The bad Rockies, the great Uecker, Nuevo website

Thoughts from the patio on a cool, pleasant Sunday evening, easily the most spring-link day this spring:

Just when you thought it was safe to root for the Rockies: A three-game sweep by the Milwaukee Brewers erased all good feelings after the team took three of four earlier in the week from the San Francisco Giants and Philadelphia Phillies. The good news Sunday is that Ubaldo Jimenez looked more like his old self, allowing just two hits in eight innings. More good news is that Felipe Paulino is gone as the Rockies continue to shed players who aren't helping them. Three problems with the Rockies: 1) Dexter Fowler simply is not a leadoff hitter and may not be an everyday major-league outfielder; 2) there is still no solution at third base and mysteriously, Jose Lopez keeps going out there rather than Ty Wigginton; 3) Carlos Gonzalez and Troy Tulowitzki are not playing like MVP candidates. The Rockies must play better now. There are no excuses. This isn't a perfect team, but it's more talented than this. For the past few days, the Rockies have looked defeated from the beginning. Of course, Saturday I had only radio to go by, but they sure sounded defeated in the first inning.

Still, it always nice when the Rockies play the Brewers: I can do without the Rockies TV guys who really add nothing to the game for me. On their best days, their white noise; on their worst, they're muted. The radio guys are generally good, and often I find myself either muting the TV in favor of the radio or at least thinking about it. But the Rockies playing the Brewers is a chance to listen to Bob Uecker on the radio via MLB radio. On such occasions, the Rockies TV guys will throw up some of Uecker's more famous quotes and talk (and talk and talk and talk) about what a great announcer he is and yet never appreciate what makes him great. It isn't his sense of humor. In fact, if anything it's the humorless way he sometimes calls game. He calls the play by play, pure and simple. Back in the day when he was on Carson or when he does interviews, he's entertaining, but when he's calling a baseball game, he calls the game. It's a beautiful thing.

Nuevo website: Launched a new website in Drupal on Friday for a client through the TEN|10 Group. Nuevo Midstream is a midstream startup working in west Texas and southeast New Mexico. The company comes from roughly the same family through which we lined up Caiman Energy and Laredo Energy. The company has a nice logo and blue/green color scheme that allowed for some easy deviations from the basic shell we used for Caiman and Laredo.