Outclassed, Even Now

 

Here is a fact: in the last month, the Colorado Rockies have won more games than the New York Yankees have. Real fact there.

I'm not sure if the Rockies are still on the road to beating the 2024 White Sox's record of ineptitude, but they've evened out slightly since June began. They will likely still cross the 100-loss mark, probably in August, but even since the ASG break ended they've been more consistent and more of a normal bad team. They won two games against the Twins and Cardinals, two decent middle-of-the-pack teams, and won a close one against Baltimore the other night. Even with the loss of Ryan McMahon, they've figured out a decent enough lineup formula, and guys like Jordan Beck, Mickey Moniak, Hunter Goodman and surprisingly Thairo Estrada. Last night they brought up Warming Bernabel to fill the roster vacancy, he looks pretty good. Tanner Gordon's been back up for 4 games and is already one of the best starters in town. And somehow Seth Halvorsen's gotten 10 saves in a season where there's only been 27 wins. Despite the pure trainwreck quality, the Rockies are doing their best to get by, and trying to salvage things enough to at least have some starting points next season.

However. Last night, even away from Coors Field, the Rockies still lost a game 18-0. To another last place team.

Now, to be fair, the Orioles this year are still better than most last place teams. In fact, once again it speaks to the quality of the AL East that they're in last to begin with. The Rays would be a second place team in any other division, and the Sox would be a first place team in any other division. The O's have a better record than the 4th place Braves, have more immediate assets than the 4th place Angels, and have more of a future than the 4th place Twins. But they're an AL East team in a decade where the AL East is competitive, and they have like 10 injured pitchers, so they're in last. 

Yet last night's game was a mix of two elements that were sure to be troublesome when combined: the Orioles' lineup and the Rockies' pitching staff. After a while it was getting ridiculous. The whole Orioles team got hits, and every starter but Holliday, Laureano and Cowser had RBIs. There were home runs from Tyler O'Neill, Cedric Mullins and somehow Alex Jackson. NINE RUNS were scored in the 7th, off a combination of Zach Agnos, completely destroying his April start, and Nick Anderson, in his first appearance as a Rockie. It takes a lot to erase Antonio Senzatela's patheticness but those two succeeded. And ultimately the Rockies were powerless against Trevor Rogers, in a comeback season attempting to vindicate the Orioles' move in trading away Kyle Stowers. 

A game like this proves that, regardless of recent trends, the Orioles are still inherently a good team, and the Rockies are still awful. If the O's had healthy seasons from Grayson Rodriguez, Kyle Bradish, Zach Eflin and Tyler Wells, they wouldn't have to keep trotting Brandon Young or whoever out there, or chancing whether this Charlie Morton or Dean Kremer start will be one of the good ones. And even if the O's continue to deal, as O'Hearn and Mullins are likely gonna go, they will still have enough young talent to rebound next year. Full seasons from Jordan Westburg, Colton Cowser, Adley Rutschman and Ryan Mountcastle could bring this team back.

As for the Rockies...maybe invest in a dome.

Coming Tonight: A guy who's been having a hot weekend against a completely depleted Yankees team.