RMJ 100 May 25

SUNDAY MAY 25 ● Denver, vs Colorado

Up and at ’em. 8:30 a.m. No rest for the weary. Not even eight hours. Maybe tonight. Maybe not. Another day game in San Francisco. And then another. An off-day for the memorial service, and then a flight back to Houston. Thursday night, we play the Padres.

On Thursday, there will be no wakeup call. Hope I do wake up.

 

I got to the park at 9:30, and I learned that Bobby’s injury was more serious than I had thought.

“It’s pretty swollen,” Dave said. “I don’t think he’ll be able to swing a bat for at least a week. We’re sending him back to Houston to have him checked.”

I talked to Tim Purpura, who in turn talked with Gerry. We decided not to go shorthanded for a week or more. Instead, we called up Ray Montgomery and put Bobby on the disabled list. There goes my right field defense, and a lefthanded bat. Bobby wasn’t swinging all that well, but he was better than those who will replace him.

 

Chris Holt took the ball for us this afternoon. It is tough to have the right “attitude for the altitude” in Denver — especially if you are a rookie pitcher.

We gave Chris a 4-0 lead in the first two innings. But then we quit, and they started. Chris was a little wild — in and out of the strike zone. He walked a few batters and gave up 11 hits. When I relieved him in the sixth, it was 5-4 Rockies.

All things considered, it was not a bad performance. I’ve seen veteran pitchers do a lot worse. José Lima did Chris a good turn, retiring Kevin Young with the bases loaded to end the inning.

We had numerous chances to add runs and win the game, but we just couldn’t get the big hit. Luis González was especially feeble; he could have driven in three runs by just hitting fly balls. Instead, he hit popups — and it is hard to tag up on an infield fly.

Sean Berry dipped below the Mendoza Line (batting average below .200) again. He failed to register even a single hit, and he is now batting .195.

Sad to say, our pitchers are making better contact than some of our hitters these days.

 

When Gerry and I tinkered with the team last winter, it was with the idea of spreading the offense so that we wouldn’t have to depend on Bagwell and Biggio day after day.

Well, guess what? Bagwell and Biggio are the only two players on the team who are producing runs.

Brad Ausmus is hitting way better than we thought he would, but without power. I moved him to the second-spot in the lineup today, and he did well. But that’s not enough.

We need to get some production from Berry, González, Howard, and Eusebio –not to mention Bell, when he comes back.

The pitching has exceeded expectations. But we don’t have the kind of staff to carry the load all year long, in the absence of hitting.

 

We loaded the bases with two outs in the ninth, down 8-5. Perfect place for a grand slam. Howard was the scheduled hitter, and the Rockies had a journeyman lefthander by the name of Mike Muñoz on the mound.

I talked with Bill and Mac, and I decided to pinch-hit with Listach. This was a desperate measure, because Pat hasn’t been playing at all. He has been swinging well during batting practice, but this was the ultimate pressure spot of the game.

In terms of personality, Howard is far superior to Listach in this role.  Thomas is confident; Pat is constantly looking over his shoulder. But Thomas just isn’t swinging well at all, and he hasn’t seen many lefthanded pitchers this year.

When I called him back, he threw his bat down and stormed into the clubhouse. This is unprofessional. He should stay in the dugout and pull for Pat.

This type of behavior would really make some managers mad, but it doesn’t bother me all that much. I like a guy who wants to perform, and who is mad when he doesn’t get a chance.

There were several occasions when I was no gentleman when I was removed from a game. If the guy still has an attitude the next day, then that is a problem. In the heat of the battle, it is not — at least, for me.

 

I was a little disappointed in an exchange between Mac and Pat before the at-bat.

“What does this guy throw?” Pat asked.

Mac got out his scouting sheet.

“He throws a lot of breaking stuff,” he said. “Likes to backdoor you with the curve ball. He cuts his fast ball in on you, and sinks it away. He likes to change speeds a lot.”

This scouting report made Mike Muñoz seem like Tom Glavine. Actually, Muñoz has been up-and-down between Colorado Springs and Denver for the last three years. He’s a fringe pitcher who has little else going for him other than his lefthandedness.

If it were me, I would have told Listach, “This guy doesn’t have shit. Get a good pitch to hit and knock his ass out of the game.”

Listach got a good pitch to hit. In fact, he got several. He ended up hitting one of them in the air to short. It was so weakly hit that it had the arc of a fly ball to the outfield. It just didn’t go that far.

So we went down — not with a bang, but a whimper.