Bard to Kill

 

Look, man, the road trip started out alright. The Rockies won a series against the Red Sox, and the Yankees just found out how hard it is to do. And then...y'know...misery.

Losing 7 straight on the road isn't unheard of, but it's not a great way of spending a road trip. Keeping in mind, the away games give a leveler playing field to the starting pitching, who can get beat up more at home. But, y'see...if the Rockies rotation consists primarily of people like Connor Seabold, Austin Gomber, Noah Davis and Chase Anderson, it's not gonna make any difference. And so that's why I'm not shocked that the Reds and Braves kept beating them up.

...apart from the fact that, y'know, the Reds and Braves are two of the hottest teams in baseball right now, and what the hell did you think was gonna happen. Alright, Noah Davis against Elly de la Cruz. Sure, why not? Could be fine.

Without a substantial pitching rotation, a trusted and healthy lineup, and a real central piece like Brendan Rodgers, the Rockies are pretty powerless this year. Even the Padres, who have been called a major disappointment so far, are lapping them in the standings and keeping them in fifth in an otherwise relatively close NL West. There's a certain dreariness to this team that's only been hinted at in past years. Yes, it's nice that Nolan Jones has a place where he can eventually become a star, as I figured that'd be Cleveland, but there's so many other spots on this team where nothing's happening. 

The hero on this team, as it has been since 2020, has been Daniel Bard. Bard's comeback from the depths of injuries and the minors was inexplicable enough, but Bard continuing to be a consistently excellent relief piece for the Rockies is even more inexplicable. Most flashes in the pan burn out eventually, especially major comeback stories. Look at Eric Thames, Lucas Luetge and Rick Ankiel. They all sort of petered off as they went. A few recent success stories are still going- Rich Hill, Miles Mikolas and Merrill Kelly are all still trusted pitchers after their initial comebacks.

Bard is just one of those guys that puts in the work and tries hard enough to make a difference, and that's why he's still here. He missed some early games due to anxiety issues, and had to overcome them to get back to Denver. Once he got there, he posted a 0.79 ERA in 22 games, only allowing 2 earned runs. The one detail is that he's not closing games, as that's still Pierce Johnson's department, but Bard is still insanely successful as a middle-reliever, and he's just thankful to get any playing time in the bigs these days. 

I'm glad Daniel Bard is still a major talking point of these early 2020s Rockies teams. Because they don't have a ton of other ones right now.

Coming Tonight: He went from being a crucial piece of a huge WBC team to helping the Red Sox take down my Yankees for a few games.