Jim Tracy tells us how he really feels about Ubaldo Jimenez

While Troy Tulowitzki elected to take the high road in his postgame comments regarding the Ubaldo Jimenez incident.

Manager Jim Tracy elected to take the Jim Tracy road. A road that all too often leads to nowhere.

Here's what he said via the hard-working Rockies beat writers over at the Denver Post.

“It’s the most gutless act I have seen in 35 years of professional baseball. I have lost all respect for him. To do something like that and walk down off the mound, and if there’s any suggestion whatsoever that the ball got away, I don’t want to hear any of that (expletive). He intentionally threw at him. He should be suspended. I am going to be very disappointed if he doesn’t get suspended. He deserves to be,” Tracy said, his voice rising in anger.

Message received.

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The day Ubaldo Jimenez lost my respect

In case you haven't heard, the Rockies squared off against the Cleveland Indians this afternoon at Salt River Fields and Cleveland's starting pitcher just happened to be a former Rockies ace — and argubly the only ace they've ever had — by the name of Ubaldo Jimenez.

Once the Indians confirmed that news a couple days ago, we knew we were going to be in for an interesting ball game, first and foremost, because it's always interesting when a player matches up against his former team. In this case, though, there was even more interest because of the circumstances we've learned that surrounded Ubaldo's departure last season, and because Troy Tulowitzki went public with the following response to Ubaldo's poor attitude and his comments during the winter.

"There's a certain point in this game where you go play and you shut your mouth. And you don't worry about what other people are doing."

So obviously tensions were high when Tulowitzki stepped in for his first at-bat in the first inning. The first pitch of said at-bat was a Jimenez fastball... that drilled Tulo right on the left elbow (which eventually sent him for x-rays that were thankfully negative). Mhm, Ubaldo went right after him, and then, according to those in attendance, pounded his chest and invited Tulowitzki to join him in front of the mound after Tulo called him something unpleasant.

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Plain and simple: Ubaldo Jimenez acted unprofessionally

The big story involving the Colorado Rockies on Wednesday centered around the article Tracy Ringolsby wrote for Fox Sports where we learned more details about the departure of Ubaldo Jimenez last July.

Among the new pieces of information revealed by Ubaldo Jimenez himself...

1. He felt disrespected when the Rockies chose to extend Troy Tulowitzki and Carlos Gonzalez and not him.

"I read in the paper that the Rockies said they were only going to sign two guys, they couldn't do three guys," Jimenez told FOXSports.com. "I was the third guy. They signed the two guys they were going to sign and they gave them more (years) and bigger (salaries). "

2. He arrived to spring training with the intention of being traded.

3. He forced himself to pitch through an infected cuticle on his thumb and a strained groin because "I was not going to get traded if I was on the disabled list."

4. He then continued to pitch with a fatigued arm for the Cleveland Indians after the trade.

Listen, I can completely understand why a person would feel slighted when overlooked for a promotion or an opportunity they felt they earned, especially if they felt like the employer wasn't doing a good enough job communicating their plans and his status directly. It's not fun. Most of us have been there ourselves or we've seen someone close to us being put in that position, so it's very easy to sympathize with that.

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Rock Solid Recap: The show must go on

The human side of me is very sad to see Ubaldo Jimenez go. The sight of him embracing his teammates and saying his goodbyes admittedly choked me up. It was tough to watch. That's a real moment between real people that you know love and respect each other. It's emotional.

The baseball side of me understands the situation. I understand the Rockies made a move they 100% believe will make them better. I know they didn't make this move for the hell of it, to prove a point, to hurt Ubadlo or to annoy the fanbase. They made a business decision intended to put this team back in contention. I understand all of that, and I accept it for what it is.

The baseball side always wins out. I'm a fan of the Colorado Rockies first and foremost. As much as I love the players that come and go, some more willingly than others, none of them are bigger than the team I love. Even Todd Helton.

So I say goodbye to a class act in Ubaldo Jimenez. At the same time, I welcome Drew Pomeranz, Alex White, Joe Gardner and Matt McBride to the organization. Hopefully we grow to love one or two of them as much as we did Ubaldo.

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Lackluster Recrap: Another Sunday no show

It's becoming increasingly difficult to sit through Colorado Rockies baseball games, let alone write about them. Especially on Sundays, when the team finds new ways to embarrass themselves and discourage the fanbase. 

