Ubaldo not himself as Rockies lose opener
This, quite frankly, was a Ubaldo Jimenez that we have not seen before.
It certainly wasn't the Ubaldo from last season. And it wasn't the Ubaldo from seasons before -- the guy who threw a high-90s fastball but couldn't locate it all that well. What it was was a Ubaldo whose fastball was topping out around 95 or 96 mph, and who seemed to be leaving just about everything up in the strike zone.
If you're confused about his final line -- one strikeout in six innings, and six extra-base hits (including two homers after giving up ten all of last season) -- well, that description about sums it up. Ubaldo frankly wasn't himself. And the Rockies lost because of it. The Rockies' offensive performance would have been more than enough to win on a day when Ubaldo had a "normal" outing. The Rockies scored six runs, getting to Ian Kennedy for two runs in the first inning, adding another in the second, and a fourth on a Jose Lopez homer (in his first game as a Rockie) in the sixth inning.
But, it wasn't to be on a day when even the outs that Ubaldo was getting seemed to be getting hit hard. Obviously, it's only one game into the season, and we shouldn't jump to any conclusions -- but if the Rockies are going to contend in 2011, Ubaldo is going to need to be a whole lot better than this.
So the Rockies' 2011 season, with high hopes for the club's first division championship and third playoff appearance in five years, begins with an extra-inning loss.
It certainly wasn't the Ubaldo from last season. And it wasn't the Ubaldo from seasons before -- the guy who threw a high-90s fastball but couldn't locate it all that well. What it was was a Ubaldo whose fastball was topping out around 95 or 96 mph, and who seemed to be leaving just about everything up in the strike zone.
If you're confused about his final line -- one strikeout in six innings, and six extra-base hits (including two homers after giving up ten all of last season) -- well, that description about sums it up. Ubaldo frankly wasn't himself. And the Rockies lost because of it. The Rockies' offensive performance would have been more than enough to win on a day when Ubaldo had a "normal" outing. The Rockies scored six runs, getting to Ian Kennedy for two runs in the first inning, adding another in the second, and a fourth on a Jose Lopez homer (in his first game as a Rockie) in the sixth inning.
But, it wasn't to be on a day when even the outs that Ubaldo was getting seemed to be getting hit hard. Obviously, it's only one game into the season, and we shouldn't jump to any conclusions -- but if the Rockies are going to contend in 2011, Ubaldo is going to need to be a whole lot better than this.
So the Rockies' 2011 season, with high hopes for the club's first division championship and third playoff appearance in five years, begins with an extra-inning loss.
