Tuesday Morning Rockpile:
by Russ Oates on Jun 3, 2008 8:04 AM MDT
in Rockpile
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PrintWhat's there left to say after an 0-8 start to the road trip and losing a club-record 13th straight game on the road? You could say this:
"This game was not anything we were looking for," Hurdle said.
Yet, that's not satisfying at all. How about this:
"No excuses," Hurdle said. "I don't believe in them. We just need to start doing what needs to be done to win on the field. That's what matters."
Still no? Maybe this one?
"I have to take responsibility for my mistakes. I have to pitch better," Reynolds said.
Finally, some responsibility. I'd also like someone to say, "You know, that Jhoulys Chacin has been the cause of all our problems. I've never met the guy, but his success this season has really made us play poorly so far. We'll just need him to start tanking so we can start winning again." Might be asking a bit too much for that.
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My favorite Hurdle quote
was the one from the last homestand where he said that the team was pressing to much at Coors and maybe needed to go on the road to clear their heads. Ha!
Is their some sort scouting trip in Timbuktu that we can send Clint on for the rest of the season?
The 2008 Rockies: All loses, all season
Timbuktu?
I’d send him to the planet Flaflooga to scout an alien with four arms that could swing two bats at the same time and actually get some hits.
Every day is a Holliday!
Right now
How can we expect to win? As far as I can tell, we currently are running out one MLB-worthy starter, charitably 2.5 MLB-worthy hitters, and maybe one MLB worthy reliever. Really, this team would struggle in AAA right now. Any win would be a true accomplishment.
Here's....
...what I want someone in the Rockies organization to say:
We embarassed and we’re ashamed. We’ve taken the excitement created by last year’s run and have squandered it. We are committed to being a championship franchise and what’s happening is not acceptable. We will do whatever we have to and make whatever moves we need to return - quickly - to a championship level. The time for patience and building is past. We are NL Champs and we will begin playing like it or there will be consequences.
Somebody - anybody - please tell me this. It’s what I would expect to hear from management at elite franchises. Are we an elite franchise? Or are we perennial also-rans that got lucky? Right now, I’m not hearing anything that disputes the latter conclusion.
Well put...
...and Dan O’Dowd is the one who needs to say it. I intimated at this in another thread yesterday. Where’s the pride? If it were my business, I would have called an all-hands front office meeting by now including all scouts and minor league staff via videoconference.. Plot out a course of action. DOD can’t let eight years of building the franchise under his administration, good enough to make the World Series last year, go down the crapper like what we’re seeing in 2008.
Agreed...
Anyone would would call this an elite franchise is living in some alternate reality.
Of course.
Because teams don’t become elite overnight. It takes a long, long time and a commitment not only from management, but from the fans as well.
The Red Sox are a threat to win the World Series every year because they can afford to make moves for big contracts. They can afford that because the fans are willing to pay Fenway Park prices and sell that stadium out nightly. If the ticket cost was the same at Coors as it is at Fenway, how many fans do you figure you’d see in the stands every night? It’s the same with the Yankees, with the Dodgers, with the Cubs. They are elite because they have larger fanbases. And they have larger fanbases because of a winning tradition.
(Well, OK. Maybe not so much the Cubs. I’m not sure WHAT is wrong with those folks.)
It all has to start somewhere. Fans want to see a winner, fans will pay to see a winner. But in order to get the cycle started to becoming an elite team, it takes winning with less. It takes winning with what you have. And regardless of how this season is going, I think that on the whole, the Rockies are on the right track to do that.
I love this team, and I believe in this team. However, if you ask me if last season was an abberation, I have to say yes. It was an awesome hot streak that may have made people believe this is a team more ready for the big time than it really is. HOWEVER, I also don’t think this team is nearly as bad as they’re playing right now. Injuries are contributing, management is contributing, but I also think it might have a little to do with the weight of expectations. They started the year pressing a little, and as things have gotten worse they press even harder. Now it’s spiralling out of control. I don’t have the answers, but I don’t think Hurdle, O’Dowd, the Monforts, or anyone else does either.
