Turn out the lights. The party is over at Coors Field
“Folks will still come out to the ballpark, but for the ballpark it’s self, not so much to root on the team on the field. They’ll come to see Dinger, gobble Helton burgers and soak up the sun – all the things that the press will make fun of them for. It will be 2012 all over again, save for a few more wins.”
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The timing could not be more perfect, really. The Colorado Rockies held our interest until just after the All-Star break, time enough for the Broncos to return to training camp. They got off to a great start, slogged through the early-middle part of the season and preserved their outright collapse until the current home stand. So good for them.
Seeing the Rockies flounder at Coors Field versus the likes of the Miami Marlins, there’s not much doubt that the party is over. Yesterday the Rockies lost again and yesterday the white-hot Dodgers slipped past the Diamond Backs to secure the top spot in the NL West. There’s no catching them now. The Dodgers looked to be the best squad in the division before the season started. They have worked out the kinks and are finally on track to fulfill that promise. They will walk away with a playoff berth after having been chased by Arizona and San Francisco. Colorado’s days as a factor are over.
And now the planning begins for next year.
Folks will still come out to the ballpark, but for the ballpark it’s self, not so much to root on the team on the field. They’ll come to see Dinger, gobble Helton burgers and soak up the sun – all the things that the press will make fun of them for. It will be 2012 all over again, save for a few more wins. The thirty or so home games the Rockies have left will be attended by enough people to keep the Monfort family dining on caviar and juicy beefsteaks whether the Rockies stand a chance or not.
Maybe the fans were foolish to hope for anything more. In retrospect, the 2013 Rockies were fools gold. The streak they started the season on made believers even of pessimists. Certainly nobody believed that they would maintain that winning pace, but even .500 baseball from the twenty-game mark on would have been enough to keep them in the catbird seat. That they have not been able to accomplish even that.
Perhaps the saddest part of the Rockies’ demise in 2013 is that their pitching staff far exceeded expectations. Had fans knows before the start of the season how effective the rotation would be, it would have been assumed that Colorado would have a wonderful year. Alas, the pitching was wasted on an offense that, despite possessing all-stat talent, could not provide enough run support to produce wins. Even with powerhouse hitters like Tulo, Cargo and Cutty at their avail, the 2013 Rockies lost more than their fair share of games by scores like 1-3.
Unlike last year, when the Rockies were totally dismal, this year fans are forced to consider what might have been. In many ways the season set up for the team to do remarkable things within a mediocre division. It was not to be. Even though the 2013 season is less than two thirds over, it’s over.
