Colorado looked unusually lean and purposeful last night while dismissing the Marlins, 6-3. I suppose if I were the sort of person who wanted to look on the downside of things I could mention that immense terror of empty orange seats has made Florida one of the worst home teams (23-30) in the majors, but... well, I guess I am that sort of person. And I guess I just did. But in any case I can't keep redefining my terms just to make my predictions look better. I want the Rockies to win more games on the road, and they just won one, so good for them.

Rodrigo Lopez has a torn labrum and is out for the season. It seems to me as if Dan O'Dowd probably had some idea that this was going to be Lopez's fate before the trade deadline came and went, but the Rockies still elected to stand pat. None of the other teams in the NL West made significant additions, but the Braves may have sewn up the wild card with their deal for Mark Teixeira. Does O'Dowd deserve an earful for not pulling off any last-day deals? Woody Paige thinks so, but I don't. What the Rockies really needed was a starter, even before news of Lopez's injury came down the pipe, and look at the starters who moved: Matt Morris and Kyle Lohse. No thank you and no thank you. In a few places you may read that the Rockies talked to the White Sox about Jon Garland, but unquestionably that was a deal that would have cost them three megaprospects (Ubaldo Jimenez, Ryan Spilborghs, and another major-league ready guy, maybe Clint Barmes or an outfielder) the way Kenny Williams' mind is working right now. Small-market reality is, folks, the Rockies need to hold on to as many players whom they control for the whole of the arbitration period as they can, even ones now seemingly redundant like Barmes or Ian Stewart. I know it's hard to imagine, but better miss out on the playoffs this year and contend for the next several than trade the future for another one-per-decade four-game postseason cameo.