Diamond in the Rox

An Unfamiliar Position

2007-10-26T07:32:00.000-06:00

Here we are, in a position we don't know much about. First, losing two in a row. It's been long enough since we last did that the guys probably had forgotten what it felt like. Also, being behind in a series, and two games behind at that. What do we do now. Well, for starters we have to hope that Fogg has his best stuff on Saturday and can baffle some Boston hitters that are not so easily baffled. Second, we have to hope that the Rockies offense can recapture a spark at Coors Field and put some hits together.

One thing that was apparent Wednesday night and was reinforced Thursday night is that the Red Sox batters are collectively a very patient and disciplined bunch. You wouldn't need more than two hands to count the number of swings they've had on bad pitches. They rarely swing at pitchers' pitches and don't miss very often with pitches they like. This is the opposite of what we experienced with both Philadelphia and Arizona. Both of those teams swung at a lot of pitches that were out of the strike zone. Not Boston. Fifteen walks in two games is evidence of their discipline. Throwing more and better strikes will be the cornerstone if we are to turn this series around.

Apparently it's too much to ask, but it would be real nice if announcers, commentators, etc. would get the basic facts correct. On Wednesday night, Ken Rosenthal said the Rockies played the Cubs in the NLDS. Last night Tim McCarver referred to the Rockies' home park as Mile High Stadium. I didn't hear it, but my wife said that Joe Buck called Boston the White Sox. My ears may have been playing tricks on me, but I thought I heard Joe Buck call Justin Pedroia Justin Timberlake during the ALCS. We're all human and we all make mistakes, but errors like this can be avoided by simply thinking before blurting out the words. Teams that get this far in the season are usually solid in the fundamentals of the game. Why shouldn't we expect the same out of the broadcasting crew?

Is it just me, or is anyone else already tired of the Red Sox bullpens' whole "Stomp" routine. The announcers said it was a ritual when there was an offensive rally in the works. Since when is a runner on first with two outs a rally? It's like the Braves' tomahawk chop, it loses it's appeal when overused and becomes annoying. At least we won't have to witness it for the next two games and hopefully three.

While We Wait for the Rockies to Play in the World Series, Part Five

2007-10-24T10:52:00.000-06:00

The nerves are beginning to resurface.

Virtually no one is giving the Rockies a shot, and quite a few analysts are currently debating how the Rockies will respond and whether or not they can bounce back from a Game 1 defeat. Jayson Stark, about the only mainstream media-type who's even given us a chance from the start, has a different perspective. Probably the biggest surprise to me is that Peter Gammons predicts the series to go seven games. As homers go, Gammons is one of the biggest.

There are so many idiotic analyses of this series that they don't even warrant mention. It's funny how easily people give so much credit to statistics when they support their opinion but yet discount them when they don't. The Rockies' pitching is "average at best" while the Red Sox have the best pitching in baseball. The Rockies' offense is "good" but not anywhere close to the lineup the Red Sox can field, even at Coors Field. The Rockies' defense is "decent", but the Red Sox' defense is better. It's as if MLB decided to just put all the NL teams in a hat and draw a name since the Red Sox need an opponent to be officially declared the World Series Champions. Come On! I know as a fan it's difficult to be neutral, but then don't even pretend to be.

The fact of the matter is that the Rockies beat the Red Sox two out of three at Fenway back in June. I'm not claiming that it means anything, but it is a fact. The Red Sox faithful discount it as nothing more than a small sample size from four months ago, and they're right. However, you can bet your $650 Rockpile ticket you got from StubHub that if the tables were turned they'd be proclaiming it the final piece of evidence that all the Red Sox have to do is show up and claim their Commissioner's Trophy. My head and stomach are starting to ache from reading so much nonsense, so I'm going to stop.

Can the Rockies continue "The Streak" against a real team? Can they topple the mighty 2007 Red Sox, the best thing in baseball since the 2004 Red Sox? Can they withstand the onslaught of Manny, Papi, Youk, Lowell and the rest of that unforgiving lineup? I don't know, but I'm ready to find out.

Until next time, Go Rockies!

While We Wait for the Rockies to Play in the World Series, Part Four

2007-10-23T15:27:00.000-06:00

Countless fans were left disappointed today. Supply versus demand dictated there would be some, but not quite like this. As of posting, this poll at 9News.com indicated roughly 2.6% of people who were trying to get tickets did get them. My biggest complaint isn't that I wasn't one of the few who did get tickets, but how it was handled from a PR perspective. Jay Alves needs to be fired. During his news conferences he was arrogant and rude, acting like this was all a nuisance for him and he'd rather be playing solitaire on his PC than talking to reporters who were simply doing their jobs. Here's a link at the Rockies' site if you want to send them your thoughts about the last couple of days. Here's my email I sent them:

With the magical way our season has culminated, this could have been our finest hour, yet it is our darkest. The Rockies as an organization should be downright embarrassed as to how this turned out.

If Jay Alves does indeed represent the Rockies organization, then I am sorry to say it is not the class organization I thought it was. If his arrogance and pompousness does not represent the organization, then someone should be found who does represent it properly. He needs to be fired for the way he treated reporters and fans. For the last three weeks I have been proud to say I am a supporter of the Rockies, not just for what has been accomplished on the field, but even more so for the stories that have come out about a caring and compassionate organization. Today I am not so proud, and it saddens me to have to say that. I suppose I can only hope that lessons were learned from this experience and if the Rockies are so fortunate as to find themselves in this situation again that improvements will be made. All that said, the first improvement that should be made is to find someone who has good PR skills, not someone who just has the title by their name.

Let's just hope our distaste for the Rockies front office right now doesn't bleed into our passion for the guys on the field.

Until next time, Go Rockies!

While We Wait for the Rockies to Play in the World Series, Part Three

2007-10-23T07:31:00.000-06:00

We also wait to buy tickets to the World Series. If today goes anything close to what yesterday did, they'd better be ready for a mob at Coors Field. Why do you call a news conference to announce that you have no news?

ESPN has a nice rundown of "The Streak". This is important to read, because, with this long lay off, we fans need to keep our edge too. I've been periodically perusing the video highlights on the Rockies' multimedia page to stay in game shape.

Josh Kalk outlines little things that could impact the outcome of the World Series. All in all I think he did a decent job, but it still amazes me as to how so many continue to get away with writing something while not doing their homework, as he says the Rockies have some experience at Fenway, but none this season. He also uses the outdated reference of Coors Field as "a park that inflates home runs". Enough already. He somewhat piggybacks on Tim Kurkjian's piece where his biggest question for the Series is how the Red Sox will get Ortiz in the games at Coors Field. The Rockies will need to take advantage of Manny in left at Coors and whatever else the Sox decide to do to maximize their offense at the expense of their defense.

This guy, who has exposed his bias more than once over the last couple of weeks, actually thinks this has the makings of a very good series. One thing I do disagree with him on though is Boston's rotation. He calls their rotation "outright imposing". My take on their rotation: Beckett is imposing, definitely, especially when the stakes are high; Schilling can be effective but in no way imposing (three years ago, yes, now, no); Wakefield is befuddling, but imposing probably isn't a word that's ever been used to describe Wakefield; Matsuzaka can be downright imposing at times but can be just as downright bad at other times.

Dave Krieger calls this the Dr. Seuss Series: the Rox vs. Sox on Fox.

Only one more day until we get this thing going.

Until next time, Go Rockies!

While We Wait for the Rockies to Play in the World Series, Part Two

2007-10-19T14:33:00.000-06:00

My brother-in-law, who we'll call "Greg", has lived here in the Denver area for about four years or so. He's a transplant from Texas, where he was a transplant from Louisiana. He's a fan of all sports, but his passion is New Orleans Saints football. While in Texas he adopted the Rangers has his baseball team. During the time I've known Greg we've usually gone to one or two Rockies games together each season. He would root for the Rockies when we went, mainly because what else was he going to do, except for the time he went and the Rockies were playing the Rangers. During that game he rooted for his adopted team and the Rockies won the game (the only game the Rockies had won when he attended until very late this year). He would talk about the Rockies, but in a "at-least-it's-Major-League-Baseball" sort of way, not with much conviction one way or the other.

A few weeks ago, Greg and my fellow member(s) of the Designation Committee had decided that if the Rockies somehow managed to get in the playoffs, we would do our best to get to a playoff game. Right after the Rockies won and the Padres lost to force a one-game tie-breaker for the NL wild card, I bought three tickets to the play-in game, but didn't invite Greg. He seemed somewhat disappointed by this when I told him I'd been at the game. My bad. I assumed it was an event that "Rockies fans" would primarily want to be at. That should have been my first clue. The day of the play-in game, I went to Coors Field and bought tickets for Game 3 of the NLDS against the Phillies (working four blocks from CF has its advantages).

Witnessing the Rockies win the game to sweep the Phillies in the NLDS and celebrate their advancing to the NLCS was a wonderful experience. I was beginning to sense a change in the way Greg cheered for the Rockies. As the Rockies played Arizona for the NL pennant I could tell that he was becoming a little more involved than a mere by-stander. We each had tickets to the NLCS, I for Game 3 and he for Game 4. Fortunately, he was prepared and recorded the final out and ensuing celebration as the Rockies won to earn the right to play in the World Series. He showed me that video last night. While the celebration began on the field and in the stands, I could hear Greg screaming and hollering on the recording. I thought to myself, if I didn't know better, I'd say that was a Rockies fan. Shortly after the video was over he declared, "I'm a Rockies fan". Scenes like this are happening everyday, all over this city. As a dedicated fan, it's fun to see, and tried-and-true, die-hard fans are saying "welcome".

Greg, let this be my official welcome to the not-so-little anymore and growing group that call themselves "Rockies fans".

Until next time, Go Rockies!

While We Wait for the Rockies to Play in the World Series, Part One

2007-10-18T07:13:00.000-06:00

I've never really had a problem with Manny Ramirez. A great hitter, especially in the clutch, makes him fun to watch unless you're rooting for the opposing team.

Until this year. His almost annual demands to leave Boston and then eventually say that he wanted to stay have grown old, but that drama was usually over by the time the season started. This post season he seems to have taken the "Manny Show" to an entirely new level, standing at home plate with arms held high, watching each of his home runs with self-admiration before beginning his SLOW jog around the bases. His home run Tuesday offered support what some people have believed all along: Manny is all about Manny. With his team trailing by five runs, he connected on a solo home run to decrease the deficit to four runs. Most players would run around the bases, high-five their teammates and get back in the dugout. Not Manny, he stood there admiring his work, raising his arms as if he'd just won the game, or at least given his team the lead, and then celebrated on his return to home plate. Even a friend of mine who is a life-long Red Sox fan told me he's tired of it, his comment being: "you've been there before, act like it." As if this wasn't enough, when Manny was asked about Game 5 of the ALCS and the fact that Boston is on the brink of elimination, his response was:

It doesn't happen, so who cares? There's always next year. It's not like it's the end of the world.

He's right, it wouldn't be the end of the world, but that's not the attitude you want from one of your key players on the eve of what could be your last game of the season. The bottom line: I don't really care for Manny Ramirez right now. He seems to be more about himself than the Boston Red Sox.

The Colorado Rockies? Now they're a different story. It's difficult for me to recall a more humble group of guys as part of a professional sports team. Now, I don't know any of the Rockies players personally, so all I have to go by is what I see and hear on TV, but what I see is an authentic attitude of humility along with as much care and respect for a teammate as one's self, from 1 to 25. It's true there is no "I" in "team", and this team takes that saying from the bulletin board and puts it on the field. An example of this is Matt Holliday. While being presented the NLCS MVP award on Monday night, he almost seemed embarrassed. Some might say it was because he didn't think he deserved it. They're partially right, he didn't deserve it. No one did, because the Rockies' sweep of the Diamondbacks for the NL pennant wasn't due to one, or two, players making the largest impact and determining the outcome. It was the ultimate definition of a team effort. With Holliday, he didn't act that way because he didn't think he deserved it. He acted that way because, even if he had been the impact player and dominated the series, he knows it's about the team and not himself. Holliday doesn't appear to be comfortable with all the attention, taking some away from his teammates whom he believes deserve it just as much as he does. I liked what Bernie Lincicome wrote on Wednesday about this team:

You like hard work? Never giving up? Faith and conviction? Friendship? Loyalty? Pulling together? Second chances? Third chances? Even dumb luck? They're all there.

The whole "club religion" thing keeps coming up and getting blown even more out of proportion, causing some folks to not like them. But honestly, this team gives you so many reasons to like them and cheer them on, the least of which is that they play some pretty decent baseball.

Jayson Stark believes that a Colorado/Cleveland World Series would be good for baseball, regardless of the TV ratings.

Sports Illustrated has an article about Matsui's time in NY. He certainly encountered some difficult times there and is now enjoying the rewards of his perseverance. Torrealba thinks the layoff will be good for the team and give him some needed rest.

Even Major League Baseball has joined the "Team of Destiny" discussion.

Until next time, Go Rockies!

We Earned a Banner for the Outfield Wall

2007-10-16T13:07:00.000-06:00

The Rockies are going to the World Series.

Say that ten times.

It's just as sweet the tenth time as it was the first, isn't it?

Sign that Pennant Fever has, in fact, reached epidemic proportions: my wife logging onto mlb.com to check out stats.

It was only fitting that Tulowitski and Helton were the bookends for the play that clinched the series for us, sending 50,213 into a collective celebration this town hasn't seen since, well, maybe never. Tulo and Helton are the heart and soul of this team, each gladly alternating between heart or soul when necessary. One, young and naive enough to not realize that rookies aren't supposed to do what he does. The other, a classic veteran, for years content with simply playing hard in order to show the youngsters how it's done. Now they both get to play for baseball's ultimate prize, together.

Sign that Pennant Fever has, in fact, reached epidemic proportions: thousands of people in Denver who didn't know what a pennant was a week ago, do now.

Jayson Stark's column gives me goose bumps every time I read it. The reality of this whole thing is just too difficult to comprehend. What they did is incredible. How they did it is already legendary. Seldom does something achieve legendary status so soon afterwards, but, without a doubt, this is the stuff that legends are made of.

One of the most impressive tidbits during the celebration last night was that, to a man, the Rockies' players claimed that they have "unfinished business". Getting to the World Series is certainly worth celebrating, but it wasn't their goal. Their goal is, and always has been, to win it.

Sign that Pennant Fever has, in fact, reached epidemic proportions: Seth Smith is a household name.

One of the best things about this amazing run is witnessing the release of all Helton's frustrations that have piled up over the years. While being interviewed last night, Helton said,

I'm experiencing emotions I didn't even know I had.

This is a man we rarely see get emotional. We've experienced more emotion from him in the last month than probably the rest of his career put together. It's wonderful to see.

Mr. Byrnes, paging Mr. Byrnes. His mouth made it onto the flight from Phoenix, but apparently nothing else did.

Sign that Pennant Fever has, in fact, reached epidemic proportions: Brandon Marshall announced he will buy as many World Series tickets he can get and distribute them to Broncos' season ticket holders.

