Rock Solid Recrap: You Can Blame Morales

Padres 3, Rockies 2

And you'd be right to do so. He plain and simply failed at his job tonight.

He came out missing the strike zone, which ultimately led to home plate umpire Mark Carlson squeezing him the rest of the inning (especially the Gonzalez AB). And you know that didn't end well at all.

There's obviously some work that needs to be done on the mental side for Franklin. Taking him away from pressure situations in the short term might be a smart move, but I'm honestly not sure who you replace him with given Betancourt, Daley and Corpas not being very sharp lately.

That'll be something that will have Jim Tracy tossing and turning in his hotel room tonight.

On a side note... You don't give up on or trade a guy like Morales. I know a lot of Rockies fans don't agree with or even want to hear that, but it makes no baseball (or business) sense to do either. There's no benefit to making a rash decision while his value is low. That's not how you build a contending team.

On another side note... Morales was just a fraction of the problem tonight.

I thought Jim Tracy's lineup and pitching decisions were less than spectacular.

The offense stunk.   You have to find a way to score more than two runs off of Wade LeBlanc. Sorry, you just have to. He has upside, and he's been good this season, but I assure you he's not going to hold down too many contending teams offenses, which is what the Rockies offense should qualify as.

And that brings me to this.

Losing Player: Melvin Mora

It's not what Melvin did tonight, it's what Melvin didn't do. He failed to turn three would be double plays -- that Barmes makes in this sleep -- that allowed the entire game to change.

Pitch counts were elevated.

It changed matchups in key situations.

It made Jim Tracy burn two pitches in the 6th inning. If Mora turns the DP there, Tracy would have had either Beimel or Flores in the 9th inning. Instead he had to turn to his closer in a tie game. But that just goes back to the decision Tracy made to give Barmes a night off after he was the key cog behind Ubaldo last night.

All these lineup shifts and changes aren't amounting to anything. They never worked for Clint Hurdle, they aren't working now.

Find something.

Stick with it for more than 1-2 days.

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David Martin has another great read at Rockies Review.  Check that out now.