Maybe I’m crazy, but you didn’t have to squint through purple-tinted glasses to see something resembling a good baseball team in the black vests tonight. The Rockies got great pitching and good defense. They practiced good situational hitting and manufactured runs. They ran the bases smartly. They got out to a lead, protected it, and added to it. They did those glorified ‘little things’ you have to do to win ballgames, and were rewarded appropriately.
But for God’s sake, it’s getting tired watching them play excellent baseball in game one of a series and thinking, “Hey, maybe this will get them on track to a winning streak, or maybe at least a win in the series,” and then watching them crap the bed the remainder of the series. And it’s already happened FIVE TIMES this season (twice in a two-game series, but still).
April 10-12: Win first game vs. PHI 10-4, lose next two 8-4 and 7-5 (bullpen melts down both games)
May 4-5: Win first game @ SD 9-6, lose the next day 2-1
May 6-7: Win first game v SF 11-1, lose the next day 8-3
May 12-14: Win first game v HOU 12-1, lose next two 15-11 and 5-3
May 15-17: Win first game @ PIT 3-1, lose next two 7-4 and 11-4
So forgive me if my hopes aren’t exactly skyrocketing right now. We’re well into the point of the season where the team is just bad until they prove otherwise.
***
Another trip on the Jason Marquis rollercoaster today, as after two bad starts, he induced four double plays tonight and held the Braves in check while the Rockies struggled to score runs in the first eight innings. A well-earned fifth win of the year for Marquis. Having Marquis pitching every five days is kinda like experiencing a Josh Fogg start, only with a little more confidence in a positive outcome and far worse facial hair. (Come on, who didn’t love the chops that Fogg rocked back in 06?)
***
Todd Helton got robbed of hit number 2,000 tonight, but I’d rather him get it with an absence of controversy. I’d like to see number 2,000 be a clean single between short and third or a booming double into the right-center field gap – something representative of the 1,999 hits that have come before it. When I try and think of reasons why I should continue watching this team on a nightly basis, watching Todd Helton hit is right up there with “Watching Troy Tulowitzki play shortstop” and “Because there’s nothing else to do in small-town Wyoming”.
***
I’m about a week and five more soft outs to the left side of the infield away from beginning to feel pity for Garrett Atkins.
***
I don’t mean to post only when the Rockies win. It’s just that there’s so little to say about this team’s losses anymore. I meant this blog to be an examination of what it was like to follow the Rockies, and I guess I’ve succeeded in the sense that losing just beats us down to the point where there’s nothing coherent to be said.
Showing posts with label Todd Helton. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Todd Helton. Show all posts
Monday, May 18, 2009
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
5/6/09 - COL 11, SF 1 - "With Ease"
When the Rockies win, they don’t mess around. They knock the ball all over the lot, litter the inning-by-inning scoreboard with crooked numbers, and coast through the final few frames. The Rox have won games 9-2, 10-3, 9-6, 10-4, 12-7, and tonight, 11-1. This evidence of the team’s offensive potency is the most encouraging thing about this season; however, the fact that they’re just as capable of getting shackled by the Josh Geers of the world as they are of lighting up the Randy Johnsons of the world is the most frustrating.
Tonight was easy, a game that would inspire confidence if the 11-15 record hadn’t put a clamp on such feelings. Yeah, fine, we know you can hit. Some nights, you can even pitch, too – Ubaldo Jimenez was splendid for seven plus and even Manny Corpas turned in an excellent, stress-free ninth inning. But it’s getting a little tiring waiting for the twain to meet more often. Now we’re starting to ask, and not politely, that the team live up to the expectations it spends nights like tonight showing it deserves.
All in all, a fun night to watch baseball, seeing the lesser-lights of the Rockies offense (Torrealba, Barmes, Murton) spark a blowout victory behind the return of a dominant Jimenez. A good friend of mine who had gone to the game with his fiancée called me well before the game just to catch up and brag about being about the game. I can’t lie, it made me jealous. I miss being at the yard.
***
Greatest Redheads In Rockies History:
1. Aaron Cook
2. John Thompson
3. Matt Murton
***
Does this season feel like a throwback to the early part of this decade to you? The pitching’s erratic, and the hitter who looks best at the plate, and it’s not even close, is Todd Helton. His last at-bat tonight was a thing of beauty, as he worked Osiris Matos for a 14 pitch at-bat, fouling off enough two strikes pitches that Matos finally gave in and tossed up a cockshot down the middle, saying in effect, “Fine, dude, have this one.” To which Helton replied, “Cool, dude, I’m going to put this in the bullpen if that’s alright.” Which he did, for his third homer of the year. Helton’s hitting .340 and showing pop. He looks 28 again. And man, is it ever fun to watch.
Tonight was easy, a game that would inspire confidence if the 11-15 record hadn’t put a clamp on such feelings. Yeah, fine, we know you can hit. Some nights, you can even pitch, too – Ubaldo Jimenez was splendid for seven plus and even Manny Corpas turned in an excellent, stress-free ninth inning. But it’s getting a little tiring waiting for the twain to meet more often. Now we’re starting to ask, and not politely, that the team live up to the expectations it spends nights like tonight showing it deserves.
All in all, a fun night to watch baseball, seeing the lesser-lights of the Rockies offense (Torrealba, Barmes, Murton) spark a blowout victory behind the return of a dominant Jimenez. A good friend of mine who had gone to the game with his fiancée called me well before the game just to catch up and brag about being about the game. I can’t lie, it made me jealous. I miss being at the yard.
