What’s wrong with Colorado?
By George Kay
As we move along in the first week in May, the professional sports franchises located in Colorado are not enjoying the experience.
Both the Denver Nuggets and Colorado Avalanche already have departed the scene, and the Rockies are off to a ragged start. The Nuggets and Avs were eliminated early in the NBA and NHL playoffs, so we will concentrate on the Rockies’ problems.
The Rocks couldn’t manage even a dozen wins going into the new month, and the magic that surrounding the club due to last season’s dramatic pennant run has vanished.
The team just hasn’t been hitting well, and the relief pitching has been generally dreadful. Last season’s surprising hero, Troy Tulowitzki, has been a huge disappointment.
Tulo was hitting less than .200 when he went down with a quad injury that will probably keep him out of action until the All-Star break.
No one seems able to explain his lack of production after such a wonderful rookie season. Tulowitzki’s problems are just one of the many bumps in the road that have kept the Rockies from a decent start in 2008.
Garrett Adkins is one of the few Rockies performing at a better clip than last season, although Matt Holliday, Brad Hawpe, Todd Helton and others have been effective at times.
The most glaring weakness over the first month of the season has been the Colorado bullpen or at least a significant part of that group. An example is last year’s closer, Manuel Corpas, who has been a mystery to Rockies management.
Corpas’ picture graces the cover of the May issue of the Rockies magazine, but Manny’s inability to get opposing batters out is hard to figure. In recent relief appearances, Corpas seems able to get a couple of strikes on opponent hitters, but then gives up a game-changing base hit, usually a long ball.
He isn’t the only reliever who has been unable to protect a late-inning lead. All too often so far this season, we have seen leads disappear in the late innings.
It has been hard to fathom as to why this team cannot simply pick up where it left off last September and assume a leading role in the National League West.
As we move along in May, Colorado is near the bottom of the division standings and is some 10 games behind the impressive Arizona Diamondbacks.
The great thing about major league baseball is the length of the season. There is plenty of time left for any ball club to turn things around and make a determined run for the playoffs.
There are a few positive aspects of the Rockies’ early-season slide. With Tulowitzki on the shelf, the Rockies have had to make some major adjustments in the middle of the infield.
Clint Barmes has produced some at shortstop and more recently, Omar Quintanilla and Jonathan Herrera have contributed. Herrera is an especially interesting case.
The young man from Venezuela started his professional career in Casper and has moved steadily up the Colorado farm system.
Last season at AA Tulsa, Herrera was an all-star infielder. He has played shortstop during most of his minor league career, but seems comfortable at second base, as well.
His fielding has been solid, and he has been a consistent .300 hitter in previous seasons. He was batting better than .300 at AAA Colorado Springs when he was called up to the Rockies.
If the 24-year-old can contribute at that same pace for the Rockies, they may have solved their second base problem for years to come.
As we look ahead to the bulk of the National League season, it is going to be a difficult task for Colorado to overcome the weak start to the 2008 campaign, but it can be done.
Hopefully, the pitching staff can emulate Aaron Cook’s performance to date and pitch with intelligence and fortitude as spring turns into summer.
One would expect the run production to improve as there is nothing to give us reason to doubt that Holliday and company won’t produce when the weather warms up.
Let’s not give up just yet. Don’t forget that incredible run at the end of last season. We can’t realistically expect a repeat of that magnitude, but there is plenty of time left for a slow, steady climb in the standings.