Rockies Shut-Out as Scutaro is Moved

Rockies 0, Reds 3

Well, at least it wasn’t an Ubaldo Jimenez situation. Much as I now look back on the day with indifference or even disgust at Ubaldo’s subsequent behavior, the last Saturday of July 2011 was a shocking and devastating one for Rockies fans. After weeks of rumors, Ubaldo was dealt to the Cleveland Indians, pitching a disastrous first inning in San Diego on his way out the door. It was quite possibly the most poorly-handled trade in the history of the world. And the front office seems to have learned its lesson, because nothing they’ve done has been that ugly since. (Clarification: no SINGLE thing they’ve done has been that ugly. You could argue that this entire season is the ugliest thing they’ve ever done.)

So at least last night, they waited till the game was over to tell our boy Marco Scutaro he’d been traded. Not that it helped Scutaro have a career game; he collected 1 hit in 4 plate appearances and didn’t score. But finding out after the game that you’ve been traded has got to beat finding out five minutes before it starts.

My thoughts on the trade are simple: it’s time to sell, so sell, Dan O’Dowd, sell. However, I really have next to no confidence in DOD’s ability to make appropriate moves at this point. He had his chance over the offseason to show us that aggressive trading and signing were the answer to the team’s problems, but the team he created is the worst in Rockies history, and maybe the worst team in the history of sports (except for the 2008 Detroit Lions, obviously). DOD’s moves not only didn’t work, they seemed to aggravate problems that were already there. It’s become clear to me that we are treating symptoms rather than a disease, and in the process we are making the disease even angrier. So does it matter who Charlie Culberson is? Not really. Given the condition of DOD’s instincts for this sort of thing, Culberson probably won’t do much good.

Back to the game at hand. I suspected Bronson Arroyo would be dominant, and he was. I was surprised at how early Dusty Baker hooked him – 6 2/3 innings, 85 pitches – but that’s Dusty for you. In any case, Arroyo allowed no runs on 6 hits in those innings, and generally looked like he intended to eat the Rockies for dinner. His comrades Alfredo Simon and Aroldis Chapman each surrendered a hit, but otherwise were no less in control of the game than Arroyo was.

On the other side, Drew Pomeranz had a so-so outing that unfortunately was never going to be good enough thanks to the Rockies’ inability to plate a run. Pomeranz went 5 1/3 innings and was allowed 87 pitches. The only tough inning was the 3rd, when he allowed 3 hits and a sacrifice fly which led to 2 runs. The third run charged to him really can’t be said to be his fault; it was his runner, sure, but it was Adam Ottavino‘s two wild pitches that scored that runner. Pomeranz was even more attached to his fastball than usual last night, and I wish he would throw his curveball more often. It’s such a tricky pitch, but he doesn’t seem to believe in it enough to make more use of it. The fact that he is able to fool hitters as much as he does with just the fastball is highly impressive.

Sometimes I don’t get a chance to see the end of the game for one reason or another, and then I’ll check out the headline on the Rockies’ Facebook page to get a quick summary of what happened. The headline always accentuates the positive. Last night’s was “CarGo, Pacheco collect two hits each in loss.” I’m sorry, but when the most celebratory thing your team does is NOT go hitless, it’s time to cry.

The series continues tonight with Christian Friedrich on the mound. Johnny Cueto, one of the best pitchers in the bigs this season, goes for the Reds.