Diamondbacks 4, Rockies 3: Can we have a do-over please?
by Jeff Aberle on Jul 5, 2009 4:42 PM MDT
in Rockies Game Wraps
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It was a day pregnant with promise for the Colorado Rockies. They had gotten out to a three run lead on the Diamondbacks' All-Star starter, Dan Haren, and their hurler, Ubaldo Jimenez had no-hit Arizona through 5.2 IP. And then it all fell apart.
Jimenez (6-8) walked two batters with two outs in the sixth, then Mark Reynolds whacked a three-run homer to tie up the ballgame. With his pitcher having thrown 101 pitches through six, Jim Tracy sent Ubaldo back out in the seventh inning, whereupon Jimenez promptly gave up the go-ahead run on a one-out Felipe Lopez single--a run that would provide the final tally in a 4-3 Rockies defeat. Haren (8-5) ended up with the win and Chad Qualls got the save (15).
Arizona only mustered four hits on the day but really made them count. Jimenez and Co. helped by giving six Snakes a free pass. In addition, credit is due to Arizona's bullpen, who shut down the Rockies to the tune of three scoreless innings, allowing only one hit.
On the plus side, the Rockies' bullpen was equally solid in their 2.2 IP. In the end though, the Rockies just could not generate any offense at a time when it was critically needed.
It was truly a frustrating loss for Colorado, who end the first half of their schedule with a 42-39 record. Looking back to when the Rockies were 20-32, we'd have killed for this record, so let's keep that in mind.
Read on if you must to see the gloomy graph...
Rockies Heroes:
Alan Embree?!?! (.097 WPA)
Dexter Fowler (.079 WPA)
Rockies Goats:
Ubaldo Jimenez (-.247 WPA)
Ian Stewart (-.152 WPA)
Yorvit Torrealba (-.135 WPA)
Seth Smith (-.123 WPA)
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quite a sad panda indeed
if you're reading this, it means my undying support for your team will result in its failure.
awful awful
last half of the series…by Wednesday evening if we would have swept that Nats that cancels this series out and then i think i can forget about this rubbish last few days.
we seem to have gotten over that HURDLE
Too many walks
given up. That is all
"We made too many wrong mistakes." ~Yogi Berra
"The ballplayer who loses his head, who can't keep his cool, is worse than no ballplayer at all." ~Lou Gehrig
JFK
This game
epitomized why we call him, “Special K”.
The Arizona Diamondbacks: Invincible in 18 innings since '01
I think that 17 inning game against San Diego did as well
He had two opportunities to knock in the winning run, struck out both times, and then hit the winning HR of Josh Wilson
"I have no special talents. I am only passionately curious." - Albert Einstein
by Andrew T. Fisher on Jul 5, 2009 6:11 PM MDT up reply actions
*18
Yup, pretty much.
And yet the guy’s still leading our team in walks. He’s got a much better eye this year than last year. It’s just that his bat speed is such that he has trouble making contact.
The Arizona Diamondbacks: Invincible in 18 innings since '01
Geez the crappy Padres hitting
just scored 4 runs off Broxton in the 9th to tie the game…how come we can never hit him.
we seem to have gotten over that HURDLE
It wasn't just hitting
He also gave them a free run with a bases loaded walk.
"Scott, if your life had a face, I would punch it. I would punch your life in the face."
yea 3 walks in the inning
but still how come we can barely get a base runner against him and the padres are looking like juggernauts lol
we seem to have gotten over that HURDLE
by TuLoRocks2008 on Jul 5, 2009 5:45 PM MDT up reply actions
yea but we failed
and only got 1 run from the 3 walks
we seem to have gotten over that HURDLE
by TuLoRocks2008 on Jul 6, 2009 8:15 AM MDT up reply actions
never
we seem to have gotten over that HURDLE
by TuLoRocks2008 on Jul 5, 2009 5:45 PM MDT up reply actions
So... why did the Rockies keep Quintanilla, keep Chris Nelson and keep Cabrera buried and then let him slip away?
I’m really sort of curious because this is turning into a pretty substantial mistake at this point and I want to know if there are other, similar mistakes buried in the system that the team should be more aware of. I mean know there’s a limit, you can’t protect everybody with only a 40 man roster, but you better be sure you’re making the correct choices on who to protect when you do and in this case it looks like they didn’t.
To be fair
Cabrera had never played above A-ball before this year, and had hit .284 in Asheville last year while showing good speed and a little power… the Rockies made a mistake (actually it’s a little early to call it a definite mistake, Cabrera is off to a nice start but it’s a small sample) but given the circumstances it was a perfectly reasonable one. There was little reason to think that Cabrera would stick in the bigs this year, while frankly the Rockies have too much invested in Nelson to risk letting him get away for nothing.