It's ridiculous. And you can't really blame Jim Tracy's lineup on this mess we witnessed today. Ubaldo Jimenez was on the mound, and the only regular not playing was Mark Ellis.

This team just flat out disappoints time and time again. There's no sense of urgency whatsoever. There's no pride to improve fundamentally. Instead, we watch players - like Seth Smith - continue to regress in every phase of the game. Smith's defensive effort in recent weeks has been shameful. And his offensive performance has sunk right along with it.

With Carlos Gonalez and Charlie Blackmon hurt, there's no place else to turn here. But he's proven again he won't be an every day player. He deserved the opportunity. He didn't get consistent enough playing time for a while in that role, but honestly, I don't think it mattered. He's not cut out for it. He's a solid hitter that's best used late in ballgames.

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Rock Solid Recap: So now the offense finally likes Ubaldo

Rockies 12, Braves 3 (boxscore)

If Dan O'Dowd had known a few trade rumors would make the Rockies offense appreciate and support Ubaldo Jimenez more, he probably would have floated his name out there around last season's deadline.

For like 20-25 starts dating back to that time, the Rockies weren't there for him. The last two starts... 24 runs.

Yeah, now you care. You hear a few scouts are in the crowd, and now you want to be his friend again. Figures.

But seriously, a kick ass performance by the offense. They attacked a young pitcher that has been on a roll, shook him up, worked him over and never let him get off the mat. A relentless effort that I honestly expected to see happen a lot more often this season. Maybe not to the point of 12 runs night after night, but they let so many pitchers off the hook that they could have eaten alive.

Breaking: Not only were there scouts in attendance for Ubaldo's start tonight, I heard they were writing things down on paper. What could this development mean??

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Rock Solid Recap: How did the Rockies spend their break?

Apparently they spent it relearning how to hit. How about a season high 20 knocks -- 11 coming off Yovani Gallardo -- in a dominating home win over the Brewers.

Rockies 12, Brewers 3 (boxscore)

I admit the offensive outburst caught me off guard, but I don't think anyone could be more shocked than Ubaldo Jimenez. This just doesn't happen for him. If only he could reallocate some of those runs to previous and future starts where the Rockies left or will leave him with no room to work.

But let's give Ubaldo his credit, too. He chipped in delivering a run scoring single in the 2nd. That was very big, especially on the heels of the Yovani Gallardo RBI double against him. And he really earned the win on the mound pitching six solid innings against a strong Brewers offense.

His line: 6 IP, 6 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 4 K

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Rock Solid Recap: A taste of 2010

That's how good Ubaldo Jimenez was in the Rockies second straight win over the Washington Nationals on Saturday night.

Rockies 2, Nationals 1 (boxscore)

Especially the way it started with U retiring the first 12 Nationals in perfect order. Three of those outs came via the strikeout. Seven came on harmless groundballs. When Ubaldo ran into a little trouble in the 5th, he got another groundball, and a fine double play started by the returning Troy Tulowitzki and turned over beautifully by Mark Ellis.

The only thing that kept Jimenez from challenging for a possible shutout was the boneheaded play in center field by Ryan Spilborghs. Spilly's decision to half dive, half fall down turned an Ian Desmond single into a triple leading off the sixth. The Rockies would trade Desmond's run for an out.

From there, Jimenez finished up strongly.

His line: 8 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 8 K

The one walk certainly stands out as a positive. He had great movement again, but he was doing a better job commanding the zone and avoiding hitter's courts. It should also be noted that Jimenez was touching 97 on the gun as late as the seventh. All those concerned about velocity should feel good about that.

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Rock Solid Recrap: When it rains, it pours

Literally and figuratively.

The Rockies need the All-Star break to start yesterday. Geez. First we heard word of Jhoulys Chacin's forearm tightness. Thankfully that has cleared up, making him available to start tomorrow night. But that still threw quite a wrench into the Rockies plans, forcing a wave of roster moves over the last four days.

Then the Carlos Gonzalez injury yesterday. Now Troy Tulowitzki leaves tonight with the quad tightness. I'm sure he'll be day-to-day, but we're talking about an injury he hasn't been able to completely shake for three years now. It's always lurking, waiting to slow him down at a bad time. That's kinda scary.

