It's a day off today, pretty much the only thing that can stop the misery for the Rockies. They lost again to Pittsburgh yesterday. That makes them 1 for their last 10. Do you want the details? Do you care? If you're like 99.8% of the greater Denver metropolitan area, you don't. The Broncos start training camp this week, and that means that once again, for all intents and purposes the Rockies season is over. They could have seized momentum after a suprisingly unawful first half, but instead they've elected to suck this year. Again. I wrote every day last year about a team that was worse than this one, so I'm not going to be a baby and stop watching the games and stop writing about Colorado, but I am going to be mean and bitter. I might even resort to sarcasm. You have been warned.

Technically the Rockies are still only five games out of first place in an NL West race that no one team seems particularly excited about winning, but let's face it: they're not good. Their hitting is still really bad, and their bullpen has undergone an all-too predictable pumpkinization. Their starting pitching is great, easily the best in franchise history, but none of their starters are dominant enough to win games all by their lonesome, so until the bullpen and offense decide to start arriving for games again, they're going to lose. A lot. It's sad, because there's only one good team in the National League this year and a team with surprisingly effective starters and Brian Fuentes could win a division series against someone besides the Mets, but the Rockies seem determined to continue mailing it in against teams they should beat like the Pirates and Diamondbacks. I hope that Dan O'Dowd has realized what I've realized this week and is shopping Jose Mesa, Josh Fogg, Byung-Hyun Kim, and all other non-essential personnel as hard as possibly can be done in a pitching-deficient market. Ray King is obviously already available. I was pleased that the Rockies didn't spend any money on useless replacement-level veteran fill-ins this year as they have for the last several, but now that we face another trade deadline as a seller, I kind of wish that we did. Did you see what the Nationals got for Gary Majewski and Royce Clayton? Unbelievable!

It's going to take me a few more days to work through the acceptance cycle and switch from looking around the rumor pages to see for whom the Rockies might trade to whom they might trade away, but I didn't start a Rockies page for Broncos fans. I'm in it for the long haul. Those of you who are left with me, let's huddle together ever more closely for warmth.