Colorado Rockies balance perception, reality, and the trolls of social media

CHICAGO — Colorado Rockies closer Daniel Bard enters the game against the San Diego Padres, looking to close out a 5-2 win at Coors Field on August 16. The ninth inning, however, doesn’t go according to Colorado’s hopes.

A pair of runners, each reaching base on singles that have an expected batting average of .210 or less, puts traffic on the bases and pressure on Bard. While the runners are a nuisance, the Rockies still have the lead as Bard has retired the next two batters. One out is all that separates Bard’s team from walking off the field victorious or preparing for the bottom of the ninth.

The latter, unfortunately for the Rockies that night, is what was in store as Trent Grisham takes a 2-1 pitch from Bard the opposite way and blasts it over the left field wall, knotting the game at 5.

Colorado would win the game in the bottom of the ninth on C.J. Cron’s home run, but that didn’t erase what had happened in the top of the frame from the record books or the minds of those lurking on Bard’s Instagram account.

Colorado Rockies closer Daniel Bard saw the comments on social media.

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The comments on posts soon began, whether it was on Bard’s personal account or Colorado’s official Twitter account.

Bard shouldn’t have thrown that pitch.

Bard shouldn’t be closing games.

Bard is done and should retire.

Suddenly, the world was filled with pitching coaches and those who could’ve gotten Grisham out from the comfort of their living rooms.

Yes, Bard has seen the posts, comments, and replies. No, Bard doesn’t care.

Well, let’s rephrase that. Bard absolutely cares about his performance and his team’s win-loss record. He does not, however, take the time to soak up the knowledge of those sitting on their couches or walking out of the stadium and mad tweeting on their phones.

“If it’s something that’s going to bother you, you have the option of not having an account,” Bard explained. “If someone telling you that you suck is something that you think might bother you, or if you don’t want to hear that someone lost 100 bucks because they have money on the line and you blew their bet, you don’t have to have an account. Because that will happen.”

Ryan McMahon isn’t out there throwing in the ninth inning to try to earn the save like Bard. On the opposite end of the spectrum, McMahon is looking to add to Colorado’s lead heading into the later innings so that Bard’s job is easier.

While Bard will get the heat after a blown save, that doesn’t mean the trolling after a subpar performance is reserved just for pitchers. McMahon has seen plenty of it as well on nights when an 0-for-4 outing or error might show up in the box score.

“One thing we do is we compare who get the worst DMs (direct messages) on the bus,” McMahon said while in Chicago. “Sometimes we’ll be sitting on the bus, just hanging out. We had a bad game and somebody will say, ‘Hey, I got a pretty interesting one last night. What did you get?’ It’s part of it.

“My personal opinion is that if you’re taking to that (social media) to make someone feel bad or something like that, your opinion wouldn’t mean anything to me anyway because I don’t think you’re a good person.”

And dealing with those who don’t have the best intentions are part of the problem with the balance of personal and professional life on social media for professional athletes. There are players, like Rockies pitcher Austin Gomber, who may not be active on social media, but have spouses or significant others who are.

Gomber said that he gets why fans and members of the media might monitor his wife’s social media feed, looking for any bit of news or information, especially after his trade from St. Louis to Colorado before the season began.

“There are people out there who are trying to find answers, right?” Gomber asks. “If I was in charge of finding answers, I would probably use that too.”

Like Bard and McMahon, Gomber has seen some negative social media comments pop up after a tough outing, but added, “Those don’t affect me at all.”

Let’s go back to that Padres game where Bard gave up the tying homer in the ninth. The home run was the focus of the frame, obviously, but the hits that eventually brought the tying run to the plate (and the frustrating nature in which they occurred) are easily overlooked.

Here is the infield single from Jake Cronenworth that opened the inning.

And here is the following infield single off the bat of Austin Nola

“Yeah, I was as frustrated as anybody,” Bard said about those two singles to open the ninth. “I was mad at the result but, in the moment, I felt like I was making good pitches. I knew that was soft contact on balls that stayed in in the infield.”

And the pitch that was sent out by Grisham.

“The pitch to Grisham was a well executed backdoor slider that he just took a really good swing at,” Bard said. “In hindsight, would I have thrown a different pitch? Of course. But, in that moment, it seemed like a really good pitch to execute.”

And while decisions are made in the moment and plays often happen at lightning speed, they can live on forever through GIFs, instant replay, and quote tweets. It’s part of the current game, Bard says, and it’s a part that doesn’t faze him, just like the comments, good and bad, he’ll see after every outing.

“You try to be as realistic as you can and not just say, ‘Oh I suck,'” Bard said. “Are you falling behind every hitter? No, not really. You can’t live too long on any moment. Find the mistake and move on.”