What else is scary? Jim Tracy's lineup card tomorrow. I assume we'll see Seth Smith make his first appearance hitting clean up. Unless I missed him hitting clean up before. Can't recall it. But it's not going to very pretty. At all.

Braves 4, Rockies 1 (boxscore)

Ubaldo Jimenez: Made two big mistakes -- the two-run homer to Freddie Freeman and the RBI double by Jason Heyward, which possibly would have been run down by Gonzalez, or caused him to bruise his other wrist.

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Rock Solid Recrap: Sluggish Rockies give one back to Sox

Ugh. Tonight was exactly like last night in terms of both teams pitching well, but looking terrible at the plate and defensively. It was another game that was there for the taking for Colorado. All it would have taken on a couple different occasions was one big hit or one less mistake on the bases to notch back-to-back wins.

It didn't happen. This time it was the White Sox getting the win, though they didn't really have to take it like Troy Tulowitzki did last night. They just benefitted from one big break.

White Sox 3, Rockies 2 (boxscore)

Of course most of the criticism will center around that break Chicago caught. It came in the 9th inning on a play at the plate. Carlos Quentin tags up and scores the winning run on a shallow flyball to right field. Seth Smith made the catch with his momentum coming towards home, but the throw was off line, handcuffed Chris Iannetta, and Quentin got in.

Watch the icky play

My take: Yeah, Iannetta probably should have picked that ball and made the tag. But think about it, the catcher had to go 8-10 feet up the line to try and catch a ball on a shorthop. I've pointed out his sloppiness blocking baseballs in the past, though it's different behind the plate. Point is I'm certainly no apologist of his, but this all tells you it's a bad throw. And he also had a runner baring down on him.

It's not an easy play.

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Rock Solid Recap: New York is becoming a second home

Alright, I don't mean to get too carried away. I'm just happy to get one win out of this series. If they could find a way to squeeze out another... wow.

Rockies 4, Yankees 2 (boxscore)

Jason Giambi: New York certainly isn't a second home to Jason Giambi. He still has an apartment there. He spent the prime of his career there. It's definitely a special place for him for several personal and professional reasons. And it had to be made even more special by the reception he received tonight.

Hats off to the Yankees fans for showing their love. EVEN after Jason unloaded on an A.J. Burnett cookie for a long home run in the 2nd.

Watch Giambi's mammoth blast

Giambi would add a pair of singles and a walk later, and even scored what ended up being the game-winning run on Ty Wigginton's groundout in the 4th. Great night for the Giambino.

Good enough Ubaldo: He started off very shaky, never really had good command the whole way through, but Ubaldo Jimenez had enough to keep a very talented offense at bay for seven innings.

Watch Chris Nelson come to Ubaldo's aid

The final line: 7 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 4 BB (too many), 7 K (one an inning) and 119 pitches (one more than his previous season high).

Velocity was mid-90s consistently. In fact, pitch 119 hit 95 on the gun. So yes, the velocity is still down. It would be wonderful if he could get it all back because he needs it on nights when his other pitches aren't working. Because of that I can see why a lot of people are concerned about the MPH. I can also see why other's aren't. I guess we'll just have to see where it all leads on Wednesday against the White Sox.

Troy Tulowitzki: I saw someone tweet Tulowitzki can't handle the bright lights or big stage after he grounded out with the bases loaded. I dunno, homering in all five games he's played in New York tells me a different story on that. No doubt his swing has been all over the place lately. No doubt he's blown some opportunities, but he's fine.

Watch Tulo's blast

Chris Iannetta: Three walks and one strikeout looking. That's a very complete Chris Iannetta type game.

Bullpen: Wonderful job by both Matt Reynolds and Huston Street to make the 4-2 lead hold up. Each allowed one baserunner. Each recorded three outs. Each allowed zero to score. I like my bullpen.

Watch Street lock it down

Overall: Good win. Very happy to see them play a complete nine innings of baseball without any silliness. Well, unless you count that rare four strikeout inning as silly. Some would. But still, it's not easy to go into Yankee Stadium and play a team stacked with that much talent backed with that much history. It sounds lame to say, but that can be a source of intimidation. Well handled by the guys.

