My, Oh My!

The only blemish for the Rox last night was a missed extra point.

The Rox tied the franchise record for runs and had a season high in hits. As is sometimes said in a game with a lopsided score, it wasn't even as close as the score indicates. The Rockies had seven runs before the Padres recorded the second out and had 15 runs with one out in the third. Bochy pretty much emptied the bench in the fourth inning, replacing all but two of the Padres' starters. Holliday matched the club record for rbi in a game at eight and launched two blasts, one that landed on the concourse in left field and another that hit three quarters up the left field foul pole. Sean Burroughs pitched the eighth for San Diego, tossing up 75 MPH fastballs. I must admit, it was fun to watch.

If someone had told me before the game that one team would score seven in the first, I would have guessed the Padres against Wright. Williams, though, has struggled mightily at CF over his career, posting a 15.75 ERA over six games. Wright may have very well started his last game as a Rockie and he made it count.

Although there were many last night, the top highlight for me had to be having Jim Johnson, the Rockies' roving hitting instructor for the minor leagues, in the booth for an inning. He talked about the state of the hitters the Rox have in the minors and their progress this season. He also told a story about when he was in Casper this summer and the Rockies started a game with three straight bunt singles, something he had never seen in his 32 years in baseball.

I noticed in the boxscore from Monday's game that Fuentes has a lower ERA, 2.50, than Hoffman, 2.96. If the Rockies achieved only one thing this season, it was that they discovered their closer, something that has eluded them the last few seasons.

An article in the Arizona Republic over the weekend stated that the Rockies may be the team to beat in the NL West in 2006. As Mark with TGTBATB has repeatedly mentioned lately, when the national and east coast media stop assuming the Rockies are terrible and start to actually pay attention, then maybe that thought will spread. Unless major improvements are made somewhere in then NL West, the Rockies may have as good a chance as anyone else.

While seeing various possibilities for NL ROY, Atkins name was not among the candidates. Granted, his average and power have not been there, but he does lead all NL rookies in rbi. Even if he doesn't end up hitting the home runs, Atkins will be an rbi machine for years to come.

After all of Helton's struggles at the plate this season, he is fourth in the NL in batting average at .316 after Tuesday. Imagine what this team could do next season if he is on all year and has his power back.

My thoughts and prayers are with Jorge Piedra and his family. Due to give birth soon, his wife experienced problems and their newborn baby may require open heart surgery.

Fever Pitch is in the mail from Blockbuster Online. I'll give my thoughts on it in a future posting.

The family vacation was good. Five days filled with fun, relaxation and refreshment. Watching a three year old play miniature golf is a hoot.

Twice Bitten, Once Shy

The Snakes got the best of the Rox two games of three over the weekend. Despite a solid showing by BK on Friday, in which his only real mistake was to Tracy, the Rox' offense couldn't muster anything against Estes and lost 7-1. Choo Freeman continued to be less than impressive in his audition to earn a spot in the battle for centerfield in 2006. Freeman went 0-2 in an abbreviated appearance and missplayed a fairly routine fly in left-center into a double. In Freeman's defense, if September was truly being viewed as an evaluation period for the various candidates in center, then all candidates should get equal time. The Rox know what Mohr can do and have a pretty good idea what Sullivan brings to the table. Freeman is the only current centerfielder Hurdle doesn't really know what he can do on a daily basis. Hurdle's explanation is that production earns more playing time. That only makes sense to me if you are bent on winning games, not on evaluating your talent. Don't look for Freeman to be in the organization come spring 2006.

In the second game of the series, Zach Day turned in another subpar performance that doesn't give Rox fans warm fuzzies about the possibility of him being in the rotation in 2006. The offense did manage to make an appearance early and late, but it was not enough to overcome the long ball by Arizona and the Rox lost 8-5.

On Sunday, the Rox only version of a stopper, Aaron Cook, took the mound and pitched only the second complete game of the season for the Rockies. I wonder if anyone else is willing to join me and declare Cook as the team ace. He is without a doubt our best pitcher right now and the most consistent of all the starters. While Sunny Kim has been effective and a pleasant surprise, Cook has been downright dominating. Two Glaus solo homers were the only blemishes to Cook's outing. The offense showed up in the fourth and exposed Russ Ortiz for what he is with six runs.

There will not be any additional posts this week as I will be on a family getaway to Pagosa Springs, CO for a much-needed vacation. Hopefully there will be good things to report next week.

My friend Rick Cummings, great-great nephew of Candy Cummings, from NFTMM, sent me an email this morning. "The Colorado Rockies gave free tickets to Saturday's game to all the refugees from New Orleans being sheltered at Lowry. My God, haven't these people suffered enough?"

