It’s mid-August and the Rockies need to win. But first, they need to crunch some numbers.
Going into Friday night’s game against Milwaukee, the Rockies had 48 games remaining. By manager Jim Tracy’s count, they needed to win 31 to have a realistic shot at making the playoffs.
“That should be our benchmark,” Tracy said. “To heck with what everybody else is doing around us. If you do something like that, you don’t know where the season is going to go.”
Thirty-one wins in a span of 48 games. How realistic is that? For the record, the Rockies were 25-23 in the 48-game span before Friday night’s game.
You go, CarGo.
Two Venezuelans — Magglio Ordoñez and Andres Galarraga — have won batting titles in the major leagues. Now comes Carlos Gonzalez, who leads the National League at .324, just ahead of the Reds’ Joey Votto and the Phillies’ Placido Polanco.
Yes, Venezuelan reporters are calling him. Yes, his profile is growing by the day. To which CarGo says: enough already.
“I try to stay away from that,” said Gonzalez, when asked about the prospect of winning a batting title at age 24. “Everybody is talking about it right now, but I’ve told everybody to quit talking about it. It’s a long season.”
OK, but what if he actually wins it?
Said Gonzalez: “It would be crazy. Everybody’s dream is to lead something in the major leagues.”
Close encounters.
Looking for the stat that best describes the Rockies’ season? Try this one: They’re 5-14 in one-run games on the road, where they’ve hit .232 compared to a major league-leading .301 at Coors Field.
Footnotes.
Tracy on Brewers third baseman Casey McGehee, whose streak of nine hits was snapped when he grounded out in the first inning: “He’s a really, really tough out because he’s not the least bit shy about using the whole field. He drives the ball to right-center like a left-handed pull hitter.” . . . Tracy is trying to get Seth Smith straightened out, putting him in the leadoff spot after a hitless road trip that left Smith 0-for-14 in August. Smith stretched that to 0-for-17 after an 0-for-3 showing Friday.
