Saturday, August 30, 2008

Rockies Miss Chance

The Dodgers beat Arizona to move to 3.5 games behind, and the Rockies blew a golden opportunity to creep up to 5 back by losing to the Padres Saturday night. The contest was over in the 4th when Ubaldo Jimenez fell apart and gave up 6 runs before Hurdle could get up off his bench and pull him out of the game. Rube should have figured out that Baldy was done when he sandwiched a wild pitch between two walks to load the bases with 1 out. But no, old Clint sent the pitching coach out to impart some advanced wisdom, thinking that might solve the problem. This was followed by a single, plating one run, then a force out bringing in another. Then, the wildness resumed as Ubaldo walked two more batters, the second forcing in the third run. Then Clint finally moved, but his choice of relief pitchers, Glendon Rusch, gave up back-to-back singles, allowing all three of the runners Jimenez left him to score, before finally getting an out. The final score was 9-4.
Now the Rockies are still 6 games out, with only 25 games left to play. They only have 3 left with the Dodgers, so they may be harder to pass then the D'Backs, with whom they have 6 left. Their record against Arizona is 2-10, so they will have to reverse their fortunes against them in a hurry. They have fared much better against LA, currently 7-8. They will need to clean up on the Giants, with whom they have 6 games, but they are only 6-6 so far. Bottom line, if they fall back any further, they probably don't have a chance. If they are going to have another streak, it is about time to start.