Inside Sports

BY DAVID MARTIN

The Colorado Rockies lost in Miami on Tuesday night. Of course, that was no surprise.

Troy Tulowitzki and Todd Helton came up with the tying run at third base, and both predictably failed. It was simply par for the course in a season that has shown the true colors of a franchise.

The real news came earlier in the day when the Denver Post published an article penned by beat writer Patrick Saunders. Shocking many fans, and yet, not surprising others, principle owner Dick Monfort expressed his support for both general manager Dan O’Dowd and manager Jim Tracy.

In the article, Monfort said “I know everybody wants a fall guy and everybody wants blood. I just don’t think it’s appropriate to do.”

The confusion begins at this point. What exactly does a statement like that mean? Does he think that having a ‘fall guy’ means that one single person has to take the blame for an entire organization’s faults? What that statement says is that Monfort knows that the issues go beyond just one person, or one coach.

Essentially, Monfort is telling fans that instead of removing part of the problem, one coach, one manager, one general manager, who is part of the issue, it wouldn’t be fair because the issues go far beyond that one guy. So, instead of getting rid of the entire problem, Monfort has decided to keep each and every one of those people who comprise the problems because it wouldn’t be fair to get rid of just one of them.

How much sense does that make?

He went on to say “there is no way that we are as poor of a team as we are playing. And if we are, then I fell in love with our own guys and couldn’t look through the forest to the trees. But I don’t believe that’s the case.”

As confusing as that statement is, the only thing to glean from it is that Monfort acknowledges that this team is better than they are playing.

So what we have heard so far is that Monfort knows that the organization has many members who deserve to be fired, so firing just one of them wouldn’t be fair to the rest of the incompetence that comprises the Rockies personnel.

Lesson No.2 is that Monfort knows the team is not playing to their talent level. In fact, he suggests that if they are, it is his fault, but he doesn’t believe that to be the case. Well, if the team isn’t playing to their capabilities, then why is that acceptable to continue on with the status quo?

Monfort takes blame for the team if they aren’t as good as he thought. He then quickly makes it clear that that isn’t the case. So, if it’s not his fault, as he suggests that it’s not because of the fact that he believes the talent is there, then whose fault is it? And why does the person, or people, who are at fault not have to take blame for the failures of this team?

Do these statements confuse anyone else?

Ultimately, it is hard not to come to the conclusion that the Rockies are run by the “good-old boys club.” Has Monfort become too accepting of the faults of the people that he has put in place to do a job because they are his friends. It would make sense. No one likes to call out their friends. No one likes to risk a friendship, one that most likely extends to the families of those friends.

So instead of holding the bar high and seeking the best out of those around him, Monfort has decided to accept mediocrity. He has decided that keeping his friendships is more important than putting a winning team on the field.

What we learned from Monfort’s interview with the Denver Post is that the losers are not the players on the field, the manager in the dugout or the general manager in the front office, the losers are the fans. The fans who have so emphatically supported this franchise since it arrived in Denver in 1993. It is the same fans who weathered the rebuilding years, stood by during the Darryl Kile, Mike Hampton and Denny Neagle debacles, and helped pay for a stadium that continues to line the Monfort brothers’ pockets.

I have long been a supporter of the Monforts. When fans complained about them not wanting to win, I quickly disagreed. I felt that the team wanted to win, they just didn’t want to be a knee-jerk reaction type of franchise that has set other teams like the New York Mets back. I appreciated the patience. That patience gave fans the opportunity to fall in love with players as the grew up on the big league field.

However, blindly supporting mediocrity makes it tough to defend these owners.

Dick Monfort didn’t have to come out and say that he is going to fire everyone who ever donned a purple Rockies shirt to work at Coors Field, but expressing a little more disappointment in where this team has found itself might have gone a long way for a fan base that is demanding answers and getting nothing in response.

A little passion from the top would tell fans that the important pieces of the Rockies franchise is not all right with where this season is going. Monfort doesn’t have to fire anyone, but he really dropped the ball in showing that he was more upset about the disappointment than the fans.

BY DAVID MARTIN

With the Colorado Rockies’ continuing spiral into the abyss, including another disappointing 9-7 loss at Coors Field on Thursday, the debate has shifted.