***
Greatest Redheads In Rockies History:
1. Aaron Cook
2. John Thompson
3. Matt Murton
***
Does this season feel like a throwback to the early part of this decade to you? The pitching’s erratic, and the hitter who looks best at the plate, and it’s not even close, is Todd Helton. His last at-bat tonight was a thing of beauty, as he worked Osiris Matos for a 14 pitch at-bat, fouling off enough two strikes pitches that Matos finally gave in and tossed up a cockshot down the middle, saying in effect, “Fine, dude, have this one.” To which Helton replied, “Cool, dude, I’m going to put this in the bullpen if that’s alright.” Which he did, for his third homer of the year. Helton’s hitting .340 and showing pop. He looks 28 again. And man, is it ever fun to watch.
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
4/21/09 - COL 9, @ ARI 6 - "Oh, What A Relief"
Maybe it was only a four game losing streak, but tally up the misery of Friday night’s blown lead, the agony of the weekend games, and the frustration of Monday night and, well, let’s just say it felt much longer. And when Franklin Morales walked off the mound before his third inning of work with an arm injury, and Glendon Rusch promptly gave back a 3-2 lead in a three-batter span, you could just feel that fifth straight loss coming. By the time it had gotten to 6-3… um, I had watched last night’s episode of 24 and was looking for something else on my DVR.
I wish I could say I went back to the game out of a strong faith in the Rox, but really I went back because I just happened to see Omar Quintanilla’s double in the sixth that set the Rockies up for what would eventually be the four-run inning that put them ahead for good. Yes, 12 games in and I’m already in ‘gotta see it to believe it’ territory with this team.
Well, I saw enough tonight to believe in. I saw Todd Helton get three hits, including a two-run BOMB off Jon Rauch that provided much-welcomed insurance in the 8th.
(When my dad and I discuss the Rockies, invariably we talk about Helton – long story short, I think he’s all set to hook up to the Juvenation Machine (TM Bill Simmons), and my dad thinks he’s toast. ‘His bat is sooo slowwww,” my dad will say. I plan on asking him how quick Todd’s stick looked on that homer – looked pretty damn quick to me. Anyway, in his last six games he’s 9-for-24 with two doubles and that homer. Spring training wasn’t a fluke. No way he doesn’t hit .300 this year.)
I saw Huston Street and Manny Corpas look like they haven’t collectively looked since the second game of this season. All Street did was move to the opposite side of the rubber, and it made him look unhittable. Corpas worked a fairly smooth ninth, with a two-out single by Mark Reynolds the lone blemish, and picked up his first save of the season.
Again – we Rockies fans KNOW this team’s talent level, or at least we like to think we do. But after stumbling out of the gates so bad, I’m back to the point where I need some proof. I did, after all, curl up into a ball when Alan Embree’s first pitch to Tony Clark went to the back stop and moved two runners into scoring position with one out in the 8th. Literally. I’m not kidding.
But Embree struck out Clark, got out of the jam without ceding any of the three-run lead. He did his job – the same job he’s done hundreds of times in his big league career, the same kind of steady work Corpas can do, that Street can do, that even Matt Belisle can do with his D-III caliber stuff.
And as soon as they re-prove to us those capabilities, we as fans will go back to wondering why they can’t do that every time out.
***
My Colorado Rockies Franken-pitcher (one attribute per pitcher):
1. Aaron Cook’s fastball
2. Jason Grilli’s slider
3. Ubaldo Jimenez’s changeup
4. Franklin Morales’s curve
5. Jason Marquis’ bat
6. Glendon Rusch’s disturbing lack of facial hair (some people NEED goatees. Rusch is one of them)
***
No TV tomorrow. This will drive me nuts.
I wish I could say I went back to the game out of a strong faith in the Rox, but really I went back because I just happened to see Omar Quintanilla’s double in the sixth that set the Rockies up for what would eventually be the four-run inning that put them ahead for good. Yes, 12 games in and I’m already in ‘gotta see it to believe it’ territory with this team.
Well, I saw enough tonight to believe in. I saw Todd Helton get three hits, including a two-run BOMB off Jon Rauch that provided much-welcomed insurance in the 8th.
(When my dad and I discuss the Rockies, invariably we talk about Helton – long story short, I think he’s all set to hook up to the Juvenation Machine (TM Bill Simmons), and my dad thinks he’s toast. ‘His bat is sooo slowwww,” my dad will say. I plan on asking him how quick Todd’s stick looked on that homer – looked pretty damn quick to me. Anyway, in his last six games he’s 9-for-24 with two doubles and that homer. Spring training wasn’t a fluke. No way he doesn’t hit .300 this year.)
I saw Huston Street and Manny Corpas look like they haven’t collectively looked since the second game of this season. All Street did was move to the opposite side of the rubber, and it made him look unhittable. Corpas worked a fairly smooth ninth, with a two-out single by Mark Reynolds the lone blemish, and picked up his first save of the season.
Again – we Rockies fans KNOW this team’s talent level, or at least we like to think we do. But after stumbling out of the gates so bad, I’m back to the point where I need some proof. I did, after all, curl up into a ball when Alan Embree’s first pitch to Tony Clark went to the back stop and moved two runners into scoring position with one out in the 8th. Literally. I’m not kidding.
But Embree struck out Clark, got out of the jam without ceding any of the three-run lead. He did his job – the same job he’s done hundreds of times in his big league career, the same kind of steady work Corpas can do, that Street can do, that even Matt Belisle can do with his D-III caliber stuff.
And as soon as they re-prove to us those capabilities, we as fans will go back to wondering why they can’t do that every time out.
***
My Colorado Rockies Franken-pitcher (one attribute per pitcher):
1. Aaron Cook’s fastball
2. Jason Grilli’s slider
3. Ubaldo Jimenez’s changeup
4. Franklin Morales’s curve
5. Jason Marquis’ bat
6. Glendon Rusch’s disturbing lack of facial hair (some people NEED goatees. Rusch is one of them)
***
No TV tomorrow. This will drive me nuts.
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