Not all losses are created equally, no matter what the standings say. Sure, every defeat officially counts the same in the loss column, but everyone who has ever played, coached or watched a sporting event knows that some L’s are much bigger than one negative tick mark on the season ledger.
In baseball, it’s hard to pin the outcome of a season on any one game; when a team plays 162 times, there are plenty of opportunities to right a wrong and for bad breaks to come out in the wash. But that doesn’t mean all setbacks on the diamond are the same, either.
For a team, there’s nothing more gut wrenching than a blown save; it’s the worst possible way to lose a game. It is defeat being clutched from the jaws of victory, as a sure win suddenly turns into a loss. It’s two-plus hours of good work going up in smoke in the matter of minutes.
And no team knows this better than the Colorado Rockies. Last season, the local nine blew 26 saves, out of 50 opportunities; that number led Major League Baseball, as they were also the only team to convert on less than 50 percent of their chances.
That’s a staggering number. It means that on 26 occasions, the Rockies much-maligned starting pitching had put the team into position to win, and had gotten the offensive support needed to have a late-game lead, only to see the bullpen squander things in the eighth or ninth inning.
Obviously, this had an effect on the standings. Heck, if Colorado’s relief pitchers had only converted half of those blown saves, the team would have finished with a .500 record. Imagine if they had a dominant closer.
But the impact of these games goes much deeper. They leave an indelible mark on a team’s psyche; in a game that is so dependent on confidence and mental strength, squandering victories lets the ever-dangerous villain known as doubt creep in. And things tend to snowball.
Early in the 2015 season, the Rockies face exactly this situation. Despite a positive start to the year, they are limping out on a crucial six-game road trip. Why? Because LaTroy Hawkins blew a 5-3 lead in the ninth inning yesterday against the Cubs.
So instead of heading to San Francisco and Los Angeles – to face the two teams that almost everyone considers the class of the NL West – with a 5-1 records and two series victories under their belt – Colorado sits at 4-2 and owners of a two-game losing streak. The difference, while marginal in the standings, is huge mentally. And if the Rockies don’t see it, they are completely incapable of reading the tea leaves.
Walt Weiss’ team has the pieces to be a playoff contender. Their everyday lineup is as good as any team in the league at the plate. With the exception of yesterday, they’re among the best teams in baseball in the field. And their starting pitching, especially when Jorge De La Rose returns, is better than most people want to admit.
But they can’t keep giving games away. Time after time after time, they can’t battle for eight innings, scratch out a lead and then watch an inept relief pitcher waste away everyone’s work.
That’s what happened yesterday. Jordan Lyles deserved a much better fate, having overcome four errors to exit with a 5-3 lead. Instead of getting a hard-earned win, he watched his efforts go up in smoke when Hawkins entered with one out in the ninth and promptly gave up three runs on one walk and two hits.
This marked the second time in three chances that the veteran pitcher has blown a save this season. In the third game at Milwaukee, Hawkins squandered a ninth-inning lead, only to see Wilin Rosario bail him out with a home run in the 10th. This time around, however, there were no such heroics; Hawkins ineptitude cost his team a sure victory.
As a result, the Rockies have to make a tough decision. They have to give the ball to someone else when the game is on the line.
Hawkins is a 21-year veteran, playing out his final season at the age of 42, so demoting him won’t be easy. But Major League Baseball isn’t a place for sentimentality; it isn’t a job where people get to ride off into the sunset. It’s the ultimate results-oriented occupation, a measure by which Hawkins is coming up woefully short this season.
New general manager Jeff Bridich has shown that he has the guts to make tough decisions. He’s already parted ways with Jhoulys Chacin and sent Rex Brothers to the minors. Does he have the intestinal fortitude to demand a change in the ninth inning?
Ultimately, the job should be John Axford’s, as soon as the veteran reliever returns from the family emergency leave that he’s taking while his son recovers from a snakebite suffered during spring training in Scottsdale. In the meantime, the gig should go to Adam Ottavino, who has been virtually flawless so far in 2015.
The Rockies need to establish that this season isn’t going to be like so many others. They need to declare that losing, especially in heartbreaking fashion, isn’t acceptable.
Stripping LaTroy Hawkins of his duties would be a good place to start.
