Carlos Gonzalez is on a bittersweet rampage

Carlos Gonzalez is playing like it's 2010. Sadly for Rockies fans though, that's about the only thing on this team that resembles 2010. As I watched Cargo dismantle Nationals pitching this weekend, my emotions were mixed.

On one hand, it's glorious to watch Cargo when he's right. His home run swing is baseball poetry in motion, and after last season, I wasn't sure if we would ever enjoy another extended hot streak quite like this from him again. Since May 14th, Cargo has a 1.008 OPS. That's over 73 games and 300 plate appearances. In other words, Cargo's done this for half a season.

Cargo's also been better defensively. Patrick Saunders has more on all of his heroics on both sides of the ball as well as DJ LeMahieu's game winning hit from yesterday's action.

At the same time though, it's tough watching Cargo perform in this setting. He's almost certainly playing on borrowed time in a Rockies uniform, and after the Troy Tulowitzki trade, there's almost no scenario where it makes sense long term to have him on this team in 2016.

This is what Rockies baseball has become in many aspects. Cheer for your old favorites not because you might get to watch them play meaningful baseball for Colorado at the top of their game at some point in the future again. Cheer for your old favorites because their time in this uniform is running out and a good performance means a higher trade value.

Seeing Carlos Gonzalez almost single-handedly take the series from the Nationals in Washington should bring nothing but glee to Rockies fans, but unfortunately after recent events, it also serves as a sad reminder of what might have been. A last gasp of empty promises so to speak, still being echoed from the winter of 2010/2011.

Rockies' Jon Gray expects better things in second career start - Patrick Saunders / Denver Post

Night's like tonight are the true games where Rockies fans can dream about their future. Jon Gray will make his second career start and hopes to avoid the slow start issue that's plagued him all season. Since he's on a limited pitch count, he's going to have to figure this problem out if he wants to post a solid line score, because if he has a start like he did against the Mariners, there's just not going to be enough time for him to completely recover.

So pitch well early and often Jon.

In short, color me unsure on Troy Tulowitzki trade - Patrick Saunders / Denver Post

It's early, but so far it seems like this Troy Tulowitzki guy is working out for the Blue Jays. He's started 11 games for them, and they haven't lost yet with him in the lineup. An eight game deficit when he showed up has now been trimmed to just a game and a half, Blue Jay TV ratings have jumped off the charts high, and after this weekend's sweep in Yankees stadium, the Toronto papers are printing headlines like this:

Pretty brilliant throw on A1 of today's @TorontoStar to column by @RGriffinStar & gamer from @markzwol #bluejays pic.twitter.com/1yM4bsInez

— Jennifer Quinn (@JQStar) August 10, 2015

Meanwhile, on the Rockies end of things, the results are not as clear. They can't be since the pieces they got were for the future. We'll only know how Jeff Hoffman, Miguel Castro, and Jesus Tinoco work out in time, but one thing that seems pretty certain is that they're going to have an enormous amount of value to replace.

This is a story that will continue to unfold over years, not weeks.

Blogpile

Series Recap 8/7-8/9: CarGo's on fire - Harrison Williams / Rockies Zingers

If you want an even more extended review of the entire weekend series which includes all of Carlos Gonzalez's amazing plays, Harrison has you covered.