No longer are fans wondering if this team can turn it around, but rather, who should be fired first.

The debate seems to be an almost even split. Half of the fans blame manager Jim Tracy. He is hard to defend considering his seemingly clueless in-game management decisions and his constantly revolving lineups.

The other side of the debate favors quickly dispatching general manager Dan O’Dowd. With a starting rotation that has looked more like they belong in Tulsa than in the big leagues, and a bullpen that has quickly felt the effects of overuse, it is easy to blame O’Dowd for not fielding a team that is capable of competing.

It has become apparent that changes do need to be made. Some would argue that change won’t help anything, and it very well might not. However, at this point, whether or not the changes result in anything positive for the 2012 season or not, it will show fans–and possibly the team–that losing is unacceptable.

So who should be the first to go? The correct answer is a tricky one. Based strictly on performance, the answer is easy. Tracy has been absolutely brutal in the dugout. His moves have been head scratching at best and completely defenseless at worst.

O’Dowd, on the other hand, has made his fair share of mistakes, but his on-field job has been adequate. Talent-wise, this Rockies team is good enough to compete. No one is saying that they are going to win 100 games and cruise into the playoffs, but to be fair, O’Dowd never suggested that.

The biggest mark going into the 2012 campaign was not the lineup. The questions started and ended with the starting rotation. Jokes about a 49-year-old even competing for a starting spot was one thing, but when Jamie Moyer actually made the starting rotation, the comedy was intensified.

Arguing that O’Dowd had failed to build a strong starting pitching rotation were true. Although, it wasn’t true for the reasons that the anti-O’Dowd crowd suggests. Most of the crowd that blames O’Dowd get angry that he didn’t go out and sign a big-name free agent. That notion is simply incorrect simply because the big-name free agent that fans wanted O’Dowd to sign did not exist in the past offseason.

O’Dowd’s failures came by drafting and developing poorly. A team that has modeled itself in the way the Rockies are built cannot afford to fail in the draft. The also have to take the raw talent that they get in the draft and get significant growth quickly. These players have to be able to produce almost immediately when they hit the big leagues or the plan simply won’t work.

O’Dowd realized in 2011 that the prospects that he had put so much weight into were not going to be the caliber of players that the Rockies needed. The big league club was struggling and the batch of highly touted prospects were sitting in Single-A Modesto. There was going to have to be at least a year before those guys were ready.

Instead of trading them away, O’Dowd built a veteran-laden team to bridge the gap. It is a team that has firepower, knows how to win and fights hard despite having their fair share of issues.

The question mark remained the starting rotation. However, if Jhoulys Chacin took a step forward, Drew Pomeranz pitched above his age, and Jorge De La Rosa came back strong, the Rockies were going to be able to at least compete in the National League West. Throw in Juan Nicasio and the team had a chance to do damage.

There were question marks, no doubt about it. However, the reality is, the team is talented enough to win. The roster is not filled with players who couldn’t play anywhere else. The roster is filled with players who belong in the big leagues, with a couple of exceptions.

From that perspective, O’Dowd did his job. He built a bridge that would at least give fans something to root for and a respectable enough club to play meaningful games in September, if not fight for a spot in October.

The failures of O’Dowd, however, do not come from the mistakes on the field. His greatest error has nothing to do with the talent on the field. His biggest mistake came early in spring training when he told the media that Tracy could be the manager as long as he wanted. O’Dowd and Tracy both enter the final seasons of their contracts. It would be easy for the GM to preserve his own job by shifting the blame to Tracy and giving him his walking papers before Rockies spiral too far out of control.

Relieving Tracy from his position seems like the most obvious answer to nearly everyone except for O’Dowd. The ineptitude from the dugout gets worse every night, yet O’Dowd has done nothing but show support for his manager.

Because of this decision to turn a blind eye to the failures of Tracy, as well as many of Tracy’s coaching staff members, O’Dowd has earned himself a spot in the unemployment line along with Tracy. Instead of getting rid of the problem that is Jim Tracy, O’Dowd has hitched his wagon to the failing manager. It is a noble act, but it is also the act that has him a position where he should be removed.

