Well That Sure Sucked

This picture is from the end of Game 4, but could have also been taken at the end of Game 3. A soul-crushing way to end an otherwise awesome season. Lots of blame to go around from the obvious two losses (and blown save) by Street, to the lackluster plate performances from starting position players not named Carlos or Yorvit, to the hitless playoff wonder that was Clint Barmes (dude - we would have settled for ONE hit in the bottom of the 8th for the whole series), to the questionable and flat wrong calls by the umps, to the entirely too many damn walks given up by the Rocks. Bottom line is the Phils' starting pitching and offensive stars (1-5 spots beyond scary) were superior to the Rocks'.

The straight-up statistics would indicate this series was a blow out, but the scoreboard indicates it was a highly competitive, white-knuckle affair with the exception of Game 1. In the end, the more talented and experienced team won out, which is hard to feel too bad about. Still, after enduring a snow postponement and freezing to the bone in a one run loss Sun night, to be given hope with 8th inning offensive heroics in Game 4, only to have it smashed to pieces in the top of the 9th is straight-up cruel. It feels like this season deserved a much better ending. But, as the old saying goes: those baseball gods sure are a bunch of cocksuckers.

I ain't over it yet and I won't be able to engage in hot stove talk for at least a couple of more days, but through my disappointment, disillusionment, and raw anger, even I can see there should be a solid future for this team. That was a big question mark going into this season when the magical '07 World Series run was seen through the fecal prism that was the 2008 season. With some smart (read: not totally cheapskate) tinkering of veteran players to go along with the young core of very talented and now more experienced players (Carlos and Tulo have to be the cornerstones), this team should at least be in the playoff mix for the next few years.

Which gets me back to the blame game I love so much. Forget all the factors listed above for why we lost this series. I'm going to take this final opportunity to blame our exit on Clint Hurdle. Yes, Hurdle gets all the credit for this one. Had he not dug the team in such a hole for the first two months of the season, we would have won the West rather easily and hosted the NLDS against the Cards. After sweeping the Cards, we would have gone on to oust the Phils with home field advantage. Thanks a lot Hurdle. Still screwing up my baseball enjoyment 4 months after being released as manager...

View From The Top Row at Coors Last Night

Yes, it was cold. But, as someone sitting in what had to be one of the coldest seats in the joint, I still say FUCK domes....

I Think Chase Utley Might Have Hit That Single Off His Leg

Not that you should expect to win in the playoffs when you walk as many batters as the Rockies did (maybe due to a lame strike zone for Rocks' pitchers?), but the 'hit' that allowed the sac fly to decide the game was not a hit. Oh well.....the series ain't over. Rockies shouldn't be afraid. Win tomorrow and the series is still within reach. Ublado, what ya got?

(Side note - shit it was cold there tonight....feel free to warm up tomorrow D-town).

Things to do when the playoffs are snowed out....

Lame arctic blast wiping out tonight's Game 3 matchcup at Coors Field. Been kind of curious about how many regular season games I went to this year, so I dug out the stubs. If this is an accurate account, I went to at least 30 games. At an average Aramark clip of $25/game, that works out to about $750 in beer money spent at Coors Field this year (so far). I'm not really sure how I feel about all of this.....

Even it up.

Not able to "watch" today's game while working. It's a cruel fact of playoff baseball. Thank goodness for the benign workplace world of GameCast. Gotta say it was like I was watching the damn game on TV...I could barely monitor Street's bottom half. I get nervous.
Sizing up my Coors field wardrobe for the weekend. Lots of layers topped off with some Gore-Tex...don't think my Rockies gloves are going to be "extreme" enough to handle the projected weather. Brrr.
That said, great equalizer today Rockies. Suddenly we got home field advantage. 2 at Coors, to control/win this series. I'm looking forward to it...frostbitten digits and all.

Nice to See You Again to Start the Postseason!

Crested Butte Trout Dog here.....Remember my pre-season post? Doubt it. I think I said something along the lines of the Rocks have a chance to win the West if the starting rotation is decent, the hitting lives up to potential, and they survive a brutal early season schedule. Well, the starting rotation was more consistent than I could have dreamed, the offense generally fell short of expectations, but was oddly very clutch at times, and the Rocks took a big nose dive early in the season. Then Hurdle got fired and things improved, a lot.

Well, the Rocks didn't win the West (in accordance with my prediction above because none of those things happened), but they are back in the playoffs, bitch. No one at the start of the year was predicting a chance at post season play. Let's try to keep that in mind as the NLDS begins in 13 hours. Really hard to say how we'll fare against the defending champs, but we're here. Sure, I now have lofty expectations, but looking back at how I was assessing the upcoming season on that sunny slopeside afternoon, this is all gravy...

A Nice Little Season Actually....

Being at the game yesterday did not suck. Either does this Rockies baseball club. Beat LA!!!

First step.