The Colorado Rockies have come back to earth.
After a brief run of good pitching, coupled with good hitting that inspired fans to believe that the Rockies might be good enough to turn their season around, climb out of the cellar and become a team that might be able to make a ridiculous run to the playoffs in 2015.
That thought may have crept in, but once the Rockies got to Miami, reality set back in. This team has a long way to go before they are going to be good enough to be considered a very good team. The fight that they showed in Denver and over the past two weeks is nowhere to be found, their ability to grind out at bats–also gone.
While the Rockies are still getting good pitching–David Hale was able to go six innings, giving up four runs on four hits. His line certainly didn’t tell the story of his day. After giving up two 1st inning runs, Hale settled in and pitched four consecutive scoreless innings before Giancarlo Stanton made him his latest victim, blasting a two-run shot, his 23rd of the season.
Beyond the Stanton shot, Hale had another impressive performance. His control wasn’t what it has been, he walked three batters, but he was able to get through six innings and was one bad pitch away from a really good outing.
The reality for the Rockies is that the speed bumps are going to be frequent in a season that is supposed to be one that re-shapes who this team is. There are going to be times along the way, and they will happen frequently, when the Rockies are going to have to look at themselves in the mirror and determine if they are going to fight through the adversity, or if they are going to give in and once again start playing like they are a second class Major League team.
As strange as it might be, Rockies fans should enjoy the adversity. Each time the Rockies have to go through a stretch that tests their character, they have a chance to get better. The Rockies aren’t going to the playoffs in 2015. This season is a year to get their feet wet with a new general manager and a new mentality that they are playing with.
This is also a season in which Jeff Bridich gets to see what works and what doesn’t in his first season as general manager of the club. The Rockies speed bumps are a way to see who should be around for the long haul and who should be trade bait. It is a chance to see how he should shape the club and which way to take the team as he gains experience.
The Rockies current problems might be the first time that the road struggles have crept up in the 2015 season. After the longest homestand of the season, it looks like the Rockies offense is struggling to adjust to sea level baseball again. The breaking balls at sea level might be pretty difficult to adjust to and the Rockies are struggling to make that happen.
It might not be fun to watch, but it is all part of a process. It is something that Rockies fans need to be patient with. This is a team that doesn’t deserve to have patience thrown their way, but needs an extra measure after some decent changes in the offseason.
The Rockies might not deserve for their fans to be patient with them. It has been a very long stretch of bad baseball for this franchise, but Jeff Bridich has to be given a chance to show whether he is worthy of the job or if him being hired was a bad decision. His offseason moves, picking up John Axford and Nick Hundley specifically, have proven to be a sign that he might be the man for the job.
