Wow, what can I say? The Rockies have gone through some good times, and bad times. Unfortunately, this year has brought cheers, tears, and Tums® to the table. So, where are we now? Let me summarize this:
The Rockies have a hard time of winning on the road. It got to a point when the Rockies dropped the first 2 games in Arizona at Chase Field that we all started to wonder what has happened to our team. Hopes for the playoffs were nearly all but gone by that point. Several Rockies players kept saying “Don’t count us out. We can do it.” But when? A team can win all the games at home, but if a team loses every game on the road, that only makes it a .500 team. Even if such a team makes the playoffs as a wildcard team, there’s no home field advantage, and will find themselves out after the first round. So, we call on the Rockies to prove it on the road.
The Rockies are doing fine at home, even if it can be stressful at times. In the last 6 games (including one road win in Arizona), the Rockies have won 5 games. This included a sweep of the Braves. But it hasn’t always been easy. Pass the Maalox, Pepto and the medicine cabinet on Wednesday’s game. Esmil Rogers left the game in the middle of the 2nd inning, losing 7-1. Corpas came in and suffered 3 more runs, and a season-ending injury. By the end of the 3rd, the Rockies were down 10-1. I had to work after the 4th (where we got back one run), so I didn’t see the game–only the result. My mouth opened wide as I saw the final on my iPhone. Rockies came back and won 12-10. How did we do it? Crazy, I say. To say this is unprecedented is a lie, as the Rockies have been known for being the comeback kids, both within games, and in standings. One of the record comebacks in Rockies history, and on a night when there were similar actions in other games. But many had written the game as a loss, were pleasantly surprised at the result.
The pitching has also been chaotic. Aaron Cook was put on the disabled list for a sprained big toe. The injury may be real, but many thought of it as a cheap way of getting rid of a sub-par high-paid starter. Or in other words, a free ‘option Cook’ clause using the DL as an excuse. Could also say the same for Jeff Francis a few days later, though he admitted real pain. In place of Cook, fans hoped Jhoulys Chacin would be called up. That didn’t happen due to his place in the Sky Sox rotation was incompatible with the spot of Aaron Cook. Esmil Rogers took his place instead. Chacin came up when Jeff Francis was injured, and has proven his worth to be locked into his spot. Our bullpen has also seen the revolving door as Randy Flores was released (and subsequentially signed by the Twins). Matt Reynolds, has proved that he is a solid middle reliever, even pitching 4 scoreless innings when Rogers and Corpas caused damage. Also Rafael Betancourt was on yellow flags for a while due to a strain, which caused Sammy Deduno and (NO! GOD NO!) Franklin Morales to be called up. Morales, while showing improvement in AAA-Sky Sox, backed up Rockies fans why we don’t want him. 2 solid outs, then a balk and he went back to nervous self. Deduno had to bail him out. The jury is still out on him.
Ubaldo deserves his own paragraph, after his recent outing. There’s no doubt that the fans hold him to a higher standard. Even Tracy admits to this. This leads to the famous hashtag on Twitter: #TracyHorseshit. Jim Tracy earns this tag after a press conference on August 15, 2010 when addressed about Huston Street on FSN-RM. His words were: “You’re asking me if [Huston] had a horseshit inning? I say he did not.” Yeah, Huston was terrible that day, and since then, he claims he fixed his control issue (which I believe). But Tracy made a terrible mistake that day. In the same manner, he made a terrible mistake of leaving Ubaldo to start the 8th inning in Friday’s game. Ubaldo’s pitch count was already at 114 at that point. Sure, the bullpen was taxed, and was short 2 players due to injury or previous play. But we know that Ubaldo is also human and not a pitching machine. And at that point, we had Beimel and Street, and a 1-0 lead. Letting Ubaldo go out not only gave him a loss, but poor oversight on Tracy’s behalf. If we lost the bullpen any other way, it wouldn’t hurt as much. Hence, the #TracyHorseshit moment of the game.
I hope the Rockies have what it takes to fight for postseason play. 2007 proved that Rocktober is real, and 2009, while Rocktober started earlier, we could come back from a deficit. I hope 2010 follows a similar path. Prove it.
Footnotes: Sorry to let you go, Hawpe. You are a great player, and I hope you like the Rays better. But when you were put on waivers, and then released due to lack of playtime and injuries, it might have been for the best. You will be missed here. Todd Helton is finally getting back to the swing of things hitting home runs in back-to-back games. 