Sorry, I didn’t mean for this to get as ranty as it did. I guess the whole New York Post-ish attitude of “OH MY GOD FIRE EVERYONE” is getting to me a little bit. I certainly will not cry if Hurdle gets the axe (I’ve been ready to see that for a couple years now, quite honestly), but I’m not convinced that a massive shakeup is really going to help more than it hurts. The last time I remember the Rockies trying to make big moves to compete, we ended up with Hampton and Neagle.
by CeeDub on Jun 3, 2008 2:59 PM MDT up reply actions 1 recs
If Coors had Fenway prices
You wouldn’t see me there. But only because I wouldn’t pay that kind of cash to witness this kind of baseball. If the Rox played like the dang Sox, I would certainly pay the price to see them.
Blame the Red Sox!
Not all teams are equal in baseball
from a revenue stand point. TV is not shared, but local, so teams in large TV markets (NY, Boston, LA, Chicago, Atlanta) get much bigger revenue streams from that many teams do not have. There really is a have and have not in baseball when it comes to money.
But that’s not to say, a mid market team like the Rockies, can’t compete. They just have to be better to be the same. They have to scout, draft, and develop players better then the rich guys. They have to fill in holes with cheaper over looked players, and know when to not sign a guy. The Dodgers for example can sign Schmidt even knowing he has a bad arm, or Andruw Jones, knowing he’s gained 25 lbs of fat…...they have enough money to screw up with. The Rockies barely have enough money to pay for 25 crappy guys.
But it’s been done before: Look at the Indians, the Marlins, the Twins as good examples of dealing with the mid market situation. Or my Favorite example: The St. Louis Cardinals. Besides Pujols, and Molina (and maybe Ankiel) is there a player you’d swap Rockies players with? Yet the Cardinals are in contention almost every year (don’t look at last year…facts mess me up, and it’s ok to have a down year or two every once in awhile). Why? Good manager on the field, good development, and a belief that they are suppose to win. Do you see ANY of that in Colorado? Their player actually get BETTER from year to year (see their pitching staff….same guys, last year suck, this year solid….that’s coaching!)
Nope When was the last time the Rockies had a good year? And last September does not count as a year.
Colorado Rockies: Continuing a long tradition of playing meaningless games in June!
Inequality understood.
I think we’re saying close to the same thing here.
I just feel like this is the “down” year that the Cards went through last year. Also, yes, we don’t have the manager they do. However, the Cards have been going at things this way for years. The Rockies have just begun to see the fruits of actually developing players instead of buying them (see again: Hampton and Neagle). It takes some time, but I really felt like it was coming together even at the start of the year last year. I felt like we were looking at about a .500 club, which I was totally cool with. Then came the miraculous run.
I haven’t given up on this team, or these players. I’ve thrown in the towel on another postseason appearance at this point, and I may be delusional, but I think this team is a lot better than they’re playing right now. We’re just not quite as good as last year’s postseason would indicate either… not yet.
Good...
I’m not the only one, then. I think a lot depends on how and who we still have to dispose off of the 2007 team, but at the moment it seems like we have a decent chance at filling a lot of the holes that have emerged this year.
C: Iannetta
2B: Stewart? Okay, this is kind of ridiculous, but he’s been passable out there, particularly for never having played the position professionally.
RF: Smith/Spilly He started off hot, but has gone pretty cold lately. I think the platoon is solid, though.
CF? Okay, I don’t really have an answer for this one until Fowler’s ready mid-2009.
SP 2-5: Jimenez should be there soon. I’m still holding out hope that Reynolds gets there too by the end of the summer. Hirsh? Maybe, I guess. Atfer that we probably need some help if Francis doesn’t rebound.
Bullpens shouldn’t ever be as hard to fill as they seem to be, but we should be alright there by 2009 also.
So I guess I kind of have thrown in the towel on Francis, and Helton’s not going to be more than an OBP machine, but other than those, I’m thinking a lot of this season’s problems are fixable.
Let me be clear
I’m talking about a mindset, not the present reality. Do you, as an organization, strive for greatness, and declare that winning is the ONLY goal, or do you take the approach that “gee, maybe we’ll get a break every 10 years or so and sneak into the postseason.”
Elite franchises got that way because they expected to get that way. No, the Rox may not be an “elite franchise” right now, but unless they begin doing the things needed to get there, they will never be one.
I’m afraid too many people are content with viewing the Rockies as small-market have-nots who will never compete with the Yankees and Red Sox’s of the world. But, you know what? If you win in Denver you WILL put 50,000 butts into seats night after night and you WILL make money and you CAN compete with the big boys.
