There is no way around it—2010 for the Colorado Rockies did not live up to its expectations.
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There is no way around it—2010 for the Colorado Rockies did not live up to its expectations.
Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com
One day after the Colorado Rockies ended their season by tying the worst 14-game stretch in club history, the only people in the state of Colorado who were happy with the results were the outside sales reps for Tums and Pepto-Bismol.
Sales had to have been up 100 percent for Rockies fans.
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It’s as if the Colorado Rockies enjoy losing.
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When the 2010 season began, very few people thought that the Rockies would be looking forward to the 2011 season by the end of September. However, they find themselves in that position in their final series of the season in St. Louis.
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The Colorado Rockies easily could have spent this whole week making up scenarios that most likely weren’t going to happen.
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The lesson was nothing new for the Rockies. Matt Cain and Tim Lincecum are very tough to hit. They are huge reasons why the Giants are leading the National League West despite having nothing more than an average Major League lineup.
The Rockies were reminded of how good Cain actually is on Sunday, as they dropped the rubber match of a three-game set, 4-2, which was essentially a must-win game.
In true Colorado Rockies fashion, the club made a late-game run, despite being dominated by the Giants righty all day long. Melvin Mora blasted a two-run homer two batters after Jay Payton broke up Cain’s no-hit bid with one out in the eighth inning. It wasn’t enough, however, as the Rockies couldn’t beat Cain again in the ninth.
It was not an example of how losing in September can be costly, but rather how playing from behind in the standings late in the year is a risky proposition.
Count on the fact that everyone in the Rockies clubhouse knows that the idea of winning out in September is not the best strategy to get into the playoffs. However, after late season runs in both 2007 and 2009, there clearly is a mentality in the clubhouse that it is never too late to come from behind.
That is a good mentality for a club to have because it proves that they will never quit. They could be 11 games out of the race, as they were in late August, and still believe that they have a chance to go to the playoffs.
The other side of that coin, however, is a dark one. It also makes the club lose their sense of urgency. Instead of feeling like they needed to win very important games way back in July and August, the Rockies played as if they had all the time in the world to make a run.
That mentality contributes to a lackluster demeanor and a feeling on the road of simply getting through road trips instead of winning as many games as they can.
The Rockies are, for all intents and purposes, out of the race. They could win all of their games and still fall well short of the playoffs. They need two teams to essentially run out of gas to have any chance at the postseason.
It is always a difficult thing to realize when a team that is as talented as these Rockies are to fall short and see the final seven games of the year be completely meaningless.
If the Rockies played to their potential, they would have won the West by four games. Instead, they are making plans for October vacations.
The Rockies still have quite a bit to look forward to. A new spring training home in the Phoenix metro area should go a long way for the Rockies having a better start to their season. Instead of seeing Triple-A pitchers and having starters like Troy Tulowitzki and Todd Helton rarely making long bus rides to play in games, the club should have their full squad available most of the spring.
The core of the Rockies will still be playing at Coors Field in 2011. Carlos Gonzalez and Troy Tulowitzki will be back to lead the charge and there will only be a few free agent decisions that have to be made.
The Rockies have a bright future. While 2010 was not as bright as the franchise was hoping for, it was a year full of lessons learned and maturing.
For more on the Rockies visit RockiesReview.com
This article is also featured on INDenverTimes.com
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If the Colorado Rockies are out of the race, someone forgot to tell the players.
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Let’s face it. They did this to themselves.
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Take off the purple-colored glasses for a minute. Forget about the magic of 2009. Forget about the past for a moment.
The Rockies had climbed back into the game on Carlos Gonzalez’s first career grand slam. With the score 8-6, Joe Beimel allowed Stephen Drew, a guy who seems to only hit against the Rockies, to hit a solo home run to right field to expand the lead to 9-6.
Anyone who follows baseball knows that if there ever was a must-win for the Colorado Rockies, Thursday was it.
Apparently Jim Tracy didn’t get that memo.