Rock Solid Recap: 35 up, 35 down

Back to .500. Good. If they stay at .500 come July 1st I can finally look at the standings with interest.

See, for me there are two rules when it comes to looking at the standings and watching the scoreboard.

1) It has to be July.

Why July? Because it's usually just past the halfway point and the finish line is finally closer than the starting line. To get worked up about it before that point is a waste of energy for me.

2) The Rockies have to be over .500.

Because how many times has a team under .500 realistically contended for anything? Be over .500 and you're almost always in a position to matter.

So that's how that breaks down.

Rockies 5, Tigers 4 (boxscore)

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Rock Solid Recrap: Splitting headache

Yeah, splitting that four game series with the Dodgers was not what I had in mind, especially after the Rockies came out and played so well in the first two. Very, very frustrating results these past two days. A blown opportunity to not only gain on or stand their ground with the front-runners, but more importantly to me, create some space from a Dodgers team that I think has a good run in them during the second half of the season.

Dodgers 10, Rockies 8 (boxscore)

Ubaldo Jimenez: Listen, allowing three home runs is never a good thing for a pitcher. That much is pretty clear and obvious, but it's beyond the numbers to me. Where I'm more concerned is Ubaldo's confidence/mindset. Once something has gone wrong for him this season, like Ty Wigginton's error, he loses it. Fast. And he rarely gets it all back together.

That kinda tells me everything we've seen with him this season has been more mental than physical. I can't prove that. I'm not a licensed doctor or psychiatrist, but that's my diagnosis from afar. And I don't know how you can fix that if it really is the root of the problem. You can work on his mechanics. You can review scouting reports over and over. But how do you teach a pitcher to get over mental hurdles?

Bullpen: Well, we saw the entire lineup struggle together for a month, so it's only appropriate the entire bullpen struggles at the same time. Hopefully they get it straightened out a lot quicker than the offense did. And I don't mean to lump Rex Brothers in there because he's been excellent, but even he had a rough go of it today.

Ty Wigginton: I've seen enough of the limited range and routine grounders clanking off his glove. This team desperately needs to tighten up the defense. If that means bringing back Ian Stewart sooner than later, I'm all for it. Giving opponents extra outs and opportunities has to be addressed and eliminated. It's wearing on everybody.

Jonathan Herrera: The bloom is off the rose with Johnny, which is unfortunate, but not totally unexpected for a major leaguer who survives on guts, intelligence and ability to execute. I'm not saying he needs to go, because I don't think that's the case. But given how well Chris Nelson has played, and given the need for dynamic offensive performers, I'm not sure he's going to fit in if he's not excelling at the things he does best while in a bench role.

This could be a big week for him to get it turned around. And this is coming from Herrera's biggest supporter since he was called up last June.

Offense: All of the Rockies runs scored on homers. Seth Smith had a three-run shot in the 1st, which hopefully served as a reminder to Jim Tracy that he needs to play EVERY DAY. Carlos Gonzalez and Troy Tulowitzki each had two-run homers in the 7th, and then Todd Helton hit a solo shot in the 9th. 8 runs. That should have been enough, but once again, it wasn't.

Overall: Any confidence in the Rockies I had built up over their three-game winning streak is wiped away. Today was a big, big, big game in my mind, especially with Ubaldo out there, and they fell short. Yeah, it's promising the offense has turned it around, but we're learning again that the problems for this team run much deeper than one thing. On any given day, they can do a number of different things poorly that puts them in a position to lose.

Until all of those are cleaned up, the ups will always be followed with disappointing downs.

Rock Solid Recrap: The frustration continues

My first choice would be for the Rockies to start winning some games. Like I said yesterday, a winning streak. Win two, then win three, then win four. That's what I'm looking for. But I'm so tired of seeing the same thing everyday I'd honestly settle for an 9-8 loss. I'm begging for something different. Anything different. And I'm sick of feeling awful for our pitchers.

The games are boring. Absolutely painful to sit through. I could be watching any number of other games on a given night, but I love the Rockies. I'm committed to them. Because of that I'm missing out. I hate that feeling, too.

I feel like my writing is getting boring too. I mean what the hell can you write about when it's the same story every night? As my Rockies pal Brian put it on Twitter.