Miscellaneous Ramblings

Last night, another solid effort for the pitching staff was unfortunately overshadowed by another not-so solid offensive effort. After collecting only five hits in 35 at-bats against the Padres, the Rockies' batting average on the road is .227 for the season, compared to .298 at CF. This is about where the Rockies have been hitting on the road all season. One difference, I believe, is that more hits have come at critical times with runners on base, exhibited by Holliday's triple with two runners on during the Rox' only legitimate scoring threat. I don't have statistics to support this belief, just my own observations. The really good news, however, is that the pitching staff has been much better on the road as of late. For the first time this season, the team ERA is below 5.00 on the road, at 4.98. The ERA overall continues a trend downward.

The Rockies are 4-2 with a 3.29 ERA for the young month of September. That is a worthy start towards continuing the trend of lowering the ERA each month of the season.

The Rockies find themselves six games behind the Snakes for the NL West cellar. The weekend series at CF could go a long ways towards the DITR goal of seeing Arizona in the cellar instead of the Rox. It's interesting, for all the money that Arizona threw around in the off-season, they're not that much better than the penny-pinching, rebuilding, youth-oriented Rockies.

Jack McKeon of the Marlins recently won his 1,000th game as a MLB manager. His earned his first victory when Harry Truman was president.

Consider this a warning. Football season is upon us, and while I in no way put football on the same playing field with baseball, I am still a die-hard, bleed predominantly-orange Broncos' fan. So, while this is in fact a Rockies blog, there will be periodic references and commentary regarding the Broncos.

Lasorda, who's been with the Dodgers for 56 years and married for 55 years, recently told this story: "My wife tells me one day, 'I think you love baseball more than me.' I say, 'Well, I guess that's true, but hey, I love you more than football and hockey.' "

Best of the Worst

For the first time since April 13, the Rockies do not have the worst record in the NL. While the Rockies have gone 12-7 in their last 19 games, the Pirates have gone 4-15 to take the Rockies' place. In the midst of this free fall, the Pirates have fired their manager, Lloyd McClendon. The Rockies were opportunistic last night, scoring six runs on six hits, taking advantage of 10 walks and three errors by the Padres. Cook continued his strong pitching since returning from his year-long absence. Fortunately for the Rox, the Padres made enough dumb mistakes to lose the game. In a full-fledged lapse of concentration, with Helton on second and a throw to home, Miguel Olivo tossed the ball into the Padres dugout, thinking the ball was dead. In actuality, the ball was still live and, since Helton was at second at the time of the error, Helton was awarded two bases and the winning run scored. Good teams do not make these kind of mistakes, so obviously the Padres are not a good team right now. However, someone HAS to win the NL West and it will probably be the Padres. While it is true that once in the playoffs anything can happen, it is also true that the Padres would be no better than third in any other division in baseball with their current record.

For only the third time since August 1, the Rockies walked more opposing batters than they struck out.

For years we as Rockies' fans continued to hear about how Dante Bichette was a fine hitter, but a serious defensive liability in left field. Personally, I always thought that was exaggerated and unfair to Dante. I remember talking to someone from Atlanta once who said at least Dante wasn't as bad as Ryan Klesko. One of the best things the Padres ever did was moving Klesko from left field to first base. One of the worst was to move him back. Watching him play defense makes just about everyone else look like Gold Glove material, Jose Canseco not withstanding.

Even though last night should not have ended as a one-run game, the Rockies are now 22-19 in one-run games this season. This compares with a 16-24 record in 2004. Since August 1, the Rockies are 10-2 in one-run games.

Sweep

On May 2, 2005, I posted an article about the Rox being swept by the Dodge Ball Boys.  Given the way the Rockies had started the season, and the way the pitching staff was performing, this was no surprise at all.  The primary difficulties of the pitching staff as a whole were control and big innings.  As I documented in the earlier article, at the time the Rox had a BB/9 rate of 5.60.  Through 22 games, they had walked 10 or more in a ballgame three times and seven or more nine times.  The BIS index, which measures the effects of big innings, stood at a nearly season-high 5.21.  The team ERA stood at 6.34, by far the highest in baseball.  The Rockies’ record was 6-16 and talk was running rampant about how bad this team would be.

Times have changed, somewhat.  This weekend, the Rockies were the ones who delivered the three-game sweep to L.A.  As a contrast, the pitching staff has settled down considerably, both from the standpoint of control and big innings.  In the 114 games since the May 2 article, the Rox have walked ten or more batters only once and seven or more another nine times.  The team BB/9 rate is down to 3.97 for the season.  After a big inning on Sunday, the BIS index sits at 1.90.  The team ERA is now at 5.21, pretty much in line with previous seasons and only the third worst in baseball, behind Tampa Bay and Kansas City.  The Rockies’ record is 55-81, but talk is beginning to trickle about how good this team might be in the seasons to come.

