After last night's exciting win, the Rockies lead in the WIld Card race by 5 1/2 games.  For the first time in Rockies history, we can start talking about "magic numbers".  We never could do that in 1995 or in 2007, our other two playoff years, because we were never the frontrunner for the playoff spot and earned them in our final regular season games.  Now we are a frontrunner, for the Wild Card spot even if not the division (yet).  So, let's examine our current magic number situation after the jump....

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Everyone wants Jimenez, who has arrived among the elite of major league power pitchers, to get a nickname.  Fox is using "K-Baldo" today which is lame, IMO.  Do you have a better one?  I do.  Read it after the jump, and then chime in with your own.  I think mine will stick, but I'm all ears.....

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Jim Tracy is night-and-day from Clint Hurdle. Not saying he's a great manager or even average. However, he's clearly the best manager the ROCKIES have ever had (which is a low "hurdle", no pun intended). Last night's game was won totally because of Tracy. He did things that Hurdle would never think of.  Some examples follow....

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On the heels of Bob Melvin's firing, questions are increasing as to whether Clint Hurdle is on thin ice, and whether he's next to go among MLB's managers.  I will simply look at the record in this post, and make the case for change....

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Yes, the bullpen imploded, especially Fuentes and Vizcaino, to hand us our 8th straight loss while ending San Diego's 8-game losing streak.  But, the game wasn't lost in the 9th inning.  It was lost by Hurdle in the 6th.  Let me explain....

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I know this sounds absolutely nuts, and would be the stuff that "conspiracy theorists" love, but one has to wonder, given the wide variety of ways the team has been losing lately.

Something tells me that O'Dowd and ownership want to clean house this July by trading players such as Holliday, Atkins, Hawpe, and Fuentes.  However, those desires could be thwarted IF the team were to make a run back to .500+ by the All-Star break.  O'Dowd needs a pretext to make the wholesale changes that he desires to make.  The best pretext for that obviously is to be hopelessly out of it by late July so that he can be a seller and retool the team.  THIS is the reason I'm suspicious about the motives behind....

1.  placing Hawpe on the DL even though he was said to be day-to-day and could pinch hit if needed.

2.  placing Barmes on the DL even though the injury appeared to be one that may keep him out for only a few days.  Hillman on FSN, on the night of the injury, even predicted that Barmey would play the next night!

3. placing Holliday on the DL with his hamstring strain even though the initial word was that he could just miss a few games.

4. being slow and cautious in the rehab of Jason Hirsh, who clearly needs a rehab stint in AAA but is already a better option than Glendon Rusch.

5. being slow and cautious in the rehab of Louis Vizcaino.

6. refusing to make Chris Iannetta the everyday starter even though he has clearly earned it, while pretending that Yorvit is some sort of "valuable commodity".

 Sure, some of these decisions are necessary and justifiable, but when you add it all up, at the very least it appears that the Rockies are thinking long-term about their players' health and not pulling out all stops to get them back on the field quickly.  At worst, though, this smacks of a front-office that is trying to "bury" the team to ensure their record will be so bad come July that they can justify a trading frenzy.

This is why I ask the question, "Are the Rockies losing on purpose"?  I don't think they are actually "throwing games" such as yesterday's blown 8-0 lead, but It's still worth pondering whether the losses are EXACTLY what management wants now as we sink further and further into oblivion.