Four to go.

Until next time, Go Rockies!

Streak Extended in Grey Unis

2007-10-13T16:13:00.000-06:00

It's completely mind boggling to actually stop and think about the fact that the Rockies are on the verge of making history with this "nice little streak', as Brian Fuentes termed it. It's even more mind boggling to contemplate the reality that the Rox are merely two wins away from representing the National League in the World Series. Just stop for a moment and let that sink in. Remarkable, isn't it? Jayson Stark provides the details of just how unusual and unprecedented this run is.

While the pitching in Game 2 maintained the slim lead until the ninth and was really solid, it was the defense that provided the majority of the highlights and truly won the game for us. I can't recall the defense being quite the focal point of any other game during this streak as it was last night. Willy Taveras' catch may be the biggest in this town since Mark Jackson.

Signs that Pennant Fever is approaching an epidemic: during Game 1, my wife and mother-in-law were discussing Francis' pitch count.

While enjoying the rewards of having so many very young players during the regular season, the Diamondbacks are experiencing some of the risks in this series. Justin Upton, Stephen Drew and Chris Young have all made mistakes that they most likely won't make in a year or two.

The more I see Eric Byrnes, the more I'm glad he's no longer a member of the Colorado Rockies. His constant hustle is admirable, but his cartwheel throws and over-dramatizations are things I can do without.

Signs that Pennant Fever is approaching an epidemic: the Rocktober section of the daily paper is larger than the REST of the paper.

The Diamondbacks wearing their black shirts last night in order to keep the Rockies from wearing theirs has become one of the most unusual subplots of the 2007 playoffs (or any other for that matter). The TBS crew made a few comments regarding it, seemingly being careful not to make much of it one way or the other. The FSN gang ,during the post game coverage, didn't have to be careful, calling it an apparent act of desperation. Bernie Lincicome said it best:

When you play well enough to affect the other team's wardrobe, you have reached a special place.

Baseball players are notorious for being a superstitious bunch, but does anyone think that when the Rockies found out they couldn't wear the black shirts they panicked and said "Oh no, we can't wear our black shirts! What are we going to do?" Please. When asked about it after the game, Ryan Spilborghs responded :

Aw, gray, black. It doesn't really matter to us anymore. Right now, we'd wear pink if we had to.

Signs that Pennant Fever is approaching an epidemic: the sunsets are a brilliant shade of purple.

Six to go!!!

Until next time, Go Rockies!

Breaking News

2007-10-08T13:04:00.000-06:00

The Rockies have pitching. It must be true. I read it on the internet.

I know, for those of you who have followed the Rockies and/or paid any attention at all, this is like breaking into the middle of CSI to announce that we've put a man on the moon. However, for the majority of the national media and baseball "experts", this is about as earth-shattering an idea as Sal Fasano possessing speed. Also news, but not headline material, is that the Rockies hit a little and play a decent defense. You kind of expect so-called "experts" to actually cover the entire league during the course of a season, not just a few select teams, but unfortunately that isn't the case. You also expect analysts that proclaim a non-bias to spend at least five minutes doing some research and performing some analysis rather than making blanket statements that have no merit or evidence to support them. The fact of the matter is that the Rox had the best team ERA in the NL since the All-Star break and better than six of the other seven playoff teams. This fact has been well-documented over the last couple of weeks, so if the "experts" don't know that it's their own blasted fault. Now they suddenly are forced to realize we have a team in Denver and they do actually play a 162-game schedule (except this season, 163) like every other MLB team. Dave Krieger's column in the Saturday RMN was amazingly right on the money. This just proves that even a blind squirrel gets a nut every now and then, as much of the local media has only recently discovered the truth themselves.

As with any late-September push resulting in a playoff berth, there are tough decisions to make in regards to forming your roster for a series such as was just completed. Invariably, there will be individuals who contributed to the team getting into the playoffs that won't be part of the roster for the playoffs. The Rockies may be faced with an even tougher decision heading into the NLCS. For a few weeks now, pitchers Aaron Cook and Jason Hirsch have proclaimed they would be healthy and ready to play in the event the Rox should make the playoffs and then advance to the NLCS. Well, here we are and both are indicating they could very well be healthy and in adequate game shape to be added to the roster for the series. It's one thing to make roster choices amongst players who have been a part of the stretch run. It's another to swap a player for someone who was injured and unable to contribute down the stretch. That said, a healthy Cook would be an improvement on the pitching staff, assuming the #4 spot in the rotation and allowing Fogg to pitch exclusively out of the bullpen, which he did effectively, earning the win, in Game 2 but was a possibility to start in a Game 4 if necessary. Cook's roster spot would be at the expense of Mark Redman, who, for the most part, pitched well when called upon, but is not an adequate replacement for Cook if Aaron is able to pitch effectively. Hirsch, on the other hand, is a different story. Hirsch's roster spot would come at the expense of another member of the bullpen, which, argued by many and agreed by many, has truly been the rock amidst this streak of the ages. Whom, of the bullpen, would Hurdle remove and replace with Hirsch? Julio is "hurt" and already off the roster. The rest of the members of the pen have been steady and reliable when called upon. My opinion is to replace Redman's roster spot with Cook and leave Hirsch off the roster. Why tinker too much with something that has worked brilliantly 17 of the last 18 times?

Until next time, Go Rockies!

Calling All Rockies Fans

2007-10-03T06:54:00.000-06:00

Calling all Rockies fans, far and wide. The Rockies need you. Here's how you can help: buy tickets for the NLCS games at Coors Field. You may be wondering why we need to buy tickets for that series when the Division Series hasn't even started. We've got to think ahead. When we get to the Championship Series (this team has given me every reason to believe and not a single one not to), there's the possiblity we'd be playing the Cubs. Have you been to a Rockies/Cubs game at CF, where the fanbase is close to equally split between the home and visiting teams? Do we want that in a playoff game? It's an obvious answer, so BUY TICKETS! If we buy all the tickets now, if the Cubs win their series with Arizona and their fans try and get tickets for here, they'll be gone. The worst case: you have to wait 4-6 weeks for a refund. If you're content watching the game on TV, then you could make a nifty profit selling your tickets to someone dying to get to the game. However, make sure you don't sell them to a Cubs fan. Please.

Keep in mind, we're believing and thinking ahead here.

Until next time, Go Rockies!

UN-BE-LIEVABLE

2007-10-02T07:07:00.000-06:00

Unbelievable! Unbelievable!! How many more times do you want me to say it? Fifty? A thousand? It doesn't matter, because it still wouldn't adequately describe what I had the fortune and pleasure of witnessing last night. Coors Field was high-voltage from the start. I felt the right field stands shake. You know how the east stands at Mile High would shake? The right field stands at CF shook. I've never experienced that before. I didn't know they could. There has to be about 48,000 people waking up this morning that don't have a voice. Mine is gone.

Last night was, without question, the most incredible game I have ever seen. Every possible ounce of drama was squeezed out of 13 innings of playoff-caliber baseball from two teams that did not want to go home for the season. The thirteenth inning alone captured the entire experience of being a fan. The lingering hope of playing another day, those hopes being dashed in a moment and the ensuing agony of potential defeat, only to have your team restore your hope and carry you to the thrill of victory.

Whatever the outcome for the Rockies from here on out, they certainly have given us memories that will have a lasting effect. This team is gaining fans by the truckload, not just in Denver or the Rocky Mountain region, but throughout the country.

I apologize if this all seems fragmented and disjointed. I have so many thoughts in my head right now it's difficult to formulate them all and put them into words. For now, let's just enjoy this. This team has given us their all. Let's return the favor.

Until next time, go Rockies!!

All Lined Up

2007-09-26T10:25:00.000-06:00

All the stars were aligning perfectly last night until Brian Giles' home run with two outs in the ninth inning in San Francisco knocked one, hopefully temporarily, off line. It's certainly nice to know that we single-handedly sucked all the life out of the Dodgers last week.

During the telecast last night they mentioned that the Rox are on pace to set the MLB record for team fielding percentage. I pulled out my trusty Lahman database and did a little research. The Rockies are at .9893 for fielding percentage, putting them .0002 ahead of the team which currently holds the MLB record for team fielding percentage, the 2006 Boston Red Sox. Prorating the Rockies' total chances through the rest of the season, I estimate they can commit two more errors and still set the mark. Here is a table of the top ten teams all-time in fielding percentage. Here also is a table of the Rockies' fielding percentages each season. I don't remember the 1993 season being THAT bad.

Until next time, Go Rockies!

Looking Ahead

2007-09-25T08:16:00.000-06:00

Yesterday I began contemplating the possibility of the Rockies finishing in a tie with the Padres and/or Phillies for the wild card. First off, let's not entirely rule out the Rockies in the hunt for the division. I agree, it's a long shot and a few (not a lot though) things have to fall into place. The Rockies were considered a long shot just to be in the position they are in right now, so anything can happen. The Mets seemed determined to play themselves into the conversation too. The good news is, with two wins against Arizona in the series to end the season, the Rox would hold the head-to-head tie-breaker with every team that is currently ahead of them in the divisional and wild card standings. The RMN this morning ran down the scenarios of a tie and what would happen to determine the winner of the WC. The bottom line is this: IF the Rox can stay on their current path of playing baseball worthy of a postseason berth, they are in a decent position to earn that berth. Keep this in mind also: if the Rox can win one more game of the next three than the Diamondbacks (and the Padres continue their free fall), the final series at home with Arizona could be for the division title. Would there be anything more exciting than if the Rox could take the first two from the Snakes and the last game of the season would have the division title on the line for the two teams involved? Granted, the Rox have to beat the Dodgers AGAIN and the Pirates have to beat the Diamondbacks at least once, but if we have learned anything in the last seven days it's that anything can happen. It was just one week ago tonight that the Rox accomplished the improbable with late home runs off of Broxton and Saito to beat the Dodgers. Helton's bomb and subsequent run around the bases still gives me chills when I think about it.

The ongoing conversation regarding the NL Rookie of the Year, particularly the defensive short-comings of Milwaukee thirdbaseman Ryan Braun got me thinking. I've been wondering how bad, historically speaking, Braun's defense really is. This table lists the bottom ten thirdbasemen in fielding percentage since 1920 with a minimum of 200 chances.

Braun currently has a fielding percentage of .900, so that would make him the sixth worst thirdbaseman by fielding percentage since 1920.

Until next time, Go Rockies!

Innings and Outings

2007-08-23T06:57:00.000-06:00

Tuesday night, Ian Stewart became the 60th player to hit their first major league homerun as a member of the Rockies. He became the second to hit a grand slam as their first MLB home run, Jim Tatum being the first in 1993. Other notable first HR's for the Rockies include Jay Gainer, who was the 15th player in MLB history to hit the first pitch he saw in the majors for a HR, and Jason Jennings, who is the only pitcher in history to pitch a complete game shutout AND hit a homerun in his MLB debut.

One of the "email's to the booth" during the telecast Tuesday asked about the possibility of Stewart playing second base. George and Drew didn't immediately dismiss it as a bad idea, going so far as to say that maybe the Rox should run him out there a few games yet this season and see what happens. Frazier said he might compare Stewart as a second baseman to Jeff Kent, a guy who isn't necessarily a defensive asset but will make the everyday play and won't cost you runs. I wonder if the idea has crossed the mind of either Hurdle or O'Dowd.

Taylor Buchholz has said for awhile now that he is more comfortable in his role as a reliever than he was as a starter. His performance sure seems to indicate that. As a starter his ERA is 5.98 while 2.31 as a reliever. With 3.1 innings of solid relief work Tuesday, he deserved the win.

They mentioned during the telecast that his last outing, Ubaldo Jimenez had the highest average speed for a fastball in any game in the majors this season. His 0.89 ERA over the last two starts is obviously the potential that prompted the Rockies to make him a part of the rotation at this stage of the season. Control continues to be an issue and will prevent him from going deep into games.

MLBTradeRumors likes the approach of Jimenez/Morales in the rotation versus rolling the dice on Mark Redmond (or any other veteran possibility for that matter), whom the Rox recently signed to a minor league deal. Clint Hurdle indicated, however, that the signing was strictly that, a minor league deal, without any thoughts of possibly helping the Rox during the stretch run. Hopefully we don't have anymore injuries to the rotation and Hirsch and Cook are back soon so we don't even have to speculate about a scenario where Redmond sees the mound for the Rox.

Last night, the Rox did not look like a team destined for a playoff spot. They didn't do anything particularly well. Splitting games evenly between the categories of good and bad will not cut it if we are to remain serious about playing past September. It could have been worse though. Texas beat Baltimore 30-3, tying a MLB record from 1897. Here's the boxscore for that mess. It's not as if the Rangers (or Strangers as my brother-in-law calls them) had been tearing the cover off the baseball. They'd only managed 28 runs over the last nine games. What a way for Baltimore to celebrate manager Dave Trembley's contract extension, which was announced earlier in the day.

Morales is on the hill today, but we're facing a lefty in Paul Maholm. Ever since I remember lefties have given us fits.

Until next time, Go Rockies!

Earning It Back With A Bang

2007-08-09T07:04:00.000-06:00

The Rockies put on quite an offensive show yesterday, tying the franchise record for extra-base hits in a game and coming one shy of tying the franchise record for hits and runs in a game. The majority of the damage was done in the first four innings, making it even more impressive. Since splitting a 4-game set with the Cardinals at the end of May, the Rox have won nine straight home series and have won 21 of 27 games at Coors Field. For a few years now we have talked about the Rockies getting that home-field advantage back, recalling how dominant we were here in the mid to late 90's. Teams would leave Denver with their tails between their legs. Some opponenets literally HATED playing here, leaving with their bullpen in disarray and feeling like they'd just been beaten like a red-headed stepchild with a Louisville Slugger. The first evidence that this dominance was on the verge of returning was when the Yankees had just completed a three-game series here and had been swept. Joe Torre commented that he didn't really care to ever come back. The Rox managed that sweep in a different fashion than the recent sweep of the Brewers, by outpitching the Yanks. One of the wonderful things about this team is that they can out pitch you OR out slug the opposition. Back in the day of the Bombers, about our only choice was to out slug the other team, and we did that pretty well. Back then, in the pre-humidor era, players and managers would complain that Coors Field was a joke and you couldn't play "real baseball" here with the altitude. They wouldn't have complained if they'd won. Now that the game has been "normalized" with the humidor and 12-11 games aren't common anymore, they won't be able to use the "real baseball" argument. When teams start to come in here afraid that the Rox will take batting practice off them and they can't make a single mistake, then the LoDo Magic of the Bombers' era will have officially returned. That advantage can go a long ways to making the Rockies a team to be reckoned with year in and year out. A side benefit of recapturing this advantage at home is the attendance. The crowds are noticably larger than even at the beginning of the season and certainly larger than we've typically seen the last two seasons. I'm not saying that the average Rockies' fan goes to CF hoping to see a 19-4 drubbing or even a return of the "12-11, it's not over 'till it's over" type games, but they do want to know that the Rox have a pretty good chance of winning the game.

