Groundhog Day

It seems like we've seen this before. Troy Tulowitski hits a home run late in the game to give the rockies the lead only to see Brian Fuentes blow the game, leading the rockies to defeat. We have, actually. Three times in the last seven games. How bizarre is this? I mean, to have the same hero only to have the same goat three times in a period of seven days is almost unimaginable. Last night seemed like everything would be back to normal again as Fuentes retired the first two batters in the eleventh. Mr. 3000 for the night, Craig Biggio, hustled out an infield hit to keep the Astros' hopes alive. They say baseball is a game of inches and it wasn't more than a couple of inches by which Hunter Pence's groundball got under Fuentes glove to scoot through the infield for one of the strangest doubles you'll see. At this point I had a bad feeling. I won't go into the rest of the story because, quite honestly, it's a little difficult to even think about. I may need to devise a "cognitive coping strategy" in the near future. It would seem that the confidence that was high has to be at an almost season-low. I don't want to talk about this anymore.

Until next time, go rockies!

So Soon?

After only 16 days with CapR, the Designation Committee has stripped it from the rockies. I use the term "stripped" because, frankly, it was out of disgust and utter disappointment. When the committee restored CapR the general feeling was that it would be for awhile. Sixteen days wasn't what we had in mind. The Chairman of the Designation Committee was actually thinking about taking a vacation since it seemed as though the rockies were cruising right along and there wouldn't be much business for the committee to tend to, but the rockies apparently had other ideas. So, the committee met this morning and the vote to repeal CapR was unanimously "yes". The rox still have a chance to avert complete disaster on this road trip with four in Houston against a team that isn't particularly good so far this season. They do, however, face Oswalt tonight whom they have typically struggled against, their last game against him notwithstanding. They'll also face Jennings, which will be interesting and strange. The optimism is rapidly waning and they need to come home on a positive note to keep the fan base interested.

Until next time, go rockies!

Disappointing

Unfortunately, the Rockies have followed up one of the best stretches of baseball in franchise history with the first four game losing streak of the season. As good as the pitching had been during the period of close to 30 games, that's how shaky it's been in the last four. And it's not just the starters, with the bullpen giving up runs and Fuentes blowing two saves when he had converted 9 of 10 save opportunities during the Rockies' surge. Overall, the bullpen that gave up only two blown saves in a span of 27 games has three blown saves in the last four games. Despite all the talk from the players that the series against the Yankees was just three games like any others, you can't help but wonder if they didn't get caught up in the hype as much as most everyone else. The pessimists outnumber the optimists right now. I'm not ready to go there. We've seen what this team can do. Hopefully they can recapture it soon.

The RMN has a good article about Ryne Duren, the only home pitcher in Denver baseball history to throw a no-hitter. I first read about the feat while researching for my "History of Baseball in Denver" series back in March of 2005. In January 2006 I added a Ryne Duren autographed baseball to my small, yet significant collection. To Duren's credit, he considers his biggest accomplishment in life not as pitching in the big leagues, but overcoming an addiction to alcohol. Also to his credit, he has focused his life after baseball on helping others with the same addiction. Way to go Ryne!

The staff at DITR want to offer a belated congratulations to Rick Cummings, the great-great nephew of Candy Cummings, on his partial retirement (for the Nth time, I can't keep track). As has been mentioned here before, Rick as one of the inspirations for the DITR blog and had a role in the naming process. Rick traditionally takes the summer off from blogging, but you can find him here when fall arrives and he resumes.

May I Have Your Attention Please

I turned on SportsCenter this morning and the first story was: the Rockies sweep of the Yankees. At first I thought it would just be about the Yankees and that stranger things have happened than them going into Coors Field and getting swept, scoring only five runs in the process. Yes, they did talk about the Yankees, quoting Torre as saying he didn't expect this and didn't care to see the Rockies again. But, they gave equal time to the Rockies, pointing out that since the Yankees got swept, the Rox did, in fact, do the sweeping. They didn't stop there, delving into the basis for the Rox' hot streak: better pitching and better hitting. Despite the fact that this streak has been an entire team effort without one or two players carrying the load, ESPN did single out Holliday. Buster Olney went so far as to say that he should be starting in the All-Star game and encouraged fans to stuff the ballot box to get him into the starting lineup. The bottom line is: the Rockies can't be ignored any longer and are starting to draw attention. No matter what your feelings were about the buzz surrounding the series with the Yankees, it made a lot of people pay attention to the Rockies that wouldn't have otherwise, both fans and media. You can just see the level confidence rising with this team. With the Padres losing the last two, the Rox are merely 3 1/2 games out of first. Success on a measurable scale is within their reach. Hopefully they take hold and don't let go.