@gorox1983 im glad i dont have a blog about the rockies cause it would be riddled with f words.

Brian, you should get a blog! That would be a joy to read. But since you don't, allow me to riddle this Mother... you know what with some F words to describe the Rockies offense.

1. Futility 
2. Fail 
3. Flop 
4. Floundering 
5. Folding 
6. Feeble 
7. Faulty 
8. Foul 
9. Flaky
10. Frustration!

Those are just the F words.

Padres 2, Rockies 0 (boxscore)

Ubaldo Jimenez: Terrific.He pitched his ass off again. Ran into trouble in the 5th, but little of that was his fault. The 1-1 pitch to Alberto Gonzalez that was right down the middle and called a ball. Then the 2-1 pitch where Gonzalez's checkswing was ruled a ball when he pretty clearly went. He's out of the inning right there, but Gonzalez's at-bat continued and that damn infield RBI single followed.

Watch the play

Ubaldo did make the lazy pitch to the opposing pitcher that cost him another run, but he's human. Really no need to focus on that.

Catcher Jose Morales also had an awful half inning there. He couldn't get down on a wild pitch that looked like an easy block. That would have kept the Kyle Phillips at first, meaning he doesn't score on the infield single. Morales had a really ugly passed ball a couple innings later, so this goes down as his roughest night in a Rockies uniform. He'd done really well in his role up to now.

Also, I have no anger for Chris Nelson's attempt on that play. He knocked the ball down. That's his main objective and he did it very well. It gave Tulowitzki a chance to pick it up and throw home. It just wasn't handled by Morales. Morales picks it, makes the tag, everyone looks good.

It's sad that one infield single has to be put under the microscope with four paragraphs. Jesus. But when your margin for error is minus 50, that play qualifies as a disaster.

Rock Solid Recap: A breath of fresh air

The Colorado Rockies are 1-0 in June.

So is Ubaldo Jimenez.

Of course I don't really believe a simple change on the calendar makes a baseball team better. And it's only one little game out of 162, but damn does this feel good for those 25 players in uniform, the coaches, and the fans. It really was a breath of fresh air after five weeks of inhaling polluted air and horse****.

Rockies 3, Dodgers 0 (boxscore)

What can you say about Ubaldo Jimenez? He had everything working from pitch 1 to pitch 106. Which by the way is a really, really efficient number for a complete game shutout. That's what happens for you when you walk ZERO.

No walks!

If I had to make a report card.

Velocity: 93-96ish. B+. (Grading on an Ubaldo curve)

Command: A+

Mechanics: A

Movement: A

Efficiency: A+

Results: A+++

As I tweeted afterwards, I was more nervous in this 9th inning than I was in his no-hitter. Seriously. That performance last season was special. Maybe once in a career for him. Maybe once in a lifetime for Rockies fans. Trust me, I was nervous then. But for all the problems Ubaldo has gone through this season, I wanted this one for him even more.

He needed this badly. I wanted this for him, because I know he needed it that bad and I know his teammates and other fans wanted it that bad for him. Several fist pumps in the air when he set Matt Kemp down with this 7th and final strikeout.

Watch the final out

But like I said at the top, it's one game. Where he goes from here who knows, but it's nice to finally have some genuine optimism and positive energy heading to his next start in San Diego.

Tip your cap to Bob Apodaca as well. He's stuck by Ubaldo the whole way through and very likely played a role in tonight's performance.

-- Baby steps forward for the offense in the early going. More of the same later. But overall if was nice to see them move runners 90 feet, and especially nice to see them cash in two runners from third with sacrifice flies. The offense may not be the juggernaut we figured it could be, but they can still be effective if they produce (hits or productive outs) in those situations.

-- Todd Helton: Still the man. (Watch his home run)

-- I think Ty Wigginton is still catching his breath after that triple. But hey, impressive gear change heading from second to third. That hit and hustle set a nice tone for the evening.

-- Jose Morales: Solid all around game. Sac fly, basehit, called a great game. Who knows, he might find himself catching more Ubaldo starts going forward. They had a nice chemistry working.

Watch Jose's sac fly

-- Bullpen: Enjoy your two days off. See you again on Friday.

-- Be looking for my second player rankings of the season sometime Thursday afternoon. It will cover May, but I might have to bump Ubaldo up a spot or two.

