Kuzul

For the second time in five days, the Rockies were fighting not for a victory, but for a single hit.

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After their second straight lackluster performance in a row, the Rockies offense had the tying run at the plate in the bottom of the seventh inning with two outs.

With a struggling Ryan Spilborghs coming to the plate (6-for-35 on the season), and Ramon Ramirez, a righty on the mound, it seemed like a no-brainer that Jim Tracy would call upon Jason Giambi to pinch-hit and take a shot at tying the game up.

Instead, Tracy allowed Spilborghs to hit, and from the first pitch it was clear that he had no chance at the plate. After four pitches, Spilborghs was dispatched, not coming within a foot of Ramirez’s split-finger, and the inning was over.

Obviously there was no guarantee that Giambi would have come through in that situation.

He may very well have struck out, just as Spilborghs did. However, there is one reason, and only one reason, why Giambi is a member of the Colorado Rockies. That reason is to hit in that situation.

Tracy has an excuse. Before the game, the team optioned struggling third baseman Ian Stewart to Triple-A Colorado Springs in order to get his timing back. That move allowed the Rockies to put Ubaldo Jimenez back on the roster, leaving the bench short a man.

Therefore, Tracy needed to be picky where he used his pinch-hitters, and with Seth Smith already being used, burning Giambi in that situation leaves the club short if they need a big hit late.

With the short bench, the move can be justified. However, Tracy has a tendency to think that outs in the ninth inning are more important than outs at any other point in the game.

With two men in scoring position, even a base hit would have put the Rockies within a run. That makes it much easier to get something going later in the game, or have someone run into a fastball and put it into the seats.

Giambi did get used. However, it came in the ninth inning, with the Rockies down by three and a runner on first base. Even if Giambi goes deep in that situation, the Rockies are still down by a run.

The combination of moves, not using Giambi in a game-tying situation, then using him in a non-game-tying situation is head scratching.

The moment when Spilborghs struck out was really the only time the Rockies were in the game. Ubaldo Jimenez, fresh off of the disabled list, made Rockies fans think they were watching a replay of Monday night’s game.

He gave up four runs in the first inning, including a three-run no doubt home run off the bat of Pablo Sandoval.

After Jonathan Sanchez gave up a lead off double to Dexter Fowler, he began to look like a left-handed version of Tim Lincecum. He didn’t give up his second hit until the seventh inning.

The Rockies struggles with the Giants continue, despite their excellent start. The club tries to avoid the sweep in a Thursday matinée. The Rockies send Jorge De La Rosa to the mound to face Matt Cain.

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Alan Johnson won’t soon forget his Major League debut. However, it probably wasn’t what he originally dreamed of as a kid. The righty rookie only lasted four innings, giving up five runs (four earned) on six hits. He walked three and struck out three. He threw 93 pitches in the process.

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The Colorado Rockies knew going into the season that their rotation was going to be better than the experts gave them credit for.

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The Mariners entered Monday’s series opener with the Toronto Blue Jays on a seven-game losing streak since opening the season 2-0. They won the first two games of that series, and had a great chance to win the third before reigning home run king Jose Bautista ended their aspirations of a sweep with one swing.

Yet despite the series win over a solid baseball team, the stretch marked rock bottom in the last decade of Seattle baseball. How could that be, you ask? Let us peek at the attendance figures.

On Monday, Felix Hernandez faced off with one of the hardest-hitting lineups in baseball, his first start in Safeco Field as reigning Cy Young winner. He floundered, but in one of the young season’s great ironies, the soft-hitting Mariners put up eight runs in the last three innings, winning the game on reserve Luis Rodriguez’s walk-off single.

A total of 13,056 fans were in attendance, many of them absent by the time of the comeback (and many more booing as the team they travelled to see—the Blue Jays—gave away their lead). The largely anti-Mariner crowd was the smallest in the history of Safeco Field.

Two days later was almost predestined to re-set the dubious “record.” Instead of Cy Young winner Felix Hernandez, the young and relatively anonymous Jason Vargas took the bump. And the game started at 12:40. On a Wednesday.