Here's one thing that I don't understand. Back in the day when the AL and NL had different umpires, there were minor differences in each league. When MLB went to one crew of umpires for the entire league many of these differences went away. One such difference was when a pitched ball hit the dirt. In the NL the umpire called time and replaced the ball. In the AL the ball remained in play. Now all umpires replace a ball that has hit the dirt. The reasoning behind replacing the ball is that the dirt could cause a smudge or discoloration on one area of the ball that would make it more difficult for the hitter to pick up the rotation, etc. So, with this in mind, what I don't understand is why catchers volunteer the ball to the umpire when it would supposedly be to his pitchers' advantage to keep the ball in play. My thinking would be that the catcher wouldn't want the ball replaced and only give it up if asked. It's certainly a minor thing that likely would have little or no impact on a game, but good, smart players should accept every advantage that is within the rules, no matter how small.

Until next time, go Rockies!

Tamed

The second hottest team in baseball tamed the hottest team in baseball, for one game at least. I certainly hope the Rox decide to not play favorites in the AL East and take at least two of three games from the Yanks and Jays. Maybe the East Coast media will actually know who the Rockies are after our swing through the division. Josh Fogg outpitched Mike Mussina, who hasn't been fantastic this season but is no slouch. Francis and Pettite tonight should be a dandy. If you like lefties who can be dominating then this game is your dream matchup. Francis, who began the season miserably, has a 1.93 ERA over his last eight starts.

To expand from the previous post on the Rockies' surge, our average over the last 30 days is .289, tops in the NL and at .268 only three points behind New York for first in hitting for the season. It doesn't seem that long ago that we were close to the bottom and people were scratching their heads wondering why our offense was so mediocre. As for pitching, our ERA over the last 30 days is 3.46, second only to the Padres. The Rox have climbed to 9th in the NL for the season at 4.43. If that wasn't enough, our defense continues to be the best in the NL with a .991 fielding percentage.

As well as the Padres have been playing they are last in the NL in hitting at .247. There are two sides to this. On one side, how much longer can San Diego keep playing this well without hitting and, the on other side, how scary will they be if they DO start hitting? The Rox haven't made up a lot of ground on first place, but they have put some distance between them and the Giants.

Kansas City is asking fans to vote on a replacement song for "Take Me Out To the Ball Game" during the 7th inning stretch. Doesn't the word "tradition" mean anything? I mean, there are some things that you can change and then there are some things you just don't mess with. "Take Me Out To the Ball Game" was written in 1908 by Jack Norworth on a train ride to Manhattan. It was first sung during the 7th inning stretch in 1971 at a Cubs game by Harry Caray and quickly became popular throughout the league. As if Royals' fans don't have enough to complain about.

Until next time, go Rockies!

Even

With the unexpectedly easy victory last night over Josh Beckett and the Red Sox, our beloved team has reached the even .500 mark for the first time this season since April 13 when they were 5-5. The point where things really turned around was May 22. The Rockies had just started a six-game road trip with a loss to Arizona after losing two of three to Kansas City at CF. Spirits were down. The mood was lousy and Rockies' fans were, in general, grumpy. Somehow, and for some reason, this team just started playing a different type of baseball. Since then they've played seven series and won six of them and split the other. Four of those series have been on the road where the Rockies now have more wins than losses.

