Fans Need to Accept the Colorado Rockies for What They are: Average
By Joe Morrone
Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports
The Colorado Rockies are what they are and it’s probably time for the fans to accept that fact. Most fans, not all, get frustrated with the fact that the ownership seems to be more concerned with party decks than the product on the field. Believe me when I tell you I completely understand the frustration, I’m right there with you most of the time.
However after watching the Rockies 9th inning melt down versus the Philadelphia Phillies on Wednesday night, I saw something clearer than I’ve ever seen it before. Let’s take away the emotion, the fandom and look at the Rockies realistically.
The Rockies are an average Major League Baseball team; they are better than average at Coors Field and well below average away from 20th and Blake. On any given nine game home stand, the Rockies are probably going to go 6-3 most of the time. On the road, that record is reversed and that’s if they are lucky. Over the course of a season that computes to 81-81, the definition of average. To be fair, going .500 would be a vast improvement for the Rockies but that’s who they are.
Fans can gripe and complain all they want about the ownership and their conservative fiscal approach to building a baseball team but those words are going to continue to fall on deaf ears. If Dick Monfort was really serious about winning as he claims to be, then why does Dan O’Dowd still have an office at Coors Field? I understand he might be a glorified copy boy at this point but the fact that he is still employed by the Rockies is a joke.
Everyone likes Walt Weiss but if the Rockies were serious about winning, then they would have hired a real manager after Jim Tracy sprinted for the exits because the circus was too much for a baseball lifer. Teams who are serious about winning don’t look to 41 year-old closers, but the signing of LaTroy Hawkins apparently made sense to someone in the front office.
The Rockies do have talent, no one is denying that, and that’s why they will probably win 75-80 games this season. This is where the disconnect between the ownership and the fans exists; the Monforts are content with a “competitive” team while the fans are screaming for more. Monfort states publically that he wants to win more than anyone else, but his actions say otherwise. Owners, who want to win, spend the offseason discussing how to get better with members of their front office. Monfort spent this past offseason promoting a new party deck at the ballpark. That simple difference probably says more than anything else that’s been written to this point.
Sure the Rockies are going to get lucky about once every 10 years and make the playoffs as they’ve done three times in their history. There will be years when the National League West is down or the Rockies will get hot and win 19 of 20 as they did in 2009. In that 2009 season, the Rockies were a .500 team before that historic run and it was a historic run. That’s the problem, the Rockies are only going to win when the other teams are down or they go on a streak that happens once every 100 years.
So what’s the answer for fans? I don’t have a simple answer for you but know this, nothing is going to change. We can call into sports talk shows, write blogs or even stop going to the games and nothing is going to change. The Monforts are making money hand over foot and in the end, that’s the only scoreboard they care about.
While I may not have answers, I will leave those frustrated fans with some advice. If you enjoy going to Coors Field on summer nights, then go. Have a good time and enjoy some baseball, the Rockies generally play well at home anyway. If however you are one of those fans who, like me, burn to win then here’s what I would tell you. Watch the Rockies to past the time until the Denver Broncos open training camp.
The Rockies are what they are, a baseball team striving for .500. Sad, but true!