Who knows when the "dog days" of summer begin, but it seems safe to say that we are in them now. It's mid-August and the Rockies are double-digit games under .500 for the fifth straight year. After yesterday's 12-3 walloping by the Mets, it sometimes feels like the height of folly to keep caring about the Rockies. The game--which Root didn't bother televising and the Denver Post didn't bother sending reporters to--felt like a perfunctory charade, an act of going through the motions.
But such cynicism isn't warranted. Because every game is important. It was important to Eddie Butler, who is still searching. And it was satisfying to see Nolan Arenado and DJ LeMahieu blast home runs; they weren't phoning it in. None of the players are. The Rockies aren't a good team right now, but every game is preparation for when they will be a good team.
The game as a whole was dismal, but it was baseball, and soon enough the season will end and then we won't have any baseball at all. So remember to count your blessings.
Young Rox arms depending on Hundley's guidance - Rockies.com
After three years of Wilin Rosario behind the plate, it has been nice to finally have a competent catcher this year in Nick Hundley. Hundley is doing his best to lead this inexperienced pitching staff through the season. "Whenever [Hundley is] back there, you just have another level of confidence, because you know he knows what he's doing," Jon Gray said in the article. If Hundley can coax more starts out of Gray like the last one--six innings pitched, one run allowed--then he will be worth every penny of his contract.
Dahl, Hoffman among 10 top prospect performers Thursday - Rockies.com
David Dahl, perhaps the Rockies' top position player prospect, homered yesterday, continuing his promising Double-A campaign. In the same game, Jeff Hoffman--the centerpiece of the Troy Tulowitzki trade--tossed five innings of one run ball. Speaking of the Tulo return...
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Jesus Tinoco vs Greenville 6 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 8 K - 84 pitches, 59 strikes Combined with Hoffman's outing, these are good things.</p>— Purple Dino Podcast (@purpledinocast) <a href="https://twitter.com/purpledinocast/status/631991340335665152">August 14, 2015</a></blockquote>
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The big league team will get reinforcements in the coming years.
The winding road to a normal Carlos Gonzalez season - Fangraphs
CarGo had a brutal first half of the year. He has been unconscious in the second half. It all adds up to a typical CarGo season. That's why you never call a player "done" after two months of a season.