Jimenez struggles again; Rockies lose to Pirates
Ubaldo Jimenez gave up for runs in four innings, his shortest of four starts this season, and fell to 0-2 with a 7.20 ERA as the Colorado Rockies lost 8-4 to the Pittsburgh Pirates in the rubber game of their three-game series.
Jimenez faced 14 batters with a runner in scoring position during an 88-pitch struggle _ he threw just 48 strikes _ that included four walks, one intentional, and three wild pitches as well as six hits allowed. He struck out Neil Walker with runners on first and third and one out in the first and after throwing a wild pitch while facing Garrett Jones, struck him out to strand runners on second and third. But Jimenez gave up four runs in the second when he walked leadoff hitter Ryan Doumit, gave up a single to Pedro Alvarez that sent Doumit to third and a bunt single to Ronny Cedeno that scored Doumit.
After pitcher Charlie Morton fouled out on a bunt attempt, Jimenez struck out Andrew McCutchen but Xavier Paul tripled home two runs with a drive to the gap in right-center, and Jones followed with a double to the gap in left-center.
Esmill Rogers, making his first relief appearance of the season and pitching for the first time in six days, relieved Jimenez and gave up four runs in the fifth on four hits and two walks. He threw 40 pitches, 23 strikes, in the inning, and two of the runs scored on Jones’ two-out single.
That rally gave the Pirates an 8-2 lead. The Rockies made it 8-4 on Dexter Fowler‘s two-run double with two out in the sixth off Mike Crotta. Former Rockie Joe Beimel relieved Crotta and struck out Alfredo Amezega and got Todd Helton to fly to left.
With one run home in the fourth on a single by Ryan Spilborghs, who was pinch-hitting for Jimenez, and the Pirates leading 4-2, Amezega came up with two out and the bases loaded and lined to second.
Other highlights:
_ Jimenez, who has yet to get beyond the fifth inning this season, never retired the Pirates in order. He threw 21 pitches, 11 strikes in the first and had pitch counts of 24/14 in the second, 27/14 in the third before a more respectable 16/9 in fourth.
_ Jimenez tied the single-game franchise record with three wild pitches, something he also did April 25, 2008, against the Dodgers. Other Rockie pitchers who threw three wild pitches in a game were David Nied in 1994, Bryan Rekar (1994) and Aaron Cook (2003).
_ Rogers has allowed 13 walks and 29 hits in 22 1/3 innings, and his ERA rose from 6.33 to 7.66.
_ The Rockies are 7-6 at home, where they have lost two straight series, compared to 10-3 on the road. They finished the season series 4-3 against the Pirates.
_ Troy Tulowitzki broke a 0-for-12 slide with a single in the fifth.
_ Carlos Gonzalez, batting fifth for the second consecutive game, doubled in the fourth, giving him extra-base hits in consecutive games for the first time this season.
Sorry all, but it may be time to admit that he is not the pitcher he was last year. Whether it be movement, location, mph whatever, something is not right.
Rogers looked terrible. Bring back Mortenson. I will say this, Rogers may need to have more work and less rest to be effective.
Bats were basically silent again. Starting, continuing, to be concerned.
Ubaldo will be fine. He just needs another 7 or 8 starts to get it together. After all, we like him, so it’s OK.
Last night, a solid if unspectacular win. Today a stinker. Lousy series to go with the weather. Last night’s lineup produced some results. Today’s shuffle didn’t. Don’t see the need to fiddle with what worked, especially given the day(s) off. Ubaldo’s not been “right” since the All-star break last year, so I think it’s more serious than a little bit of a slow start. I agree bring back Mortenson, let Rogers go back and tear up Triple A for a few weeks. Lopez and Morales don’t seem to be rising to the occasion, maybe Nelson and Stewart should be brought back up.
I agree with Wayne…something is just not right. We’ll see.
The next two weeks(8-H, 6-A)will begin to paint a much clearer picture when the first 25% of the season will be under the Rox belt.
Keep grinding…it’s along race.
3 comments:
First, it’s too bad there is only one losing pitcher because Jimenez and Rogers both deserved an L for that debacle. I never thought I’d hear myself saying this, but I was begging Jim Tracy to please put in Franklin Morales.
Second, I’m trying to understand what Jose Lopez is doing on this team. Every AB was a flyball out to left or center. That’s fine with no outs and a runner on 3rd, but we needed base hits not homers to climb back into this one. He’s hitting about .150 with an OBP of around .165. And he failed to make a play at 3rd that might have gotten the Rockies out of the second jam.
