The Rockies had a forgettable opening game after a pitching duel that lasted just four innings. The score was 1-0 in favor of the Marlins on a Marcell Ozuna home run when the game got away from Colorado in the fifth inning. Ozuna doubled to lead off the inning and the relationship between JDLR and Baby Bull started to get testy. Jorge was shaking off a lot of pitch calls by Rosario and wasn’t too happy when pitching coach Jim Wright made the visit. After the visit, the Marlins scored five, one, zero, and three runs over the last four innings. I can only guess that JDLR lost confidence in Rosario’s game calling. This is what I think happened: Ozuma homered and doubled on low and inside pitches which was right in his wheelhouse. JDLR did not want to go back there but Rosario kept insisting on the same pitch. I get the feeling the JDLR did his homework but Rosario did not leading to poor game calling. Note: The scouting report said that Ozuna loves low fastballs. That’s exactly what he got on the home run and double.
Wilton Lopez after looking good and refreshed in spring training came in to clean up the mess and the 2013 version Lopez only added to the mess. Several line drives and fly balls allowed the Fish to run away with the game. Chad Bettis came in to pitch the eighth inning and he quickly learned tonight that the fastballs won’t intimidate the major league hitters. During spring training Bettis was dominating the AAA and AAAA hitters but didn’t have much chance to face the major league hitters. He gave up three runs on several doubles. The Fish did something that the Rockies rarely did last year; once they score some runs they kept adding on instead of putting the bats away.
The only good part about the game tonight is that CarGo is already on MVP pace. Cuddyer looked comfortable hitting in the two hole. The Rockies need to quickly wipe the slate clean for tomorrow night as they will face yet another excellent pitcher in Nathan Eovaldi.
RMH, I’m afraid you’re 100% right about Bettis. Another reason why you can’t get too excited about spring stats accumulated against late-inning minor leaguers. I still think he’ll be a pretty good one, but I always thought a AAA stint was in order. Same with Kahnle, but he can’t actually be sent to AAA. My main disappointment is DLR, who just seemed to lose focus in the 4th after dominating the first time through, then completely falling apart in the… Read more »
“De La Rosa said issue w signs started w runner at second base.. But it has been ongoing between he and Rosario.” Renck tweet…
Thursday’s starting pitching assignment is confusing; ROOT game announcers said Morales was pitching Thursday. Rockies website said Nicasio was pitching Thursday in “Probable Pitchers”. JD also said that he heard from the internet media that Morales was pitching Thursday.
I observed that Morales was pitching after Nicasio during spring training.
Who can confirm starting pitcher for Thursday/Friday between Morales & Nicasio?
RMH – I heard, either on Root or KOA or perhaps both that Nicasio is to go on Friday for home opener and Morales on Friday. It makes sense that way. If Morales started on Thursday that would be 3 lefthanders against the might Marlins. It’s one game so losing is no big deal, but the way we lost is a big deal. Weiss mentioned after the game that DLR and Rosario ironed out their issues after the game. I’m… Read more »
Lopez should surely have covered first, but why the heck did Morneau even look towards home? Runners were going on contact and he had zero chance for a play at the plate. It makes me wonder if he faked out Lopez a little bit.
i got the lineup order from watching on Saturday when Jim Wright announced that Nicasio would be the starter for the home opener…not sure if you are talking about me above when you say JD, but i’ve only heard/seen that Nicasio would be home opener pitcher…
Today’s Denver Post says Nicasio is pitching Thursday and Kerosene on Friday.
Meanwhile, Chatwood is targeting April 12th return which is one start earlier than my estimate (miss 2 starts instead of 3). He does not need to rebuild arm strength and he can continue to pitch on the sidelines. He only needs to get comfortable covering bunts and running over to 1B.
Great news-the game wasn’t blacked out on ESPN2 up here in Loveland.Horrible news-the game wasn’t blacked out on ESPN2 up here in Loveland.
Classic…if I may add to it…Bad news…Son was bouncing off the walls so took him to the park and missed most of the game….Good news…son was bouncing off the walls so I took him to the park and missed most of the game.
I think Buck O’Neil once said that one of the great things about baseball is..”you got me today…but I can get you tomorrow”…hope the Rox take this mentality.
We have a catching problem.Bring up McHenry for christs sake.He guided a staff towards the play offs last year and is used to being a backup Make him DLR’s personal catcher and teach Rosario how to freaking catch!!!!!!!!!!! Lets call Lopez “gasoline”.
I was struck by how many routine strikes Rosario drops. Just simple pitches that he can’t squeeze.
No matter how much work gets put in, some guys just can’t improve. I’m afraid Rosario may be one of those guys.
He was killing me with all those dropped strikes! I kept screaming at the TV for him to catch the damn ball!
This team looked like a bunch of stressed out hot heads last night!!! Walter Weiss has some work to do to make this team play loose and play the game the right way.
I’m hoping they take 3 out 4 from the Marlins and we all realize that first game was because the Rockies were tight and nervy.
WOW! Get well, Don Baylor. That looked ugly.
I need to find a new interest! I am not sure I can suffer through another year of this.
We have to be the worst team in baseball at player development. How long does it take to figure out whether Rosario can be a decent catcher? He’s been in the system for years. If it appears likely that he can’t be a decent catcher then figure that out and turn him into a first baseman, a third baseman, or a right fielder. But figure it out and move on. Gray and Butler are the future of the team. When… Read more »
Have to agree Julian. As I have stated several times over the past few seasons. If I was an up and coming pitcher the Rockies organization would be the last place I would want to be. Not to discount the dropped strikes and other potential issues with Rosario I have to say the media is doing a fairly good job at blowing up things, perceived or otherwise, between Rosario and DLR. Jorge was pissed plain and simple. He was frustrated… Read more »
We all know Wilin can drive fans nuts, so it must be 100 times worse for his pitchers. But they better not cave in and give him his personal McKenry type catcher. Why not? I’ll give you a few reasons: 1. DLR isn’t good enough for the diva act. Here’s his average full season stats: 12-10, 4.73. Jose Fernandez is 21 and may be the best pitcher in baseball. Jorge will be 33 this week and isn’t even in the… Read more »
Ag, WW showed his weakness as a manager when he didn’t immediately go out to the mound when this little spat started. Instead he sent the pitching coach out. Furthermore, he than took DLR out when he loaded the bases after hitting Baker with one out. At that point the score was still 2-0, still a manageable game. He further made things worse by bringing in Lopez. Based on what we saw last season, we knew what will happen. My… Read more »
Let me add my John Hancock to your “Declaration of Catcher” post. Beautiful!
I guess I will ride the fence here. DLR can NOT do that on the mound. At the same time- if Wilin wasn’t at fault for the whole thing then he better go out to the mound and tell DLR what is up. Obviously he is inspiring confidence in no pitcher, and all the pitchers probably feel like they can’t relax and let the catcher take over the game. Rosario either wasn’t with the game plan, or can’t change mid… Read more »
And I guess I didn’t ride the fence. I firmly scolded DLR and then proceeded to whip up on Rosario.
Gotta disagree with Ag on this. Rosario is only going to catch 80% (at most) of the time. So why not sit him (or play him somewhere else) when DLR pitches. DLR’s numbers before he got here mean nothing. He finally learned to pitch. This should have been taken care of during spring training where they had at least one blow up between the two. I like Weiss but he’s got to figure out what to do. I know that… Read more »
Respectfully disagree Ag.Pitchers that win 75% of their starts at Coors are much more valuable than a catcher who calls a crap game and can’t hold onto the damn ball! Add throws to the plate to the list of screw ups-i.e.game 2.