After yesterday’s games, the Rockies are tied with Pittsburgh for the worst record in the NL.  Suddenly within reach are the mighty Snakes of Arizona.  Wouldn’t that be a great way to finish the season, by putting the Snakes in the NL West cellar?

The “Bullpen Watch” stands at 20 losses and 24 blown saves. This puts the team on a pace for the end of the season at 23 losses and 28 blown saves.  These are still league highs, but a far cry from the record-setting 39 losses and 39 blown saves in 2004.

The Designation Committee met over the weekend and, with the recent success on the road and a sweep of the Dodge Ball Boys, decided to restore the capital “R”.  Hopefully the Rockies can keep it the rest of the season.

Welcome Back

After a nine-game left coast road trip that saw the rox win five of the nine and four in a row, they came to CF for a brief three-game homestand before heading back to the left coast for three with the Padres.  At the same time the rox were welcoming back two of their most promising youngsters who have been out for an extended period of time, Clint Barmes and Brad Hawpe.  I commented last week that while the offense has been sputtering lately, the addition of these two players in the lineup would most likely have a positive impact the team’s offensive performance.  While Barmes has been a little slow getting back to his play prior to his injury, Hawpe has made his presence known.  In his first two games back, he has gone 4-8 with three runs, five rbi and one homerun.  The rox’ lineup is definitely a little more imposing to opposing pitchers with Helton, Holliday, Hawpe and Atkins in the heart of the order.  A manager’s ability to go alternate right and left in the middle of the lineup is often important late in close ballgames.  Hawpe gives Hurdle that ability.   The last two nights not withstanding, the rox have been in their fair share of close games lately.  In my opinion, of all the rockies’ youngsters, Hawpe has the best chance of being a star player.  Hopefully the last two games are an indication that the rox’ offense will eventually return to being a dominant force at CF.

The rox scored 11 runs last night for the second game in a row.  Prior to Friday’s game the rox had scored in double figures six times this season.  Along with scoring 22 runs in the last two games, the rockies’ pitchers have only allowed four, the two Kim’s allowing only one run in their respective starts.  The team era continues on an impressive downward trend on the chart, sitting at 5.21, the lowest of the season.

As is mentioned in the Denver Pest this morning, centerfield remains a concern, at least from an offensive standpoint.  The rox have a few internal candidates that could fill the centerfield role, but none are very impressive.  Cory Sullivan, Larry Bigbie and Choo Freeman have gotten the majority of the playing time in center the second half of the season.  While all have played adequately from a defensive standpoint, they have combined to hit .228 with zero homeruns and eight rbi.  Playing half of their games at CF requires the rox to have a centerfielder who can cover a lot of ground AND hit for at least some power and drive in runs.  Most of the external candidates that would fit within the rox’ financial framework are former players who may be let go by their current teams.

The rox now stand only one game back of Pittsburgh for the worst record in the NL.

Dogs in My Rear View Mirror

With the month of August behind us, I figured it would be somewhat interesting to look back at the season so far for a bit. August ended with a down note, two losses in a row, but overall was relatively positive. As I mentioned a couple of days ago, the rox did end their streak of months with a losing record. I doubt anyone expected that out of the rox this season. They had nine wins on the road in August when they had ten total through July. August gave us as rox fans hope for the future. Not necessarily the future as in September, but the future as in the 2006 season and beyond.

The pitching staff has proven that it CAN be good. The primary reason the rox experienced their road success was solid pitching. Each month this season, the rox have improved their ERA.

April- 6.55
May- 5.17
June- 5.13
July- 4.97
August- 4.81

In the last 10 days, the rox ERA is 3.87, showing that yes, these guys can pitch and pitch well at times.

The offense continues to be an area of concern. The team batting average over the last 10 days is .224 with an average of 3.8 runs scored per game. Granted, this is better than during all other road trips this season, but still is not a good trend for the road. The return of Hawpe and Barmes are upgrades to Mohr and Quintanilla and should help to improve this trend.

One of the nice things about the unbalanced schedule is that teams, like the rox, that are out of the playoff race can impact the playoff picture. Out of the 29 games remaining, the rox play NL West teams in 22.

For as weak as the NL West is, where the division winner could very well have a sub-.500 record, the NL East is just as strong, where every team in the division has a shot at a playoff spot.

Hurricane Katrina: Blog for Relief Weekend is going through Monday. If you haven’t already contributed something towards the relief effort in the Gulf Coast, I encourage you to join the efforts of the blogging community. As of this morning, the total raised was $240,000 with over 1,300 blogs participating.

Relief

Not relief for the starters, but relief for those impacted by Katrina. DITr is joining the efforts of various blogs to raise much-needed funds. You can check out various charities, see which blogs are participating and monitor the progress here.