Third, to be more positive of the team, I disagree with Wayne and Ed. I thought the offense showed some fight today. They repeatedly rallied, a couple of times with 2 outs, and were a big hit or two from turning this game around.
One more comment. The squeeze bunt was a terrible play for the Rockies that gave Pittsburgh an extra out. When Cedeno got such a good bunt down, Iannetta should have been yelling “go to first” to Jimenez. Ubaldo had plenty of time to get the out at first. The next two batters made outs, so that was a 3 run mistake.
Just like Stewert,Ubaldo needs time at AAA.I don’t care where we send Rogers-as long asit is far away.I just don’t see what they see in that guy.Bring back Mortensen and Reynolds-both far superior so far to U.and Rogers.Please let Wiggy be healthy for the trip!I think the Helton/Cargo switch should stay put for now,and maybe foe the forseeable future.Both have responded well,and may ease pressure on Tulo.
Upon further review:I stand by my comments,but probably can’t bring Mortensen back before next homestand due to 10 day rule.
I missed today’s game, kinda glad I did. LOL. What was Ubaldo’s fastball sitting at? If he was in the low 90′s again the Rox better be concerned. If he had some velocity back then I would say that is a positive sign.
Cameo, he hit 100 in the 1st inning but it was way out of the zone.
I wasn’t watching the display religiously, maybe every second or third pitch, but I got the impression his split finger was the only pitch he could locate consistently. Naturally the Pirates adjusted and started teeing off on it.
he was generally 92-95. Wasnt throwing anything above 95 consistently for strikes and didnt seem confident in his FB at all. One more start and Ill start to worry.
My first sentence comment above was regarding Ubaldo…not the overall team approach.
On the squeeze, Chris I. was pointing and calling for play to first from the git-go.
My philosophy for the entire year as far as wins and losses is simple: be 5-4 every 9 game progression…that gets us to 90-72…I’ll worry about if that record gets us to the playoffs as we approach the end of the year.
Breaking down that particular philosophy awaits…so far, so good.
26 games = 3 sets of 9(minus 1 of course)…
projection hope…15 wins, 12 losses (assuming we lose first game tues vs. d-backs)
ACTUAL record…17 wins, 10 losses (If we lose tues to d-backs)
I’m going to guess that each and every one of us is more than happy with our record after these first 3 sets of 9. Considering that, as Tracy puts it, “we are not hitting on all 8 cylinders.”
How about a 4-2 road trip?
Go Rox!
Ed, my bad on disagreeing with you.
Ubaldo’s look home on the squeeze was a little league play. Big league teams should communicate. That was probably half Iannetta’s fault as Ed says.
Matt I agree on pitch selection. The split finger is a pitch U usually goes to the second time through the order after establishing the fast ball. He had no confidence in his fast ball today.
Ed, I just read your post more carefully. I did not realize CI was telling U to go to first. Thanks for that.
I’ll shut up now.
Wow Hard to believe it’s Hammel’s era dropping and Ubaldo and Esmil’s steadily climbing.
Jack pretty much covered it all in the story so I’m not sure what to say other than I agree with Jim Tracy’s post game.
I am surprised that some are ready to dump Rogers. While I agree that 40 pitches supporting a 4 run single inning performance is miserable lets not forget others have also had their struggles. While none were as bad as both starters today, there have been previous marginal performances aided by offense and defense that kept the starters in the game. Hopefully this was just a bad day for Rogers. Dumping him and going with Mortensen and Reynolds is not the answer. At least I don’t think so.
Ubaldo? I wonder about a few things. Nobody bought into the fatigue I apparently did a very bad job trying to decribe at the end of last season. Trust me it’s very real. Now I find myself wondering how much the 1st half of last season affected him. He was an iron man. If it was strictly mechanics the coaching staff would be all over him by now.
The Dbacks will not be pushovers. I hope they can regroup and play better in nice warm weather.
I’m surprised no one has mentioned Alfredo Amezaga. I thought he did very well and looks perfect for the 2-hole. If Twiggy isn’t ready to go by Tuesday, I’d go with Amezaga and Hererra in the lineup at 2B/3B for a whole week and see how it works. Amezaga almost tied up the game at 4-4. Things would have been different pitching-wise if his line drive didn’t go straight to the 2B glove. (Probably would have gone with Belisle or Paulino for a couple of innings instead of Rogers.)