You just have to start believing that it can be done.
That’s all I want.
Hurdle and the 2007 Run
Hurdle needs to go, but that being said, that isn’t going to happen before the all-star break. He is the NL manager at the all-star game and if you think the Monforts are going to pass up possibly the only chance in the next 100 years to have the Rockies manager manage the all-star game you are nuts. BTW, anyone know if the all-star game has ever been managed by someone not with the team they managed to the World Series the year before? I wonder if that has ever happened. Anyway, I’ve never liked him as manager, and the only thing that disappointed me about last year’s run was the fact that it probably bought him some more time here. After the all-star break if the Rox still stink, I’d be willing to bet he’ll be gone.
As far as last year being an abberation, you bet it was. But I’m not going to apologize for loving every stinking minute of it. That run was the most fun I’ve had in September in my entire life. As soon as I woke up each morning, I could hardly wait for it to be evening so I could watch the next game. Boy does that all seem like a LONG time ago now.
All Star game
Billy Martin was fired in 1978 before the All Star game after winning the World Series in ‘77 against the LA Dodgers Martin was forced to resign after telling reporters, “They deserve each other. One’s a born liar [Jackson], and the other’s convicted [Steinbrenner].” (Martin was referring to Steinbrenner’s conviction for making illegal donations to Richard Nixon’s 1972 election campaign.). Bob Lemon replaced Martin for the Yankees, and in the All-Star game. The new manger for the Rockies would be the manager. So if the Rockies fired Hurdle today…someone like interim-manager Vinny Castilla or Walt Wiese would be the manager for the All Star game. So the manager of the All-Star game will be wearing a Rockies Uniform (well, not really, as they will have the All Star uni…but you get my point)
Last year’s run was one of my greatest memories in my life. Greatest sports moment easily. This year may be one of my worst sports experiences.
Colorado Rockies: Continuing a long tradition of playing meaningless games in June!
Sports experiences
Last September-October (at least until the WS) definitely ranks right up there for me with the most fun I’ve ever had following a team.
This year is definitely one of the most disappointing experiences I’ve had, but I know if I would put it up there as the worst (at least not yet). Dragging it out over the course of a season tends to dull the pain a bit, compared to various other disappointments I’ve had with other teams in my life as a fan. Most of my worst sports experiences have been single games or single series. The sheer gut-wrenching torture that I’ve had other times isn’t really there.
err..
That should be “but I don’t know if I would put it up there as the worst.”
Proofread, Holly. Sheesh.
Poofredding
is over ratted
Colorado Rockies: Continuing a long tradition of playing meaningless games in June!
I'd put of there as the worst BECAUSE
it’s protracted over a season. I thought this was the year, we would be competitive. People would notice, maybe talk about so and so is having a great year out there in Colorado. Don’t count out those Rockies. etc, etc, etc.
But now I have to watch this utter ineptness. Night in, Night out, over, and over and over again.
Losing a big game…is just one game. I’ve gotten over that stuff…..after a week or two. But in a week or two…the Rockies will still suck.
Colorado Rockies: Continuing a long tradition of playing meaningless games in June!
Sure
I get that, certainly. I think for me, though, it’s just easier to get used to. There’s no single crushing moment or game, so while the pain may last longer, it’s not ever as acute for me as other soul-crushing fan experiences I’ve had.
The disappointment, though (not the same as the pain for me), is right up there.
Ditto on The Run
I had never experienced anything like it in my life, and probably never will again. I still get misty-eyed watching “21Days”. It’s a time I will never be able to forget. As with cofan17 , I literally jumped out of bed in the mornings to gather the papers, visit the Row, and wait in agony until game time. That period was heaven on earth. The Rox had arrived.
The only other moment that even comes close was Carolina finally winning the National Championship for Dean Smith in 1982. I cried tears of joy for 3 days. (Of course, I was much younger and far less jaded then.)
As for this year? I can’t really say it’s the worst sports experience in my life, but it’s pretty darn close. And may actually achieve that un-lofty status yet. As of now, Carolina’s 8-20 year in 2002 ranks at the top. I just cringed when I typed that.
Blame the Red Sox!
21 Days dvd
Is there a way to purchase the 21 Days dvd? I can’t find it when I Google it, other than the donation to a charity that was good up to the end of April.
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