The Colorado Rockies Are No Fun To Watch Anymore

Going to a Colorado Rockies game is a fun experience in and of itself, regardless of how the team plays. But that is becoming less and less true.

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Doesn’t it feel like every single year we all get to place where we just aren’t sure we can care about the Colorado Rockies anymore? Where getting ourselves up and ready to go to a game feels like heading off to school on a Monday morning? Where we dread writing blog posts because our moms always told us, “If you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all”?

Maybe that last one is just me. But this is getting really old.

I’ve been to four games this year, and the Colorado Rockies have lost all four. I do not recall a time in recent memory when it took them this long to win a game I attended. To be fair, that’s a ridiculous stat to give any sort of weight to, but it supports my point that I don’t want to watch this team play anymore. I haven’t gone into the season hoping for playoffs in several years, so it’s not even about that. I just want to them to win sometimes, and they don’t.

Jorge De La Rosa, reliably the Rockies’ best starting pitcher, had none of his best stuff last night. He issued three walks, including one with the bases loaded, and when he wasn’t doing that he was serving up high fastballs to the likes of Ryan Braun. He was done at the end of the fifth inning, another too-short outing for a Rockies starter that overworked the bullpen.

Said bullpen was hit-or-miss; Scott Oberg and LaTroy Hawkins managed three scoreless innings, but in the interim Christian Bergman allowed three more runs to cross the plate. Those were the killers, because before that it felt like the Rockies still stood a chance. After that, it was pretty clear that they did not.

I was especially disappointed in Bergman because he had been so solid prior to his recent stint in the minors. It seemed as though he was really gunning for a rotation spot there. Of course, he’ll have more opportunities to prove himself, but he wasted this one.

The offense was kinda fun to watch, at least. They strung together three runs in the 4th inning on two singles, a triple, and a double. The Rockies actually hit three triples in this game (Charlie Blackmon, Nolan Arenado, and Ben Paulsen), and I really don’t think there’s anything so exciting as a triple.

Singles and doubles are generally a foregone conclusion as soon as the ball drops; home runs always are. But a triple–you just don’t know till the runner arrives at the bag if he’ll be safe, and there are often defensive antics occurring at the same time. It’s a blast.

Blackmon and DJ LeMahieu each stole a base, another fun thing to see, although with the Colorado Rockies it’s usually more cringe-inducing. It wouldn’t be a Rockies game without a TOOTBLAN, which Daniel Descalso provided when HE tried to steal. But it felt like the offense had some life, and they never gave up. They even scored a run in the 9th, though as I said, thanks to Bergman’s outing, by then it did not feel like there was a real chance they could win.

And when it feels like the team can’t win, when they’re in a 3-run hole before they ever come to bat and a 5-run hole before their final opportunity, the offensive stuff loses its luster. You know it isn’t going to matter, so your cheers are a little more hollow, and you jump up and down a time or two less.

You also boo, really loud, at the umpire who calls your runner out after he trips over a fielder in the basepath, and even louder when your final batter gets a called third strike that really felt like ball four. Even the officials are against us. It’s a sad time to be a Rockies fan, but the worst part is, I can barely remember when it was a happy time.

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