If you happened to watch the Rockies game Thursday night, and can’t quite place the feeling you had after the final out, here is a hint: You haven’t felt it very much, at least in context of a Rockies game. You might be familiar with the emotion should you choose to root for the Miami Heat, LA Kings or perhaps Portugal.
That feeling is one of watching your team win.
Because it is a very rare occurrence these days, when your team happens to be the Colorado Rockies and this is only the second time in the last 14 you’ve felt it, it is nice to savor the emotion and keep it tucked deep away should when the team decides to return to their all too familiar ways of losing.
Here are some pieces of pleasure to hold onto for the long road ahead:
HIT ‘N RUN
If Jeff Huson was to be believed, Jim Tracy “likes to put runners in motion”, something Huson said in the top of the ninth. Every single Rockies fan on the planet knows this is flat-out untrue, unless you are talking about the frustrating “go on contact” play at third, which was tried with the infield pulled in to a very predictable end: Dex getting punched in the face with an out.
The truth is that Tracy very rarely puts runners in motion, but after tonight he might want to wake up to that new-found strategy. The success of not one, but two hit-n-run plays was very refreshing for frustrated fans who have screamed for more small-ball types of managing from Tracy, the antithesis of a small ball manager.
Both hit ‘n run’s were executed to perfection, one with Colvin hitting and Pacheco going first to third, and the other with Fowler/Scutaro.
Nevermind that neither play produced a run, actually seeing both brought smiles to many a heart and hope that with all of the bad decisions by management lately (read: 4 man rotation), that possibly the straw grasping might bring more small ball.
Doubtful, but hope springs and all that…
LONG BALL
All four Rockies runs were produced by two hits. A Chris Nelson two run jack in the fifth and a Wilin Rosario two-run shot in the ninth. Two hits to produce all of the offense. Sure, the team only had two hits through 6 1/3, but we are only focusing on the good stuff.
Like Nelson waking up his road hitting woes in a big way, and Rosario putting all other rookies on notice with his tiny plate appearances and big bat.
FRANKIE GOES TO TOWN
Another very strange feeling to go along with the win, and one that is even more rare, is to see a starting pitcher actually take the mound and work the hitters in such a way to make fans proud.
Tonight Jeff Francis was refreshing on the mound. His five innings of work came with little drama, even his one run given up was a simple bad pitch solo HR. He went 76 pitches deep, scattered six hits while striking out three and walking none. His stuff was good, bordering on great, and it made one believe that if all starters could pitch this well then the crazy idea of a 4-man rotation might just work.
Nah…
The bullpen came in and again were excellent in their execution, combining for two hits, four punch-outs and no walks over four, Betancourt getting the save after blowing it last night. Sadly, with the 4-man experiment they can expect to have more work than they can handle in the next few weeks, economy be damned.
So, who did the best job of all: Tracy with the small ball, Wilin and Chris with their bats or Frankie on the mound?
You know, something I hadn’t thought about until just now after typing up my post-game thoughts: Our starting pitchers wont get very many W’s…Take tonight for example: Jeff Francis pitched very well, but because of the 75 pitch leash he didn’t have a chance to get the win. Had he pitched into the seventh, not unreasonable given his count taking him through five, he would have walked with the W.
That really sucks for our starting rotation. It will be very hard to get enough innings, or get enough early run support (and hold it) to get the W, but they more than likely will have an easier time getting the L with this nonsense…
This rotation plan will make for very unhappy players and even unhappier agents very quickly.Contracts are certainly measured in part by wins.This plan all but assures that the starters will only be lucky to win once every 8-10 starts.[Agbayani,put this in your stats computer].Furthermore it pretty much eliminates any free agents showing interest in the ROX and their “crazy” brain? trust.
The current 4-man rotation will not last long enough to impact anyone’s win total significantly. I suspect Pomeranz will be recalled shortly. Regardless, the plan is likely to be just a (bad) memory when the schedule resumes two days after the All-Star Game…if not sooner.
I like what Francis said: “If you don’t like it, pitch better.” He’s all about the team not the individual stats despite this four-ring circus show.
I also liked what I saw after the final pitch – Betancourt’s scowling face and really determined to redeem himself. It’s all about Ws even if the team isn’t getting them on a regular basis. That shows that most of the players haven’t tuned out for the year yet.
As much as it sucks watching it, it has to suck even more for many of them actually being on the field getting their lunch handed to them…some are just in it for the money i’m sure and don’t really care, but many i’d think are pretty downright disgusted and know they are part of the problem…
Good call on Betty’s scowl after…and I also loved Francis’ quote – good for him to state that, hopefully he and the others believe it…
I feel much worse for the players than I do for myself as a fan. Not only do they have to live in the nightmare with no escape except an occasional good win like last night, they have to do it in hellholes of humidity quite often. I’d venture that the vast majority really care and are not just in it for money. Yes, they all get paid very well to play a game, but they are human and a season like this must weigh a thousand tons.
Aside – Pet peeve: Frasier or somebody saying “this guy just LOVES to play the game…” What, some don’t?! come on.
Funny story about some players motivation for playing…
My brother does advertising at Coors and as such he is invited each year to meet with the team, owners, managers, etc. and hear them BS about the upcoming year.
So he went to this meeting before this season and heard O’Dowd talk about how they made a bunch of changes, bringing in Cuddy, etc…
One of the things he did was talk about there being two types of players in basebal – basically (not the exact words) leaders and followers…he then talked about several players on the team and how they were leaders…he spent a chunk of time on Tulo, talking about how dedicated he was, etc…
Then he said, “CarGo – he’s just in it for the money” and everyone laughed and then he moved on to talk about someone else…