I guess I must be less of a fan than some of the other Rockies bloggers. Truth is, I only follow the team because of geography, and so not for me the rose-colored glasses during the Rockies' recent, now seemingly over, stretch of improved play. Fact the first: the Nationals and Pirates are not good baseball teams. Fact the second: the Rockies are worse than either. Also, Rex Grossman is toast and Liverpool only managed to tie Middlesbrough in their season opener. On the plus side, I seem to be oddly good at the new Madden passing cone thing, the new Death Cab For Cutie record is pretty solid, and Serenity comes out in a month.

Friday: The Rockies put on a pathetic offensive display against journeyman Esteban Loaiza, Jamey Wright pitches marginally better than usual but loses. Only Todd Helton gets more than one hit, although Jorge Piedra hits a homer against Washington middle relief. Saturday: The Rockies leave 15 men on base and somehow get shut out despite good days from everybody 1-4 (Larry Bigbie, Aaron Miles, Helton, and Matt Holliday). Byung-Hyun Kim, who was due to get lit up, got lit up.

It does augur well for next year that both Scott Dohmann and Ryan Speier have looked a lot more prepared in their second go-round in the majors. It's less positive that Omar Quintanilla isn't hitting and a recent lucky run has gotten Clint Hurdle all hot in the pants for Danny Ardoin again. We were winning with Miles and Ardoin on the bench. But more importantly, neither should be with the team next year or they're doing something wrong.

The Brewers are next up and I am rooting for a Milwaukee sweep. Under much more difficult (and much more genuine) financial constraints than Colorado faces, Milwaukee has a real shot at finishing .500 this year. I don't begrudge them the wins.