The talent on the field is good enough to be respectable. O’Dowd did fine putting that together. The talent from Tracy, and Tracy’s staff, leave much to be desired. Yet, because O’Dowd turns a blind eye to these failures, his ship deserves to be sunk first.

BY DAVID MARTIN

Talk about drama.

Jason Giambi delivered a 3-run walk-off home run to straight away center field to give the Colorado Rockies a 8-5 win and a series victory over the first place Los Angeles Dodgers on Wednesday afternoon at Coors Field.

The home run came after the Rockies had clawed their way to an early lead behind home runs from Carlos Gonzalez and Wilin Rosario. The home runs came off of reigning National League Cy Young winner Clayton Kershaw, who had given up just one home run all year.

Giambi’s walk-off came after the bullpen gave up the lead not once, but twice after Drew Pomeranz showed the afternoon crowd at Coors Field why the Rockies thought he was so special. The lefty went 6-2/3 innings, giving up just one run on four hits. He struck out five while walking four.

With the way the Rockies starters have been struggling, Pomeranz’s performance was just what the team needed.

The start gave the rest of the team some flexibility. Instead of having a large hole to crawl out of, the way they did on Tuesday night, the offense could afford to scratch and claw to get at Kershaw, instead of needing big innings.

The start also gave the bullpen some flexibility. While no one likes to see the relief corps give up two leads, the fact that the Dodgers weren’t spotted four or five runs by the starting pitcher meant that when the bullpen failed to do their job, the Rockies offense was still close enough to get back into the game.

Throughout the game there were several opportunities to question manager Jim Tracy’s in-game decisions. In the 8th inning, after Matt Belisle had given up a base hit to Matt Kemp, then got Juan Rivera to pop out in the infield, Tracy went to the mound and called on Rex Brothers.

The hard-throwing lefty has struggled lately. Despite a huge strikeout on Monday night, Brothers has had a hard time getting his outs. Brothers promptly gave up a single to Andre Ethier and a double to Jerry Hairston, giving the Dodgers a 3-2 lead.

Although Belisle had given up a hit to Kemp, he looked sharp. Yet, Tracy chose to go with Brothers to face the lefty Ethier.

The mistake was easy to forget as CarGo launched his 2nd home run of the day off of Kershaw in the bottom of the 8th, the first time Kershaw has allowed the same hitter to homer off of him twice in a game.

Tracy tried again in the 9th, deciding to walk Matt Kemp with a runner on first, opting to put the tying run on base with light-hitting Dee Gordon on deck. The move backfired as Gordon split the outfielders in center and right and plated both runs, tying the game.

It all went out the window when Eric Young Jr. walked to lead off the 9th, then Marco Scutaro followed with a walk of his own. After a successful Jonathan Herrera sacrifice bunt, Giambi came to the plate and launched the home run to give the Rockies the huge win.

The Rockies have certainly taken their fair share of criticism this season. Much of it deserved. However, this team is proving that they are going to be fun to watch in 2012. They have a lineup that has shown it won’t quit.

Wednesday was a perfect example of how players having a role on the team works out. The ability to use Young as a pinch hitter who can get on base at any time, with Giambi in a role where he can break out a big bat at a moments notice provides the club with several options.

When players fall into their roles, they can prep correctly. They can mentally be ready for their chance, whether that comes in the first eight innings, or in the 9th inning.

Although the starting pitchers have struggled, one thing is certain. This Rockies team doesn’t pack it in the way the team did in 2011. It seemed that the team that was picked by many to win it all had no idea how to come from behind, whether they were down by one run of seven runs. This team doesn’t quit until the final out.

For Rockies fans, it means fun times at Coors Field all summer long. It also means that if the winning attitude continues, and the starting pitching matches what it is capable of, the Rockies could find themselves playing meaningful games down the stretch in September.

BY DAVID MARTIN

The Colorado Rockies learned the lesson the hard way on Saturday night that add-on runs can really add up.

Immediately following a three-run 4th inning, Rockies starter Guillerrmo Moscoso gave up three runs of his own in the top of the 5th inning. The three runs came with two outs.