The Designation Committee met late yesterday afternoon and voted to restore CapR. A general criteria that the Committee had determined was necessary for CapR consideration was getting to five games over .500. With the Rox reaching that goal and in convincing fashion, the Committee voted unanimously. This time the chairman really is going on vacation, so hopefully there isn't a need for any meetings in the near future.

Until next time, Go Rockies!

Back Where We Started

2007-07-09T07:53:00.000-06:00

The rockies were unable to sweep the Phillies to extend their winning streak heading into the All-Star break. Nonetheless, the rockies go into the break with a .500 record, which is where we started the season, making this the second year in a row they've gone into the break with a .500 record or better. The rockies as a franchise have never accomplished that before. Unfortunately, that says more about rockies teams in years past than it does about this year's team. Despite the loss the rockies head into the break on a relatively high note, rebounding nicely from the road trip that sucked all the wind out of their sails just one week ago. They find themselves 5.5 games behind San Diego, easily within striking distance if they don't experience the second-half blues that have traditionally plagued this franchise. Oddly, the most memorable part of this game wasn't even the game itself, but the efforts of the grounds crew, as well as others, to get the tarp on the infield as the skies suddenly opened up. It was certainly strange to see the umpires actually kneeling on the tarp to keep it in place as the wind and rain came in a fury. Even stranger was Adam Eaton, the Phillies' starting pitcher and still in the game, working on the tarp. In all, about 12-15 Phillies players were either lying on the tarp to keep it down or getting sandbags. Jeff Huson said he'd never seen anything like it in his playing days.

In Saturday's game, Jimmy Rollins led off the game with a home run for the 12th time in his career. The most in a MLB career is 81, held by the colorful and oh-so-humble Ricky Henderson. That home run was also Rollins' 100th of his career. His first home run was against the rockies also, May 2, 2001 off of Brian Bohanon.

I was switching between watching the rox and the All-Star Futures game. I managed to be watching the futures game at the right time to see Franklin Morales strike out Ian Stewart. The future seems bright. The RMN has an article about the game this morning.

Both the RMN and DP had good articles about Matt Holliday over the weekend, talking about his relative anonimoty outside of Colorado and his quiet nature. From the DP article: "...he walked to a nearby restaurant through a couple thousand people and nobody recognized him. 'And it didn't bother me one bit,' Holliday said." He doesn't seem like the type to thrive in a NY or LA environment.

The website has undergone a redesign, making it what I believe is a little more user-friendly. Check it out.

Until next time, go rockies!

This Time Last Year

2007-07-06T12:00:00.000-06:00

On July 6, 2006, the rockies had won five series in a row, were 44-40 and .5 games back of San Diego. July 5 was on off day and the Padres had won, so the rox had been in a three-way tie for first the day before. The last series before the All-Star break was at home against Arizona, who was in last place at the time. The rox were playing well enough to expect another series win and enter the break at least five games above .500. Instead the rox were swept by the snakes and then lost the first five games after the break. Four games over .500, feeling pretty confident, only to lose the next eight and fall to four games under .500. Hmm, sounds familiar. Hopefully this season the rox can win the series against the Phillies and be at .500 or better at the break.

How tight was the NL West last season? In a period of ten days, from July 5 - July 15, the rox went from tied for first place to fifth place. Unfortunately that is where they spent the majority of the rest of the season.

I was curious as to which teams have had the greatest changes in wins from last year to this year. Three teams tied for the most improvement of 12 more wins: Cleveland, Los Angeles Angels and Chicago Cubs; while the Chicago White Sox are by far the leaders in the other direction with 19 fewer wins than last year at this time.

This is interesting.

Until next time, go rockies!

Groundhog Day

2007-06-29T06:56:00.000-06:00

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?

2007-06-28T13:57:00.000-06:00

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

2007-06-26T06:52:00.000-06:00

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

2007-06-22T06:56:00.000-06:00

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

2007-06-20T07:02:00.001-06:00

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

2007-06-15T06:59:00.000-06:00

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

2007-06-14T06:55:00.000-06:00

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

2007-06-12T06:44:00.000-06:00

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.

What's in Store for 2007?

2007-02-28T08:23:00.000-07:00

Two years ago, the question that everyone was asking about the rockies was, "how bad will this team be?". The answer was, bad enough to tie the inaugaral team in 1993 for worst record in franchise history. Last year the questions seemed to hinge around which side of mediocrity they would land. After flirting with the possibility of being a good team for the first half of the season, the rox came back to reality in the second half and finished on the south side. This season, there doesn't seem to be a consensus as to what the question is. Some say the rox will be worse than last season, some say they will be better, but most really don't honestly have a solid idea. The subtraction of Jason Jennings and the lack of acquiring an impact centerfielder have led to a degree of pessimism. (The rockies' string of losing records and lack of confidence in ownership might have something to do with that too.) Couple that with the likelihood of unproven youngsters in some key positions and there's reason for pessimism. On the other hand, there seems to be a thread of optimism out there that hasn't surfaced in quite some time. The very fact that we have unproven youngsters that have potential to be pretty good ballplayers leads to the possibility that our beloved team could actually be good this season. We're not to the point of asking, "how good will this team be?", as opposed to two seasons ago, but we might not be that far away from that question. I'm not endorsing either the pessimists or the optimists, but I do want to get a gauge on how the rockies' fanbase is feeling about the 2007 campaign. I've posted a poll on the website asking how many games the rox will win this season. Please vote. At the end of spring training I'll average the responses and publish a target for wins based on the fans' expectations. It should be interesting to monitor as the season progresses.

Spring training games for the rox begin today. Nifty 850 will be broadcasting the game, so if you're within range of the flagship or its affiliates, tune in. It will be a nice change of pace to listen to baseball, especially with snow flying in Denver today.

Only 33 days left until the Designation Committee embarks on its annual field trip!

Clint Hurdle had this quote about Alan Roach, the first, and only PA announcer for the rox, who resigned earlier this week. "I remember the day in Fantasy Camp when he ran upstairs, announced himself, and then came down and hit."

Until next time, go rockies!

If Only

2007-02-14T15:46:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, the news came out that Time Warner had agreed to sell the Atlanta Braves to John Malone and his Liberty Media conglomerate. This potential sale has been brewing for quite some time and still must be approved by the other owners, but that is really just a formality. Unfortunately, our beloved Colorado Rockies were not available for sale, or Malone might have been inclined to make a run at them rather than the Braves. No, instead, Cheap Charlie remains steadfast in his desire to own and operate a MLB team. Imagine if Liberty Media had been able to successfully negotiate the purchase of the rox from the Monforts. This town and the rest of the rockies fanbase would have been rejuvenated, re-enthused and ready to see what real money can do to a struggling franchise. In all fairness, corporate ownership of baseball teams has witnessed mixed results over the last several years, so success would certainly not be automatic. Too often a sports team is seen as just another asset among many within a corporate structure. However, the rox couldn't be much worse off than they are currently with the M&M's at the helm. Malone has been in business a long time and has made a lot of money doing it. I suspect that much of the Monfort's wealth is a product of their father's success and a little of their own to top it off. Malone is a deal-maker; a hard-nosed, no-nonsense type who will walk away in a heartbeat if he doesn't think you're serious and wasting his time. Cheap Charlie is like a repeat contestant on "Deal or No Deal" that always ends up with $.01 in his briefcase. Malone realizes that it takes an investment in the short-term to build revenue and profits for the long-term. The Monforts don't seem to grasp that basic fundamental of business. Yes, there are stockholders and Wall Street to keep happy in a corporate environment, but even they understand the necessity of a good product to generate revenue and the investment required to bring a good product to market. The Monforts clearly understand the concept of needing a good product but fall short when realizing the need for investment. Alas, John Malone will not be riding into Coors Field on his white horse. I guess we can always hope that Stan Kroenke or Philip Anschutz decide to try and crack the nut that is Charlie Monfort.

The Designation Committee took a field trip of another sort last weekend, heading up to the hills in the Rocky Mountains to take in a little snowshoeing. Unfortunately the snow was sparse enough to warrant leaving the shoes in the truck and heading up the trail without them. Stay tuned for details of the trip at Admirable Thoughts.

Tomorrow is the first day of Spring Training!!

Until next time, go rockies!

Humidor Conspiracy?

2007-02-08T11:08:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, as I was perusing various articles on Al Gore's favorite invention, I noticed an article about young hitters prime for a breakout season in 2007 on mlb.com. Brad Hawpe's name was mentioned, but what caught my attention was a comment regarding the rockies' abandonment of the humidor. Now, I couldn't recall hearing or reading about this anywhere during this offseason. I wouldn't put it out of the question for myself to happen to overlook this detail, but someone in the rox' blogosphere would have certainly picked up on it and reported it. If not the bloggers, then without a doubt the numerous critics of the rockies on the favorite talk shows would have brought it to light. So, my initial thought was that it was a mistake by mlb.com. Since I was overdue for a posting, I thought what perfect little tidbit for a centerpiece of an entry. Well, when I went to mlb.com this morning to copy the text out of the article and paste it right here, that sentence was no longer in the article. Strange. Odd. Perplexing. Could it be that the rockies are actually doing away with the humidor? Could it be that MLB knows this but the rockies don't want it (at least not yet) to be public knowledge and some overzealous writer made mention of it for all the world to see before it was noticed and pulled from the article? I don't know, I'm not one to devise a conspiracy theory the minute something can't be explained, but this one has me wondering. After all, the humidor was in use for months before its' existence became public knowledge.

We are only one week away from our beloved team embarking on a new campaign. Unfortunately, our recent campaigns have most resembled a Nader presidential bid. We'd be much better off if Cheap Charlie (thanks Rick) wasn't our campaign manager, but unless you know someone with hundreds of millions of dollars that they don't know what to do with, we're stuck with him.

The Designation Committee has decided to take their annual field trip earlier this year, April 2nd to be exact. That's right, the committee will be attending opening day. I will be taking the four-block pilgrimage from the HQ of the bus company to the glorious confines of CF to meet the rest of the committee. You can expect a report on the committee's first impressions of the 2007 version of the rox.

Until next time, go rockies!

They're Coming Back

2007-01-22T07:11:00.000-07:00

As was reported by the local media outlets a few weeks ago, the rockies are planning a reunion of the Blake Street Bombers. The gathering of the players that were the core of the only glory days the rockies have seen has yet to be announced, but Coors Field is likely to be full for a game not Opening Day or having fireworks for the first time in quite awhile. I'm not sure, but this event sounds very similar to what was proposed here back in October. I suppose I'm going to go out on a limb and take credit for this idea. It may be purely coincidence, but if Rick Cummings, blogging inspiration extraordinaire, author of NFTMM and great-great nephew of Candy Cummings, can take credit for the rockies removing the Wild Card Champion banner at CF, then I can take credit for the BSB Reunion. Regardless of the originator of the idea, I, for one, will be looking forward to the opportunity to see the BSB one last time.

Speaking of Rick Cummings, he emailed me with a question that I had been contemplating myself. Cal Ripken Jr. was elected to the Hall of Fame a couple of weeks ago the first year he was eligible. He was listed on 537 of the 545 ballots, for a percentage of 98.5% of the ballots. Now, Rick's question was "How could anyone, let alone eight individuals, leave Ripken Jr. off their ballot?" Two ballots were submitted blank, so in actuality, six voters left Ripken off of their ballot completely. I too find this hard to comprehend. There is a school of thinking that players may well be HOF caliber, but not first-ballot HOF. Many, including me, believe this school of thought is ridiculous. Either a player is a HOFer or is he isn't. I'm guessing this is the sentiment behind the six individuals that left Ripken off their ballot. They won't have a second chance and will forever be known as not voting for Ripken. Ripken is certainly worthy of induction to the HOF. Ripken revolutionized the shortstop position. When he began his Major League career, shortstops had traditionally been defensive oriented, slap-hitters that could occasionally contribute offensively. Ripken offered defensive excellence while also providing power from a position on the field that rarely had before. He was big for a shortstop, but was still quick and agile enough to have decent range defensively. The position of shortstop is no longer an offensive liability while focusing strictly on defense. Some may say this is mostly a product of today's offense-oriented game, but I believe a great deal of this evolution in the game should be credited to Ripken. In fact, Ripken's effect on the shortstop position bled over to second base, changing the face of that position as well. What better criteria for a HOFer than to change the future of a position he never even played. Shame on those six individuals.

Lastly, for a new DITR record (three) for references to one reader in a single post, Rick Cummings, in his most recent entry at NFTMM, detailed the inner-workings of his blog and "blogging empire" as a whole. Thank goodness! We here at DITR were thoroughly confused, what with all the OFs and no mention of 1B, 2B, SS, 3B, C or pitchers, either starters or relievers, lefthanded or righthanded. Thanks, Rick, for the clarification.

Only 24 days until Spring Training. For updates, visit the website.

Until next time, go rockies!

Bring Them Back

2006-10-24T07:19:00.000-06:00

If you are still wondering about the sentiment in Denver towards Jim Leyland, read Dave Krieger's column in the Saturday RMN. He pretty much sums it up as well as anything I've seen so far.

Dirtgate continues to be interesting. While everyone associated with baseball appeared to be minimizing the entire episode, the media at large and the blogging community was not. Rogers has not wavered from his claim that the substance on his hand was a mixture of dirt and resin ( except to add spit as an ingredient later) and LaRussa says he didn't believe it was dirt while the umpires don't know because they didn't inspect it. Bad Altitude makes a good point, since when are the umpires obligated to enforce the rules only when a manager requests it? If the substance on Rogers' hand was illegal, then he should have been ejected and suspended for the rest of the postseason. If the substance was not illegal, then they would have asked him to wipe it off and he would have continued to pitch. The latter is exactly what happened, by most accounts, but yet an element of doubt will forever trail Rogers and the Detroit Tigers, regardless of the outcome of the World Series. I'm guessing that the umpires now wish they knew and had taken that extra step of actually looking to see what the substance was on Rogers' hand. If they had, then Rogers would either be guilty or innocent, but dirtgate wouldn't be a topic of conversation. Instead, we can only speculate about Rogers, and the other Detroit pitchers for that matter, and the topic of dirtgate will continue to feed the media's hungry appetite.

We here at DITR are taking on a cause. It's not an important cause, but a cause nonetheless. Now that Vinny Castilla will be retiring, we believe it would be a great idea for the rockies to bring back the members of the Blake Street Bombers for a "reunion" of sorts and have a special day of recognition at a game during the 2007 season. Galarraga, Walker, Bichette, Burks and Castilla deserve a special tribute and the fans deserve the opportunity to honor players that were part of one of the most impressive offenses baseball has ever seen. In an effort to gather and document support for this cause, we have created an online petition. The goal is to deliver the signatures of the petition to the rockies at the beginning of the year to introduce the idea and encourage the rockies to pursue an event of this nature. If you agree with this cause, there are two ways you can help. First, go sign the petition and second, tell others about it. Let's work together and do our best to get these five players back together at Coors Field for one last time.

