Good morning Rox fans! The big news of the day is Nolan Arenado's call-up to replace Chris Nelson on the major league roster. With Nelson in a 2-for-18 slump after starting the year slow, the Rockies' brass has decided to go with what most fans have been begging them for by bringing up the young third baseman, who has been dealing with a slight slump of his own. Troy Renck notes in his article on Nolan Arenado:
"The Rockies would prefer Arenado get more minor-league ripening, possibly even go into a slump and work his way out of it against veteran pitchers. That argument seems counter-intuitive, but has merit. It's much easier for a player to deal with adversity in the big leagues if he has addressed it before and knows how to roll up his sleeves and battle his way out of a funk."
How Arenado will be able to meet fan expectation on a team that is doing better than expected will be interesting to watch.
In other news, the Rockies continue to struggle in close games because of base running, situational hitting, and fielding issues. Again, this is about managing expectations. If they were not doing well, then an early-season game that gets away from them would not be noticed.
However, when they are leading the division and go 0-3 with a runner on third and less than two outs, not to mention getting three outs during Rutledge's flyout at-bat, people are going to notice. If the Rockies are going to lose a game, this is one I want them to lose. If they had won this, it would have been hard for the coaches to make the players believe the were doing something wrong.
Other Articles
Patrick Saunders picks an interesting day to talk about cracks in the Rockies starting rotation, after Nicasio and Francis both have solid outings.
The Rockies should take note of how Arizona plays the game, as they are now 6-0 in extra innings and are winning games late, as detailed by Christina Kahrl.
Rockies finish up in Arizona today, trying for a split. GO ROCKIES!