In the 9th inning, with two outs recorded, reliever Edgmer Escalona gave up a double to Mike Baxter. The out should have been recorded by right fielder Michael Cuddyer, but Cuddyer took three huge steps back after the ball was hit before breaking in on the sinking blooper. The ball rattled out of his glove and Baxter cruised into second base. He later scored from third on a wild pitch from Escalona, giving the Mets a three-run cushion.

The extra runs allowed the Mets breathing room, but barely enough to survive. After Dexter Fowler drilled a solo shot into the Mets bullpen with two outs in the 9th, then Tyler Colvin hit a pinch hit triple to center field, the Rockies were within two and had Jason Giambi at the plate. Giambi ripped a 1-2 pitch to center, but Denver Christian High School graduate, and Mets center fielder Kirk Nieuwenhuis grabbed it before it hit the ground, securing the Mets victory.

For the Rockies, it was a win that would have been nice to have. Instead of going into Sunday knowing that they will need a victory to secure a series win, they could have been looking for a sweep, helping them establish their home dominance once again.

Instead, they face one-time superstar Johan Santana in a game that won’t be easy to walk away with a win.

For Moscoso, the outing was as good as could be expected. The righty was filling in for Jeremy Guthrie, who was injured riding his bike to the park on Friday. The freak accident caused the Rockies to call on Moscoso, who struggled early in Triple-A, but had been better of late.

Typical of Triple-A call-ups, the outing was the definition of so-so. Moscoso looked good at times, and looked completely overmatched other times. He was able to get two outs, but the Mets did most of their damage after the first two outs were recorded.

That isn’t uncommon for a guy in Moscoso’s shoes. The reason a guy like him doesn’t make the 25-man roster out of spring training is because, while the talent is obvious, there are a few missing pieces that need to be worked on. Getting outs in the big leagues isn’t easy, and getting the third out sometimes requires slightly more focus.

The weekend could still prove to be a positive one if the Rockies can win on Sunday. What that will take, however, is a lineup full of guys who have the greatest chance to hit a pitcher of Santana’s ability. If Jim Tracy decides that the majority of the regulars need to sit because it is a day game after a night game, then the team won’t be in a position to succeed.

However, the Rockies might have the right guy on the mound to get them the series victory. Jamie Moyer, who has frankly been the best starting pitcher in a Rockies uniform through the first month of the season, will take the mound looking to increase his win total.

BY DAVID MARTIN

Sunday’s game was a great one for the Colorado Rockies.

That statement is one that doesn’t come very often. Usually, Sundays are the day when fans plan on going to the mountains, getting the boat out, going shopping, taking a drive, seeing family, or doing anything besides wasting three hours watching a lackluster baseball game.

The reason for that is because since the 2011 season, the Rockies have been awful on Sundays. After Sunday’s victory, the Rockies have won just seven of their past 28 Sunday games.

Well, this Sunday was one of the games that was worth watching for Rockies fans. With a lineup that featured the majority of normal starters for the Rockies, the club came out and won 4-1, giving them their first road series win of the season.

Michael Cuddyer again proved to be a phenomenal pickup. He gave the Rockies a two-run double in the 8th inning that put Colorado ahead 3-1. He has made Dan O’Dowd look like an absolute genius for overpaying to put him in purple pinstripes.

As good as Cuddyer’s double was, the real hero is one that doesn’t get the credit he deserves far too often.

A former starter, Matt Belisle has become a force out of the bullpen for the Rockies. On Sunday, he proved how valuable he is.

After Cuddyer gave the Rockies the lead, lefty reliever Rex Brothers threatened to give it right back to the Brewers. Struggling with location, Brothers walked Ricky Weeks, then gave up a single to Carlos Gomez. Suddenly, the Rockies were staring at the reigning MVP, Ryan Braun, up to bat representing the go-ahead run with two on and no one out.

Jim Tracy called upon Belisle to work out of the jam. That proved to be a good decision. Belisle got Braun to pop out to first base. After Braun came the dangerous Aramis Ramirez, who Belisle got to line out to right field. Following Ramirez came Corey Hart, dangerous in his own regard and the hottest hitter on the Brewers in the early going. However, Belisle made quick work of Hart, getting a called third strike, allowing the Rockies to hold onto the two-run lead.