Until next time, go rockies!

Awards

2006-10-20T06:44:00.000-06:00

As an addendum to the post regarding Jim Leyland a couple of days ago, Bad Altitude has done their share of reflecting on Leyland's tenure with the rockies the last week or so and Admirable Thoughts has the Jim Leyland Award, given to someone who quits on it's team early in the season. The bottom line is, if there's a Jim Leyland Bandwagon in Denver, there are plenty of empty seats.

On to the Annual DITr Awards Presentation.

NL Rookie of the Year
Winner: Hanley Ramirez SS, Florida. The Marlins surprised everyone by not losing 100 games and did it with a handful of rookies who all had decent seasons. Ramirez hit 17 homeruns, good for 4th most among NL shortstops. Ramirez added 46 doubles and 11 triples while batting .292 for the season as well as stealing 51 bases. Ramirez' 26 errors and .965 fielding percentage were the only weak spots for his rookie campaign.
Runner-up: Ryan Zimmerman 3B, Washington.

AL Rookie of the Year
Winner: Justin Verlander SP, Detroit. Detroit led all of baseball in ERA and pitching was the key to their emergence as a top team this season. Verlander was the best pitcher in Detroit's rotation, earning 17 wins against 9 losses with a 3.63 ERA.
Runner-up: Kenji Johjima C, Seattle.

AL MVP
Winner: Frank Thomas DH, Oakland. The A's surged in the second half of the season to take control of the AL West and Thomas surged also. Thomas had 39 HR and 114 RBI for the season while batting .270, however he hit .298 with 68 RBI after the all-star break, propelling Oakland to a division title.
Runner-up: David Ortiz DH, Boston. Ortiz had a season worthy of an MVP award with a .287 Avg., 54 HR and 137 RBI, however, there can only be one winner and Boston faded when it really mattered.

NL MVP
Winner: Albert Pujols 1B, St. Louis. I won't carry on about Pujols' legitimacy as an MVP since anyone who's reading this could almost recite his credentials from memory. Despite a mid-season injury, Pujols managed to finish 2nd in HR and RBI and 3rd in Avg and we here at DITr give the MVP nod to anyone in the top 5 in all triple crown categories.
Runner-up: Ryan Howard 1B, Philadelphia. Howard had a MVP-caliber season, leading all of baseball in both homeruns and rbi. Howard's one down fall was finishing 8th in average and, to no fault of his own, playing in the same league as Pujols. If Howard can maintain this level of productivity, then he will be competition for Pujols for years to come.

AL Cy Young
Winner: Johann Santana SP, Minnesota. Santana is no stranger when the topic of the Cy Young award is mentioned and his mantle is quickly filling up. Santana won 19 games versus six losses and led all of baseball with a 2.77 ERA. Santana continued to be a strikeout machine, leading MLB for the second consecutive season.
Runner-up: Roy Halladay SP, Toronto. Like Santana, Halladay's name is frequently in the conversation when talking about the Cy Young award.

NL Cy Young
Winner: Brandon Webb, SP, Arizona. On a team that wasn't particulary good, Webb was lights out for the majority of the season, winning 16 games while losing 8 and posting an ERA of 3.10. For large periods, Webb was downright dominating.
Runner-up: Roy Oswalt SP, Houston. Oswalt had another fine season, going 15-8 while leading the NL in ERA at 2.98.

AL Surprise of the Year
Winner: Frank Thomas DH, Oakland. Most in baseball had written off Thomas and had determined that his career as an impact bat was probably over. Thomas re-emerged as a dangerous hitter and re-established himself as "The Big Hurt".

NL Surpise of the Year
Winner: Jamey Carroll 2B, Colorado. Carroll was acquired by Colorado from Washington as a utility/bench player and ended up the starting second baseman for the majority of the season. While performing adequately as a leadoff hitter and batting .300 for the season, Carroll committed only three errors all season and could be in line for a Gold Glove award.

Until next time, go rockies!

Enough Already

2006-10-18T07:16:00.000-06:00

The only good thing about the Tigers sweeping the ALCS from the A's is that we get a reprieve from the endless accolades Jim Leyland has been receiving from the Fox commentators, and everyone else for that matter. You only had to watch a game for an inning or two to get a look at Leyland in the Detroit dugout and get a solid dose of how great a manager he is. The commentators have painted a picture of confidence, swagger and a winning attitude wafting off of Leyland. Unfortunately, the only thing wafting off of Leyland when he was in the rockies' dugout was cigarette smoke. Leyland may very well be a very good manager, but a great manager does not quit on his team, as Leyland did in 1999 with the rockies. A manager would not tolerate that from one of his players, so how can a great manager do that very same thing himself? Now, we get a second dose of Leyland and his winning ways, this time from a local source, making it even worse. "Leyland" and "winning" were rarely mentioned in the same sentence during the 1999 season. Leyland is quoted as saying "When I've had good players, I've done pretty well. And when I haven't had good players, I haven't been worth a (darn)." If that isn't an indictment on the 1999 rockies, then I don't know what is. Now, I'm not saying that the rockies were a championship caliber team, but the rockies did have talent and should have finished better than last place in the division. The best collection of talent in the world isn't going to win with a coach/manager that's disinterested. Going into the 1999 season, the rockies made few personnel changes other than the manager, believing that a top-notch manager could make the difference. Unfortunately, the rockies did not get that in Leyland and it cost the GM Bob Gebhard his job. Needless to say, I'll be routing for either the Mets or Cardinals in the World Series.

If you haven't been to the website recently, go visit. I've made some significant improvements and added a few features.

Until next time, go rockies!

Us and Them

2006-10-16T10:49:00.000-06:00

A quote in the footnotes of Troy Renck's column Saturday in the Denver Post troubled me. It's been no secret that the rockies have been in contact with Jason Jennings' agent about a contract extension. Here was JJ's response:

I would have to think long and hard about (a multiyear offer). I like the city and the core of young players, but I would like to see what players we are going to add.

Thus far during the existence of the rockies organization, the first choice of potential free-agents was almost always to remain in Colorado. That may not be the case anymore. In 2007, JJ will be entering his sixth full season with the rockies and hasn't been on a team that won more than 76 games. The competitor in him might be tired of losing. JJ is obviously content to ride out the last year of his current contract at $5.5MM and test free agency for 2008. The list of teams willing to overpay, especially for pitching, seems to grow each season (them). The rox will not be showing up on that list anytime soon (us). If teams such as the Yankees and Red Sox will pay the likes of Jaret Wright and Carl Pavano, respectively, $7MM they will certainly a pitcher the caliber of JJ $8-9MM. If not the Yankees or Red Sox, then someone else. It seems that 2007 may very well be the last we see of Jennings in a rockies uniform. If the rockies are not in contention come late July, Jennings will be highly sought after at the trade deadline. Sadly, my gut tells me that we may have only three more months of JJ in our beloved team's rotation. Eventually, the rox are going to have to extend their resources and overpay for somebody, if not JJ or Matt Holliday, then an impact free agent or two. If not, then the organization will once again enter into a rebuilding phase while the losing and excuses will continue to flow like the nearby Platte River.

For those keeping score at home, the rox lost Justin Hampson and J.D. Closser on waivers. Hampson was claimed by the Padres while Closser was claimed by the Brewers.

Field Trip

2006-08-01T06:58:00.000-06:00

The Designation Committee took a field trip on Sunday and attended the rockies game versus the Padres. It was good to gather as a committee since most of the correspondence takes place via email and we rarely have the opportunity to convene in person. The all-important topic of the Capital R was not discussed, but we did talk about the biggest surprise of the season and agreed that would have to be Jamie Carroll. Carroll, as a matter of fact, leads the NL in average out of the leadoff spot at .310. Personally, it was good to see Jennings pitch as I had not been able to in quite some time. Jennings has become the pitcher that the rox envisioned when they made him their first round selection in the 1999 amateur draft.

On Monday night, Aaron Cook returned to the form we have come to expect from him and guided the rox to their 1,000th win as a franchise in what was the quickest game in Coors Field history at 2:06. Cook has proven that he is the caliber of pitcher that can be lacking his best stuff and still be difficult for the opposition to manage much success. Jennings, Cook and Francis have developed into a trio that can go up against almost anybody else's 1-3 starters. Each of them have the ability to make it very challenging for the opposing hitters on any given night. The rox continue to lead the NL in starting ERA at 4.15 and are breathing down the Padres' neck for second overall in the NL. I agree, it's hard to believe. The rox are also tied for second in the NL in complete games with five and second in shutouts with eight.

I've mentioned a couple of times this season the average runs scored at CF compared to the NL at large. Through Monday's game, the average runs scored at CF is 9.10, nearly two runs less than 2005. The average NL game has seen 9.60 runs scored so far this season.

My friend Scot pointed out that we have a chance for every starter to win at least 10 games this season. That made me recall a season in which the Orioles had four 20-game winners. I went to retrosheet and found it was 1971. In that year the O's had 71 complete games and a team ERA of 2.99. Now, I know we're in a different era, but that's ridiculous!

I won't provide my analysis of the rockies' deadline deal yesterday as many have done that who can do it better than I can. I will, however, say a DITr farewell to Ryan Shealy. I have followed him rather closely since the rox drafted him in the 11th round in 2002 and wish him well in KC.

Until next time, go rockies!

Two in a Row

2006-07-25T07:03:00.000-06:00

A title such as this does little to strike fear into the opponent. It does even less in terms of providing warm fuzzies to the fans. Winning two games in a row certainly isn't something to be proud of, but it has been awhile since we has rockies fans could put those words down on paper. I said several posts ago that the rox had a starting rotation that essentially eliminated the strong possibility of a prolonged slump. That was when the bullpen had been going strong all season long. Who knew the pen, pretty much as a whole, would suddenly be unable to get outs and secure wins. A large part of me thinks that the pen can turn things around and return to the success they were regularly achieving the first couple of months of the season. If not, the season will end in disappointment. The general feeling is that the rox need to produce a significant win streak to recapture what they lost during the most recent losing streak. With the erratic and inconsistent ability to hit, especially in the clutch, I'm not sure the rox are particularly capable of mounting a winning streak of more than four or five games. It may not be necessary given that no one is playing particularly well in the division and every team is still well within striking distance of winning the division.

Francis certainly found a nifty formula to help the pen last night. Throw a complete game. It doesn't take an analyst, with I'm, to figure out that that's a pretty successful method for winning games. Hurdle probably enjoyed the relief from the relievers.

Last week, the RMN reported that the rockies' rotation had the best ERA in the NL. With the subpar performances by Kim and Jennings recently they have dropped to second in the NL behind Florida with an ERA of 4.25. As of today, the rox have four of the five members of their rotation in the top 21 in the NL in ERA. I'm just waiting for the rox' pitching staff to get some recognition from the "experts".

All in all, it's a good day as the Trolley Dodgers find themselves looking up at the rox.

The rox seem content to hang on to Ryan Shealy the rest of the season given what teams have been offering them in exchange. The Orioles wanting to give us Javy Lopez is a joke. The rox are in an envious position of not having bad contracts to dump on someone else. The result of this is usually taking back a bad contract. The rox can wait and see if someone feels desperate later this week and offers something better than has previously been offered. If not, Shealy's stock should only rise as the season wears on and teams address their needs in the offseason.

From the old news department: the Designation Committee met last week and repealed the Capital R. I apologize for the tardy announcement.

Until next time, go rockies!

State of the Rockies

2006-07-06T06:46:00.000-06:00

The Designation Committee met Monday morning and voted unanimously to restore the capital R.

After a 42-day hiatus, the Rox returned to first place in the division. The NL West is not showing any signs of loosening up in what has been a tight division from the start.

The Rox are one of only two teams in the NL to have a winning record both at home and on the road. Read that sentence a few times and let it sink in. The New York Mets are the other team. This is the first indication that this Rockies team is vastly different than anything we have witnessed before.

With Fogg's win Wednesday night, the starting rotation is at .500 with a record of 31-31. With Fogg's recent success, every starter has at some point been dominant to the point of being nearly unhittable. How much longer until the Rox are considered to have one of the best rotations in the NL?

The Rox lead the NL in runs scored since June 7 with 162. June 7 coincides with the emergence from the only long-term slump this team has experienced so far. The sole reason for the 5-13 slump from May 22 to June 11 was a lack of hitting. As consistent as the pitching has been almost all season long, if the team is hitting they will avoid any additional slumps.

The Rox are third in the NL in ERA at 4.20, trailing only the Padres and Mets. That's right, THIRD. This is the second indication that this is not your father's Rockies. The highest the Rox' ERA has been is 4.45 on June 11.

The Rox have won five straight series, three at CF and two on the road. The general formula has always been to win two of three at home, split on the road and you have a good chance of winning the division. If the Rox follow that formula the rest of the season they'd finish at 89-73 and almost certainly win the NL West.

The Rox are in a position to be able to strengthen the team with a trade of prospects, but being ahead of pace in the rebuilding process means they don't have to trade away valuable prospects to win now. If the right deal comes along the Rox have the ability to take it, but if not, they also have the ability to wait since most likely the best days are ahead. Unlike the Diamondbacks or, even more so, the Giants. The Yankees are infamous for trading away what few prospects they had and overpaying for someone who will hopefully help right now. The Rox are in exactly the opposite situation. Tampa Bay offered Carl Crawford for Francis and Tulowitski. Yeah, right! It seems the Rox are willing to discuss trades as long as the counterpart is interested in either Ryan Shealy or Jeff Baker. If not, the conversations are probably rather short.

The Rox have a good opportunity to win their sixth straight series as the snakes are in town for three starting Friday to head into the All-Star break. Saturday should be a dandy as Jennings and Webb face off.

Until next time, go Rockies!

F's for the A's

2006-06-20T06:42:00.000-06:00

The Oakland A's looked more like the team hoping to get back to .500 than the team that had beat everyone who'd shown up at the ballpark the last ten games. I didn't expect (and still don't) the rox to get the best of the A's during the three-game series. However, I also didn't expect the A's, the hottest team in MLB coming into CF, to play like they did last night. The game was what has become the norm rather than the expection at CF, in that the score was 2-0 and runs were somewhat hard to come by. But in the sixth Nick Swisher let a Holliday line drive get under his glove to allow a run to score and the A's bullpen had a difficult time throwing strikes in the eighth, walking four batters and two runs in in a four-run inning that put the game out of reach. The A's grounded into four double plays, one in the eighth with the bases loaded and one out when the score was 3-0. After a terrible performance his last outing, Kim dominated over six innings, striking out five while allowing only four hits. Now the team with the longest winning streak in baseball is the Marlins.

The NL West is getting more interesting by the day. Currently all five teams are within 1.5 games and all at .500 or better. My brother-in-law, Greg, picked the Dodgers to win the division. Now, before you advise me to never talk to him again and white out his name in the family Bible, let me explain something. Greg is studying atmospheric sciences, or, meteorology. So, I figure I'll just apply the same level of accuracy of the average weather forecast to his baseball prediction. The way I see it, it's now a four-team race. Sorry Trolley Dodger fans! Greg and I, along with my dad, will be making the pilgrimage to CF Saturday to see the rox and Rangers (Greg is a Rangers fan).