-- Rockies needed a win Wednesday and got it. Now they need a series win just as badly. No better place to find it and take it than San Francisco! Let's see what we have on Friday night.

Rock Solid Recrap: That's not going to work

Cardinals 10, Rockies 3 (boxscore)

-- Ubaldo Jimenez was bad again. He had one good inning in the 4th or 5th that gave me reason for some hope, but it fell apart again quickly after. It's not good, folks. It's not good at all. It's not going to work.

-- The Rockies had five hits and three runs through three innings. None of either in the final six. Yeah, that's not going to work.

-- I will be curious to see who's in center field tomorrow. If it's Eric Young again it will be obvious Dexter Fowler is the Rockie currently out of favor with Jim Tracy. Maybe it already is obvious. If that's the case. If that's where the Rockies were looking to upgrade, why not bring in Charlie Blackmon? Move Gonzalez to center. Let Blackmon play a corner. That COULD work, actually.

Maybe there's a clause in Gonzalez's new contract that says the Rockies owe him eleventy billion dollars if he plays one inning in center. I'm only kidding. I think.

Anyway, I know you want EY's speed in the lineup and he's a legit lead-off guy, but the problem is you're sticking an infielder in center field at Coors Field. That's not going to work. We saw why on this play right here. (Watch)

Ty Wigginton's lousy tag attempt won't work either.

-- Hat tip to Bruce Billings for his making his major league debut. He allowed five hits and one run over his two innings. Nothing special you'd say, but he did induce two double play balls, including one from Albert Pujols. So that's pretty cool.

-- Felipe Paulino's line tonight in his Kansas City debut (against Texas): 4 1/3, 1 H, 3 K. Yeah, **** you.

Wherever Jose Lopez ends up, he'll hit three home runs in his first game there. No question about it.

-- Juan Nicasio makes his major league debut on Saturday evening. I'm definitely interested to see what the kid has, but I'm honestly concerned for his baseball life. The Cardinals are on fire offensively. It just doesn't add up to a positive result on paper. Hopefully it adds up better on the field.

Rock Solid Recrap: Some thoughts on a bad baseball weekend

Brewers 3, Rockies 1 (boxscore)

Brutal weekend for the Rockies. It looked like they may have turned a corner taking three of four from the Giants and Phillies leading into the Milwaukee series, but undid it all very quickly.

-- If I had a dollar for every time Bob Uecker said, "Wow, that inning was quick." when the Rockies were hitting this weekend, I'd have about $20 more than I did on Friday afternoon. The offense showed very little fight on Saturday or Sunday. Granted Shawn Marcum and Randy Wolf pitched well, but this team as constructed now is very limited in ways they can create offense.

No stolen bases threats. No real weapons off the bench. Yeah, I know Jason Giambi had four homers in two days, but his pinch-hitting has been unproductive. Ty Wigginton had a couple big hits before the injury and a nice game on Friday. I don't mind having him around, but Jose Lopez has been awful and Jose Morales really tailed off after a decent start.

We're two months in so I think we can safely say it's looking like Dan O'Dowd had a poor offseason. Things could still turn around, but between some of those names mentioned above and the Felipe Paulino disaster, he didn't add much. Matt Lindstrom being the obvious and overwhelming exception to the rule.

And forget the Troy Tulowitzki and Carlos Gonzalez contracts. We won't know how those look for awhile yet.

-- It's pretty simple with Ubaldo Jimenez: He's in a better place overall, but he's living on the edge too much. His inconsistent command is putting him one big swing away from having a bad inning/bad outing. Today he walked five and hit one. Unfortunately two of those came directly in front of one of only two hits he allowed -- a two-run triple to Ryan Braun.

Inability to consistently throw strikes also leads to sloppy defense behind him. That was also the case on Braun's triple. Dexter Fowler made an ill-advised dive on the play which allowed extra bases. He then missed the cut-off man on his throw in and Braun trotted home with a Little League home run.

To recap that: One walk. One HBP. One swing. A bad dive and a bad throw. Three quick runs for the Brewers.

-- As noted earlier, the Rockies can't buy a steal. That's one problem. Another problem is opposing baserunners stealing bases against them. Often times without even a throw. The Rockies have ten one-run losses. A lot of those have come down to 90 feet both ways. The importance of this can't be overlooked.

