Colorado Rockies Take Tough Loss

Two games...that was two games.

The Rockies just dropped one of the most emotionally exhausting games I’ve ever seen, 12-11. Hey, it’s football season, so I guess they needed to have a football game score.

The big number now is 6.5 games. If the Rockies had won, it would have been 4.5 games. That’s how big it is to play the team currently in the lead of the National League wild-card race, the Philadelphia Phillies.

This was a makeup game from a rainout earlier in the season—a one-game home stand at Coors Field squeezed into a six-game road trip. The Rockies fly right back out to San Diego for a three-game series with the National League West-leading San Diego Padres.

I can’t imagine what the Rockies are feeling right now. I know how drained I am, and I’m not playing. But the Rockies have to win baseball games. That’s what winning teams do...they win. Pretty simple concept, but that’s where we are in the season.

Yeah, it’s tough for the Rockies to hit on the road. Yeah, it’s particularly tough for the Rockies to hit in PETCO Park. Yeah, it’s a tough week of travel on top of all that. Tough.

The Rockies have to win this series, if not sweep it. That’s it. No excuses are left. No room for errors. It doesn’t matter if Mark Belisle's arm finally fell off in the seventh inning at Coors against the Phillies, or if Matt Reynolds finally proved he’s human, or if Joe Beimel still has whiplash from watching Chase Utley’s homer go out.

The Rockies' new bullpen arm acquisition from the Boston Red Sox, Manny Delcarmen, met the team for the first time Thursday, and then he got a chance to show what he can do for the Rockies. Four runs on four hits and only one out in the seventh inning...he’ll fit right in.

“Not the way I wanted my first day to go, but I want to get the ball and get back out there,” said Delcarmen, who allowed Jayson Werth’s 19th homer on a bad change-up that tied it at seven (quote from Yahoo! Sports and the AP). Funny...I don’t have the same desire to see you have the ball.

Carlos Gonzalez should have been given two runs for his single-shot home run...that got out of there faster than the crowd after someone yells, “Cops!” at a backroom casino.

The clock is running out. Keep fighting, Rockies...I know I don’t have it in me after Thursday’s game. The good news: The Padres are only 3-7 in their last 10 games. A sweep of the Friars would put the Rockies only 4.5 games back in the National League West race.

This article also featured on The Rockies Reporter and on My Team Rivals: Rockies.