I've been thinking to myself that the A's usually seem to do what they have done so far this season. That is, struggle out of the gate when the season starts and then go nuts at some point and win games in bunches. I had no idea this trend was so prolific until the broadcast last night when they mentioned that since 1999 the A's are six games over .500 in April and May and 200 games over .500 from June 1 through the rest of the season. They were 14-2 in June this season before last night's game.

Yesterday, the RMN had a nice article about Tulo, making comparisons to Oakland's Bobby Crosby.

Until next time, go rockies!

Feelin' Good

2006-06-14T06:59:00.000-06:00

Okay, rox fans, the staff at DITr are giving you permission to start feeling good about your beloved team again. The last two games have gone a long way in the effort to restore confidence and hope that this season still has a lot to offer. Granted, it is only two games, and there remain plenty of opportunities for things to go south, but it could have easily gone the other way right now. Allow me to offer a backdrop. The team was in the midst of a nearly three-week tailspin, had gone from first to last in merely 12 days, and were, in general, reeling. Things were beginning to take a more positive turn as the rox were on the verge of taking a home series from the Dodgers, only to blow a lead in the ninth and lose the series, ending an already dissappointing homestand on an especially sour note. How the team would respond was probably anyone's guess. Going on the road after a heartbreaking loss to a divisional rival is recipe for continuing the tailspin. To make matters worse, the rox found themselves in an early deficit Monday at Washington. I have to admit, I was not feeling very good at that point. I was not giving the rox much of a chance to win the game despite being down by only two runs. The rox however, did win the game and soothed some of the bad feelings. More importantly though, the rox put the difficult loss to the Dodgers in the rearview mirror and forged ahead. Better yet, the rox beat the Nationals last night running away, recording double figures in hits for their fourth game in a row and sixth time in the last seven games. The ten-day rolling average for batting average is .305 and the rox have surged from eighth to fourth in the NL in average in recent days. The question at the top of most people's list was which team we had witnessed so far this season was the real one. Was it the team that surprised virtually everyone by hitting on the road, winning ballgames in bunches and leading the division? Or is it the team we've observed recently that made the average journeyman fifth starter look like Cy Young reborn and coudn't hit if their grandma was on the mound? Obviously the jury is still out, but if they'd lost these last two games in Washington then the masses would be leaning to the latter. At least we are still wondering at this point instead of being convinced that we're a bad team that started well as opposed to a decent team that experienced a bump in the road along the way. There were a lot of reasons to feel bad about this team while they were in the midst of their recent 5-13 span. They are beginning to remind us why we felt good about them before that.

I've said this to a couple different people and now will go on record. The way the NL West is developing, I think the winner of the division will be whoever gets hot down the stretch. I'm not even talking about the whole month of September, but final two weeks of September.

Until next time, go rockies!

Hitting the Road

2006-06-13T13:19:00.000-06:00

After a dissapointing 3-6 homestand, the rox started their most recent road trip off with a come-from-behind win last night against the Nationals. This is something the rox have not done much of recently, both win and in come-from-behind fashion. As frequently as the rox came from behind to win during the first six weeks or so of the season, that's how seldom they have managed to do it in the last three weeks or so. Two things need to happen in order to have the opportunity for a come-from-behind win: the pitchers need to keep the game close and the batters need to deliver some timely hits. The first element has continued to happen on a regular basis as the pitching staff has remained fairly consistent and solid. Timely hitting, on the other hand, was almost non-existent in recent weeks. All one has to do to get the picture of the rox' poor hitting performances was to look at a chart of the batting average with a 10-day rolling average. From May 9th until June 7th, the 10-day average never was higher than .252, topping out at .252 on May 22nd and a low point of .206 on June 2nd. The good news is the hitting has improved, with the 10-day rolling average at .294 as of today and the team average over the last seven games at .316. In five of those seven games, the rox have double figures in hits.

The middle infield situation could get very interesting in a month or so with the acquisition of Kaz Matsui from the Mets. The RMN this morning reported that Gonzales will return to the super utility role when he completes his rehab assignment and that Carroll has claimed the everyday second base job. Unless Carroll cools down dramatically in the next several weeks he will see his name in the lineup every single day. As has been noted in a few rockies' blogs recently, Carroll has been the main catalyst of the offense lately and will get a lengthy look from Hurdle before being replaced. That leaves Barmes as the lone candidate to lose his starting position if Matsui is tearing it up at CS by mid-July. Barmes has shown brief glimpses of climbing out of the batting slump that has plagued him nearly all season so far. However, just when you think Barmes once again has a decent chance of stringing together a bunch of hits, he goes o-fer a few games in a row. As Dealin' Dan put it, the trade of Matsui was a no-risk, potentially high-reward deal given the dissapearance of Marrero and with the Mets paying Matsui's salary. Barmes cannot afford to look over his shoulder at all, but it seems that his job is by no means secure.

The rox have signed a number of their draft picks over the last few days, including their first pick, and the draft files have been updated to reflect those signings.

Until next time, go rockies!

Back in the Saddle

2006-06-09T07:15:00.000-06:00

In the first two innings of Wednesday's game, the rox equaled their run production for the entire six-game losing streak, at nine. A good, old-fashioned game at Coors Field saw Oliver Perez succumb to his wildness and the rox' sudden ability to put the ball in play with regularity as the rox soared to an 11-2 lead. The rockies' starter Josh Fogg, however, stumbled out the gate in the fifth inning and allowed six runs, not finishing the fifth and thus not qualifying for the win. In the past, this was simply a typical game at CF, the likes of which earned it it's reputation and drew countless criticism from baseball purists. Hopefully this outburst is an indication that the collective batting slump that emcompassed everyone except Matt Holliday and Jamey Carroll is over and done with. Let's not get too excited though. Do recall that the rox won two in a row after the five-game skid and seemed to be on the right track again, only to lose the last two in SD to start the six-game streak. This weekend will be a difficult challenge against LA, which continues to play pretty decent baseball. The last time the Dodgers were here, in the middle of May, they took two of three.

The draft files on the webpage have been updated to reflect the rox' picks in the recent draft. The staff here at DITr would like to offer their traditional congratulations to Charles Matthews, a right-handed pitcher from Athens Academy, the 1502nd, and final selection of the 2006 amateur draft, selected by St. Louis.

Until next time, go rockies!

Finally!

2006-06-07T07:09:00.000-06:00

Finally, a DITr post. I know, it's been too long. I won't offer excuses. I won't make up reasons. I'll just agree that it's been far too long and leave it at that.

Finally, a rockies' win. It seems like it's been almost forever since we could utter those words. It was a six-game losing streak, but we as rockies' fans have endured longer and more grueling periods. I think what has made this spell more difficult than others I recall is that we just weren't scoring runs. I don't know how many times I turned on the game in the 4th or 5th inning and the score was 3-0, or 2-0, or 4-0, or whatever. The point is that very often we had a 0 next to our name. It doesn't take an analyst, which I'm, to determine that you aren't going to win many ballgames when you don't score. Prior to last night's game, our 10-day rolling average for runs scored was 2.00. 2.00!! That's Pathetic with a capital P. (Author's note: more on capital letters in a moment). The trend line on virtually all the charts of offensive statistics would make even the most seasoned Wall Street broker take a plunge from the clock tower at Coors Field.

One trend I mentioned awhile back that the staff at DITr would monitor during the season was the average runs scored at CF versus the entire National League. Through last night's games, the NL average for runs scored per game is 9.59 while the average at CF is 8.71. The average at CF has been less than the league for a month now. Another trend I am working on is batting and pitching home/away splits over the history of the franchise. I have batting trends complete but am still working on pitching, so stay tuned. I think it will be interesting.

The way the season started and had been progressing, I'm not sure anyone thought it would come to this. At the very least, I doubt anyone expected it to happen in such drastic fashion. On May 21, the rox were in first place. Twelve days later they were in last. The Designation Committee met Monday in an emergency session and unanimously decided to repeal the capital R, thus the small r in references to our beloved team in this post.

Until next time (soon), go rockies!

Seriously Folks

2006-05-08T07:13:00.000-06:00

So, the Rockies just finished a five-game homestand with a sweep of the Houston Astros, the first sweep at home this season. Going into this homestand the thought was that the Rox would be tested in ways they had not been so far this season, playing teams from the seemingly strong NL Central division. All they did was win four of the five games, two being shutouts by the Rox. They allowed a total of 14 runs in the five games, seven of those runs coming in the one loss to the Reds. That's an average of 2.80 runs per game. Seriously folks, I'm not making this stuff up! This is, in fact, your beloved Rockies team, the same team that had become a laughing stock amongst baseball circles. Just last week I said that I believed Jason Jennings to be the weakest link in what was becoming a bonafide starting rotation. Well, all JJ did on Saturday was throw a complete game shutout. The Rox currently stand 6th in the NL in ERA at 4.14. A major reason for this could be the fact that the Rox are first in the NL in home runs allowed at 24. Seriously folks, I just couldn't make this stuff up! The staff at DITR has been tracking the team ERA for the last five years. So, I dug into the DITR statistical archives and discovered that the last time the Rockies' ERA was this low was May 26, 2002 when it was 4.13. Seriously folks, there's just no way I could make this stuff up! Granted, the test continues with a trip to the new Busch Stadium, where the Cardinals apparently enjoy playing, posting a 12-4 record. However, things are looking very positive for a Rockies team that very few knew what to expect from. I will get my first look in person on May 15 against the hated Trolley Dodgers.

Brad Hawpe is beginning to open some eyes outside of Colorado. Last night on Baseball Tonight before the Sunday night baseball game, Peter Gammons mentioned Hawpe as the next possible young player to transform into a star. He also pointed out that many analysts have passed him off as a CF product without even looking at the stats. The truth is that Hawpe's home vs. road stats are opposite of what one would expect. Hopefully the national media as a whole will stop assuming things and actually do some research.

A couple of weeks ago I told myself that Ardoin's roster spot may be in jeopardy once Torrealba is finally healthy. Despite Ardoin driving in his third run of the season yesterday, I have not seen anything recently to change my mind. Last season Ardoin's weak hitting was excused due to his ability to control the opponent's running game. Well, that strength seems to have vanished from his game too, posting only a 15.8% success rate at throwing baserunners out attempting to steal. Unfortunately, Danny, I think your cup of coffee is starting to get cold.

Until next time, Go Rockies!

Hello Francis, Goodbye CF Factor

2006-05-04T07:11:00.000-06:00

One of the concerns early on for the Rox was the spring struggles of Jeff Francis. Things certainly didn't look right with Francis. Being a finesse pitcher as opposed to a power pitcher, Francis relies a great deal on control. That control has been lacking at times this season so far. Francis seems to have turned it around, however. After his first three starts of the season, his ERA was 6.75 and a WHIP of 1.69. In his last three starts, his ERA is .95 with a WHIP of 1.00. When you are limiting the opponent to an average of one baserunner per inning, you are probably going to be pretty successful at keeping them from scoring. As I was looking at the stats, Francis is 20th in the NL in ERA and Cook 21st. If Francis and Cook continue pitching like this and Kim pitches anywhere close to he did in his first game, then the Rox rotation will be good enough to keep this thing going. Fogg will most likely be both good and bad at times and Jennings, IMHO, may be the biggest concern of the rotation. Nevertheless, I think the Rox rotation may end up becoming the brightest element of the season. The bullpen was supposed to be better. The hitters had another year under their belt and were expected to be better. Noone really knew for sure how the rotation would perform. For the first time in quite awhile, Rox fans actually have something to look forward to. With a future looking like this, you'd better find your shades.

Before all the Reds fans start coming out of the woodwork and declare the World Series is theirs to lose, let me point out that they may be afflicted with the CF Factor. The CF Factor, of course, being the effect an offense oriented ballpark has on a team's road performance. For years the Rox were tormented by the CF Factor, routinely struggling to hit outside of Coors Field. True, the Reds lead the NL in hitting and runs. So have the Rox for most of their existence, but even the casual baseball fan could explain that it was because they play half their games at CF. The CF Factor has apparently left Colorado and found a new home in Ohio. The Reds are batting .311 at home but only .223 on the road. Conversely, the Rox are tied for first in the NL with a .295 road average. Hopefully the CF Factor has left for good.

Until next time, Go Rockies!

Just a Typical Game at CF

2006-04-19T07:48:00.000-06:00

For the second time in eight games, CF produced a 3-2, 11-inning Rockies win last night. So far this season, the average runs scored in games at CF is 9.38. In 2005, the average was 11.09. Not a drastic shift, but a favorable trend as Rox officials try to normalize the game at their home park. This is also a reverse trend from the rest of the league. In 2005, the average runs scored in NL games was 8.89, meaning an average of 2.20 more runs per game were scored at CF than the rest of the league. The average runs scored in the NL so far in 2006 is 10.25, so CF is actually yielding .87 runs per game less than the league. The staff at DITR will be monitoring this trend throughout the season.

One of the benefits of being in a tie ballgame last night was the non-factor of Trevor Hoffman. In Monday's game, Hoffman recorded a save, which got me to wondering how many saves he has in his career against the Rox. Here are the top five opponents for Hoffman's career in saves, save opportunities and home runs allowed.

Saves
LA-49
COL-42
SF-41
ARI-30
CHC-27

Save Opportunities
LA-51
SF-48
COL-46
ARI-34
NYM-30

Home Runs Allowed
COL-12
PHI-8
LA-7
ATL-5
CHC-5
NYM-5

It's no surprise to see NL West teams on these lists given the return of the unbalanced schedule. It certainly doesn't seem to me like we have hit 12 homers and blown four save opportunities for Hoffman, but he is human after all.

During the telecast last night, they mentioned how good the bullpen has been this season. Overall, the bullpen ERA is 3.35, but S. Kim has been truly awful and if you subtract his performances, the pen's ERA is 1.33. The Rox are 4th in the NL in ERA at 4.19 while last season through 14 games the team ERA was 6.83. The most pleasant surprise so far this season has been Josh Fogg, who may just be playing himself into a permanent job in the rotation.

Until next time, Go Rockies!

Two For Two

2006-04-14T06:50:00.000-06:00

The Rox have won two road series. We were not able to say that in 2005 until August 4. Today is April 14. You don't have to be an analyst, which I'm, to understand there's a big difference. The Rox won their fifth road game last season on May 26. That is 43 days away. The Rox have won their fifth road game a full 43 days earlier than they did last year. The comparisons of this season and last season may grow old if the current trend continues, but it is so remarkable that at this point it still bears mention. August was the first month of the 2005 season that the Rox won five road games, going 9-6. Aside from a couple missed plays Tuesday the Rox could have easily swept the entire road trip. The phrase "sweeping a road trip" doesn't exactly roll off the tongue of a Rox fan and isn't something we generally even contemplate, let alone nearly witness. Time will tell if our performance is a result of solid play or the fact that our opponents have been fellow members of the NL West.

