I received an interesting e-mail Tuesday morning.
A sympathetic Rockies fan wanted to know why I was so critical of the team in its 9-4 loss to Washington on Monday night. She took particular offense at my line that read: “The third inning, featuring costly throwing errors by (Aaron) Cook and shortstop Troy Tulowitzki, was as ugly as a velvet Elvis painting.”
I thought it was a good line. A little cheesy, perhaps, kind of like The King’s white jumpsuit, but it got the message across.
The main point of the fan’s e-mail was this: Given the Rockies’ recent 10-game road trip, I should have cut the Rockies some slack. It was her contention that a hot summer trip through Cincinnati, Pittsburgh and Florida, with no days off, followed immediately by a home game, would sap the strength of any team.
Hmm, I thought, maybe she’s on to something. After all, you see NBA teams mail it in all the time and everybody just shrugs it off and blames those unwatchable games on the ugly schedule.
And remember, the NBA plays an 82-game schedule; the MLB season is 162 games long.
Of course, couch potatoes will point their fingers at portly pitchers and conclude that a major-leaguer’s life is all about postgame buffets, chartered jets and five-star hotels.
I’ve been on enough Rockies road trips to know better. From spring training to October, a major-league season is a meat grinder. I’m amazed the players hold up as well as they do.
So I put the question to manager Clint Hurdle. Did the long road trip account for the Rockies’ sloppy play Monday night? His answer was an unequivocal “no.”
“We don’t make excuses and we aren’t about to start,” he said. “You make plays or you don’t make plays. The bottom line is we didn’t make plays we should have made.”
That said, Hurdle acknowledged that the major leagues’ long and winding road is a rough one. Players have to significantly tweak their lifestyles to get the most out of their minds and bodies.
But Hurdle’s bottom line is one I hope my new e-mail pal picks up on. These young men are professional baseball players. It’s their job to be ready to play, whatever time zone they’re in.