During the periods where the Rockies' struggled, it wasn't just one element that cost them games. The starting pitching wasn't awful, but it by no means was a strength. The bullpen woes were mighty and even the dedicated fan needed a pre-game roster analysis to determine which relievers were here and which had been sent away. The hitting was inconsistent and unreliable, especially in scoring and clutch situations. Conversely, since May 22 every element has seen vast improvements and each have contributed to this stretch of good baseball. The team ERA since May 22 is 3.36. At the time the team ERA was 5.00. The starters and relievers have equally solidified their portions of the pitching staff. Relievers that were terrible (Affeldt, Martin, Hawkins) have actually become worthy of a call when the game is tight and on the line. Likewise, our hitting has seen improvements also. On May 22 the team batting average was .253. Since then our average is .288, but the real improvement has been hitting with runners in scoring position and in situations where a single at bat can dictate the outcome of the game. Tavarez, Matsui, Holliday and Hawpe have really been the driving forces of the offense recently, with Tulo adding his flare when it really counts.

Granted, it is only .500 and there's a long way to go in this season, but the turnaround is impressive no matter how you want to look at it, especially since winning the series in Boston. It doesn't get easy though. Tonight the Rox face another unbeaten starter and the Devil Rays and then the hottest team in baseball next week in the Yankees.

In an unfortunate turn of events, the Los Angeles Dodgers have fired Eddie Murray as their hitting coach. As a kid growing up, Murray was one of my favorite players.

Correction: Yesterday I said that the Rox had signed 19 of their draft picks when they have actually signed 27. The part about the draft file being updated is, however, still correct.

Until next time, go Rockies!

Guaranteed

Interesting. Here's an exerpt from 38 Pitches, Curt Schilling's blog:

Man, the Colorado Rockies sure put a whooping on us last night. I obviously didn't have the same stuff as the last time out when I one-hit the A's. I didn't shake off Tek once last night and see what happens. So much for my superstition that I pitch better with Hunt's on my sock than Heinz. Who are these guys anyway? Holliday, Hawpe, Matsui? I remember hearing something about Todd Helton in the off-season, but these other guys I don't know anything about. As Keith Jackson would say, 'Whoa Nellie!'

One thing about Schilling, he always speaks his mind. Anyway, with the Rockies' win last night they guarantee themselves a .500 road trip. Things are looking rather encouraging. Our ERA is the lowest it's been since April 30 and the batting average the highest since May 1. The batting average over the last 10 games is .300 and five of those games have been away from CF. The last two games have been encouraging in that we now know that we can compete with the top-tier teams, on their field no less.

The Rox signed 19 of their recent draft picks. The draft file will be updated in the next day or so to reflect those signings.

Until next time, go Rockies!

Its' About Time

After 322 straight days without the Capital R (now simply known as, CapR), the Rockies have earned it back. The Designation Committee met yesterday and determined that either winning or tying six straight series warranted a full restoration of our beloved team's name. This is by far the longest the Rockies have gone without CapR. Last season was the first time since in the history of CapR that the team played so poorly down the stretch that the Committee had no choice but to withhold CapR for the entire off-season. It sure would be nice if the Designation Committee had to go another 322 days without changing CapR.


I'll be the first to admit that the competition the Rox have been facing during this recent surge doesn't exactly strike fear, the combined winning percentage of those teams being .459. However, there are a number of elements in the current version of the Rockies that have greatly improved over what we were seeing for much of the first seven weeks or so. For one, the problems that were plaguing the bullpen have seemed to right themselves. No longer do we feel like we need a 5+ run lead in the 7th to give our pen a good chance to bring it home. Jeff Francis, after a dismal start to the season has found his form as the dominant starter we expect each game. The team as a whole is hitting better with runners in scoring position. I don't have data to back up this claim, just my observations, but the improvement has been talked about in various circles. The three games at Fenway will tell us a lot. After Boston the Rox don't play a winning team again until July 2-4 against the Mets. We don't play San Diego again until July 23-25, so hopefully the Rox can keep up the momentum and have the confidence they need when they start playing some of the better teams.

The draft file on the website has been updated with the Rockies' 2007 selections. As is tradition at DITR, the staff would like to offer their congratulations to Larry Day, the 1,453rd, and final, pick of the 2007 draft. Day is a catcher from the University of Connecticut selected by the New York Yankees.