Sure enough, 12,407 fans were on hand to watch the come-from-behind Jays victory, barely filling Safeco Field to one-fourth its capacity. ROOT Sports, Seattle’s local broadcaster, eventually gave up on showing groups of fans in the stands.

Twelve years does not make a stadium old, but it sure takes the luster off of it. By and large, people no longer attend Mariner games to see Ichiro or wander the beautiful ballpark; most Seattleites who want to go have been before, and the team isn’t good enough to draw them back.

Do not get me wrong; there is nothing wrong with the Safe. The family environment is still second-to-none. The problem is the team’s recent performance.

It has failed to make the playoffs every year since the miracle 116-win 2001 season. Only twice since then have the M’s finished as high as second in the four-team American League West.

The honors bestowed on the franchise since 2001 are more dubious ones, “first team to lose 100-plus games with a $100 million payroll” (2008) being the one that hurts most.  Last year, they again lost 101 games. The Mariners have ceased to be a conversation piece outside of sports radio hosts and the most diehard of fans.

Yet despite their struggles, Safeco had continued to have decent attendance numbers. Last year, despite the worst record in the American League, the Mariners finished 21st in attendance.

That time is over. Fans have gone from angry to apathetic—and indifferent fans do not attend games. The city’s Safeco Field saturation point also appears near, if it is not there yet. So where to go from here?

There are two reasons to have faith.

One is that the rainy, 50-degree days spent playing middling American League East teams will end as spring fades to summer. More fans will come out simply because of the weather and competition. (The Yankees visit for a weekend in May and the Red Sox do likewise in mid-August.)

The second reason for hope is longer-term, but hopefully more lasting. This team is getting better.

It appears, barring injury, that they have found their second ace of the future in Michael Pineda. The 6’6” fireballer has looked downright dominant, and maturity and his friendship with Hernandez will only help him on the mound. Young and powerful, Justin Smoak already helps anchor an admittedly weak lineup.

In AAA, 2B Dustin Ackley just hit his first home run of the season and looks to learn the ropes at second base—a position he converted to upon being drafted—in time to get his feet wet in the MLB when rosters expand in September.

And those are simply the two most well-known names. Nick Franklin, Alex Liddi and Kyle Seager are working their way towards the Safeco infield, hoping to complement Smoak and Ackley from the left side. A cavalcade of young arms is on the way as well, hoping to be ready to join the rotation over the next few years.

It is not an immediate solution to the attendance problem, and regrettably Safeco Field—as last series showed—no longer takes care of attendance on its own. Hopefully some crisp Seattle weather and a likeable group of young players will provide the immediate attendance relief.

And hopefully in a few years I won’t have to use phrases like “likeable young players” and “crisp Seattle weather” to give Seattleites a reason to head to Safeco Field.

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For years it was acceptable. For years, there when other clubs came to visit Coors Field, it was understandable that fans for the other teams outnumbered Rockies fans. After all, the Rockies were in the middle of an identity crisis for most of those years.

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When he got ahead, he dominated. When he fell behind, he got roughed up.

There is a reason the above could describe any pitcher, from Roy Halladay to Bartolo Colon, but it was especially true of Michael Pineda in his MLB debut tonight.

Pineda gave up three earned runs. The first runner that scored reached on a walk. Josh Hamilton drove the second in by smashing a 2-2 hanging slider to deep right-center field. And the last was on a 3-1 pitch that veteran Michael Young saw coming from Houston.

But all told, Mariner fans have to be happy with the debut of Pineda. He struggled less than young Felix Hernandez used to, wasting fewer pitches and simply dominating when he got ahead in the count.

Just ask Adrian Beltre, who chased an outside slider in the fourth that he needed a cricket bat to hit.

Or Michael Young, who followed Beltre by striking out on a 96 mile per hour heater that he might have fouled off with a tennis racket. The entire fourth inning lasted 10 pitches.

With an arsenal as intimidating as Pineda’s—his fastball topped out around 96 and his slider hit about 86 with tight break on the outside half—it becomes nearly impossible for a hitter once he’s behind in the count.

