Roadtrip

This is a critical stretch for the once highly touted Rockies' 2010 club. Sitting .500 as April turns to May.
3 back of the Padres. The Padres?
Keeping things level at least through this NL West Cali trip, will be fairly crucial.

A pitching staff (outside of Ubaldo) that is banged up and capable of colossal bed shitting at the drop of a hat is fairly disconcerting. Need to hold it together, and see some flashes of brilliance from Rogers and Chacin. Do we need to get Gobble or Redding up in this shit? I hope not. Quit walking people.

Hey David. Let's not forget about the starting pitching too.

I could do without the slugfest loss. At home. To lose a series. To a division rival.
Down by 6 runs, then up by 5, and then lose. Weak.

Enjoy your NL West Cali road trip Rockies. That doesn't have much of a chance of ending well.

Non-stop?

How about non-stop Seth Smith and Miguel Olivo?

The offense has gotten pretty potent the last couple games.

Need some more home success against the Snakes in the next series. The upcoming California swing roadie has not traditionally been kind to the Rox. Would be good to reverse that trend...
It's a drag that Hawpe is on the 15-day, but then this club does have a pretty damn deep OF bench.
So they've got that going for them, which is nice.

Finally my poorly photo-shopped head can float again. You all like complete game wins?

4-0, 0.95 ERA.....That's Right, My Friend

I'm not one to get too all up in the grill of the front office when the team's direction is off kilter, the players are god damn pros. Nor am I too inclined to get very appreciative of the same when the team is tearing it up on the diamond.
Suits don't get RBI's, don't have complete game shut-outs on the mound, or a walk-off hit to win a game.
From all accounts Keli McGregor was a good dude - the booth tonight on-air was flooded with a lot of great sentiment and what sounded like legit first-hand positive experiences with the man who was the Rockies President. A President basically on a contract-less handshake deal with the Monforts.
A loss. My best to his family.
Pretty lame that my main perception of him up to this point was the public face and name of the World Series ticket debacle, I recall seeing him on the news trying to explain away the fact that I didn't get WS tickets and some asshole in Idaho had tix for sale at triple face value a day later. Retrospectively seems unfair to judge him that way. (that World Series sucked, you know?)

Tonight's game? The Rockies' unleashed an assload of hits and runs in the 2nd and 3rd and then packed it in with a 10 run lead. Hard to blame them. Hard to watch the rest of the game too. Things got sloppy and indifferent which describes the bad side of what we've seen so far this year (when not jobbed a W by a 1st base ump).

FYI. DLR has as many RBI's as Helton this year. Giambi still doesn't have a hit. Fowler is way below .200. Not right. Need to get things pointed in a better direction. Sitting .500 once again....

That Was A Double Play

Ubaldo was thinking about maybe going no hitter tonight

Didn't think we'd be blogging about a no-no anytime soon (or ever), but I guess Ubaldo would prefer that we do blog about a certain no-no. 17-years and the Rockies get their first no-hitter; pretty friggin awesome. I must admit I was out running errands for the 1st and 2nd innings, and when I got home they flashed the scoreboard and had a camera on Ubaldo with Goodman saying something like, "Ubaldo appears to have his good stuff tonight". Kind of awesome for him to pitch a no-hitter when it was pretty clear that he was having trouble somewhat with his location (six walks is a bit high for Super Ubaldo). And a tip of the hat to Dex for making that pretty rad grab in Left-Center. I guess every no-hitter has one of those (or so they say).
Anywho, congrats Super Ubaldo; you have my 2010 Cy Young vote.

Oh and one more thing: Ubaldo is the first and only player ever to pitch a no-hitter and have his first name start with the letter "U". He can say that for the rest of his life.

I-DOG!

Nice little walk-off for I-Do(n)g. Multi-hit night too?
Fun end. Probably shouldn't have gotten to that point...some poor defense enabled the Mets. They did get a bit clutch too.
Tulo is having his standard shit-ass start to the season...but with the glove too?? Not good.
Prophetically, the Cowboy pre-game hung his hat on some Iannetta offense. What a call.
This game atones for the Saturday Padres game extra-inning disappointment.

Cook still sorta scares me a bit. Not just all the AFFLICTION shirts either...his pitching still doesn't look all that sharp.

Guy's Night Out Looking Up

Lauren loves a good ass-kicking of the Mets.....as does 30 Pack Thief and C-Bass. I'll take 11 more Tuesday night games like that, thank you.

Pretty Hittable

The Rocks give up a lot of runs in a losing series against the Brew Crew. These two losses probably match or exceed the entire season total against the NL Central last year. The pitching needs to step it up. We haven't even seen Madow yet, but I have a feeling she's lurking. The RISP and errors have also been an issue thus far. The former is familiar, the latter is not. Better straighten this shit out by the time you get back to Denver. The Giants are padding their divisional lead already (and seem to be able to score, despite all predictions).

DLR on the mound against the Fathers on a sunny opening day sounds like a good remedy, at least on paper...

Game Time!

1 day

Sunshine, Warmer Temps, Chili Races, Chillin' on the Berm, and Rockies Dominance

Despite waking up to the troubling news that the original Frank Dog has pain in his shoulder and is going on the 15 day DL to start the year, it was a much better Cactus League experience today at Isotopes Stadium. DLR looks ready for his start on Friday in the home opener, and the offense battered Mariner pitching for 10 runs, including multiple jacks, and the defense looked much crisper, only committing 2 errors (compared to 5 yesterday). Plus, everyone loves a food item race (unfortunately, along with the wave, doing the YMCA dance, and singing 'Sweet Caroline'), which down in the Q is a chili-themed affair. Not sure what that has to do with Isotopes (DT has already suggested it should be a molecule race), but if I was an attorney for the Milwaukee Brewers, I'd be looking at filing a copyright infringement lawsuit.

Onward to the real season. We'll see if the pitching injuries to H Street and Franky prove costly. I guess the stage is set for Greg Smith (nickname suggestions?) and Nervous Morales to step it up....



(this is "the berm" mentioned above....kinda a pseudo Rockpile)

2 days

Rockies Games Are Still Cold

Isn't spring training supposed to usher in the beginning of summer? Well, judging by the temperature at the Isotopes Stadium tonight in the Q for the 2nd to last 2010 Rockies Cactus League game, it might as well be the 2009 NLDS in Denver, where the temperatures failed to crack the 40 degree mark. Although some Crown Royal shuttled in by the Sandman on a couple occasions helped warm the belly, 3 hours of shitty preseason baseball in a very difficult climate was enough for one night. Last I heard from DT, we tied the game 11-11.

Who cares? The Rocks committed 4 errors early in the game (was more like 6 by my count), Cookie looked like shit, and I swear Hurdle was lurking in the dugout instead of that real special manager. The highlight of the evening for me was the Minor League entertainment between innings. Hats off to "Sophie" - a young little lady in pigtails who runs around the infield after the 4th inning with a broom sweeping off the bases and the tops of the umpires' shoes(!) to the tune of "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun." Creepy, yet wholesome at the same time.

All in all, it's nice to see live baseball again. Next time (read: tomorrow), I hope it's in warmer climes with major league caliber play on the field.

3 days

4 days

kind of belated.