One thing I was glad to see and give Clint credit for, was the benching of Holliday and Ardoin for their parts in losing a run Tuesday night. It shows that Hurdle expects accountability and isn't afraid to publicize his displeasure with a player by sitting him down.

Brad Hawpe started the season slow, but is now one of the hottest hitters going. He was batting .222 after five games and now is hitting .382 with a .950 slugging percentage and has 10 rbi in the last four games. Hawpe can tie the franchise record of five straight games hitting a home run with one tonight against Philadelphia at CF.

I have added a season summary on the website. Here you will see various statistics and splits, updated regularly. Check it out and let me know if there is something else you'd like to see as part of the summary.

I have accepted a job with the Regional Transportation District, the public transit agency for the Denver metro area. The HQ for RTD is at 16th and Blake in downtown Denver, just four blocks from the glorious home of our beloved Rox. The proximity to CF isn't listed among the fringe benefits, but it should be.

Until next time, Go Rockies!

Unusual

2006-04-12T08:14:00.001-06:00

First of all, I'd like to expand on yesterday's post. My friend Scot asked the question about how many road sweeps the Rox have had as a franchise. So, each of us began our own research and then compared results. The bottom line is that the weekend sweep of the Padres in SD was the 13th sweep of a road series of three or four games. The most in a season has been three in 1997 and the Rox had zero sweeps in 1995, 1996, 2002, 2003 and 2005. The Rox have swept LA three times; Arizona, San Diego and Montreal/Washington twice.

The Rox kept their current winning streak alive last night with the 6-5 win against the snakes. They did put one streak to rest though. The first six games of the season saw the Rox give up at least one run in the first inning of every game. Last night they didn't allow a run in the first. However, the way they avoided it was very unusual. With the bases loaded and one out, Jackson hit a line drive to Holliday that was trapped. With the runners on first and second frozen to see if the ball was caught or not, Holliday threw to third for a force and then Atkins threw to second for a double play. The play was originally ruled a run-scoring play since DeVanon crossed the plate before the third out, but the umpires changed the call since a run cannot score on an inning-ending double play. Unusual!

Again, I know it is early, but the Rox are fourth in the NL in ERA at 4.29 and tied for first in home runs allowed at four. Last year after seven games the Rox' ERA was 7.91 and enthusiasm was waning rapidly. Also, last year after seven games the bullpen had already lost three games and blown four saves. This year they have yet to do either. What a difference a year makes, at least to this point. The Rox also lead the NL in total bases with 146. This isn't a total surprise, but they have done nearly all of the damage on the road. Unusual!

In looking at the team stats so far, I noticed that the Braves are last in the NL in ERA at 6.85. Unusual!

Home, Home on the Road

2006-04-11T07:11:00.000-06:00

It's too early to really make anything out of the way this season has started, but one thing can be said for sure, it has started in strange fashion. Get this, the Rox start the season at home, in a park referred to some as a joke for its' offensive tendencies, against Arizona, a team only marginally better than the Rox, if that. What do the Rox do, but score 10 runs while hitting only one home run and getting just eight extra base hits, in the entire three game series. The Rox then head to San Diego, to Petco Park, generally considered the best new pitcher's park. One would have fully expected the Rox to fall flat on their face after the recent performances at CF. Instead, what the Rox did to the Padres was not only impressive, but historical also. The Rox scored 32 runs, hit eight home runs and collected 24 extra base hits in the three game series, scoring in double digits each game and sweeping the Padres. This is the most runs an opponent has scored in a series in the relatively short life of Petco Park. This is also the most runs the Rox franchise has ever scored in a three-game road series. The Padres had to be stunned. I imagine the majority of Rox fans were too. I know I was.

Now, let's look at this compared to 2005, a season in which the Rox' road performances early on could best be described as Pathetic with a capital P. The Rox did not win a road game until their 7th try, beating Philadelphia 7-4 on April 20. They did not earn their third win on the road until their 17th try, an 8-3 win vs. Florida on May 8. The first road series they won was July 18-20 against Washington and the Rox did not sweep a road series the entire season.

At this time last year, the Rox were in the midst of what would be a seven game losing streak after winning opening day in dramatic fashion. Last year the Rox spent a total of two days in first place, one day in second, one day in fourth and 175 in fifth place. So far this season the Rox have spent seven days in first place and one day in second.

Congratulations to Garrett Atkins for being named the inaugural NL Player of the Week for the 2006 season.

Until next time, Go Rockies!

On the Verge

2006-03-31T07:14:00.000-07:00

Yes, finally, we are on the verge of Opening Day, just a meazly weekend away from baseball games everyday that count. With spring training winding down, I decided to summarize the major highlights and lowlights of the spring.

Highlights
Ian Stewart- The kid cooled off a little, and, it is only spring training, but Stewart dazzled folks with the power and hitting potential that the Rox and minor league gurus have been talking about for two years now. It is unlikely that Stewart will have a major impact at the big leagues this season barring multiple injuries, but next season could be a different story. The talk, however, continues to center around Stewart finding a new position rather than Atkins finding a new position or team.

Todd Helton- Thankfully there were no mentions of Helton's elbow or back this spring. Back in January Helton had surgery to clean out his elbow. The word was that he would be completely ready by spring training, but you just never know with these things. Last spring Helton had problems with his back that affected him all season. There has been no mention of his back this spring, although, they didn't mention is back problem last spring until this winter, so only time will tell.

Choo Freeman- Knowing this spring was probably his last chance to hang around the organization, Freeman has shown at least glimpses of the player that has been talked about for awhile now. Freeman, along with Cory Sullivan, will give the Rox a fairly legitimate chance at fielding centerfield well.

Winning- After winning the first two games of the spring, the Rox lost six in a row. Since then they are 13-6 with two ties. Again, it is only spring training, but hopefully it is a sign of good things to come.

Lowlights
Ryan Shealy- The project to convert him to the outfield was abandoned when he aggravated an old elbow injury making routine throws into the infield. Having Shealy's bat on the bench would have been a significant boost for the team, but now he will likely be traded this season once teams feel his elbow is fine. Shealy will start the season on the DL.

Fifth starter- Given the handful of candidates for the position one would have hoped that someone would have taken charge and claimed the job. That hasn't happened. What's left is Clint taking the least poor and hoping for the best. This problem will be magnified with the injury to BK Kim that will cause him to start on the DL. The DITR poll has given a slight edge to Sunny Kim, but he isn't healthy either.

Low low lowlight
Closing the right field upper deck- For an organization that was once proud and thriving, this is the ultimate low.

To get you completely in the mind-set of baseball, I wanted to throw out a couple of things. First, did you know that there are eight unique ways for a batter to reach first safely: hit, error, base on balls, hit by pitch, dropped third strike, catcher's interference, fielder's choice, and fielder's interference. Also, can you think of a scenario where a pitcher could win a game without throwing a single pitch? Let me know your thoughts.

Until next time, Go Rockies!

What's in a Name

2006-02-02T07:09:00.000-07:00

Two professional sports teams have decided to change their names. The Tampa Bay Devil Rays have decided to remove the term "Devil" and just go with "Rays". The Anaheim Mighty Ducks indicated last week that after this season they will simply be the "Ducks". In my opinion, anytime you have "Devil" as part of your name, you are just asking for trouble, so that one is a good idea. As for Anaheim, "Mighty" makes for pretty lofty expectations, so if you're not interested in that, then don't have it part of your team name.

With the subject of team name changes at hand, the staff at DITR thought it would be a good idea to suggest new names for some other sports teams. Here are the best:

NFL
San Francisco .9ers- 49 is just too generous for a team that's won only six games over the last two seasons.

Houston Rhode Islanders- Everything in Texas is supposed to be big, right?

New York Hang Gliders- I'm not sure that an explanation is necessary.

New Orleans Saints- On behalf of my brother-in-law Greg, I'll leave this one alone.

Oakland Faders- (From Rick and Co. at Frontier Airlines) There's nothing intimidating about a team that has gone 13-35 the last three seasons. Word is that the city of Oakland is actually trying to convince Davis to take the team back to L.A.

MLB
Colorado Smokies- It's geographically all wrong, but more appropriate based on recent results, an average of 71 wins the last five seasons.

Kansas City Commoners- There's nothing majestic or noble about a 114-210 record over the last two seasons.

Detroit Tabbies- A tiger demonstrates power and dominance, but a .380 winning percentage since 2001 is anything but.

NHL
St. Louis Blues- Actually, it seems fitting.

Pittsburgh Penguins- Also is fitting. If you've seen the movie March of the Penguins, the most remarkable thing about this animal is that it keeps coming back for more.

NBA
Atlanta Pigeons- We picture Hawks soaring high, waiting for their prey. Enough said.

From the DYK Files: What team, and year, won the first professional, non minor-league championship in Denver?

Well, just as the Rox plan on increasing the competition for the starting rotation, the competition for the bullpen decreases. While the Rox try to entice Josh Fogg with a guaranteed contract, Ryan Speier's season is already in the books. Speier, injured during a basketball game in December, had season-ending surgery to repair his right shoulder. Only 14 days until pitchers and catchers report.

DYK answer: Denver Dynamite, Arena Football League in 1987.

Until next time, Go Rockies/Smokies!

Catastrophe Averted

2006-01-25T07:58:00.000-07:00

Well, the Rockies' worst nightmare almost happened, as Todd Helton had surgery on his right elbow to clear out a "loose body". Fortunately though, there was no damage to ligaments and he should be completely ready by spring training. If items like this are the extent of Rockies' news from this point on then the absence of news will be welcomed.

At this stage in the Rox' "rebuilding process" Helton's greatest value to the Rox is not in his HR and rbi totals. Yes, those elements of his game are important to the Rox' success and competitiveness on the field, but his most significant contribution to the Rockies as a franchise is his example of work ethic to the youngsters, of which some will be with the Rockies for the long-term.

For the second post in a row we are broadening the scope of DITR. Rick, from NFTMM, submitted this two-part entry for the Did You Know? Files: What three numbers have the Broncos retired? and What three players have worn the number “7” for the Broncos? The answers are listed below.

The inagural GFNK entry, along with a rather meandering email conversation, also spurred Rick to send me this:

You got me thinking about David Thompson. We shared season tickets with some folks the last year they were in the ABA and the first year they were in the NBA. Thompson was amazing. On the last day of the season—don’t remember the year—he and George Gervin were neck and neck for the scoring title. Gervin was, like, .02 pts. ahead. Denver played in the afternoon and Thompson poured in 70-some points and it looked like he had won. But Gervin went out that night and scored about the same and kept his thin lead. It was amazing. That was when—Thompson and Dr. J—the game started being played above the rim.

Unrelated to the Rockies or baseball, but great stuff nonetheless. Visit Remember the ABA to get a little glimpse at yesteryear and a truly exciting period in basketball.

The Did You Know? answers: Part 1. 7 (Elway), 18 (Frank Tripucka) and 44 (Floyd Little); Part 2. Elway, Craig Morton and Micky Slaughter.

Until next time, Go Rockies!

Pretty Quiet on the Rockies Front

2006-01-23T14:43:00.000-07:00

We are certainly in the quietest period of the baseball off-season. Aside from a couple notable transactions, namely Kris Benson to the Mets and Coco Crisp possibly to the Red Sox, most of the activity is almost irrelevant. The majority of teams have solidified their candidates for all starting positions and now are looking for players to provide competition in Spring Training, most likely for a roster spot as a fifth outfielder, utility infielder, fifth starter and one or two bullpen slots. Most deals from this point forward are minor-league contracts with an invitation to ST. As far as the Rockies are concerned, their discussions with Royce Clayton fall into this category. Looking for a veteran to fill out the infield utility role, the Rox have turned to one of their former shortstops in Clayton. Somehow, Hurdle has projected that his utility infielder will start about 90 games this season. This might be the best offer Clayton gets and could entice him to come back, which would most likely be unfortunate for the Rox. Although Clayton played okay for us in 2004, it was just that, okay. He is now 36 and isn't a better shortstop than he was then. There aren't many 36 year olds that would be a better option than a couple of 24 year-olds in Omar Quintanilla and Josh Wilson. Plus, if either Quintanilla or Wilson falters they can be optioned to give someone else a crack. If Clayton were to make the team out of ST and doesn't meet expectations, then he would have to leave via the Todd Jones route, by paying him to go away.

Given the almost non-existence of Rockies news worth mentioning, I thought I would take the opportunity to somewhat broaden the scope of DITR. Allow me to introduce a couple of new items that will occasionally be offered: the Good-For-Nothing Knowledge Department and the Did You Know Files. Good-For-Nothing Knowledge will serve as the DITR version of Useless Information while Did You Know will be a trivia item of sorts. If you would ever like to submit something for either of these, feel free to email me.

The debut item from the DYK Files: What do Anthony Carter, Gary Zimmerman and Rick Nueheisel have in common? The answer's at the end of the post.

For the inaugural item in the GFNK Dept., with the Broncos' Gary Kubiak's reported hiring by the Houston Texans, each of the four major sports in Denver have a former player who is or has been a head coach/manager. The Nuggets have Larry Brown (ABA and NBA) and Dan Issel (NBA). The Colorado Rockies (MLB) has Eric Wedge and Joe Girardi. The Colorado Rockies (NHL) has Joel Quinneville and the Broncos have Kubiak. Three of the six (Brown, Issel and Quinneville) have coached in Denver.

How impressive was Kobe Bryant's 81 points Sunday? He came within eight points of equaling the output of nine teams over the weekend and outscored one team (Sacramento-78) that had an overtime game.

DYK answer: They all played in the USFL.

Until next time, Go Rockies!

Cook, Burgers and the NWSS

2006-01-20T22:37:00.000-07:00

The most significant move by the Rockies in recent days, and a pretty significant one at that, has been to sign Aaron Cook to a two-year contract with an option for a third year. If you happened to be a dedicated reader during the 2005 season you know that Cook was officially named the staff ace here at DITR back in August. While exercising more than their share of penny-pinching over the last few years, the one thing the Rockies have been consistent about is rewarding their young players when performance warrants it. Say what you will about Jason Jennings, but the Rockies locked him up for a few years when it seemed that he could be a very good pitcher over the long term. It also seems to be a strategy of playing the odds to a degree. In other words, the Rockies, by signing JJ and Cook to deals, eliminate the players' arbitration rights. So, by signing a player for, say $2.5M, you hope he will perform adequately for that price, but also know that's the maximum you will have to pay that player. Maybe Cook pitches beyond anyone's dreams this season and, if he were eligible for arbitration after 2006, could ask for $4.0M. They used a similar approach with Helton when it was clear he was going to be a keeper. Time will tell if it is a successful strategy, but as a team with a lot of young talent and a very limited payroll budget it seems as good as any.

The other moves that were made recently were a collection of minor-league contracts with invitations to spring training that are unlikely to have any impact whatsoever on the roster heading into the regular season. These signings have been documented on a few Rockies' sites, so I won't duplicate others’ efforts.

