Stick a Fork in Them

That's right, the Rockies are done. That's not my opinion, that's beat writer Troy Renck of the Denver Post--From August 10th.. And I blogged about it here, how I disagreed with much of his analysis.

Here's his summation:

Two factors will determine their [Rockies] fate: how they play against the Giants, and their record when Aaron Cook and Jason Marquis pitch.

He goes on to say the Rockies needed to go 13-7 in Marquis and Cook starts, and If Cook went on the disabled list, the Rockies don't make the playoffs.

They have roughly 20 starts left. The necessary record? Try 13-7.

if Cook lands on the DL, the Rockies aren't making the playoffs.

First of all, Cook did go on the Disabled List and is still on it. He might be back for two more starts or he may not return at all. Strike 1.

Meanwhile Jason Marquis has had 7 starts and the Rockies are 4-3 in those starts so far. Cook has only pitched twice since then and went 0-2. So the combined record of these two is currently 4-5. Cook's replacements Chacin, Fogg, Contreras, and Rogers have gone 2-3, so in total those two spots have gone 6-8, with no hope of going 13-7. Strike 2.

We'll ignore the silly part about the Rockies needing the Cubs to win the NL Central, and move on to the more pertinent part.

The Rockies have 10 games remaining against the Giants. Six of those are on the road. The winner of those games will reach the playoffs...The Rockies must split six at AT&T Park and win three of four on Blake Street.

The Rockies did win 3 of 4 on Blake Street, but now have lost 4 in AT&T, making it impossible for them to achieve a split. Best they can do now is go 5-5 in the 10 games and Renck says that won't be good enough despite the fact that they would have a 5.5 game lead coming out if they do win the next two. Strike 3--They are out of the playoffs.

Remember you read it in the Denver Post first.

Now to be fair, in my mocking criticism of this analysis back in August, I said the Rockies slumbering bats need to come out to help the pitching, but that hasn't happened consistently. The pitching is still carrying this team, and seems to be starting to falter.

I also said back then:

The key to me is getting to September in position and using an expanded bench and bullpen a la Hurdle did in 2007, to work through any rough spots. I don't expect another 14 of 15 down the stretch. Take it day by day.

The Rockies finished the rest of August 11-9 including a month-ending 5 game losing streak. Once the expanded rosters started on September 1st, the Rockies won 10 of 11 and now 10 of 14 in September.

Still taking it game by game, day by day.