I wouldn’t describe that as perilously close to .500, especially since he pitched for a team with a losing record over that period.

I’m not trying to suggest that O’Dowd is a superior evaluator of pitching talent. The record and the team ERA’s over the years speak for themselves. But the pitching was good enough last year to help us to the World Series. Of course, that was just a late season fluke and had nothing to do with talent or the ablility of management to put a winning team together.

It seems to me that a lot of people think that last season’s success is just further evidence of how inept the front office and ownership are, which to me is ridiculous. Good fortune, good health, good management, and good players mostly playing at the top of their capablities all must happen for a team to be successful. Likewise, think this year has been a perfect storm of poor play, injuries, bad bounces, untimely ball/strike calls by umpires, and some poor management decisions. But I think there’s reason to believe that management will do the things that are necessary to bring the team back into contention next year (except maybe signing another expensive over-the-hill reliever).

I think we forget sometimes that 29 other teams are also trying to win championships each year, and that most teams fall far short most of the time.

What we experienced as Rockies fans last year is rare indeed, and we should cherish it rather than mock it. And maybe we should wait and see what management does to fix things for next year before condemning them as incompetent idiots.