All of the talk recently has been about the Rockies’ burned-out bullpen. Well, don’t ask Huston Street and Rafael Betancourt if they are out of gas—they haven’t pitched since Sunday.
With the closer and setup man comfortably resting in the bullpens, newly acquired Octavio Dotel promptly served up a solo home run to Chris Young to open the bottom of the eighth, giving Arizona a comfortable four-run lead.
Hindsight is 20/20, but after the Rockies climbed back to within a run of the Diamondbacks in the top of the ninth, those tack-on runs that Arizona added in the seventh and eighth innings sure seemed important.
Shining brightly on the scoreboard for Tracy to see was the score of the Giants-Cubs game. It was clear that a loss would move the Rockies 3.5 games out of first place with 10 games to go. That means that even a sweep of the Giants wouldn’t even put the Rockies in front of them. That means that the Rockies effectively moved themselves from a contender into an extreme long shot in just four days.
When a game means as much as Thursday’s did for the Rockies, it must be treated like Game 7 of the World Series. Instead, Tracy treated it as just a regular season game in May. There is absolutely no sense of urgency from the man calling the shots for the Rockies.
Make no mistake—the bad calls didn’t start in the eighth inning for Tracy. Manny Delcarmen was summoned to pitch the sixth inning for the Rockies after Esmil Rogers had let things get out of hand. Since coming over from the Red Sox, there has been one thing that the right-hander has let everyone know: The trade did not affect his ability to miss the strike zone. He does that very well.
Delcarmen walked a man and gave up two hits and a run…a run that ended up being extremely crucial. He did this with Matt Reynolds, the reliever who has been extremely effective for the Rockies since they called him up in August, comfortably resting in the bullpen.
Someone needs to tell Tracy that the Rockies are 3.5 games behind in the NL West race. The way he is calling the shots, it looks as if he is nursing a four- or five-game lead.
Case in point is September call-up Paul Phillips making the start behind the plate on Sunday with a chance to sweep the Dodgers. Phillips is a good player; he has Major League experience and is not going to be in awe of where he is. That said, he spent nearly the entire season in Triple-A for a reason. He is the perfect example of a journeyman catcher.
Maybe it was coincidence, but in that game Rockies pitchers were charged with four wild pitches. One of those wild pitches allowed the leadoff hitter to get on base in an inning in which the Dodgers scored three runs with two outs.
There is no doubt that players have to rest. Miguel Olivo simply cannot catch every single game. Huston Street and Rafael Betancourt cannot pitch in every game. Todd Helton is another guy who cannot play every day.
However, with Jason Giambi going 1-for-8 since launching a walk-off home run against the Diamondbacks on September 12th, a game in which the Rockies were in a must-win situation was not the time to put him in the lineup.
The Rockies felt the effects of his poor defense when Jonathan Herrera made an errant throw in the fifth inning when the Diamondbacks put four runs on the board. It was a bad throw, without a doubt. However, Helton most likely at least catches the ball and keeps an additional run from coming across.
There simply is no sense of urgency with Tracy. It was not simply one situation where he could be second-guessed on Thursday; it was multiple times.
Mistakes happen. Every manager makes them over the course of 162 games. However, mistakes like Tracy continues to make are mind-boggling. Rockies fans are quickly understanding why Tracy was shown the door in both Los Angeles and Pittsburgh. He makes the same mistakes over and over and never takes responsibility for them.
For the most part, the Rockies’ postseason hopes are over. They essentially need to sweep the Giants in the weekend series at Coors Field and then lose only one of the remaining seven games. It can happen, but the odds of that are highly unlikely.
In fact, if the Rockies fail to sweep the Giants, they may as well pack it in. They need to gain three games in the standings, not one. Losing a single game to the Giants and their three best pitchers simply is not an option.
For more on the Rockies visit RockiesReview.com.
This article is also featured on INDenverTimes.com.
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The Colorado Rockies are in the middle of what seems to be their annual September march to the playoffs.
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