As Others Clinch Postseason Berths, Rockies Continue Their Skid

I think there are five things worth noting about the Rockies after last night’s game.

1. The team is at the business end of a league-leading 7-game losing streak. In that span, they have scored 11 runs. Total. The Dodgers scored that number of runs over the course of 3 innings last night. The Rockies are also not out of the woods on losing 100 games. They still need to win four to avoid that dubious milestone.

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2. The Dodgers hit the ball to Michael Cuddyer in right field about one thousand times last night. Every time, the ball fell for a hit. Four times, the hits went for extra bases. He didn’t make any embarrassingly bad defensive plays, but I’m now fully convinced that he is not the man I want in the Rockies’ outfield, ever. Somehow he has only cost this team one defensive run this season, but that has more to do with him only appearing in 40 games than anything else.

3. Christian Bergman struck out 7 batters, including Dee Gordon on a fastball at the shoulders. Not known for his velocity, he rarely threw a pitch over 90 mph, but when he was locating, he didn’t have to. He made several Dodger hitters look foolish. Of course, then there were the times he did not locate, like in the 1st inning when Matt Kemp lifted a curveball into the bullpen, or on those doubles to right field. Bergman is an intriguing guy, and I like most of what I see from him. But he throws too many pitches, and he throws too many of them badly.

4. DJ LeMahieu legged out a triple in the 2nd inning, and then was tagged out when Bergman couldn’t execute the suicide squeeze. In the 1st, Charlie Blackmon decided to score from 3rd on Justin Morneau‘s groundball and was caught in a rundown. In the 4th, LeMahieu walked the bases loaded with 1 out, which was followed by a Bergman strikeout and a Blackmon groundout. In the 7th, Brandon League hit the first two batters to come to the plate. Thanks to a Cuddyer double play and a Corey Dickerson lineout, neither scored. That’s four runners who made it all the way to 3rd base and couldn’t score, because of stupid baserunning or their teammates’ inability to protect them.

5. Rex Brothers replaced Bergman in the 6th inning with the bases loaded and nobody out. He threw two pitches. Then he was replaced by Nick Masset with runners on the corners and still nobody out. Masset sandwiched a Matt Kemp strikeout inside a walk, a single, two doubles, and a sac fly. The Dodgers scored 8 runs in that inning.

I tried to pretend I was a Dodgers fan briefly. I’m forgetting what it feels like to have your team playing for something at this point in the season. I couldn’t do it. Rooting for these Rockies is starting to make me think I’m a glutton for punishment.