A Rockies fan's stream of consciousness amidst a World Series

Jays lead 3-2

• Davis Schneider had a .360 OBP this season, though it was limited to 188 ABs. Still, that would’ve easily been the best OBP on the Rockies. Full season or not. When did he get drafted? The 29th round? Oh, the 28th round. Who did the Rockies draft that round. Brett Stephens. Hm. He had a .273 OBP in Asheville and then got cut. Has a normal office job now probably. Ah, well, 28th round picks don’t usually play in the World Series anyway. Not a Rockies problem.

• Addison Barger was a 6th round pick? Wonder who the Rockies took. Niko Decolati. He actually made it up to Hartford. That’s exciting. A .380 OBP there too. Oh, he’s out of baseball now too. Found his instagram. Crossfit guy now. Ah, well, good for him. Don’t know how I got here. Oh, Addison Barger. Jeez. Maybe the Rockies could try drafting better. I know we all focus on the first rounders but they can’t get a sixth round pick to the World Series, either. Miserable.

• Have they picked a GM yet? Guess they’ll announce after the World Series, maybe. Really important to steal the thunder of the champs with our Matt Forman announcement. Excited to hear how Walker and Sterling will be involved in day to day baseball operations. I guess if Forman is the President of Baseball Ops that leaves a General Manager role open. Perfect fit for a Monfort. Maybe Kenny, Jr could take a pause off of running the worst bars on Blake Street to stop in and give his draft advice.

• Did you know he owns that stupid ass Dierks Bentley bar downtown? God, what a piece of shit that thing is. I’m not some “preserve old buildings at all costs” guy because that leads you in the same direction as the NIMBY bozos that make housing more expensive but Jesus Christ that thing. Literally there to attract the worst people from Brighton and Severance. $250 cowboy hats, barely anybody inside has even touched dirt let alone worked in it. Nothing more Denver than that I guess. Out of town cosplay ranchers filling a fake country bar owned by a Monfort while the baseball team loses 9-2. Just glad they got two runs, you know.

• Forman is probably a good pick, if they go that route. Hate the Guardos for a lot of reasons, like never paying anyone, but hard to deny they aren’t a well operated organization in some regards. At least they understand what a good baseball player is, which it seems Bill Schmidt didn’t. In hindsight, the Rockies having a big brain drain right after Schmidt came on board represented something. I brushed it off as “well they weren’t good so is it a big deal if these guys leave?” But they apparently represented a floorboard that had been ripped out. So now we’re in the basement. Maybe lower than the basement. In the dirt underneath the basement. Next to Jimmy Hoffa and the old Avs Mascot Howler. Maybe Forman will at least rebuild some infrastructure in how things work.

• Incredible how Yesavage was coached to use his strengths. He’s tall and has a higher release point than anyone else, so he uses that to his advantage. If he was on the Rockies, they’d get him up to the bigs with some really stellar numbers and then the MLB coaches would ask if he could try throwing a sidearm. Or maybe they’d bring a stool out and he’d pitch off the stool. They’re so scared of Coors Field they ask every pitcher that comes up to never throw their best pitch again and to only work on their weaknesses. So now they have Chase Dollander throwing 75% fastballs down the middle to try and improve those, or whatever.

• Charlie Condon is raking in the AFL, if you even care. This kid is interesting. In a world where every college prospect is basically making an MLB debut in 12 months, he’s had to toil a bit. Probably best to be patient. I’m watching Dylan Crews look bad over in Washington and breaking out in hives. It’s kind of funny, he wasn’t supposed to be a first baseman but now that the Rockies can’t figure out how to develop any first baseman worth a shit, it kind of doesn’t matter if that’s what he is. You need hitters.

• I’ve thought about how for some people, a first round pick being a tangibly fine every day player is a win. You got the kid up, he contributes to a win, and that’s that. But if you’re an organization rebuilding, you need guys like that to be a star. If Condon became a 2.5-3 WAR first baseman I think the Rockies would have to take it. Have to. But you’d still have fans pissed that they didn’t draft the guy putting up 5 or 6 WAR. Which, sure, yeah, but you need good players too. Sometimes those are guys that missed their ceiling and that’s ok.

• Condon’s gotta start hitting the ball out of the yard though. Or people are going to ask questions.

• The Dodger bullpen being ass is so funny. Mostly because it reiterates my firm position that all bullpens are ass, sometimes. You’ll get some really great ones one year but then two years later that same bullpen will show up and be a car crash. Not a fender bender either, one of those people do the grimace face when they get asked why they’re late. It wouldn’t shock me if the Rockies had a good bullpen soon. Nothing shocks me anymore.

• Thinking too much about the Rockies during a pretty good game, the Rockies didn’t have any of those this year. Not sure how any of this reminds me of them, other than the sport.

• Dave Roberts keeps hitting the top of the dugout railing when something bad happens. I guess, even when you don’t win the World Series most of the the time, when you do start to win it you forget that bad things happen. Like oh no, we can make a base running error too? I forgot that could happen to us. But, it does happen to people, even the Dodgers.

• Baseball should be covered more that way, I think. It’s a game of skill and talent, sure. The Dodgers have the best team in the world in that regard. But it’s also about physics, geometry, luck and happenstance. Those are fairly equalized factors. You don’t get to the World Series without being good, but you can lose it because you subconsciously took one extra step on your jump to second or didn’t realize the most efficient path to third was one inch closer to the inside. It’s more beautiful to think of the sport that way, I think. More life like. You get lucky or unlucky 10,000 times in your life, why not in baseball too? Some might call it the “shit happens” way of the game, but I think it’s nicer to just call it baseball. It’s as much part of the game as a slider or a home run.

• Takes are too prevalent now. Part of everyone making themselves a brand. You can’t just say “oh the Dodgers are losing because sometimes that’s how baseball works.” That’s boring. You have to say “oh the Dodgers lost because the existential conflict of the sport is at it’s peak.” Stupid. There is beauty in chaos, in the unknowable. Cover the game that way. That every pitch could lead to a disastrous bounce or a swing that somehow cuts a ball in the weirdest way. That is why baseball is so cool. You’re competing against each other but in a way you’re competing against nature too.

• The Rockies are competing against dignity. Probably why I can’t hate the Dodgers. They aren’t our rivals. The Rockies don’t have rivals. They won 43 games their only rivalry is against competency. And they’re losing badly right now.

• Someone should give the pope a Rockies jersey. Let’s prove once and for all if God exists. He would light that jersey on fire if he had the power. Let’s see it, sir.

• Dodgers vibes are at a perilous moment. But the weird thing about baseball, especially playoff baseball, is those vibes can change with one swing. Vibes and Geometry: How Baseball Should Be Covered would be a good book title. Maybe, one day, people will see the light.

• Think this could still be Dodgers in 7. But what if Yamamoto is out of gas? Guess we’ll see if he’s really Madison Bumgarner on Friday.

• MadBum really did that shit to those beautiful Royals. Thank God they clawed their way back and won the next year. Teams like that deserve to fly high. The Giants, evil patrons of devilry, would have never been forgiven for snuffing out their flame if they didn’t win it the next year. I think the Dodgers would be forgiven if Yamamoto did that. Only for the sake that these Jays aren’t as whacky. Though they are a little whacky. Davis Schneider was drafted in the 28th round, after all.

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