Dac will have to do some serious thinking on what to do with his pitching staff going forward. Every start since Ubaldo’s return, he’s gone into deep counts on just about every batter. I checked the roster and he does not have any options left so he cannot be optioned to work himself back into shape. Some people are saying he’s not the same since last July. That’s not true; he was flying open until the final month of September when he corrected that and he was back to the dominating form. On top of that, when spring training started he was also in top form until the cuticle set him back. In hindsight, Ubaldo should have stayed on the DL for maybe three more starts as Greg Reynolds was doing admirably in keeping the Rockies in games. As for Esmil Rogers, he has options and he hasn’t shown the consistency at all unless you say pitching a string of bad games consistent. So time to man up and say we gotta change up the 5th starter. Bring up Greg Reynolds and send down Rogers. With Amezaga showing versatility, we can go back to the 13 man pitching staff and once again bring back Clay Mortensen so he can be the back up starter when Ubaldo or #5 starter struggles coming in as early as the third inning if the command is not evident.
If it was up to me, I’d bring back Ian Stewart when the Rockies return home from the six-game road trip. A struggling Stewart is still better than any production we have been getting at 3B.
We need to get Giambi more ABs. If that means getting up to pinch hit as early as the 4th innings while we are threatening to rally. Use the one “bullet” when we need a rally with at least two on.
Does anyone realize that Matt Reynolds just got “hammered” in his last start in AAA?
Matt Reynolds is with the Rockies.
Yeah, but Greg Reynolds did get hammered in his last start in AAA.
Ubaldo is seriously messed up. Looking at some stats coming into today’s game:
Fastball average velocity: 92. It was 96 the last couple years. That’s huge all by itself.
One of the things that made him so special was that he threw so hard AND somehow managed to a groundball pitcher at the same time.
Groundball rate this year (not including today’s game): 40.4%
Last year: 48.8. The year before: 52.5. The year before that: 54.4
I have no idea what’s up with him. No, it’s not that unusual for even a top-flight pitcher to run off four crappy starts in a row. Obviously they’re more noticeable when they’re the first 4 starts of the season. The velocity thing is weird, but given that he seems able to crank it up to the mid-to-high 90s from time-to-time, I’m guessing that that’s not the function of an injury. Looks more like some seriously messed up mechanics — at least I hope that’s what it is.
As for Rogers: he needs work. I still think he has reliever stuff, and the chance to be a pretty darn good relief pitcher (think: Belisle) at that. Mortensen did a fine job up here, but let’s not get carried away. He was pretty awful in the Springs before he got called up, and 8 innings of shutout work doesn’t establish the kind of consistency that may someday make him an effective big league pitcher.
Aaron Cook, I hope your throwing program is progressing rapidly …
Jimenez hasn’t looked good, but it’s worth remembering he has had one good April in the majors, and that was last year. Every game he pitched in April in 2010 was in weather warmer than 60 degrees. He’s not a cold weather pitcher and never has been. That may not be what’s wrong, but it’s worth considering.
First of all, Rogers is not a Major League pitcher, fastball is too straight and cannot command his pitches, Mortenson got the wrong end of that deal. Second, Jimmy is what 4-9 since last years allstar break. Today’s game, nothing but splitters and FB. 3rd, why wasn’t Nelson or Ey brought up instead of who? 4th where is Stewart? He’s a heck of allot better than Lopez offensively and defensively. Oh yeah where is that guy that posted an all latin rotation in 2012?
Ubaldo, 4/13/2009 start at Chicago, 36 degrees. He struggled, to be sure: 6 walks and 3 runs before being pulled in the 4th. His fastball averaged 95.3, tho. Sunday, just under 94. That’s well within measurement range of error, I’m sure. But he’s been like that in all his starts this season. He was at 94-95 for his Florida start in 80 degree weather.
Loss of command, control, decreased velocity…they could all be from mechanical issues. But the remarkable thing about Ubaldo has always been his velocity, even when he’s throwing the ball all over the place. It’s still just 4 starts, with a DL stint in the middle. But like matt said, another start or two like this and I’ll really start worrying.
Steve…great insight on the temps possibly affecting U.
We’ll see how it shakes out…he’s scheduled to start in SF…cold and damp there is more of a probability than warm and dry.
I’m more than happy to see if there is improvement as the weather warms.
