I know it will make you groan, but this team does need time to come together.  I'll be the first to say that I have absolutely no faith in O'Dowd this offseason, and if he ships out Holliday, Helton, Atkins, and/or Hawpe, I'll be ready to hang him by his entrails by the flagpoles above the Rockpile.  BUT, on the off-chance that he leaves our roster alone for once, and just makes necessary changes (the CF issue, new MRs), then come 2008, I expect to see the team compete with the likes of the Dodgers and the Padres.  The NL West will look very different in 2 to 3 years.  The Dodgers cannot hold up their spending spree from this past off-season, and will most likely have to shift off some of the vets.  The Giants will be pulling up younger players to replace their aging roster.  And the Rockies will (hopefully) have a more solid bullpen.

Secondly, I do believe you are focusing too much on the negatives.  Check the current NL batting leaders - you'll find Holliday at #2 and Helton at #4.  We can also, now, compare Tulo's stats from last year and this year, because he's played nearly the same number of games (25 last year with 96 ABs, 24 this year with 90 ABs).  He's increased triples and home runs, doubled his RBI count, drastically increased his slugging % and has shown gains in BA and OBP, and has decreased his K count a bit.  He is improving.

Now, there are lots of trouble spots in this.  Francis is in a funk, though he did hold the Giants to 2 runs last night.  Cook is in the same boat.  But look at how much Hirsh is contributing: 5 GS, 3.41 ERA, allowed the fewest hits of the other 3 consistent starters, walked the fewest batters, and K'd the most by a fairly large margin.  This kid is young, good, and most importantly, OURS.  Unless Dan O'Dowd decides to ship him (entirely possible, unfortunately), he's ours to keep, and he'll just keep getting better.

No, this season is not the best so far.  But look, we have won games!  We could very easily be 0-28, but we've won 11 of those games.  And there will be more wins to come, and I'll enjoy those ones, too.  I relished beating the Braves, and watching Tulo's UTP.  I enjoyed every second of the beating we put on the Mets.  Hell, I even enjoyed the 7th last night, when we made the Giants go through 3 pitchers and ruin Zito's CG.  I guess I'm a bit more lenient than you - I enjoy watching the little moments.  I get goosebumps when Holliday hits a 450 ft bomb to LF, and I adore watching Fuentes K the 4-5-6 hitters of an opposing team.  I just can't simply focus on Ws and Ls, even though, yes, those do count for the most in the end.

I guess, if you're not finding things to like about the Rockies this year, then there are other teams getting the W's for you to watch.  The Brewers are in first in the NL Central, and both the D-Rays and the Orioles are playing better than the Yankees.  They'll help satisfy your need for W's.

I'm going to stick to watching my team, through the good and bad.

(PS: I will give you one thing, however: we do need to quit losing 2 out of every 3 game series.  It is pissing me off a bit)

He's point, on money at least, may end up being valid. How will people feel if next year Holliday is let go, and each preceeding year we end up shipping off our rising stars ala Oakland in the early part of the decade.

Now, you're also in the ballpark- there is nothing right now that says we as a team will lose any of the good young players we do have.

One reason to be pessimistic on this I think has been ownership's constant excuses for porr product and the way they have handled player personel for the last 7 or 8 years. They themselves have dictated the hard ceiling on salary. Maybe they will find a way to keep everyone and stay under taht ceiling. Maybe not. Maybe they will find a way to almost always have an as good or almost aas good replacemetn waiting in the wings when they do lose a Holliday, Tulo, etc. Maybe not. Currently I don't think they do and that is a sign of worry, especially considering the almost perpetual "You have to be patient and wait till next year" mantra of the management of the franchise.

And last, I don't mean to come off as snippy, but so it goes. If you only want to read/believe happy thoughts about the franchise, by all means, be my guest. It's your right. I'd suggest you avoide my comments for the near term then as we won't see eye to eye on much of anything. I'm not going to tell you to ever give up optimism even though I don't understand ANY level of optimism with this team nor the way it's run. Please do the same for me (and others), in return.

At the same time I promise to not be a naysayer ALL the time. If I get excited about the team I'll post some happy thoughts/opinions as well.