Probably the less said about the current Rockies season, the better. Local newspaper columnists are referring to our NL division as "National League Worst; National League Weakest; or my favorite - National League Waste."

Monday night was just grim, absolutely grim, with the Dodgers ahead 8-0 at the bottom of the first inning, and the starting pitcher pulled before he even had two out.

So yesterday here comes Ubaldo Jimenez to the mound. He's been with "the show" for about a year, after 6-7 years in the Rockies minor league system. His ERA has been pretty respectable all season, but his won-loss record was dim for quite awhile early on, as one quality start after another was poured down the toilet by the bullpen. But he's now 6-9, with an ERA of 2.04 in the last few weeks.

He seems like a kid, he's 24 years old, and to Denver's baseball fans, who have been searching all season for at least ONE bright spot to hold onto - he's become a crowd favorite. Quoted in this morning's paper as "starving for" a shutout, he came about as close as you can get. No batter past first base until the 8th inning, and a 4 hit, 10-1 victory in his first complete major league game.

His presence in our organization is due to a very competent staff of scouts working in Latin America. At least with Jimenez, they know how to select stability of character as well as athletic ability. In his years in the minors, Jimenez met a local family who are fluent in both Spanish and English, and he spends a lot of time with them still. His dad regularly travels to Denver from the Dominican Republic, and is welcome in the local home as well. Jimenez causes quite a stir when he attends the soccer games where his hosts' granddaughters are on the team.

As he came to the plate last night in the eighth, with two men already out, the crowd gave him a standing ovation. And a second standing O a few minutes later after he grounded out and headed back to the dugout to get his glove and pitch the top of the ninth.

I've both attended games and worked for the team regularly since 1993. At first, it was kind of a pain to be at games, with quite a few in attendance who clearly didn't understand what they were watching. And I imagine that any crowd of 35,000 plus will always have a pretty good cross section who are only there for the beer. Yet as the years have gone by those attending the games have learned about the game and its many nuances. So I was just delighted last night to see the two standing tributes. I watch an HD video feed, but usually choose the radio broadcast for audio. So I could see the crowd gathering to its feet, and listen to the radio announcers wait to break away for the bottom of the inning commercial, and let the radio audience hear the second round of cheers.

Rox won again today, 5-3. Arizona plays the Cubs this evening. We have picked up one game on LA, will be rooting for the Cubs tonight. But as I said at the start, achievement in our division this year is probably not all that much to cheer about.