-- Ubaldo swinging with the bases loaded and one out. Yeah, that outcome wasn't predictable.

-- How about Troy Renck's article with quotes from Troy Tulowitzki on his ejection? Apparently Tulowitzki was ejected not because he was quick-pitched or anything like that, but because he felt the umpire wasn't positioned properly to make the call.

Oh boy. He would have been better off not saying anything. This only makes the situation sound more petty and silly. But that's the last I'll speak of it. Hopefully he'll learn from it, but the quotes don't leave me optimistic he will.

-- The Rockies have a day off to collect themselves before a doubleheader on Tuesday against Arizona. You hate to even think about it, but after that amazing start, they could end Tuesday under .500. Let's hope it goes the other way and they make a strong push towards June. They still have a better record than usual for late May, so a good recovery isn't too far away.

Rock Solid Recap: Make Giants play defense, you win

The San Francisco Giants can't blame suspicious baseballs for their loss on Tuesday, they can blame their own suspicious and shittious defense. For the second straight day, an awful throwing error by their starting pitcher cracked the door open for Colorado, and for the second straight day the Rockies made them pay.

Today hereos were Dexter Fowler, who won a nine pitch battle with Javier Lopez by delivering an RBI ground rule double over the head of Andres Torres. That tied the game at three.

Watch Fowler's double

Two batters later, Carlos Gonzalez pulled a two-run single through the drawn in infield to get the Rockies the lead they wouldn't relinquish.

Watch Cargo's big hit

By the way, the error came on an Aflredo Amezaga sacfrice bunt attempt with first and second and no outs. The pinch-bunter did his job this time, and Jim Tracy's relentless attempts to win a game with a bunt finally worked. Genius for a day... or at least an inning.

Watch Sanchez's error

Rockies 5, Giants 3 (boxscore)

But the Rockies would have never had a shot to rally late if not for the good work by Ubaldo Jimenez. The big right-hander would tell you he's still not on his game, but today's effort was a step up from his previous best efforts this season. Whether he can maintain consistency or build on it remains to be seen, but today was nice.

Mechanics still aren't perfect. Velocity was better (94-97), but not top notch. It's still a work in progress, but at least you feel like if he was hurt, you wouldn't get performances like today. So I guess we'll see what's next.

Nice work by Matt Belisle to pitch a scoreless 8th inning. That allowed him to pick up his 4th win of the season, which ties him for second on the team and is four more than Ubaldo.

How about another single digit pitch save for Huston Street? He only needed nine last night (all strikes) and seven today (six strikes) to pick up saves 13 and 14. It's not dominant, it's efficient. Either/or can give you the results you need.

Watch Huston turn two

And we can't forget Troy Tulowitzki hitting home run number 11. That was an important run as well.

Watch Tulo's blast

Another great day at Coors Field, where the Rockies go back over .500 at 11-10. I don't know which win in this series was bigger, but I do know this was the most important 24 hour period of the Rockies season so far. And yes, that includes a 24 hour period in New York where they won three times.

Rock Solid Recrap: Everything is broken

That's the message I saw all Thursday night while attempting to write my Recrap. I found it to be a fitting message after Thursday's results. One that could also apply to Ubaldo Jimenez.

Ubaldo Jimenez is currently unavailable 

Ubaldo Jimenez is unavailable right now. We apologize for this interruption in his career.

All I kept thinking was "Dammit, work Blogger."

And then I started thinking "Dammit, I want Ubaldo to work, too."

I can't sit through another outing where he's htting low 90's on the gun. Where he's walking a pitcher twice. Where his body language screams "I can't do this, I have no confidence or feel for what I'm doing".

It's sad. We're past the point of excuses now. We need answers. Answers Jim Tracy apparently doesn't have or know how to find.

“I wish I knew … I wish I knew,’’ said Rockies manager Jim Tracy, when asked about Jimenez’s struggles. “I’ve done a lot of different things to try to get to the bottom of exactly where we’re at. … I wish I had an answer for you.’’

I don't care what Ubaldo is telling Jim Tracy, Bob Apodaca, Dan O'Dowd, whoever else is asking him questions, it's time to ignore him and it's time for the Rockies to charge of the situation. Make him get an MRI. Spend a sleepless night in the video room. Look back at how sound his mechanics were last season, and get them there again.

