So certain is this information that it’s in the Farmer’s Almanac. Migrating birds are called from 600 miles away by the faint ringing of late-inning crowd noise emanating from Coors Field on warm nights in late May. The Mayans even predicted the last five years of Rockies history in their little known Calendario de Béisbol, accurate to within 5 games on a 162 game season.
Sitting at 20-21 and 4 games back in the highly competitive NL West (the Padres, Dodgers and Giants all are within 1.5 games of one another), the Rockies can find some small consolation in knowing the bulk of their home games and divisional schedule remain. But the season is a quarter of the way through and time is running out for this team to find its identity.
Catcher Miguel Olivo has thrown out would-be base-stealers at a reasonable rate, and is the one defensive jewel for the Rockies so far in the young season. In order to achieve the lofty aspirations expected by this team and their fans, the Rox will need to follow Olivo’s example and sharpen their game with the glove.
This was a winnable game for the Colorado Rockies, despite starter Greg Smith giving up a 3-run home run in the 1st and a solo shot in the 5th.
Thursday, the Rockies take the field against the Diamondbacks, with Hammel taking the mound for the start.
Don’t look now, but I’ve been warning you spring is about to break . And it’s happening – don’t look to stinkin’ Punxatawney Phil, just check the calendar and find the date that pitchers and catchers report to spring training facilities for their first workouts. For the Rockies, that date is February 17 – that’s this coming Wednesday.