After coming to the realization that I couldn't sync the calendar on my cell phone with Outlook, I manually entered the Rox' 2006 schedule. I think my wife has finally come to grips with my fanaticism with baseball, because when I told her what I was doing her response was simply "uh-huh".

After a five-year run as a subscriber to Sports Weekly (Baseball Weekly in the good ole’ days) I have decided it’s time to keep my money. About two years ago they decided to add football to the newspaper, thus the name change. Although I was upset that they had the gall to put football in a baseball newspaper, I eventually decided that things change and I can accept change…to a degree. In the last issue they announced that they would soon be adding NASCAR to the paper. Enough’s enough!

Wednesday was the 12th annual trip to the National Western Stock Show, or better known as just the “Stock Show” in these parts. For those not familiar with the Stock Show, my friend Rick, great great-nephew of Candy Cummings, does a more than adequate job of explaining what this event is all about. Tonight in the Junior Livestock Auction the Grand Champion Steer went for $75,000, down from the $110,000 price tag last year, both to Del Frisco’s Steak House. The best thing we saw was probably this.

On Thursday we had snow for the first time in over a month, which means that there should be plenty of snow left for those April games at CF.

Until next time, Go Rockies!

Public Service Announcement

2006-01-12T08:41:00.000-07:00

I hadn't checked in several days and should have checked before I posted earlier today, but the updated Lahman database is available at The Baseball Archive. Download it, dig into it and enjoy it. This is truly a jewel among the baseball community. Big thanks goes to The Baseball Archive for their ongoing efforts and dedication to this enormous undertaking.

Getting Close

2006-01-12T06:50:00.000-07:00

Only 35 days until Spring Training, according to the website. At this time last year there were far more questions than answers for the Rox. Probably the most significant area of uncertainty last year was the bullpen. After attempts by DD to acquire veteran arms were unsuccessful, the alternate formula was to take the best of a large pool of young, untested pitchers, termed the "spaghetti approach" over at Bad Altitude. The results were unpleasant, with seven blown saves and seven losses by the bullpen in April. A mixture of veterans and youngsters should make April a little easier to watch this season. In my opinion, catcher and centerfield continue to be concerns with Ardoin and Sullivan slated as probable starters, respectively. Hitting is not the most important element of a catcher's game, but you still need to hit some. Otherwise it's almost like having two pitchers in your lineup. As far as Sullivan goes, it all depends on which guy comes to play. The one we saw most of the 2005 season, or the guy who played pretty much everyday towards the end of the season and hit like crazy.

It all makes sense now. The Denver Post is reporting today that Helton injured his back during Spring Training 2005 and played in pain most of the season. This is the first time his injury has been mentioned, that I have seen, and it explains his drop in power and rbi's.

The DP also reports that former Cherry Creek High School star Darnell McDonald, originally drafted by Baltimore, has signed a minor-league contract with Tampa Bay. McDonald also played tailback for the Bruins football team and passed up a scholarship to Texas to play baseball and football to sign with the Orioles. How dominating was Cherry Creek while McDonald played? In his four years on the football team and four years on the baseball team, Cherry Creek won four state football championships and four state baseball championships.

My friend Scot invited me to the Avs game Monday night. I know, Scot is my baseball buddy, but for one night, at least, he was my hockey buddy too. And yes, we did talk about baseball. As we were on the train heading to the game I mentioned that Vernand Morency started at running back for the Houston Texans the last game of the season and that made two Rox draft picks that had started an NFL game. That started us thinking about other players who were drafted by MLB teams that had started an NFL game. Off the top of our heads and without doing much research, here's who we came up with. John Elway(Yankees), Deion Sanders(Royals, Yankees), Bo Jackson(Yankees, Angels, Royals), Brian Jordan(Indians, Cardinals), Michael Vick(Rockies) and Vernand Morency(Rockies). Can you think of any others?

As far as the Avs go, they beat the Blues 6-1, making their cumulative score in games I have been to 14-3. Sounds kind of like a score at Coors Field. The Avs won Wednesday to take their win streak to six games.

I'm waiting for my Ryne Duren autographed baseball to arrive in the mail. If you are wondering who Ryne Duren is and his significance, go to the articles section of the website and read the article about him, or read my History of Baseball In Denver, Part III archived post.

Welcome to new Rox blogger Drew Beinhoff at Baseball With An Altitude.

I have added a new feature to the website called Team News. This is a collection of news and blogs for each MLB team, updated regularly.

Interestingly enough, the biggest MLB news lately hasn't been about who's going or coming, but about who's staying, as both Miguel Tejada and Manny Ramirez have decided they can handle staying where they are, Baltimore and Boston, respectively.

Until next time, Go Rockies!

Dealin' Dan Does it Again

2005-12-08T11:47:00.000-07:00

As I'm sure that most of those reading today's entry already know, the Rockies did make some moves yesterday, interrupting an otherwise quiet stay at the Winter Meetings. In a move that has been anticipated for a number of weeks now, the Rockies finally acquired Yorvit Torrealba from Seattle to be their backup catcher. At first report, the Rockies' half of the transaction was a player to be named. That player turned out to be Marcos Carvajal. Initially I was not convinced this was a worthwhile transaction. Now I am convinced this was a bad deal for the Rox. I have never been, nor will I ever be, one to routinely and blindly criticize the Rockies' management. However, I also will call it like I see it and criticize when I feel it's warranted. If Dan O'Dowd has demonstrated one area of consistency, it's the willingness to trade young talent for marginal major leaguers. Does anybody remember the Kimera Bartee and Jacob Cruz trades? I agree, we'd like to forget them, but we shouldn't if we want to honestly evaluate DD's ability (or inability) to fill current needs without sacrificing player(s) of significantly higher long-term value. In one sense, the Bartee and Cruz trades were understandable. The Rox were desparate to find a leftfielder in a "win now" environment. But now, in an atmosphere of excercising patience and focusing on building from within, a trade like this is hard to figure out.

I was surprised to read this morning that the Rox had offered arbitration to BK Kim when every indication I had seen was that they would not. The apparent strategy is that Kim will reject arbitration and they will continue to negotiate. The Rockies are hoping they can meet face to face with Kim, who has been in South Korea since the end of the season. By offering arbitration, the Rox have exclusive negotiating rights with Kim until January 8 and will receive compensation if he signs with another team. We've seen this strategy before and sometimes it backfires. A few years ago, the Braves offered Greg Maddux arbitration, assuming he would reject it and they would get a draft pick when he signed with another team. Maddux accepted arbitration and won. As a result, Atlanta had to trade Millwood for below value just to meet their budgeted payroll. Hopefully the Rox can agree on a deal with Kim. The alternative seems to be Zach Day.

As expected, there has been a rather hefty dose of signings and trades since last evening, the most disheartening for Rox fans being that Trevor Hoffman chose to remain with the Padres. An A+ goes to San Diego for retaining the two biggest pieces in their puzzle in Hoffman and Giles. On a positive note, they did trade Mark Loretta, who has always seemed to be a thorn in the Rockies' side.

Remember, you can keep track of all the MLB news, Rockies' news and rumors on the website.

Deals and Rumors of Deals

2005-12-07T10:08:00.000-07:00

We are two days into the Winter Meetings and, although plenty of activity is in the works, no new major deals have happened in the last 24 hours or so. You can usually tell the teams that have new GM's that are trying to make a splash and put their stamp on the team right away. The Dodgers, for instance, have been mentioned in a half dozen or so rumors, most notably deals for Abreu and Soriano. The Rockies have continued to be very quiet, brought up only in possible trades sending Miles to Florida and getting Johnny Estrada from the Braves for who knows what in a three-way deal with TB. In my opinion, this would be a good move by the Rox, obviously depending on what we had to give up. Estrada has a good balance of offensive and defensive skills that would suit the Rox well as they attempt to fix their never-ending dilemma at catcher. Like I said a few days ago, stay tuned.

Matt Morris, who was on the Rox' radar screen early on, has seen his price range soar to about $8mm per year with the signing of Byrd by Cleveland for $7.4mm per season.

The likelihood of BK Kim being on the team next year dwindles by the hour. The Rox have a $1mm offer on the table while Kim is seeking around $3mm. The Rox will not offer Kim arbitration, so if a deal isn't agreed to by midnight tonight then Kim will be somewhere else in 2006.

Speaking of arbitration, tomorrow is when we can expect the free-agent signings to really pick up, as teams that do not offer arbitration to their free-agents do not get compensation from a player's new team.

As Tracy Ringolsby reported yesterday in the RMN, the Rox' and Fuentes are close to agreeing on a two-year contract for about $5mm with an option for a third year. Congratulations to Tracy, who was selected 2005 winner of the A.G. Spink Award by the Baseball Writers Association of America.

Congratulations is also due the Tulsa Drillers organization, which received the 2005 Bob Freitas Award, awarded each year by Baseball America to one team in each minor league classification to recognize long-term business excellence.

As I mentioned earlier, tomorrow should have plenty to talk about so the blogs will be hopping. Even if the Rox aren't involved, this is always a fun time of the year.

Veteran Relief in High Demand

2005-12-02T08:31:00.000-07:00

One thing that has been clear already this free-agent season is that veteran relief pitchers are in the highest of demand. Two more, Tom Gordon and Tim Worrell, both 38, recently signed contracts. Gordon by the Phillies and Worell by the Giants. Gordon's contract is reportedly for three years and $18 million while the Giants seemingly got Worrell for a bargain at two years and $4 million. Note: rumored reports say that the signing of Worrell will drop the average age for the Giants "by at least a year". The state of the market is making the Rox' target at acquiring veteran bullpen help a more costly proposition. Apparently Clint Hurdle has personally joined the effort in wooing Jose Mesa to be the Rox' setup man. This possible acquisition has drawn an overall favorable response from most in the Rox' blogosphere, at least compared to the thought of bringing back the likes of Pedro Astacio and Shawn Estes. Meanwhile, the Rox' pursuit of a catcher continues to be worth keeping an eye on, taking more turns than the average day-time soap opera.

The RMN had a great article last week about Jorge Piedra and his infant daughter. If you missed it, it's definitely a worthwhile read.

The latest edition of Baseball Weekly listed Joe Kennedy as possible trade bait for the Rox. Huh? I guess we all makes mistakes. Since the end of the postseason, Baseball Weekly has ranked players by position. This week they ranked third basemen. I perused the list, looking for Garrett Atkins, and he was ranked at 13. I wasn't surprised by this, but what did surprise me were their comments:

This kid surprised the Rockies by playing decent defense. He also wound up with 89 RBI, the fifth-most by a NL rookie since 1980. He could actually force minor league sensation Ian Stewart to the outfield in two years.

Now, we've heard over and over again how Atkins was simply a stop-gap until Stewart was ready for the majors and how Stewart would eventually force both Atkins and Jeff Baker to find a new position with the Rox, but this is the first time I've heard it the other way around. Interesting.

Heatin' Up

2005-12-01T06:30:00.000-07:00

While the temperature in Denver is dropping below freezing, the Hot Stove league in baseball is really heating up. The most notable players have been the NY Mets and the Chicago White Sox, with the Mets landing Carlos Delgado from the Marlins and signing Billy Wagner from the Phillies and the ChiSox obtaining Jim Thome from Philadelphia and re-signing their own free agent Paul Konerko. The Rockies plans for participating in the free agent activity seems to resemble the weather forecast for Denver...cold. The opinion of most seems to be that this isn't a bad thing. Tracy mentioned in the RMN a couple of weeks ago that there appears to be a cycle within baseball where teams get themselves into bad contracts, spend a couple of years trying their best to get out of those contracts, and then a couple of years later forget the lessons they learned and get themselves into a whole new set of bad contracts. One thing you have to give the Rockies credit for is the fact that they have not forgotten about the dilemma that the Hampton and Neagle signings got them in. Now that they are out from under those contracts, they shouldn't have license to make the same mistake all over again. It seems to me that may be what some teams are doing, such as Toronto and B.J. Ryan. The most important thing the Rox have been doing lately is talking to Fuentes about a long-term deal. Once you know you have a reliable closer, you'd better do what you can to keep him. San Diego obviously has known this for quite some time. Speaking of San Diego, reports are that they have agreed to terms with Brian Giles. For the Rockies sake I was hoping he would be leaving the NL West.

Lately I've been spending more time on the website than the blog. I have a few new features that I am rather excited about. First, if there's ever a day you are wondering "how long until Spring Training?" or " how long until Opening Day?", go to my website and you can find out. Second, I have added a feature I call Around the Horn, which is a collection of baseball news from various sources. Lastly, the feature News on the Rox is a similar collection of news, but just about the Rox and includes blogs as well as news sources. With these features there's no need to check the various sites and blogs for the latest postings. You can get all the news and blogs in one place. I think it's cool, I hope you do too. I also have a new poll up on the site, so visit and vote. As always, I welcome comments and suggestions.

A Great Weekend

2005-11-28T08:42:00.000-07:00

In case anyone was wondering, I had a great weekend, which for me, like many others, was extended due to the Thanksgiving holiday. It was time well spent with family, eating turkey and pie, sweet potatoes and pie, dressing and pie, and then for dessert, some pie. Thanksgiving day was also spent watching some good, nail-biting, it wasn't pretty but a win, Broncos football. Friday was primarily taken up with what is probably the most traditional task for the day after Thanksgiving, putting up the Christmas tree. I don't really recall the majority of Saturday, so whatever I did obviously wasn't interesting enough to deserve mention here. Sunday, on the other hand, was what truly made this weekend great. Sunday started out innocently enough, but it quickly took a dramatic turn early in the afternoon when I decided to organize the garage with the threat of snow and wanting to put the car in there.

Allow me to back track for a bit. For several years now I have collected autographed baseballs. My collection is small as baseballs I deem worthwhile having are usually expensive. It is, however, a collection I am proud of. Along with the baseballs are other collectible baseball memorabilia, such as the ticket from the Rockies' inaugural home opener and the ticket from the first game at Coors Field. For most of the time I have had these items I have not been able to display them due to limited space in our house. When we bought our new house in February, one of the things that excited me most was a dedicated office and shelving in that office perfect for displaying my young collection of memorabilia. So, over that last few months I have gone through various boxes of "baseball stuff" and determined what I wanted to display on the shelves. Hank Aaron signed ball, yes; Yogi Berra ball, yes; Larry Walker ball, yes; Tony Gwynn baseball, yes; Jeff Cirillo ball, I guess so, what else will I do with it. The one item I couldn't seem to find was the foul ball I caught at a Rockies' game several years ago. I couldn't remember any other boxes labeled "baseball stuff" where it might be. I was starting to get a somewhat sick feeling in my stomach. Many people go their whole lives attending baseball games and never get a baseball. How could I be so careless to actually lose it?

