In a July 16th poll conducted here on RWO, 63% of you said you hated the Dodgers the most out of any NL West team. The Giants came in at 28%, Diamondbacks at 6% and the Padres rounded it off at 3%.
So, for the 63% of you that can’t stand the sight of the Dodgers, you might wanna keep your eyes glued to the TV this weekend because the Rockies can make it all but impossible for the boys in blue, and their vaulted payroll, to grace any mention come play-off time.
Well, any mention other than, “Ha! look what a bunch of money doesn’t get you!”
The Dodgers are 4 games back in the wild card chase and their WCE (wild card elimination number) is a nice doable 4.
Oh, and the Rockies 100 game elimination number is 1.
Tonight the Rockies will have Jeff Francis on the mound. He has quite the pressure put on him with this completely unbelievable (in any other season) stat:
If Jeff Francis wins it would be 1st time all year their starting pitchers collected a win 3 G in a row.
Baffling.
But not impossible. The Rockies have won the last three series against the Dodgers and are tied 9-9 for the season so far. They will have Kershaw back on the bump and hoping to keep their 2 game winning streak alive. He was a bit rusty in his return from the DL on Sunday. He gave up one run over five, but gave up five hits and five walks.
The Dodgers will also have Shane Victorino back after his wrist injury. He will be pushed down in the batting order, hitting 7th.
MATT BELISLE
Matt Belisle gave Troy Renck possible the greatest quote ever, calling out either other players or management. It isn’t clear which he was talking about, but the sentiment was clear and consise: quit blaming Coors.
It can’t be a crutch or an excuse for why we don’t do well. If the mind-set has shifted, it has to shift back. It’s about having an attitude. If we are going to have guys who mentally break down because of the surroundings, then we don’t want them.
Despite his struggles the last few games, which can be attributed to fatigue more than anything, he should become the manager, GM and owner of this team until someone with the same thought process can be brought in to take his place.
IN GAME CHAT
[quick-chat room=”roxDodgers92812″ height=”600″] .
That quote makes me love Belisle even more!!! If you haven’t read the pre-game above, at least jump to his quote…
RE: Belisle’s fatigue. He’s over his IPs and batters face for 2011 but under from 2010. I understand he’s had a lot of work, but he has to gut it up. Maybe some select work earlier in games would be better than relying on him to pitch the 7th or 8th every game. It’s possibly the higher pressure situations getting to him.
come on, are you seriously negative about him saying that people need to quit blaming the Rockies issues on Coors, a statement that had to be said, and man up or move out and all you can do is diss him for not manning up himself? I gotta say that is not the way I feel about it…has he had a tough time of it this last few appearances? yep. Could there be any number of things explaining it? Yep.… Read more »
Hey, if we’re making excuses for bad performances late in the year might as well just shelve him like we shelved the other guys that were scuffling. He’s overworked. Fine. Put him on the DL. Tongue in cheek…sort of. I have no problem with him calling the others out. I’m just saying I don’t see Belisle as an untouchable, unexpendable bullpen arm any more like I did the past few years or early in the season…based on performance. If it’s… Read more »
I guess my biggest issue with your comment (you being the Ying to my Yang as far as glass empty/full goes :-)) is that I was saying how impressive the quote from him, calling out the blaming of Coors for issues, and how i thought it was that type of mindset that should permeate the club – don’t blame coors, blame yourselves. I posted that quote, thinking it was excellent, and the only comment back is, “he needs to work… Read more »
As an example of how anyone can go into a “slump”…This pitcher is one of the best in the bigs this year, anyone would say he is top 3 pitchers in all of baseball.
Last 5 games: 30 innings pitched, 41 hits, 21 Runs, ERA 5.70…
Pitcher? King Felix just after his no hitter…
Cheap ass Rockies as spoilers? Umm, no. Moscoso hits for himself in the 7th even though Roenicke is coming in for the bottom half. Why? “The short bench” says Drew. So I looked: here’s the bench right now: Dex (injured) Giambi (mystery illness) CarGo (injured) Ramon Hernandez (really injured/blown out hammy) Herrera (o.k. to play) And Charlie Blackmon was already used. So they go into LA with a bench of 2 guys. Really, 2 guys. Has any other team ever… Read more »
I’m in the Agbayani/Jaredean corner concerning Tulo. He is a much better SS than Ruteledge who doesn’t have the arm or range that Tulo does. And I don’t buy the contention that the team plays better without Tulo.
And as for Helton he deserves to go out on his own but I really hope he decides to retire. And if the Rockies bring back Giambi! They wouldn’t would they? But I thought that after last season as well.