The Mancrush Log: July 2008

Want some evidence that the Rockies were a vastly improved team in July?  Then you should probably just look at the team statistics month-by-month.  But if you’re not into the whole numbers thing, look no further than Rockiescast’s mancrushes.  All four mancrushes for the month of July were within the Rockies organization.  Take a gander…

6/30-7/6

The Manbeard: Spilly’s Beard, beard, Colorado Rockies

The Crush: The Rockies ended June on a disastrous road trip, but Ryan Spilborghs’ beard was looking as full and handsome as ever.  Something needed to change, and fast.  Rather than standing-by as coaches were fired or high-profile players got traded off, Spilly’s beard volunteered to make the ultimate sacrifice.  One of the finest beards on Earth was shaved so that the rest of the team could remain intact to turn things around.  The dividends were immediate, especially to those closest to Spilly’s beard.  The Rockies won five of seven games this week, and a clean-shaven Ryan Spilborghs was key to the team’s offensive explosion during the span.  A beardless Spilly picked up five singles, three doubles, and a pair of home runs in 23 at-bats this week.  He also walked four times.  Good beardless eye, slugger.  This mancrush was emotionally difficult, but the pain was eased by the knowledge that Spilly did not give his beard in vain.  Rockiescast sure hopes the two have had a chance to reunite while Spilly’s on the shelf.

7/7-7/13

The Man: Brad Hawpe, RF, Colorado Rockies

The Crush: This week was easily the Rockies low point for the month.  After an encouraging split of a four-game series in Milwaukee, Rockiescast was forming some manfeelings for a few guys in the heart of the Rockies lineup.  But all those good vibes disappeared when the team managed to produce one single run as the Mets swept through the Rockies’ final three games at Shea Stadium.  Brad Hawpe seemed to be the only guy in the Rockies lineup who wasn’t totally baffled by Mets’ pitching.  He collected five of the Rockies’ 11 hits in the series, and his solo home run in the opener provided the team’s only run.  However, what earned him mancrush honors for this miserable week was one hit that kept the Rockies off the record books (in a bad way).  In their nearly half-century of play, the Mets have never recorded a no-hitter.  Hawpe’s hit on Saturday afternoon was the only the Rockies would tally in the game, and thus the only thing keeping the franchise from an embarrassing footnote in the annals.  Phew!

7/15-7/20

The Man: Aaron Cook, P, National League All-Stars/Colorado Rockies

The Crush: Rockiescast’s on-going manfatuation with the Cookie Monster flared up again this week thanks to a very high profile week for Mr. Cook.  The baseball world was finally forced to take note of Aaron Cook’s dominance when he gave one of the more outstanding pitching performances in All-Star Game history.  Cook was brought in to pitch for the National League in a tie game with the American League poised for a walk-off victory.  They got their walk-off eventually, but not on Cookie’s watch.  His stuff looked as good as it has all season, but back-to-back errors by Marlins 2B Dan Uggla helped build a bases-loaded, no-out situation for Cookie to work through.  He did.  He’s Aaron Cook.  Though it went in the book as one inning pitched to create and escape that jam, Cookie pitched well-enough to induce six outs.  Through no fault of his, the All-Star defense behind him only recorded three of those outs.  Cookie went on to pitch two more scoreless innings against a nightmare lineup.  Oh, and he also pitched seven handsome innings that weekend for the Rockies en route to a win.  That part was nice too.

7/21-7/27

The Man: Ubaldo Jimenez, SP, Colorado Rockies

The Crush: Sometimes Aaron Cook’s presence is felt even when Rockiescast fixes its mangaze elsewhere.  Ubaldo looked like he was working under the influence of Cookie in his two starts this week.  During the early part of the year, when Ubaldo was struggling mightily, it looked as though he was trying to strike out every batter he faced.  More often than not, the results were ugly.  As the season’s progressed, Ubaldo’s strikeout numbers have dropped, but the rest of his numbers have improved vastly (especially the numbers that really matter).  At the heart of this is Ubaldo’s efficiency.  He’s now pitching to produce outs, rather than flame-throwing for strikeouts.  This change has been paying dividends all month long for Ubaldo and the Rockies, but he really drove the point home this week.  His start on Tuesday was the first complete game of his career, and it earned the Rockies a desperately-needed win against the Dodgers.  He was only a couple outs away from his first career shutout as well, but then Matt Kemp had to go and crush a solo home run in the 9th inning.  That cut the Rockies’ lead to 10-1.  So Ubaldo shrugged it off and quickly finished his masterpiece.  He followed that up with another solid W in Cincinnati on Sunday.  This time he pitched six scoreless innings before being lifted with the Rockies safely up 8-0.  All told, Ubaldo allowed one run while giving up nine hits and three walks over 15 innings.  How very Cook-like of you, Oobs.  You got Rockiescast’s attention.