Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Rock Solid Recrap: 500 never felt so...

Unsatisfying. Crummy. Lame. Lousy. Painful.

But it's still as good or better than the Rockies have been in late May in recent years. It's not an awful place to be. You can make a quick move up the standings from .500. Really.

That's a little perspective for the overall situation here... but it's really easy to lose the perspective quickly. Especially after a night like tonight.

Diamondbacks 2, Rockies 1 (boxscore)

-- Poor Jason Hammel could not have done anything more. Well, yeah, he could have hit another home run. But that didn't even help get a win the last time out. The Rockies just don't support him at all. And it never helps when Jim Tracy backs him with a Wigginton in left, or a Giambi at first, or an Amezaga at short. Always Hammel.

Tonight it was Amezaga at short. Of course Amezaga made the error that led to the only two runs Hammel allowed. Both are unearned, as is the loss Hammel took, but sadly that will stay on his record.

All we can do as fans is verbally pat Hammel on the back. He's giving us everything he has as a pitcher. His transformation in a Rockies uniform from a really good #5 starter to a solid #3 has been a joy to witness. You just hope he doesn't let the lack of run support get him down or shake his confidence. I doubt it will, but everyone has a breaking point.

-- Speaking of breaking points. Apparently Jim Tracy felt like Troy Tulowitzki was reaching his. He gave Tulo a "mental break" tonight. Just a day to collect his thoughts or something. But, um, I get the feeling it won't help, because something tells me it was more maddening for Tulowitzki to never swing a bat in a 2-1 loss than anything he could have done on the field. Not to mention watching the error.

-- Game changing moment(s): Carlos Gonzalez swinging at the first pitch with the bases loaded in the 5th. Jammed himself and grounded out weakly to shortstop. The first batter of Arizona's sixth reached on the Amezaga error. That was it. That quick.

-- I know I'm asking a question nobody can answer, but why are the Rockies so terrible on the bases? I mean it's one thing to make aggressive mistakes, which is the usual issue, but to overrun a base as Seth Smith did in the first. How does that happen? Why does that happen? How do we stop it from continuing to happen?

Someone in the clubhouse or front office might want to address that one.

-- On the other side, Xavier Nady swiping a bag has to be a sign that rock bottom is within sight, right? In total Arizona stole four bags in five attempts. Colorado never attempted one.

Four steals equals = 360 feet. 360 feet = 1 run. Rockies lost by one.

Not that they all eventually led to runs, but it's just giving yourself that chance to be in scoring position. All of those mean something is some way. Even if it just forces an intentional walk or a pitching change. They mean something.

-- Drew Goodman's press pass. Says it's the picture he took 18 years ago. He hasn't changed a bit...

-- Matt Reynolds. Matt Belisle and Rafael Betancourt: Your good work did not go unnoticed.

-- Jonathan Herrera: 1-for-1 with a double. It's criminal he hasn't started three of the last four games. Ridiculous would be another word. Are we completely sure it's not our manager than needs a mental break???

-- New day tomorrow. Maybe this will finally be the day Coors Field officially becomes a bad place for opponents to come.

1 comments:

2outRBIs said...

who decides roster moves? Odowd or Tracy or combo of both. Seems like obvious answer is rid themselves of at least Amezega and brink up EYjr. Also, Jlo is not the player the Rox thought he was. His salary is $4million!! wth! I would like the Blackmon callup and Wiggy/EYjr can take over the platoon/everyday player rest days.