Rock Solid Rant: Taco Drought Reaches 12th Day

These are no longer recaps or recraps.  These are rants.

The Rockies have been reduced to a team that gets beat by Tommy Manzella (.150 vs. right-handers) bloops  and Humberto Quintero blasts.

The Rockies are in deep... trouble.

Let the players continue to tell us they're in a better position than last season.  And the season before that.  And the season before that.

Great.

Guess who else is in a better position than last season.  And the season before that.  So on.

The San Diego Padres.  The Atlanta Braves.  The Cincinnati Reds.  Oh, and don't forget about the Phillies, Cardinals, Dodgers and Giants.

The National League is the deepest it's been in what... 10 years?  That's what makes this start so concerning.  Yes, you have a better record, but you don't have a better spot.  Yes, you're probably going to play better at some point, but you can just assume one good winning streak is going to do the trick it has two of the past three seasons.  Not with so many teams playing legit good baseball.

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Rock Solid Recrap: The Beat Goes On

La de da de de, la de da de this offense blows.   

The on air frustrations of Drew Goodman and Jeff Huson tell me one thing.  The time for overreaction has passed.  Seriously, when the announcers are audibly irritated, that's a great indication things aren't good. They're like the last line of defense for the club.  Usually they're the ones trying to calm everyone down, subtly telling us we're overreacting to everything.  

That's not happening anymore.  They're pissed.  They aren't as quick to defend players. They realize things need to start changing soon, or this season will go the way of 2008.... a complete waste.  

That sense of urgency is apparent everywhere right now except where it matters... in the front office, clubhouse and dugout.  

Like I said, the time for overreaction has passed.   It's no longer an overreaction to suggest Don Baylor be fired.  You can't bench your entire underperforming lineup... so we all know what needs to be done.  If anything, the time for the team to stop underreacting (new word) has arrived.  

The time for excuse making has also passed.  The injuries have died down.  This is pretty much our team.  Huston Street and Jorge De La Rosa returning would be shots in the arm if the pitching were struggling, but it's not.  This entire thing is on the offense.  Has been the last 4-6 weeks.  

Astros 6, Rockies 2

Losing Player(s):  The Entire Offense (again)

Yes, they looked completely lost in the box for the most part, but the base running was a whole other level of WTF tonight.  

Seth Smith caught completely asleep at second.  Next inning, Herrera was nearly caught the same way.  If he had been the Rockies would have never scored their second run.  And then Ian Stewart was picked off at first, the call was just totally missed by another blind umpire.  

To me that exposes a team that isn't focused on winning baseball.  I don't know what the heck else they'd be focused on, but to be caught completely off guard the same way three different times... inexcusable.  Also... pathetic.  

One Positive

Aaron Cook was excellent tonight.  Had a battle with his comment in the first inning but bounced back with a better sinker and a lot of groundballs.  First time all season he got in rhythm and sustained it for an entire outing.  At least we can take that away from this game.  

Tomorrow it's Roy Oswalt vs. Jhoulys Chacin

How you feeling about that one Rockies fans?  And how you feeling about Toronto, Minnesota and Boston coming up?  Three teams that will absolutely wipe the floor with this Rockies team if things don't turn around starting tomorrow.  

Does the beat continue on?  Or does this team reach down and find something it's lacked all year?  Answers coming soon.  I hope we like what we see.  

Rock Solid Recrap: Bad Losses Piling Up

If the Rockies were an NCAA basketball team trying to get in the Big Dance, they would be firmly planted on the outside. They wouldn't even be on the bubble. Not when the number of terrible losses outnumber the quality wins by so much.

File tonight under the terrible loss column.

The team is going to play better as the seaon moves along. I truly believe the offense will improve and those badly needed clutch hits will start coming. I'm hopeful the pitching can continue being awesome.

The problem: You can't take back these losses to teams you have to beat. Once you lose to them it's on your record... and they're still going to be on your record when August and September come around.

Another problem: The three teams you're chasing -- San Diego, San Francisco and Los Angeles -- are all winning the games they should win. Help isn't coming from the outside. That means the Rockies have to start helping themselves more, and there's more pressure on them to win the majority of their games against those three teams.

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Rock Solid Recap: I Prefer That Jason Hammel

Rockies 5, Astros 1

No mystery tonight...

Winning Player: Jason Hammel

I said something to this effect recently.

When Jason Hammel starts avoiding the disaster inning, he'll turn into one damn solid starter in a big league rotation.  

Seems Hammel has gotten, or is in the process of getting over that hump. A good indication of that was tonight's second inning.  The first two batters reached on infield singles. If anything is a recipe for disaster, it's making two solid pitches, forcing two weak swings, and getting no outs to show for it.

That didn't happen tonight.  Hammel got the 6-3 double play off the bat of Tommy Manzella, then struck out the pitcher to end the threat.  Hammel did a pretty good job of limiting his traffic from that point on, but the real key to his success was that great pitch when the situation called for a great pitch.  A hit allowed there and who knows which direction this game goes in.

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Rock Solid Recap: Stress Free Jimenez

Rockies 4, Astros 0 (and they barely scored 0)

Winning Player: Ubaldo Jimenez

Apparently the only thing Ubaldo doesn't do well is stay hydrated.

Cramping in both legs limited him to only seven innings... of one hit baseball.

An infield hit.

An infield hit that Ian Stewart misplayed into a hit by going barehand on a slow roller he could have easily gloved for an out. That's all he allowed.

My goodness is this guy good.

Now we just have to hope the cramps were really just that. That nothing was significantly worsened by Jim Tracy's silly decision to leave him in the game. That his arm was able to stay intact despite obvious differences in his mechanics while pitching on two cramping legs.

Yes, Jimenez nights are typically stress free. But with the way things are going for this Rockies sqaud, you know there's always going to be a subplot that makes you hold your breath for awhile.  Thankfully all indications point to us being able to exhale and look forward to Stress Free Jimenez next week at Coors Field.

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Rock Solid Recrap: Pummel Barmes Night

Astros 7, Rockies 3

Sorry, I can't beat up Clint Barmes as easily as other folks. (link)

Yes, I'm just as frustrated as anyone by his inconsistent defense and overall bleh offense.

Yes, he's the obvious target tonight. He made an error that was awful and set off the Astros four run 8th inning.

But come on, what other options do the Rockies have at second base? Barmes should continue to play until Young is healthy. At that point, yes, I'm all for a reevaluation of the situation if needed. But I'm not ready to move someone out of a position when he's the obivous best choice.

And I will point out I was very much in favor of signing Orlando Hudson or Felipe Lopez in the offseason.  I'm not an all out Barmes guy, I just think he's the guy you have to stick with given the circumstances.

Also, one one-base error with two outs and nobody on base can't lead to four runs. I'm sorry, it just can't.

I like Rogers. I know he's just 22. I know he has great stuff. The inning should have been over, I get that. But sometimes in baseball the pitcher has to pick up the defense.  This is definitely one of those situations.

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NL West Recap: What Was Joe Torre Thinking?

Pirates 11, Dodgers 5

A couple things about this game.

-- The Dodgers got what they deserved for naming Vicente Padilla their Opening Day starter. What the hell did Joe Torre expect to happen? When you have a Clayton Kershaw and a Chad Billingsley at your disposal, I don't know why you'd ever pass them for Padilla. Weird decision.

-- The Pirates can really rake. It's far from a complete, all-star filled lineup, but there aren't many holes here. Garrett Jones is a nice anchor in the #3 spot. He has power to all fields, as he proudly displayed in the opener. Obviously Andrew McCutchen is a special type player, and Jeff Clement should be good, too.

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