Colorado Rockies Must Be Positive, Despite Demoralizing Loss to Florida Marlins

It's tough to see the bright side of a game in which a three-run homer, immediately following a valiant comeback, shattered the hopes of a road win.

However, the Colorado Rockies can now head to a much colder Chicago with some positives.

Sure, Mike Stanton crushed Matt Belisle's pitch, sending it deep into the orange sea of seats at Sun Life Stadium in Miami.

Sure, the Rockies come-from-behind fell short when Seth Smith couldn't get the go-ahead run home.

Sure, it is a disappointing end result for the Rockies.

The difference is, Rockies fans are exhaling everywhere—relaxing in the knowledge that their ace, Ubaldo Jimenez, is returning to form.

Was he completely back to the Jimenez of 2010? No—but for four innings he was, after looking like a shell of that pitcher and having fans question if his injured cuticle in fact had more to do with the team's fear of a shoulder issue.

The tank hit empty in the fifth inning for Jimenez. He simply didn't have it anymore. However, the first four innings were exactly what everyone had been waiting for and hoped to see.

It was just four innings, but one or two more starts down the line and those four innings will suddenly turn into six or seven innings as the Dominican builds up his arm strength.

The other extreme positive for the Rockies was the fact that they, once again, came from behind.

So far in this young season, the Rockies have made a habit of doing something that they consistently failed at previously.

In 2010, when the Rockies went down a run or two, the team would shut down, sulk and hope for better results next time.

In 2011, the Rockies have fought back whenever the team has been down, clawing back into games.

Despite the early season success of getting back into games, it was easy to dismiss that as bad teams having bad pitchers on the mound.

However, Sunday dispelled that as the Rockies found ways to get to Josh Johnson.

Johnson is considered perhaps the best right-handed pitcher in the National League, showing exactly why throughout the first five innings—it's not as if he had a bad day.

He was unhittable in the early going.

While the game goes down in the books as a loss, the Rockies can leave Sun Life stadium for the final time and head to Chicago in the knowledge that they can score runs on anyone in the league, regardless of who they are and regardless of whether they have their best stuff or not.

The Rockies have definitely come back to earth from their hot start, but they're certainly still showing signs of turning the corner from the team they were last year.