On Sunday, the Dodgers Clayton Kershaw made his major league debut. Kershaw's a hard throwing left hander with top notch complementary pitches known through his minor league career for wildness. This season, he's looking like a potential ace. That first sentence could have also been said of Franklin Morales, but not the second. Micah Owings, Max Scerzer, Tim Lincecum, Jonathan Sanchez, Chad Billingsley.
Hard Question #1:
Why are the Rockies divisional peers doing a better job of developing their young pitchers?
Last night, Ubaldo Jimenez, one of those young pitchers failing to live up to his potential, gave up seven runs in the first two innings. The Rockies lead the majors in first inning runs allowed with 53. Just three other teams, the Phillies, Astros and Twins, have allowed forty or more. Most of the other teams are in the low twenties in runs given up in the first. Last season, the Rockies allowed four or more runs in the first inning just four times in 163 games, this season they've already let that happen five times 52 games.
Hard Question #2:
Why don't Rockies pitchers -besides Aaron Cook- seem prepared for their starts?
Let's go on to a really tough one. We've seen several players sent down to AAA or DFA'd for poor performance thus far this season, including Morales, Jayson Nix, and Mark Redman. The front office was able to take decisive action to hold these players accountable for under-performance, even though this would significantly impact said players finances.
Hard Question #3:
Do the Rockies really feel that the team's players are the sole responsible parties for this season's failures, and if not, why are they the only ones being held accountable?
Injuries, unexpected drops in output, lots of factors are at play, so I'm not entirely sure the correct answer to this one is to can coaching staff or what have you even though I'm kind of leaning that direction in regards to the pitching situation. I've got to go run some errands this morning, but I can think of more that I can probably post in the comments when I return, in the meantime, feel free to do likewise. Our performance in Philly certainly seems to be calling for some more venting today.