It is also promising that young Pineda never got rattled and didn’t cave to the big inning potential that the Rangers have. Entering the game, they led the majors in runs scored and slugging percentage (by a whopping .081 over Cincinnati). And just for good measure, the game was in a big time hitter’s park in Arlington.

That four of the Rangers’ five hits went for extra-bases—and three of those four accounted for their three RBIs—speaks to Pineda’s need to remain ahead in the count. Staying ahead allows him to mix in his diving slider off the plate as a chase pitch rather than in situations where he needs a strike.

Pineda’s final line—6 IP, 5 H, 3 ER, 4 K, 1BB, 58/84 Strikes—show a young pitcher with promise and poise, but who must learn how to stay ahead in the count and ensure his entire arsenal remains in play. Continuing to develop his secondary pitches won’t hurt either.

The future is bright.

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The Colorado Rockies have gone from being the laughing stock of the National League to a contender.

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There has never been a must-win Opening Day.

Judging by the feeling outside of Coors Field following the Rockies 7-6, 11-inning defeat, it seemed as if the front office had pulled a fast one on its fans.

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The Colorado Rockies need to get off to a quick start.

It’s a story that’s been written a hundred times. However, it’s been written so many times because of the fact that this group of baseball players seem to play their best when they are seemingly out of the race.

In 2010, it seemed like a breath of fresh air to Rockies fans when the club went 11-12 in April.

That being said, 11-12 is not very good for a team looking to make a statement, but compared to previous years it seemed like a hot start.

In 2007, the Rockies finished April at 10-16; in April 2008, the year they were trying to prove that their run to the World Series was no fluke, they stumbled to 11-17; in 2009, with Clint Hurdle’s job on the line, the club went 8-12.

Needless to say, April has not been friendly to the Rockies.

There is a prevailing thought that the move from Tucson to Scottsdale will help the team’s legs to be more rested. On top of that, the everyday starters are seeing more top-shelf pitchers instead of the Double-A guys that were routinely shipped down to Tucson in previous years.

Whether that tips the scales will remain to be seen.

One factor that many people forget is the cold weather that often plagues Colorado in the early spring.

Just when the grass starts to turn green and the trees start to bud leaves, it seems that winter shares one last reminder that it isn’t dead yet—often leaving fans at Coors Field feeling like it’s the Broncos they’re watching in December, rather than the boys of summer.

Baseball in the cold often results in a flip of the coin as to who’s going to win.

Pitchers can’t grip the ball so well, hitters can look forward to a sting when they connect with a pitch and, overall, the game is played at a much slower pace.

Winning games in cold weather is often more about luck than skill.

Taking a quick look at the Rockies early season schedule may make fans want to break out the parka rather than the shorts and flip flops.

After playing five early games at Coors Field, which will almost certainly feature at least one or two frigid nights, the club will head to Pittsburgh and New York for eight games.

Obviously, both of those cities have the potential to feature games below 40 degrees.

After those eight games, the Rockies head home for six more at Coors Field. After that, they get a reprieve from the cold by playing a three-game set in Miami, their final stop in South Florida before the Marlins move into a new ballpark that might actually attract more than 10,000 fans per night.

After Florida, the Rockies head north to Chicago, where they play the Cubs early on once again.

Over the last two seasons, the Rockies have played the Cubs at Wrigley Field before May 1 and on both occasions found themselves playing in very cold conditions.

While the cold is certainly not an excuse to not do well, it is something that has to be factored in. It does not present the teams on the field with the perfect opportunity to win based on talent.

The reality is that games in April count exactly the same as the games in September do.

The Rockies have proven in the past that they are a talented enough team to overcome a slow start in April, but playing catchup for five months because of a slow start is not the ideal way to stay mentally and physically fresh throughout the season.

The Rockies may not have the ideal schedule for April, but they must find a way to come out of the gate quickly. There are no excuses for a team as talented as this Rockies bunch is.

A winning April will go a long way for the Rockies 2011 postseason prospects.

For more on the Rockies visit RockiesReview.com

This article is also featured on INDenverTimes.com

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