Things Not Clicking For Rockies Yet, But Players Keeping Level Heads
By Romi Bean
DENVER (CBS4) - Here's the thing about baseball - there's 162 games in the regular season. So it's practically impossible to harp on any one game for too long. Blink and two more games have been played. Players have to have a "one-game-at-a-time" mentality to make it through the season.
In early April, players aren't thinking about the World Series, they're thinking about who they're playing tomorrow.
The Rockies are 10 games into the 2018 season. They've collected five wins to go with five losses. But even after getting shutout for the first time since May 2017, the players aren't overly upset about it. You just can't be -- as Manager Bud Black often says, that's baseball.
"It's not the best we've played over the last couple years, but I feel like we've played pretty well. I know we have a really good team and we're about to get really hot here at some point," said second baseman DJ LeMahieu.
"It's early in the year. We're still trying to find rhythm offensively. Same thing on the mound, too. We've have some really good games that we've pitched and we've had some games we've pitched well but made a couple mistakes," catcher Chris Ianetta said.
"Right now we're playing .500 ball. We all know and understand we're better than that, but we just keep mentally positive and continue making strides and try win ball games every time we get a chance," said outfielder Carlos Gonzalez.
It's just the beginning of a long, grueling season for the Rockies. Ten games down means there's still 152 left to play.
"Everything is magnified at the beginning of the season because it's all we have to go on. If we're 10-and-0 everyone is popping champagne and thinking we're going to the World Series. If we're 0-and-10, everyone thinks it's a catastrophe. It's only 10 games. But we'll get going and feel a lot better about things," Ianetta said.
Plain and simple, Major League Baseball is a grind. The key to surviving –- and succeeding –- is keeping a level head.
Ianetta lives by two rules during the season:
"Rule No. 1: Don't panic. Rule No. 2 is don't forget Rule No. 1. You can't panic as player, as a team, as a fan base. You just ride it out," he said.
So even though the expectations are high for the Rockies this season, it really is too early to make any decisions about how they'll fare this year.
Romi Bean is a sports anchor and reporter at CBS4. Connect with Romi on Twitter @Romi_Bean.