For the first time since the Rockies road trip to San Diego last week after the first Dodgers sweep, I got some quality, anxiety free sleep last night. The loss to the D-backs has at least answered a couple of questions, like "are the Rockies mortal?" and "why haven't you been sleeping well?" even if it has put us once again in that nebulous area of technically alive, but mostly done.
Kudos to Arizona and San Diego for getting it done on the road this last weekend, we almost had them. I think last night shows why Bob Melvin is such a good regular season manager, his decision to hold back Webb from the Pirates might have been the difference and won the D-backs the title. Contrast that to Clint Hurdle, who started Yorvit Torrealba for the seventh straight game, less than 24 hours after returning a brutal road trip. Then because Torrealba's so bad against Webb, Clint had to use the seventh slot in the batting order essentially how he would use the pitcher's slot. Would Iannetta have been better? I know he couldn't have been worse. Clint's been doing a great job of keeping the team going this last month, so I don't want to turn him into the scapegoat, but he knows as well as we do that almost getting to the playoffs doesn't cut it in this business.
I know some of you feel we pick too much on Yorvit, so let me make it clear that it wasn't only Torrealba who didn't produce at the plate last night, either. Our ROY Tulo was absent on offense, as was our veteran leader Todd Helton, and when four guys in the lineup (also Cory Sullivan) are doing their best to undo the good the other four are doing, you don't win many games.
Alright, so it comes down to hoping an eliminated Brewers squad can come up with two wins against a still looking for a division title San Diego team while we come up with two against AZ. It's not looking good, but hey, even being here on the last weekend is a beautiful thing to me. Compare our plight to Tampa Bay's and the gratitude for being a Rockies fan overflows.