2024 All-Star Game representative.<\/a> \u201cI hope they are just showing up to work. Like anything else in this game, the process is so important. You do everything you can to be prepared, and show up and try to win every game.\u201d<\/p>\nMcMahon said he and his teammates have \u201cdefinitely talked about\u201d the losing behind closed clubhouse doors, but quickly added, \u201cWe don\u2019t dwell on it. We try not to talk about it too much.\u201d<\/p>\n
Can the Rockies turn the corner and start winning some games?<\/p>\n
\u201cI think you have to believe you will,\u201d he said. \u201cI think our coaching staff and (interim manager Warren Schaeffer) are doing a great job. They have let us know that \u2018Losing is not OK. So don\u2019t get comfortable with losing.\u2019 I think their message has been good.\u201d<\/p>\n
Like his good friend, Senzatela, Marquez uses \u201cfrustrating\u201d as his go-to word to describe this season.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut we are doing everything we can,\u201d said Marquez, who\u2019s scheduled to become a free agent after this season. \u201cI feel like we are doing the right things to win, but we just aren\u2019t getting them. So it\u2019s frustrating, for sure. But there are a lot of games left. We have to make some adjustments.\u201d<\/p>\n
Marquez has had a poor season, going 2-8 with a 7.00 ERA, but he\u2019s shown flashes of his talent. What he does in his next few starts will determine his trade value. The right-hander has sworn off social media and doesn\u2019t read about the Rockies\u2019 woes.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t like negative things to get into my mind,\u201d he said. \u201cI come to play baseball and give my team my best.\u201d<\/p>\n
Looking back at where the Rockies were in 2018 vs. where they are today, Marquez said, \u201cIt is what it is. That was a good team, but it is what it is.\u201d<\/p>\n
Freeland, never one to shy away from the truth, is trying to spin things forward.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe record is, obviously, frustrating and angering,\u201d he said. \u201cBut it is what it is, and we can\u2019t change that. It\u2019s in the past. The only thing we can do is focus on ourselves and continue to get better. I do think we\u2019re getting better. We are looking through a much clearer lens as a team. But yes, it\u2019s really tough.\u201d<\/p>\n
Freeland is fortunate that he can discuss his performance and the team\u2019s woes with his wife, Ashley, and his father, Don.<\/p>\n
\u201cRight before Buddy got released, I had to go and sit down and have coffee with my dad and talk to him about a lot of stuff,\u201d Freeland said, referring to manager Bud Black getting fired on May 11. \u201cA lot of things were weighing on me. I was struggling at the time. The team was struggling at the time, and it was just, overall, terrible. I\u2019m lucky to be able to have people I trust and people I can talk to.\u201d<\/p>\n
Freeland is close to Black, but he believes Schaeffer has the team pointed in the right direction. Specifically, he said that Schaeffer has been able to walk the fine line between being demanding and exacting while not weighing the players down. That\u2019s not an easy trick.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo, it\u2019s not,\u201d Freeland said. \u201cHe\u2019s very good at setting the expectations and applying the pressure to this clubhouse \u2014 especially the younger guys \u2014 and letting us know that he expects performance and he expects certain things out of everyone.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut he\u2019s not applying so much pressure that we\u2019re playing tight. He wants to see us play loose, but at the same time demands that we execute on a consistent basis.\u201d<\/p>\n
Freeland, a Denver native who saw his dreams come true when the Rockies drafted him in the first round in 2014, is not quite sure where the Rockies\u2019 road will lead after this frustrating season.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s a difficult question to answer,\u201d he said. \u201cWe are asked that question a good amount in spring training. We were very excited about where this team was and with the young guys we had. I thought we had some veteran leadership.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut right now, the picture is kind of unclear. We have to start winning together, and we have to find the image and identity of this team. I think we are slowly starting to do it, but we have to start piecing together full games now.\u201d<\/p>\n
Want more Rockies news? Sign up for the Rockies Insider to get all our MLB analysis.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Starting pitchers Kyle Freeland, German Marquez and Antonio Senzatela, and third baseman Ryan McMahon. They are the Rockies\u2019…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":103399,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2405],"tags":[3569,5,1487,167,52,4316,1040,140,1222,1119,1022,853,4,1027,1819,168,1494,185,9130],"class_list":{"0":"post-103398","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-colorado-rockies","8":"tag-antonio-senzatela","9":"tag-baseball","10":"tag-bud-black","11":"tag-colorado","12":"tag-colorado-rockies","13":"tag-coloradorockies","14":"tag-denver","15":"tag-german-marquez","16":"tag-hall-of-fame","17":"tag-jake-bird","18":"tag-kyle-freeland","19":"tag-latest-headlines","20":"tag-mlb","21":"tag-more-rockies-news","22":"tag-national-league-west","23":"tag-rockies","24":"tag-ryan-mcmahon","25":"tag-sports","26":"tag-warren-schaeffer"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/114682241259971271","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103398","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=103398"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103398\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/103399"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=103398"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=103398"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=103398"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}