The inning took Belisle only 11 pitches, eight of which were strikes. The box score will show just a simple “hold” for Belisle, but the win belongs to him, and to Tracy for quickly turning to him when Brothers got into trouble.

In 6-2/3 innings for the Rockies in 2012, Belisle has been close to perfect. He has given up zero earned runs and only one hit. That follows up a year in which he posted a 3.25 ERA en route to 10 wins out of relief.

There is no doubt that Belisle brings stability in the middle of the bullpen that pays huge dividends for the Rockies.

As for the win, it seems slightly ironic that the day Jim Tracy chose to not rest the majority of the regulars is the day that the Rockies won.

An interesting article was written by Troy Renck in the Denver Post on Sunday. Renck dives into the issue that many fans have with the routinely decimated starting lineups Tracy runs out on most Sundays.

The manager, as well as Dan O’Dowd, bring insight into the decision. They both defend the fact that an older team needs rest often in order to stay fresh. O’Dowd brings up the rigors of playing in altitude as another reason.

All of their logic makes sense. It explains their thinking. However, most fans are not arguing that there should be eight starters and they should play every single day no matter what. The argument that most fans seem to have is that it doesn’t seem to bode well for the team to have everyone take the same day off.

Of course, playing in day games after night games is tough for an older player. However, wouldn’t it make some sense to let a player or two rest in a night game, then have them play the following day?

Does it make sense to empty the bench all at once and give away a game?

The other issue with the bench-emptying practice is that it comes regardless of how the team is playing. Baseball is such a mental game. The players are creatures of habit. They need to know their roles in order to thrive. If a guy is on a hot streak, don’t mess with him. If someone is tearing the cover off the ball, sit him when he cools down. The idea of sitting a guy on Sunday whether he went 8-for-his last-10 or 0-for his last-10 is baffling. Ride the hot streak. If the team isn’t hitting, that is the time to mix-and-match, but don’t mess around with things when they are going well.

If Todd Helton is hitting, keep him in the lineup. If that means that he has to take two or even three days off in a row later in the season, so be it. Messing with a hot streak, however, is the worst thing to do.

Baseball is about getting into a rhythm and that is only possible with a consistent role, both for guys in the starting lineup and on the bench.

BY DAVID MARTIN

July 30th, 2011 will be remembered by Colorado Rockies fans as a very dark day.

As news that the team had indeed traded their ace, Ubaldo Jimenez to the Cleveland Indians, fans stood in shock. Despite a disappointing first half of 2011, Jimenez was the first true dominant pitcher in club history.

Making the move even more shocking was that Jimenez was not only still in a Rockies uniform, he was on the mound, awkwardly pitching through a distracted final inning.

The finger-pointing began. In the clubhouse after the game, when the mood should have been somber, team leader Troy Tulowitzki made some scathing remarks that showed what fans later found out to be a huge issue throughout the failed 2011 season. There was a huge divide in the clubhouse.

On Wednesday, Tracy Ringolsby published an article for Fox Sports Arizona in which Jimenez revealed his side of the trade. It became apparent that the two contracts signed by fellow superstars Troy Tulowitzki and Carlos Gonzalez had affected Jimenez’s mindset.

Upset that he was left out and told to wait for another year, Jimenez was distracted. When injuries plagued his season, things got even more tumultuous in the clubhouse for the first pitcher to throw a no-hitter in Rockies history.

Read responses on Twitter and it is clear that many fans instantly forgave the club for the way they handled the situation. Suddenly, the blame fell onto Jimenez’s shoulders. Some fans even antagonized Jimenez directly on Twitter, telling him that he is selfish.

The problem is, the article may have shown that the club wasn’t completely at fault, but it definitely doesn’t exonerate the team.

Put the shoe on the other foot. Imagine being Jimenez. He had just posted the best season by a Rockies pitcher by far. His 2.88 ERA and 19 wins were both club records. He had thrown the first no-hitter in club history and started the All-Star game–all while calling Coors Field his home.

Ringolsby quotes Jimenez as saying “I read in the paper that they were only going to sign two guys, they couldn’t do three guys.”

While that may or may not have been the situation that the club was in, the problem lies in the fact that Jimenez was getting his news from the same source as the fans. He was reading it in the newspaper.

