I'm not talking about the nightmare on Huston Street, although his recent string of home runs allowed is a growing concern to be sure. And I'm not talking about the scary thoughts that go through my mind between every Rafael Betancourt pitch. Believe me there's time for a lot of them.
(Both of those pitchers played their part in Friday's gut-wrenching and infuriating loss to the Milwaukee Brewers. There's no denying if they do their jobs, there's a much happier ending. But.)
I'm talking about Felipe Paulino. Very possibly the worst pitcher to wear a Rockies uniform in ten years. And here some people thought we traded that guy on Thursday. Nope. Paulino makes Franklin Morales look like Billy Wagner by comparison. Morales has major league stuff. Paulino has a straight fastball that begs to be hit 450 feet.
That's exactly what Prince Fielder did in the 14th inning. It was a moment everybody predicted would happen the second Paulino began warming up. It was his first official blown save of the season, and his fourth loss in the past three weeks. All of them have looked the same. He looked like a guy that couldn't get major league hitters out, and he didn't.
But as awful as he's been, you can't really get mad at the man himself. He's shown us who he is. We obviously don't like what we see because he's terrible and we want the Rockies to win every day. But for some reason, what we've seen for six weeks still hasn't sunk in with Jim Tracy and Dan O'Dowd. They're the ones who keep stubbornly sending a person to the mound who's not equipped to handle the job. They're the ones who come under fire for this.
Paulino = bad. O'Dowd & Tracy = clueless.
We're ****ed meter: Clueless management > Bad pitcher
And I'm putting that as kindly as I can.
If Felipe Paulino is still on this roster when I post the Lineup Card later today. So help me. I don't know what I'll write, but it probably won't be as kind as what I wrote here.
Brewers 7, Rockies 6 in 14 (boxscore)
-- Jason Hammel pitched a really nice game. He left in the 7th inning with a lead over Zack Greinke. What more can you honestly ask for? A home run? That's not really fair, but he hit one of those, too. Great game.
But it was pissed away. You have an improbable win handed to you on a silver platter and it's gone. Those are the losses that haunt you for weeks and months. Meanwhile, the San Francisco Giants continue winning one-run games like it's the easiest task in the world.
-- Jason Giambi hit another home run. It's an awesome stretch for him. Hope it continues.
-- Troy Tulowitzki lost his composure on a night when this team NEEDED his presence in the field and in the lineup. No Helton. No Cargo. Tulowitzki has to be the leader in that scenario. He can't lead from the clubhouse because he had to settle a pissing match with the home plate umpire. I'm deeply troubled by what happened here. He's supposed to set the tone and lead by example. If that's his leadership, it's no wonder this team gets frazzled so easily.
4 comments:
Are you really that concerned by what happened with Tulo? I agree that he shouldn't have lost his cool, especially with, as you said, Helton unavailable, but it was his first career ejection I think. And he had every right to be angry that the ump thought Greinke wasn't trying to hit him. I'm just curious to know how you think this stacks up against all the other mature and leader-like things he has done.
I get the same, nasty feeling in my stomach when Tracy brings in Paulino like I did when Hurdle would bring in Jorge Julio.
He had a right to be angry, but that was the at-bat before. He has to let it go. His focus was off for two straight at-bats, and then he just lost it.
It was his first ejection. It wasn't as bad as splitting his palm open slamming a bat (cost him two weeks). But between slamming his helmet all the time and all the conversations he gets into with umps, it concerns me. It really does. He's not Milton Bradley with his temper, but he has to let things go and stay focused on what's happening now.
He's the most important player on the team. He has to realize that and always keep himself in the game. No matter what.
Fair enough. He does lose his temper pretty frequently, especially when he's slumping. Hopefully he can learn to harness that anger and direct it at balls rather than bats, helmets, and umpires.
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