The Circus That is The Colorado Rockies
By Joe Morrone
Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports
The Colorado Rockies lost their fifth straight game on Saturday and other than a three game sweep of the San Francisco Giants last weekend that now looks like a fluke, they are in a complete freefall.
Its one thing to be bad, it’s quite another to be a joke and the Rockies are quickly becoming a laughing stock. The latest example is almost sure to land them on the ESPN’s Not Top Ten list, and the play could have a nice run as the defending champion.
The Milwaukee Brewers had the bases loaded when the circus began. Starting pitcher Christian Friedrich sent a wild pitch by catcher Mike McKenry which scored Aramis Ramirez from third. McKenry threw the ball back towards home-plate in an effort to get Ramirez but the throw was off line, and that error allowed Mark Reynolds to score from second. As if that wasn’t bad enough, it gets worse.
Jean Segura, who started the play standing on first base, scored when McKenry was bent over and not paying attention. A number of people have said that it looked like a little league play, but that’s an insult to little league players everywhere. The play sums up the Rockies current state in a nutshell but there’s so much more to this disaster that they laughingly call baseball.
Josh Rutledge may be a good guy and a decent utility infielder but he has no business playing third base in the Major Leagues. He looks lost and continues to cost the Rockies runs with his lack of defense. It’s really not Rutledge’s fault though.
The fault lies with General Manager Dan O’Dowd and the rest of the clowns in the front office who have failed to have a competent backup for Nolan Arenado. This is the same front office who continues to whiff on pitcher after pitcher, and that’s the next act in the big top.
It’s bad enough that opposing hitters come to Colorado and raise their average by 30 points over a three game series, but the walks are worse. If you want to compare the Rockies to a little league team, then start with the pitching staff. Jorge De La Rosa walked five hitters the other night in less than three innings, and he’s supposed to be the ace.
The starters can’t get out of the fifth inning and that’s on a great night, and the bullpen only throws more gas onto the fire. So naturally the Rockies answer is to recall Wilton Lopez who is a human lighter coming out of the bullpen. That should work out well.
In the center ring of this circus is owner Dick Monfort, O’Dowd and the rest of the management clowns. Their response to all of this is always the same. It’s either we believe in the plan or they offer up excuses.
O’Dowd is now in his 15th year and he’s on his 15th plan, and yet Monfort continues to praise him. Not only does he praise him but in an interview last year, Monfort called O’Dowd “The best General Manager in sports.” Not in baseball, in sports. O’Dowd would have been run out of any other baseball town within six months, but not in Colorado. In Colorado, his pathetic record gets him contract extension after contract extension.
Then there are the excuses; it’s hard to win in Colorado, we are too young, we are too old and we had too many injuries. The injury excuse is sure to rear its ugly head any day now. Now to be fair, the Rockies have had many injuries to key players but why is that an excuse?
I understand it’s a different sport but the Denver Broncos suffered as many key injuries as the Rockies and they somehow managed to survive. Maybe the Rockies aren’t a threat to win the World Series like the Broncos are a threat to win the Super Bowl but the point is this, winners don’t make excuses and losers do.
The really sad news is this circus is here to stay because Monfort doesn’t believe anything is wrong. He truly believes that it will turn around any day now. He’s also making money hand over foot, and that’s really the only score board he cares about.
Monfort said in an offseason interview that fans should be happy if the Rockies make the playoffs once every five years or so. Can you imagine the uproar around Colorado if Broncos owner Pat Bowlen made that comment? That’s the fundamental difference between the Broncos and the Rockies; the Broncos burn to win from the top down and the Rockies build party decks.
Every Rockies season is like watching the movie Titanic over and over. No matter how many times you watch it, the boat always sinks.