Why, after what Jimenez did, would the Rockies front office not have Jimenez very well-versed in the fact that he was in their long-term plans. Why wouldn’t Dan O’Dowd, or Dick Monfort or both get on the phone or get on an airplane and meet with Jimenez. They didn’t have to sign him then, they just needed to let him know that his day was coming. They needed to keep him in on the plan. Clearly, they never did that.

What that led to was a distraught Jimenez, who thought that despite his great season, was on the outs with the club. He came to spring training scorned, rather than feeling appreciated. Clearly it affected his training, which most likely led to his injuries that ultimately derailed his season.

Was Jimenez immature? Absolutely. Did he handle the situation wrong? Absolutely.

However, imagine going to work and setting record numbers for the company. Imagine being the top member of the team and helping the company gain notoriety. Then, two other team members, who were also big parts of the company got rewarded with huge raises. The raises are publicly celebrated, with the boss saying that the core of the company has been locked up for years.

Isn’t there a little hurt? Isn’t there a little questioning that would go on to anyone that this happened to? There certainly would be a great amount of bitterness, even in the heart of the most dedicated and understanding employee.

The fact is, the Rockies dropped the ball with Jimenez. They may want the fans to see him as a problem. They may want to paint the picture that he wasn’t a team player. The reality, however, is that Jimenez felt scorned by the club, and bitterness crept in. The lack of communication from the Rockies made him feel as if he was under appreciated. Was it justified? Maybe not 100 percent, but the feelings were legitimate, and very much understandable.

The Ubaldo Jimenez trade, no matter whose fault it was, and no matter how Drew Pomeranz and Alex White perform at the big league level, may forever be remembered as the darkest day in Colorado Rockies history.

BY DAVID MARTIN

Take a look at the 2011 National League West champions. The Arizona Diamondbacks.

When the Colorado Rockies and Diamondbacks christened their new spring training facility in late February, the talk wasn’t about the local team having a chance to be good, it was all about the retooled Rockies and the depth that they possessed that would guide them to their first NL West championship.

Most predicted that Arizona would finish in fourth place, having improved their bullpen, but not making enough of a change to really gain too much ground.

What no one factored in was the most important element. Heart.

Guided by Kirk Gibson, a leader who manages the same way that he played, with energy and scrapiness, the D-Backs have played above their talent level, and with their recent winning streak, they are now sitting six games ahead of the defending World Series champion San Francisco Giants.

Arizona, no doubt has been energized by the Rockies essentially failing to show up.

The party was planned for this Colorado team to be celebrating its first NL West title way back in February, but the team forgot to make the necessary arrangements for that party to actually happen.

The Diamondbacks saw the opportunity to steal the show, and they have done exactly that. It looked like it was going to be a two-horse race between Arizona and San Francisco down to the wire, but right now the scene looks more like a Diamondback team that has a tight-fisted grip on the race and has no intention of loosening.

The disappointment for the Rockies is celebration for the Diamondbacks. The Rockies should take note. With far less talent than the Rockies, and certainly the Giants, the Diamondbacks don’t give in to anyone. They find ways to move runners over, they make great defensive plays and their pitchers find ways to get guys out. They play with a confidence and a swagger that they have something to prove.

The Rockies went into the season thinking that changing one thing would instantly result in a division title. They thought that coming out of the gate strong would solve their issues. As soon as they got over the April hump, they looked as if they thought they could put it on cruise control and win enough games.

Instead, the other teams in the division didn’t roll over. They got to work. Those other teams started gunning for the Rockies, and they got them because Colorado wasn’t on top of its game.

The Rockies willingly gave away their division title, and the Diamondbacks are taking advantage.

BY DAVID MARTIN

Baseball is a business.

Nothing will remind the average fan of that like news that no fewer than 17 teams had scouts in the stands watching Ubaldo Jimenez.

As rumors swirl about the ace, he insists he will go about his business in the exact same way that he always has. He proved that to be true on Tuesday night as he completely dominated the Atlanta Braves. Behind six runs of support in the first three innings, the subject of trade rumors pitched 6 2/3 innings, giving up two runs on seven hits. He struck out nine and walked just two. The final part of that line being the most important.

