Braun and Derek Jeter and Josh Hamilton and Nick Swisher and Nyjer Morgan and others. Rockies players behave as though being at the ballpark and in the dugout like it's a job that they're afraid to mess up at. And with good reason. Except for Carlos Gonzalez and Troy Tulowitzki and Todd Helton's salary, nobody has ingrained themselves into a set job with the team. We all thought Ubaldo Jimenez was an untouchable. Not so in Dan O'Dowd's world. The dugout during games is usually somber, some would say business-like, but I see a dour, negative vibe in the Rockies dugout, except when they're winning by 9 runs. Dexter Fowler tries, but he's always worried about job security after being sent down to AAA when he didn't burn up the stat sheet. Eric Young, Jr, seems to want to be a spark plug, but nobody seems to like the guy. They all look to Tulo, but he's maybe too intense. CarGo seems to be the best bet to inspire, but he's hurt alot and seems to content to trail in Tulo's shadow as a leader. All in all, I blame manager Jim Tracy for the dugout atmosphere and his leadership for the lack of fire. I blame Dan O'Dowd and his staff for misfiring on personnel decisions, especially drafting the last 10 years. I applaud the Latin American talent evaluators and developmental staff. If not for the Venezuelans (Carlos Gonzalez, Rafael Betancourt, Jhoulys Chacin, Jonathan Herrera and Edgmer Escalona), Dominicans (Esmil Rogers, Juan Nicasio, Wilin Rosario and Hector Gomez), Mexican Jorge De La Rosa and Puerto Ricans (JC Romero and Jose Morales), the Rockies would be stuck with a preponderance of laid-back Californians. Tulo, Stewart, Spilborghs, Wigginton, Kouzmanoff, Giambi and Reynolds. Yes, our Greg Reynolds, first round draft pick, second pick overall, in the 2006 MLB draft. Picked by Dan O'Dowd and his staff before the likes of: Evan Longoria, Clayton Kershaw, Tim Lincecum, Max Scherzer, Drew Stubbs, Ian Kennedy and Daniel Bard. How about the 2007 draft: first-rounder Casey Weathers drafted before Madison Bumgardner, Jason Heyward, JP Arencibia and Rick Porcello. I could go on through all the drafts and pick on O'Dowd's picks, hindsight is much better than foresight, but isn't that a general manager's biggest job? Foresight. Lacking. Fire and chutzpah in the dugout. Lacking. Future hope? Lacking.
Oh, it's good to be a Yankee fan, regardless of the barbs of jealous rivals. It's good to be a baseball fan, period, and I truly hope Jim Tracy and his under-performing coaching staff and players rebound next year and make me eat my words. I hope Dealin' Dan O'Dowd can bolster the lineup, get a bona fide third baseman, a right handed bat and something for Huston Street. I hope Juan Nicasio comes back, fully recovered and with no lost velocity. What a story and inspiration that would be. I hope Tulo and CarGo and Charlie Blackmon can remain free of injury next year. That would be great, because despite all my negativity, I am a Rockies fan, and I really do want them to be good, great even. It is so much more fun to root for a winner, I'm not like those that root root root for the home team, even when they suck. I pull for them to get better, but I'd rather not encourage and support a loser.
Yankees now lead 2-1 in the 6th. Texas leads Tampa 7-6 in the 7th. Milwaukee beat the D-Backs 4-1 and the Phillies hammered the Cardinals 11-6.
I'll followup later. All this talk about the Rockies was starting to depress me. Back to watching real baseball. Later.........
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