(Photo Credit: Bleacher Report)
On a night where both Michael Cuddyer and Carlos Gonzalez were not in the lineup, it was hard to be optimistic at all.
Turns out this season, is headed on a one way express to the nowhere. It’s a shame really, but we all knew it was going to happen. Thursday night, turned out to be another ugly loss for the Colorado Rockies 11-2 to the ruthless Atlanta Braves. Incredibly, the Braves outscored the Rockies 40-13 in the 4 game series!
A potential bright spot was Chad Bettis, the 24 year old right hander, called up from Double-A Tulsa was making his MLB debut for the Colorado Rockies but things did not go right from the beginning. The Rockies almost gave Bettis some run support right out of the gate having the bases loaded with one out, but in typical Rockies fashion, they came away empty handed. In the bottom of the 1st, it didn’t take long for the Braves to strike, a 2 run HR by Justin Upton and after 8 pitches, Bettis and the Rockies were already down. Betts was able to stop the Braves from scoring anymore runs, and in his 1st MLB inning, it took him 31 pitches and he seemed very predictable when it came to throwing his fastball, which topped out at 95mph. The Rockies would respond in the 2nd with back-to-back doubles and then loading the bases again, but still ended the inning only getting one run across the plate to still trail 2-1. Tulo, was ejected for arguing on a called strike 3. The pitch seemed slightly low, and it’s pretty evident that Tulo had enough and lost his cool. Still with Cuddy and Cargo not playing tonight, to lose Tulo as well that early in the game was a backbreaker, for let’s be honest not the mentally strongest team. The Braves would tack on a 3rd run in the 2nd. Soon after, a 2 run bomb by Jason Heyward would make 5-1 Braves and they would be on their way to another victory and the 4 game sweep. Chad Bettis ended his 1st major League start at 88 pitches, pitching 5 innings, giving up 6 hits and 5 runs with one strikeout. Jonathan Herrera, who replaced the ejected Tulo, got the Rockies only other RBI of the game. For good measure, Justin Upton would crank his 2nd HR of the night, this time a 3 run HR in the 8th, giving him 5 RBI’s for the night.
The loss dropped the Rockies to 0-4 on their road trip, and there are certainly no signs of improvement. The fat lady has sung, this season is beyond over now. Why are people afraid to say they have thrown in the towel? It’s the truth! There is no desire and emotion when I look at the players. They don’t have lofty expectations so why should they worry? Low expectations and desires have always been the dismantling attributes to the Colorado Rockies and this will continue unfortunately until a major overhaul of upper management is handled. Don’t hold your breath. As fans, all we can hope for is a couple more days of 4 tacos for $1 if the Rockies can get their offense together. Not much else to look forward too.
Colorado now heads off to play one of the hottest teams in MLB, the NL Central leading Pittsburgh Pirates who just recently took 4/5 off the St. Louis Cardinals. They will face old friends in former coach Clint Hurdle and former 2nd basemen Clint Barmes. It’s fair to say, they will be the ones smiling when these teams meet up on Friday.
Sammy Mugharbil
Sammy is Studying Sports Industry, Marketing, and Broadcast Journalism at Metro State University of Denver. He's an Intern with the Colorado Rapids Youth Academy, and a Volunteer for the Metro State Broadcast Network.