When Jimenez is ahead in the count, he is able to mix in all of his pitches. When he is behind in the count, he is forced to throw his fastball, which doesn’t have the same life that it did in 2010. Throwing fastballs being down in the count is a recipe for disaster for any pitcher. Jimenez has done a great job in his last three starts of staying ahead in the count.

Make no mistake, despite what some national baseball experts are saying, the Rockies are not actively shopping Jimenez.

This is the same team that has been extremely hesitant to deal the likes of Eric Young Jr. and Chris Nelson because they want to see what they can do at the Major League level. There is no way that with a team-friendly contract like Jimenez is locked into, the club is going to deal him because his velocity is down and he isn’t having the best season.

The only reason that Jimenez will be dealt is if the Rockies know something about the right-hander’s health that no one else does. If there is something that would suggest to them that he will never regain his previous form, and on top of that, he will continue to regress and possibly suffer a major injury.

That said, if the Rockies do deal Jimenez, fans should be upset at the loss of their first-ever true ace, but they should know that the return that they get for the Dominican will be so good that the club could not refuse the offer. It will go a long way to help the depth issues that the team has been experiencing for the first time in the past few seasons.

At this point, it is easy to forget how good Jimenez can be. Frankly, he is a major reason why the Rockies won’t be playing in October. In a season full of expectations, Jimenez was the first sign of trouble for the club, as he just didn’t seem right in the opener.

However, if Jimenez doesn’t have an injury that no one is making public, the Rockies should be very hesitant to deal him. Even with his velocity way down, he is still very effective at 95 mph, with a great curveball.

In short, the Rockies might be tempted to deal Jimenez. If they do, it will be tough to see him go, but the Rockies are smart enough, and hesitant enough, to make sure that they get a deal that they can’t refuse if they did choose to move him.

BY DAVID MARTIN

Jason Hammel wound up, made the turn, pulled the ball out of his glove, and then stopped. That’s right. He just stopped. Home plate umpire Sam Holbrook then made the easiest balk call of his career.

With two outs in third inning, runners at second and third base, and Indians DH Travis Hafner down to his final strike, Hammel committed the most embarrassing moment of his career. He forgot what pitch he was throwing, and simply stopped midway through his pitch, allowing Cleveland to score its second run of the night.

It wouldn’t have been as big of a deal, had the Rockies not used the bat of Ty Wigginton to put them within one run. However, after Wigginton homered twice in the game, he couldn’t get a base hit off of Indians closer Chris Perez with Seth Smith on second base to tie the game up.

The run that Hammel allowed to score ended up being the difference. Isn’t that the way it always works?

Regardless, the Rockies won another series. They won a series against a first place team, on the road. Two of those wins were one-run wins. That is a huge step in the right direction. These Rockies are taking steps forward, regardless of their difficult schedule.

Make no mistake, the road ahead does not get any easier for the Rockies. They head into New York to play the Yankees, and frankly, they didn’t get the best draw when it comes to pitching matchups. On Friday night, the Rockies send Ubaldo Jimenez to the mound to face AJ Burnett. New York may have wanted to run Burnett out of town last season, but he has had a resurgence in 2011, he is currently 7-5 with a 4.05 ERA, a far better mark than the 5.26 ERA he posted a season ago. Jimenez, as anyone who follows the Rockies knows, is nowhere near the Jimenez who started the All-Star Game for the National League in 2010. He has shown flashes of the old Jimenez, but his 2-7 record with a 4.68 ERA isn’t anything close to what the Rockies were expecting from him.

Saturday features Aaron Cook vs. CC Sabathia. Hoping for a Rockies victory in that game, given the way Cook has looked since returning from injury, and frankly, since his appearance in the 2008 All-Star Game, gives the Rockies little hope against the perennial Cy Young candidate.

Sunday will see potentially the most winnable game for the Rox. They send Juan Nicasio to the mound to face Ivan Nova of the Yankees. If Nicasio is able to pitch with the stuff that he showed in his first two starts, the Rockies offense may be able to get to Nova to get a chance for the win.

The Rockies look to win their fourth series in a row at Yankee Stadium, and may have a chance to do just that if they are able to use the short porch in right field to score runs off of the New York starters.