Unless you watched him play...
Which might have helped convince you as it did the Padres.
And you really don’t give him enough credit. He had a little pop like you say, but also decent strike zone judgement, solid road splits and beautiful glove-work. Plus make-up as well. I think your last point is the key issue, the Rockies let the investment in Nelson (both monetarily and otherwise) bind them too tightly to him. I don’t know if that investment will eventually pay off as well, it very well could, but I think my main point is that I want the team to be more careful not to get too attached to some players that it misses opportunity with others.
Maybe they liked him, but misjudged the draft
It must be a bit unusual to carry a player with no exp above A ball on the active roster all year.
Free Seth Smith!
That's a great point
The Rockies’ biggest error was letting the signing bonus given to Nelson cloud their judgment here. Or, for that matter, the high regard that BA holds Hector Gomez in.
Still, though, it was not entirely unreasonable to protect Nelson and Gomez ahead of Cabrera given the circumstances. If the Rockies were only going to protect two of the three, Nelson and Gomez made sense considering that both were more advanced prospects at the time. Hindsight is always 20/20. Given what we know now, I’m sure that the Astros would have protected Johan Santana in 1999, but at the time it seemed like a reasonable move — Santana had not pitched above low-A and was not that highly regarded as a prospect, ranking #8 in the Twins system after he was drafted. (I have no idea who the Astros decided to protect instead, though I highly doubt they’re better than Santana.)
I've never been sure
Why the Rox keep Quintanilla around. Yeah, he’s a decent defensive replacement, but he plays like what, 20 times a season? He’s hardly a good pinch hitting choice as we’ve seen, and, well, I just don’t get it. Others here have stated that they feel like he’s a wasted roster spot, and I have to agree. Nelson I don’t know much about, so I can’t comment on that.
And how far back are we now?
For whatever reason
Most managers like to keep guys like Quintanilla around… every manager thinks he needs a no-hit, good-glove guy as a defensive replacement, even if he almost never plays. A lot of teams carry guys like Quintanilla; let’s just be happy that the Rockies rarely let him play rather than giving him 400 ABs for no apparent reason like some teams do with players like him.
Having watched Col Springs Vs Portland
on TV tonight, one mistake is EY 2. He makes a lot of errors, but some of that is because of his extra range. He’s getting to balls, others wouldn’t. He’s major league and then some right now. He would be a major upgrade over Barmes (and I like Barmie)
Start Seth Smith! Free Eric Young Jr.!
The Rockies did protect him
on the 40-man roster… no mistake there. Rox Girl is referring to a player we lost via the Rule 5 draft because we didn’t protect him on the 40-man roster.
I thought
she was asking about players that are buried, and forgotten…wither that be on the 40 man or not
Start Seth Smith! Free Eric Young Jr.!
Okay, you have a good point
I wouldn’t say that EY2 is buried or forgotten right now, though… right now he’s an injury (or a trade, or a couple of bad weeks by Barmes) away from getting a shot in the majors.
Having just watched him play
the fact that he’s not starting for the Rockies is a mistake, a blunder, a screw up, an oversight……etc.
He’s good. It’s time. Barmes’ play isn’t the issue. When the better guy comes along…the better player should play.
Start Seth Smith! Free Eric Young Jr.!
anyone else watching this on extra innings?
lol @ fan diego, the san diego fan superstore.
Sad Panda indeed.
I know Embree was good and all today, so no complaints there, but I think Fogg is getting lonely over in the bullpen when everyone else is warming up and he’s sitting on the bench. What on earth did he do to Tracy to wind up sitting in the bullpen (not even warming up once, as far as I know) for this long?
I had had a very bad feeling about this series coming in
"I have no special talents. I am only passionately curious." - Albert Einstein
by Andrew T. Fisher on Jul 5, 2009 6:26 PM MDT reply actions
Me too... it seemed the most dangerous of the homestand. Let's hope for a sweep against the Nats.
To make up for it.
Me three...just a little queasy about this homestand considered easy
Seems to me last year we were salivating about having an easier schedule against non-contenders the last two months of the season with a chance to make up much ground. What then happened? Washington comes in to Coors for a 4-game series in early August and we lose 3 of 4, including a sickening DH loss on Aug. 7 by identical 6-3 scores. The homestand eventually ended up a dismal 3-7, but I don’t see a repeat clunker homestand in ’09 with this current Rox team makeup and wild-card contention.
Got some good news on a bleek day
Scott Hairston just got traded to the A’s…woooo
we seem to have gotten over that HURDLE
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