Slowly and surely, my endless optimism is disappearing as our boys in purple seemingly find new ways to lose each and every ballgame so far in this short season. This past weekend’s worth of games were no different as the Rox were swept by los Los Angeles Doyers in their three game set. It’s hard to pinpoint the exact problem with the ballclub because there are different aspects of the game the Rockies seem to fail on a consistent basis. In addition to our bullpen's failure to launch (now on DVD) last week, starting pitching doomed us Friday night as Ubaldo Jimenez came one step closer to getting an all-expenses paid trip down I-25 to Colorado Springs to work out whatever the hell is wrong with him. Saturday night more starting pitching woes led to a preposterous 10 run first inning that immediately vomited back the rare 2-0 lead we’d taken off legendary Rockies killer Brad Penny. And finally on Sunday our clutch hitting disappeared as Jeff Francis tossed his second quality start of the year going 7 innings and only allowing 2 runs. Unfortunately, we were facing everybody’s favorite 6th starter Esteban Loaiza and could only muster 2 runs of our own until Manny Corpas extended his streak of shitty appearances to, well, it seems like forever.
1) Tulo’s pressing. He seems way too anxious when he gets to the plate and is jumping at first pitches that he wouldn’t normally chase. When he finally does get a pitch he finds to his liking, it seems the best result we see from him is a foul ball straight back behind the plate. It doesn’t appear that Tulo is missing solid contact by very much, but with each failed at bat, he sees his average on the Jumbotron dip even lower. That makes him try even harder in his next plate appearance instead of just relaxing and letting his Elway-given talent take over. He’s hitting just .157 on the year and a depressing .083 with runners in scoring position and 2 outs this season including an unclutch (is that a word?) double play ball with the bases loaded and 1 out in the 8th inning on Sunday. At this time last year, he was hitting .185 and just beginning to turn his slow start around, so here’s hopin he’s on the fast track to gettin back to hittin jacks.
2) Ubaldo Jimenez is in serious danger of losing his spot in the Rockies rotation. His line from Friday night’s ballgame was so killer that if his next start garners similar numbers it might as well read like an obituary. 2.1 innings, 6 runs, 7 hits, and 3 walks to go along with 3 wild pitches. It was rare that he even threw a pitch in the vicinity of the home plate area. Skip Hurdle after the game said that even he’s not sure where Jimenez stands now. He didn’t even have a snappy quote to lob Jimenez’ way. That’s when you know you might be in the doghouse with Hurdle. He’s probably got one more start to get back in good faith with the organization and the fans, but if he doesn’t perform up to the obvious skill level of his stuff, a trip to Colorado Springs might be in order to get his mind and mechanics back to where they need to be.
3) The only one of our starting pitchers with an ERA under 5.00 is Aaron Cook, who’s acted as a stopper for a struggling ball club that needs at least one man in their rotation to give them a quality outing every time. Here’s how our starting pitcher’s ERA reads: Francis- 5.01, Jimenez- 6.46, Morales- 6.00, and Mark Redman- 7.43. Redman’s pitched about as well as the rapper of the same name and honestly should be concerned about his spot on the ballclub too. The thing is, with no one really banging down the door in the Colorado Springs rotation, there aren’t an enticing amount of options for the boys in purple. Kip Wells should be able to supplant at least one of them as he has a 2.29 ERA and has pitched impressively throughout the year, including the re-Opening Day start in St. Louis. The only viable option I see in the Springs is veteran reliever turned spot starter Jose Capellan who in 3 starts carries a 3.94 ERA and a 2-0 record. He was just called up to the big club to help band-aid the bullpen and pitched well in his first two innings of work on Saturday. Frankly, that’s about it though and we might just have to hope the guys we have figure it out soon.
I came to a bitter realization today. It’s hard for me to say, but right now, we suck. It’s still INCREDIBLY early in the season to be really worried, but this team is too talented to be playing the way we have been so far. At least we’re facing the Giants in our next series, but the bad news is we’re facing Matt Cain and Tim Lincecum, two of the best young pitchers in baseball. We’ve got to turn it around some time. Why not starting tomorrow?
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