For the better part of ten weeks, Ubaldo Jimenez has learned what it's like to walk in the shoes of Felix Hernandez, Zack Greinke and Roy Oswalt as a member of the Astros.
It's not fun.
It's not fun because Ubaldo has given this team everything he could in 2010. Oh sure, there were a couple days when he needed the offense to get him off the hook and they obliged, but for every one of those, there were four that he deserved to win but the offense didn't support him.
So frustrating. No day more frustrating than today, though.
Ubaldo Jimenez has pitched some special games this season. The no-hitter, of course. How about that complete shutout on Memorial Day in San Francisco, out dueling Tim Lincecum. Heck, throwing two shutout innings in the all-star game is pretty bad ass, too.
Today's outing ranked right up there with all of those.
8 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 10 K
Studly.
But the frickin' Rockies offense couldn't even get him a single run to work with. Pathetic. Absolutely, positively pathetic. You're facing Kyle Lohse. Kyle Lohse. It would be harsh to say Kyle Lohse sucks, but it would be pretty honest and accurate.
To mount no offense against Lohse. To get shutout by Jake Westbrook. To only have one run through three games of this series. I'm sorry, you've embarrassed yourself and you've embarrassed your fans with that performance.
All of the Rockies problems were on full display today. Lacking of clutch hitting, sloppy defense, and Franklin Morales were chief among those problems, but it's not just those. The list is disturbingly long, and Dan O'Dowd will have his work cut out for him trying to piece this thing back together.
Too many questions. Too many guys took large steps backwards in their development. Too many guys lacking in physical and mental toughness. Not enough attention to detail and fundamentals.
It's ugly, and it's not easily fixable.
Tomorrow
The pain ends.
Esmil Rogers vs Jeff Suppan
Check out my Dear John Letter for Big League Stew