Find the answer.

Mets 9, Rockies 5 (boxscore)

Finding positves...

-- Clayton Mortensen was really good again, providing 2+ innings of scorless relief. Listen, I don't know how excited I should get about this guy, or if I should even get excited at all, but the production he's giving this team in whatever role they assign him has been outstanding. He earns more respect each time out.

-- Carlos Gonzalez walked three times.

-- Todd Helton is a treasure.

-- Johnny Herrera homered again. He's no Carlos Beltran, but it's nice to know he can run into one from either side of the plate on ocassion.

-- Troy Tulowitzki was 0-for-4, but that line drive to left field his last time up was encouraging. Bad result. But keep that swing.

I hate bunting...

Jim Tracy's decision to sacrifice with Dexter Fowler in the 8th with 1st and 2nd, no outs, down 7-5 made my head hurt. Yes, it's a by-the-book move. You're supposed to play for the tie at home and the win on the road. That's fine. I don't agree with it, but whatever, that's how it's written.

But to give away an out, any out, at any point of the game with this offense? You must be crazy. Throw the damn book away. Granted, Jose Lopez was coming up, which makes a double play more likely than a hit, but still. Lopez has power. He could have changed the game with one swing. Instead, predictably, you give away the out and the inning dies soon after.

Again, Tracy didn't necessarily make the wrong call. One hit by Jose Morales or Jason Giambi makes him look smarter. I would just like to see a more aggressive mindset offensively. Go for the win. Go for the big inning.

Rock Solid Recrap: A positively maddening loss

I sneak the word positively in there because there was a glaring positive in an otherwise painful and maddening loss to the San Francisco Giants.

The postive was Ubaldo Jimenez.

I understand he still has work to do on getting his mechanics in order, and I think we'll all agree we expect more from Jimenez going forward, but just to see him hitting the high 90s on the gun and throwing a devasting splitter was a HUGE step up from where he's been.

It's encouraging. Maybe not at an overwhelming "no doubt Ubaldo is back" level, but at an "I'm pretty sure he's not hurt" comforting type level.

His next start -- especially after throwing 118 pitches in this one -- will be very interesting to evaluate. It definitely feels like it could go either way on a start-to-start basis, but I'm hopeful this game will be the foundation he starts building from.

Giants 4, Rockies 3 (boxscore)

Not so comforting is the way the Rockies let another possible win slip right through their fingers late. Of course when these types of losses occur, people like to point fingers. When they happen on back-to-back nights, people will get downright hysterical. That's kinda where we are now.

A lot of people are angered and frustrated by the offense. Rightfully so.

Others think the bullpen is turning into a weakness before our very eyes. I understand the frustration, but let's try to be realistic. If Troy Tulowitzki and Carlos Gonzalez can each go through extended slumps throughout the course of a season, I think it's normal and acceptable for a reliever to have a hiccup every now and then.

They're human. It's bound to happen. That it happened on back-to-back nights with Huston Street and Rafael Betancourt is just unfortunate timing.

Is Felipe Paulino bad? He has been, yes. But he was honestly the victim of terrible luck on Friday. He made a terrific pitch down and away to Cody Ross that he poked down the line for a double. He owned Aaron Roward, as most pitches do. And that game-winning hit by Freddy Sanchez was another excellent pitch down that was pounded into the ground and somehow found a hole.

Seriously, you can dislike Paulino for a handful of failures this season. but it's difficult for me personally to beat him up over this one.

Now, you can pound the offense all you want. The lack of timely hits. The lack of situational hitting. The lack of good at-bats from the 6th inning on is staggering and disturbing. There's no doubt it has cost the team a chance to win 4-5 more games over the past two weeks.

But again, this poor stretch isn't anything different than what we've seen in previous years. They will come out of it. They will catch fire. And because they've won so many games early, in addtion to every other team in the NL West struggling offensively just as much or more, they will not find themselves digging out of a massive hole.

In fact, they may not be in a hole at all.

It's important to remember that. And it's important to know the past two days don't define who these Rockies are. Maybe the first three weeks didn't either, but don't think for a second these last two days are the Rockies we should expect the next five months.