And another dreary season rolls on. I wish I could stop recycling excuses for ignoring the team -- my favorite is how it's best to wait before reacting too positively to any brief run of better play because they're bound to get blown out within a day or two -- but I also wish the Rockies could have found something better to do with Byung-Hyun Kim, who was traded to Florida for Jorge Julio today. Julio should help the team about as much as LaTroy Hawkins has, which is to say, none at all. The Rockies are never going to convince me that they are prepared to deal with signing big-time free agents the way most fans wish and management has said repeatedly they will eventually do until they can get minor signings like those of Kim or Brian Lawrence right. Why sign (or in Kim's case, re-sign) a guy who only wants to be a starter if you have no intention of giving him a fair shake at the rotation? That's the double-edged sword. You want your team to spend at least a little money, but not if the guys stamping the checks have never illustrated even the least ability at identifying and securing useful talent.

I want to give the Rockies credit this year for finding creative new ways of tenaciously clinging to national relevance despite still not playing any decent baseball. On ESPN's family of sports chat shows Colorado was mentioned repeatedly last week, whether it was Clint Hurdle's complaining about the need for instant replay review of close home run calls or the scheduled Rockies pitchers Barry Bonds might face this weekend. Bonds didn't hit any homers in the four-game series the Giants and Rockies just split, but Colorado did find another way of getting into the news by allowing a cycle to unheralded San Francisco rook Fred Lewis. Want to see winning baseball? Not in Denver. You like unassisted triple plays and no-names accomplishing fluke feats? This is where you come. Rockies baseball, the geek show of the NL West.