As a sidelight, not that it makes 2-cents worth of difference, but when I was umping college ball(all played in early spring to start), and the weather was crappy, I was bitchin’ to myself and ump partner constantly while getting geared up. I hated it. Nobody likes to play baseball(or ump)in cold weather. And being from the Dominican Republic or any Latin country and then pitching or playing in sometimes horrible cold in April, I can certainly understand how your attitude and mental approach might be compromised. It shouldn’t be(you’re a professional)but I can certainly understand it.
I just hope this is something that can be fixed or worked through. I would hate to see his name alongside that of a Dontrelle Willis, who fell off the great pitcher list in a hurry and never recovered. I would like to think the weather has something to do with it. I would like to think it is a number of things that can be fixed.
I don’t remember U’s perfomance in Florida being all that great. His velocity is down as his way of trying to get some control back. Right now he’s wild even when he doesn’t throw as hard. With the Rockies are counting on Ubaldo to be a big part of a W.S. run, my optimism is starting to fade a bit. There seems to be something going on wrong behind the scenes with him. This isn’t at all the same guy we saw in 2010. I don’t want to seem like I’m speculating, but being only human there could be any number of personal issues going on with him that we have no insight into. Let’s hope he can get it together soon.
This team is going to get pounded as the schedule gets harder if they don’t get some of these things sorted out.
This month we face some potentially good offenses in STL, MIL, PHI, LAD, NYM.
I don’t feel comfortable putting a struggling Ubaldo out there against those teams and obviously don’t feel great about Rogers either.
DLR, Chacin and Hammel are going to have to pitch deep this month to help the pen get rest.
Hopefully it will be a warm Rocktober.
Well said, prog…
I hope to look at this thread at the end of May and HOPE we are still around 9 games over. I understand that makes us about .500 for the month of May, but right now I’m more than happy to be around 31-22…I can live with that.
Considering the strong teams we’ll be facing plus that we play many games against division opponents, I may complain about every loss, :) depending on how we play, but overall I think I can be happy with .500 during the month.
I’d like to see the Rockies +12 at the end of May. They need to go +3 or +4 every month. The +9 for April gives them some room for bad months ahead, but a +0 for May would squander that margin in one shot.
How about 7-3 against the Padres and DBacks and 9-9 against the rest of them?
Prog, it’s a deal!
Given that there are 28 games, I’ll take +2. Unfortunately we are starting from -1 thanks to yesterday’s loss.
Yeah, but we started April -1 due to opening day loss. 7-3 against SD and AZ seems possible since 7 of the 10 are at home. I know we haven’t been that great at home but I like our chances here. I think +4 is very possible which would be 16-12 and puts us at 33-20 going into June. I’ll take that.
Notice the importance of the first game of the series? When the Rox lose the first game, they go on to lose the series (or split in 2-game series). If they win the first game, they win or sweep the series.
Tomorrow should be a great start with best pitcher DLR on the mound followed by Chacin and Hammel. However San Francisco could be very problematic with our two worse pitchers (Rogers & Jimenez) going in the first two games.
All, The Rox play 29 games in May. The makeup game with Arizona is scheduled to be played on Tuesday 5/24 as part of a day/night DH. Going 17-12 for the month is very reasonable.
I am not worried about Ubaldo any more than I was last August. Its in there, and I have noticed before that cold weather (and everywhere but Florida the Rox have played in less than ideal conditions) is difficult for him. Spring arrives Wednesday. It was a bad series all around (granted, I like the Pirates, especially now that they have Clint, so if they have to lose a series, let it be to them). Not playing great at home, not hitting, not getting great pitching…and yet the Rox are in 1st. If they can turn it on down in AZ this week it could be a great May. We have our three best curren arms going. AZ is a hitters field. They are throwing their three worst. And maybe CarGo is ready to get it going (just a thought, with so many Latin players on this team, is it possible the cold is impacting the Rox more than the average major league team?).
Be honest everyone, if you were told 17-9, 4 game up over 2nd place team, you would take it sight unseen.
I’ve heard that a cut cuticle is one of the worst injuries for a pitcher to deal with. Not that it’s career ending kind of bad, but bad enough to really screw up a pitcher’s grip on the ball, and therefore his release and delivery. OK, fine. But after this no more excuses, or krap about being tired from throwing winter ball, or not stretched out from not throwing winter ball, or it’s not warm enough, blah blah blah blah blah.
Now go rip the Gnats a new one.