Watching teams celebrate should crush the Colorado Rockies decision-makers

Playing out the string isn’t too much fun to watch.

On Tuesday night it was the Pittsburgh Pirates, a few nights before it was the Angels. Tomorrow night could be the Dodgers turn.

Meanwhile, the Colorado Rockies finished a 3-1/2 hour game in San Diego that literally means nothing. It would have been a nail biter–if anyone still cared. Instead, while making his 998th career appearance, LaTroy Hawkins worked his way out of a lead-off walk to finish a 3-2 rare Rockies road win.

The champagne was probably being cleaned up off of the Pirates clubhouse floor when the Rockies finally finished their road affair on the west coast. The six-game road trip to finish off the season feels like salt in the wound for Rockies fans who don’t want to miss a game. The 11:30 pm finishes make it tough for fans to stay tuned until the final out.

At this point, it is beating a dead horse, but Rockies owner Dick Monfort’s very words were that the Rockies should be playoff contenders twice every five years. Watching other teams celebrate, and watching other teams contend, in markets far smaller than Denver, should hurt the Rockies front office. At this point, with the Rockies certain to lose more than 90 games for the third straight year, contending twice every five years seems like a long way off.

The issues are apparent. They are baffling. The Rockies, for 21 seasons, have failed to figure out how to hit on the road. While there are many reasons and theories for the struggles, the fact remains, it isn’t an easy transition for the Rockies to go from Coors Field out on the road.

However, regardless of the excuses for not hitting on the road, the Rockies can’t figure out how to win, or win consistently. They seem like they may have the pieces to make a good 5-man rotation, but the bullpen not only remains a question mark, as it is currently composed, it is a complete black hole. Asking this pen to pitch three to four innings every night and keep a lead in-tact is next to impossible.

Champagne showers seem like ancient memories for the Rockies. It has been since the Rockies clinched a playoff spot on October 1st, 2009 that the Rockies have had a reason to celebrate. That day, Aaron Cook shut down the Brewers at Coors Field to secure the berth. Cook’s time with the Rockies came to an end a long time ago.

Baseball is a game where a few pieces can turn around the fortunes of a bad team. However, these Rockies seem like they are going to need more than a few solid pieces to turn this ship in the right direction.

The Rockies will mercifully end their season on Sunday. It will be another empty road series against a Dodgers team that will have likely clinched the division and might only be playing for the first overall seed in the National League. However, beyond that, it might be a three-day battle of September call-ups for both teams.

With the celebration tour seeming to stop in a new city every night, flipping channels to MLB Network, or watching Baseball Tonight on ESPN comes with a certain amount of pain. Seeing other cities get to celebrate something that Rockies fans want to see in their city isn’t fun. It doesn’t feel right. It makes watching meaningless September baseball games difficult.

Unfortunately, it seems that the pain is only felt by Rockies fans and not the guys in the front office making the tough decisions for the Rockies. They seem content with another 90-plus loss season.

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