MVN - Most Valuable Network

An Open Letter To the Lords of Baseball

To: Lords of Baseball (inthebiginning@mlb.com)
From: A sad Rockies fan (benavides13@coloradorockies.com)
Subject: WTF

Dear Lords of Baseball:

What in the hell is wrong with you?

Sorry to open on such a confrontational tone, but you guys are kinda bringing this on yourselves. Generally I try to be more respectful when I deal with you folks. It worked a week ago, anyway, when you brought us a Yankees sweep.

But right now… now you’re starting to really piss me off. I don’t know if it was something I did, or if it was one of the other 63 remaining Rockies die-hards that did something that rubbed you the wrong way… but even if I came up to you tomorrow and punched you in the face (and by the way, I’m giving that serious consideration), I wouldn’t deserve what’s happening to my favorite team. Nobody does.

How long did it take you to come up with this cruel and unusual punishment, Lords? After a stretch of baseball that saw my Rox go 20-7 and rise up to 2.5 games out of first in the NL West and four games over .500, they went on the road and haven’t won since. It’s not like we’re strangers to bad road trips in June and July. You folks have been awfully generous with those (and don’t think for a second I mean that in an appreciative way). But seven straight losses, each one seemingly more painful than the last? It’s starting to get ri-god-damn-diculous.

Maybe you think you’re showing a delightful sense of humor, but nobody around these parts is laughing. The first game of each of Colorado’s three stops on this trip – Toronto, Chicago, and now Houston – has followed THE EXACT SAME SCRIPT: Rox fall behind, take the lead on a Troy Tulowitzki home run in the top half of the inning (do you have something against this kid?), and then Brian Fuentes gets dinked to death and blows the lead, and the game, in the bottom half.

Yeah, Lords, I know it’s not like the Rockies have been wholly pathetic in the last seven games. I know the offense is carrying its weight for the most part. But after a month-long stretch where this team finally looked like it was putting it all together, now they… well, you keep inventing ways for it to fall apart.

Were Jorge Julio’s comments that offensive to you? All the reliever said was something to the effect of “We feel like the game is over when the bullpen comes in.” He was merely verbalizing the growing confidence of a bullpen group that had blown just two leads in a 27-game span (and the Rox had won both of those games). Since he said that after the sweep of the Yankees, the Rockies have accumulated six blown saves in the last seven games, three of them blown by the normally reliable Fuentes.

You’ve broken the team down, I’m sure. Losing streaks happen, but to have them sustained on nights like this is absolutely devastating. And you’ve definitely broken down the 64 of us die-hards. I sat on the couch tonight after Carlos Lee’s walk-off grand slam and was pretty sure I was going to vomit right there all over the coffee table. The Rockies were coming damn close to being a point of pride after that Yankees sweep. Now they’re right back to being a civic embarrassment. I didn’t think about them all day today just to avoid falling into a funk, and I’ll have to do the same tomorrow. I actually wondered when Seahawks training camp started today. I don’t usually do that until mid-July!

I’m at a loss here, Lords. What have you got against us? Is it the purple? Did we get too excited about sweeping a mediocre Yankees team? Is Tulo a stark-raving baseball atheist and is this your way of punishing him?

Either way, we’ve officially crossed over to the point where this losing streak is unfair. Quite frankly, as far as us fans are concerned, it’s inhumane, too. You can remind me that all it would take is three wins in the next three days to get us right back to .500, but that’s not going to lessen the sting. Our stint as contenders in the NL West is over almost as soon as it began. We only got to check Dodgers and Padres box scores with legitimate interest for four days! That’s not fair!

I guess the only way I can stick it to you, Lords, is to come back for more. After all, I’ve been doing it for 15 years and there’s no relief in sight. I’ll wake up tomorrow, put on my beat up purple CR cap, and try to talk myself into believing in Josh Fogg one more time. You’ve been kicking my ass for the majority of my life, Lords, but this past week has been the first time in a long time that you’ve legitimately knocked me down for the count.

On behalf of the 64 remaining Rockies fans, I’d like to make a blanket apology for whatever the hell it was that we, and/or our beloved team, did that has caused you to unleash the utmost potency of your wrath upon us. We have seen how merciless you can be. We get it. Now, please, call off the dogs. Cut us a little slack. I’d say we’ve had enough pain in this last week to last an entire season. Here’s hoping you agree.

Angrily yours,

DL

This entry was posted on Thursday, June 28th, 2007 at 9:49 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.