This is where Sunday comes in. When I got into the garage and actually started strategizing how to organize it I came upon a box labeled, you guessed it, "baseball stuff". "What's this?" I thought. "I don't remember this box!" Now, it is my garage and my stuff, so I shouldn't have been surprised that this box was there. I mean, I put it there myself, but as it turns out, I was surprised that box was there. So, without giving it much thought, I lifted off the lid of the box to see what kind of "baseball stuff" was in there, and, right on top, was the foul ball. Needless to say, I was ecstatic! The foul ball that was lost had now been found! It was a joyous occasion. Later, in the evening, I got on retrosheet and looked up the information about that game when I caught the ball. I had always remembered it was the last game of the season against the Giants, off of the bat of Terry Shumpert against Alan Embree, but I couldn't remember the season. So, the game was October 3, 1999 in the bottom of the 9th in a game in which we trailed by one going into the 9th and rallied to win by one. What a glorious way to end a baseball season, to rally in the bottom of the 9th to win the game AND catch a foul ball.

Oh, and by the way, I did finish organizing the garage and got the car inside, sheltered from the oncoming storm. On Monday I woke up to: no snow, but who cares, I once again have my foul ball. This time, for good.

Miscellaneous Ramblings

2005-11-02T07:21:00.000-07:00

With the completion of the World Series, now comes the the start of the off-season for baseball. While most of the other major sports have a relatively quiet period during their off-season, baseball never really settles down very much. Since the commissioner's office forbids any major announcements during the WS, GM's and owners chomping at the bit to make changes at the top announce them in a flurry as soon as the October Classic is over. So, we have already been seeing a pretty hefty game of musical chairs with the GM's. The two that probably were the biggest surprises were DePodesta's firing in LA and Epstein stepping down in Boston. With owners becoming more and more involved in the daily operations of their teams, the ground that GM's stand on is becoming shakier and shakier.

As well as the various management changes, we have free agency to keep us busy. There are a total of 206 players eligible for free agency, with 151 having already filed. Players have until November 10 to file and can start negotiating November 11. Four of the six Rockies eligible have already filed; Todd Greene, Dustan Mohr, BK Kim and Dan Miceli, while Mike DeJean has already re-signed with the Rox and Jamey Wright has yet to file. Of the 151 players who have filed, I counted 19 former Rox while there are another 10 who could still file. For a rundown of the Rox' minor league free agents, read UITR. I have added a Free Agent Tracker on the website to keep up with all the free agent activity.

Speaking of the website, at the risk of sounding like I can't make up my mind, I have done another redesign. This one however, is a complete structural redesign while the previous one was more of a change of color scheme only. It should be much easier to get around. Let me know what you think.

I can't help but wonder what is going on in the Rox' front office when Jerry DiPoto, after only one year in the organization, decides to take the job of color analyst for home games and then ends up darting to the dreaded snakes for a similar job he had with the Rox.

Dragging

2005-10-26T08:05:00.000-06:00

I'm dragging just a little bit this morning as I tried to stay up and watch the entire game last night. It didn't work. I fell asleep in the 11th, woke up about 11:40 and went straight to bed. Anyway, I was pulling for the Astros to win. Not because I want the Astros to win the Series or that I don't want the Sox to win, but a 3-0 Series at this point is a lot less interesting than 2-1 would be. From a standpoint of a baseball fan and not particularly a fan of either team, a drawn out series with multiple lead changes and drama at every turn is infinitely more entertaining than a lopsided victory by either team. What baseball doesn't need is a series sweep for the second year in a row. Each game individually has been very entertaining with plenty of tension and playmaking, but collectively are turning out to be only slightly more entertaining than the 2004 WS.

Things were looking pretty good for the Astros heading into the 5th with a 4-0 lead and Oswalt pitching well. The game changed quickly though with the Sox sending 11 batters to the plate and scoring five runs. Oswalt's fastball which was clocking in at 96-97 mph in the first was only registering at 93-94 by the fifth and the Sox hitters weren't being fooled at all. The Houston bullpen pitched admirably and kept them in the game until the offense could rebound and tie it up in the 8th. Houston may be getting used to these marathon games, now having played the longest game in playoff history and the longest game in World Series history.

It seems like the networks that broadcast the championships for the major sports always feel it necessary to unveil some technological or graphical innovation with each year's telecast. Fox, possibly the most notorious for this, has had it's FoxTrax gadget this year. FoxTrax is a graphic that illustrates the location of a pitch, indicating the speed and break (in inches) up or down of the pitch. After three games of seeing it and evaluating it, the staff at DITR has decided it is useless and distracting from the action on the field. It really doesn't enhance the game and it's... ok, I'll say it, stupid. (We don't use that word around our house, having a three-year-old and all.) I happen to like Dusty Saunder's take at the RMN that he longs for the good ole' days when the only things on the screen were the players, umpires and managers.

Another thing that I'm starting to have a problem with is the endless replays from every possible angle. If a ball is foul, I don't need to see from multiple angles if it was two feet or ten feet foul. If it's hard to see from the live angle, show it was foul in a replay and move on. Don't get me wrong. Replays are good, but sometimes the networks get a little carried away. Plays that have been highly controversial this postseason, (the ball in the dirt with Pierzynski, the hitbatsmen with Dye) all probably happened in the past. However, with instant replay from so many angles, the networks can determine if close plays were the right call or wrong call, usually before the next play occurs. The results are often claims that the umpires unfairly helped determine the outcome of a game. DITR takes the stand, along with others, that the umpires reviewing plays by looking at replays has no place in baseball.

Passion and Sports

2005-10-24T07:49:00.000-06:00

Great! Just what we need. Another Manning to torment us.

If you've wondered what the elements might be like for baseball in late October in Denver in 2037, you got a sneak peek last night in Chicago. It looked miserable, with the temperature at 45 and a steady rain most of the game. A high-scoring game was definitely surprising, given that cool and damp weather usually give the pitchers an advantage.

I think that the way the game ended last night serves as a reminder to me why sports, in general, are so endearing to us and we find it so easy to get passionate about our team. After all the strategizing and maneuvering, things can still happen that are so unexpected that noone could possibly script them. Sports are filled with failures, some that are so painful that they are embedded in our minds forever, and successes, some that exude such joy that the only way we can express it is to hoot and holler. Our lives are also filled with failures and successes, so we can relate as human beings. Baseball tends to offer this element to a greater degree than other sports due to the one on one battle between pitcher and batter. It lends itself to personal heroics more than other sports for that reason. So, Scott Podsednik, the AL version of Juan Pierre, who so rarely hits a homerun but has hit two in the postseason, hits a walk-off against Brad Lidge, the next generation's most likely dominant closer.

Houston will now return to the Juice Box, putting nearly all of it's hopes on the shoulders of Roy Oswalt. The Astros can be briefly comforted by the fact that their best pitcher will be starting game 3. However, they will be going against Jon Garland, who at times during the season was Chicago's best pitcher. So far, the series hasn't been disappointing, being pretty entertaining.

There's been a few changes for the website and blog. I've finally decided to go with a Rockies color scheme. There are a few bugs still being worked out, so if you use FireFox you'll need to revert back to IE for the time being. If you read DITR from an aggregator or newsreader, go check it out. Also, at work I got a new computer a couple of months ago and with it came Office XP. Excel XP has XML capabilities so, instead of XLS files on the site, I have converted most to HTML and XML files. I have a short help section for using these files. Hopefully they will be more useful in these formats. All the Excel files should be in these formats in the near future.

I didn't do quite enough homework on the latest trivia question, so as it turns out there are three correct answers. Ryan Mattheus, Darren Clarke and Ryan Shealy were all drafted out of high school and college by the Rox and are currently in the organization. Shealy was the one I was thinking of.

Miscellaneous Ramblings

2005-10-20T11:54:00.000-06:00

So, the World Series is set with Houston's win over St. Louis last night. Before the postseason began, ESPN listed all the possible matchups from least to most appealing and a Chicago/Houston series was the least. However, given how these two teams have been playing recently, it has the makings of a pretty competitive and entertaining series. In my opinion, the two best teams will be battling it out for top honors. Given how the Chicago starters have been pitching, maybe the bullpen pitchers should have to buy tickets to get into the World Series. I was talking with my baseball buddy Scot and he told me that, as a Rockies fan, he was sure there was some MLB rule limiting a team to two complete games per season. Like other stats, I guess complete games start over with the playoffs.

The Astros' fans have waited 44 years to get into the WS. If the Rockies can match that, then we only have 32 years to go. There is hope after all. I suppose my biggest concern is in the event that Tampa Bay gets there before we do. Now that would be depressing. I say that if we haven't reached the WS by 2037 we consider hiring Jack McKeon as manager.

In what may end up being the biggest move of the offseason, Leo Mazzone has reportedly accepted the job of pitching coach for the Orioles. Apparently Mazzone and Baltimore manager Sam Perlozzo have been almost life-long friends. So, the decision makes more sense from a personal standpoint than from a baseball standpoint. Mazzone's arrival in Baltimore could have an immediate positive impact on the Orioles, but will certainly have an immediate negative impact in Atlanta. After reading 3 Nights in August, I am convinced that the most important variable for a manager is his pitching coach. Not only a good one, but one that has been with the manager at length and they think the same way. Regardless of the pitchers that Atlanta has had during their streak of winning their division, Bobby Cox has had Mazzone by his side.

I have a new poll on the website and hopefully it will be a fun one. Vote for your favorite old logo. The choices I have are the original Colorado Rockies, the longtime Denver Broncos "D" and the Denver Nuggets from the 70's. You can also vote for another if you'd like. If you do, please email me your vote and a picture of the logo if you have it.

The DITR regular season awards ceremony is just around the corner. I am dropping my tux off at the cleaners tonight. I will be announcing the winners of the awards in an upcoming posting.

After a lengthy absence, DITR is bringing back a trivia question, at least for this post. Here you go: What current member of the Rockies organization was drafted by the Rockies out of high school AND out of college? Leave your answer as a comment or send me an email.

My, Oh My!

2005-09-21T07:35:00.000-06:00

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

2005-09-12T07:32:00.000-06:00

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

2005-09-09T13:07:00.000-06:00

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

2005-09-07T08:09:00.000-06:00

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

2005-09-05T10:10:00.000-06:00

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

2005-09-04T11:10:00.000-06:00

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

2005-09-02T07:44:00.000-06:00

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

2005-09-01T15:46:00.000-06:00

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.

Guaranteed

2005-08-30T07:14:00.000-06:00

With a win last night, the rox did not guarantee themselves a fifth straight series win on the road, but they did guarantee themselves two things. First, at 15-12 for the month of August and two games remaining, the rox will have a winning record for the month. The last month the rox had a winning record was July 2004, when they went 18-10. That was a streak of seven straight months with a losing record, including going 0-3 last October. Second, the rox have guaranteed themselves a winning road trip, giving them two winning trips in a row. I don't know when that happened last.

As mentioned in the RMN this morning, Fuentes has now set the franchise record for saves in a season by a lefthander, breaking the previous mark set by Bruce Ruffin in 1996. During last night's broadcast, they mentioned a stat that I found remarkable. Fuentes is second among all NL relievers in strikeouts behind Houston's Brad Lidge. Fuentes reminds me of Hoffman in the fact that you don't have to throw 95+ MPH to be an effective closer.

Mark at TGTBATB should be happy. For two games in a row the rox have walked more and struck out less than their opponent.

Garrett Atkins sure has quieted early season talk that he was simply a stop-gap at third until Ian Stewart was ready for the bigs. Part of that has been due to Stewart's slower progression than anticipated, but part also has to do with Atkins' play. He had a gem during the eighth last night, diving to stop a sharp grounder from Visquel.

I'm getting close to joining the movement to send George Frazier packing. Last night during the game recap he said one of the keys to the rox playing well is that they are playing all 27 innings. Please, bring back Dave Campbell, by far the best analyst this team will ever see.

Four in a Row, Going for Five

2005-08-29T10:16:00.000-06:00

As most people know by now, this weekend the rockies won their fourth road series in a row for the first time in franchise history. Who would have thought? This is the team that has experienced enough road disasters this season for two teams. The rockies have always had difficulty winning on the road, so this season was not expected to be any different, but it was even worse than most people would have anticipated. So, to match, and then surpass an achievement from previous seasons is rather shocking. What is the explanation? Solid pitching, from both starters and relievers, and timely hitting. It seems simple, yet no team can win regularly without one or the other and a team will lose regularly without either. The latter has been the case for the rockies for the majority of this season on the road.

It's not very often that a team can turn things around this dramatically in the midst of a season. The re-appearance of Helton has been huge. What was the major weakness at the beginning of the season, the bullpen, is now the team strength. In April alone, the bullpen had seven losses and seven blown saves. Since July 1, the pen has blown eight saves and lost five games. That is an improvement certainly worth noting. Clutch hitting by nearly everyone at one time or another has been a key ingredient to the recent road success. Holliday came within about 10 feet of tying the game yesterday in the 8th. The rockies' inability to score him from third with no outs was one of the few failures during this little streak of good baseball.

Saturday, the rockies struck out 13 San Diego batters, a season high for the rockies staff. As a bonus, they only walked one.

Although there are some in the rockies' blogosphere that continue to dislike Danny Ardoin, I can't help but wonder if his arrival has something to do with the improved performance of the pitching staff. At the time of his call-up June 7 to the rockies, the team ERA was 5.79. Since then the team ERA has been 4.91.

Congratulations to Hawaii, winner of the 2005 Little League World Series. The USA youngsters rallied from three runs down to tie it in the bottom of the 6th and then hit a walk-off HR in the bottom of the 7th to beat the defending champions from Curacao.

Road Rarity

2005-08-26T09:00:00.000-06:00

Generally, by the end of July you can tell the make up of a MLB team. Their strengths and weaknesses have been figured out by the rest of the league. Consistent positives are no longer considered good luck and negatives cannot be attributed to bad luck either. If a team has a good record then they must be good. Likewise for a team with a mediocre or bad record.

The rockies had a home record of 27-27 and a road record of 10-40 through July. There were numerous discussions about the possibility of the rox' final road record being historically bad. Words like "embarrassing", "pitiful" and "horror" were common when describing the rockies' road performances. The rockies were obviously a mediocre team when in the confines of CF and a downright awful team anywhere else.

That was through July. This is August. The rockies have continued to play a mediocre brand of ball at CF, winning six out of fourteen games. On the road it's been a different situation. The rox have won six of nine games on the road so far this month. As Tracy mentions in the RMN today, the rockies won a third consecutive road series for the first time since 2000 and only the fourth time in franchise history. Granted, they've done it against teams with records that would be considered bottom-feeders in almost any other season, if it weren't for the rox' terrible record. The rox have won 37.5% of their total road victories for the season in a nine game stretch. The other 62.5% came over 50 games. They have equaled the most wins for a month at 12 with six games remaining. Interestingly enough, the month ends exactly how it started, with a three-game series in SF. Hopefully the rox can find a way to duplicate their recent road success at CF.

Every now and then, a player really has an opposing pitcher or team's number. That would be the case this season for Oscar Robles against the rockies. Robles was plucked out of the Mexican League by the Dodgers and, for the most part, as been a solid utility infielder. Against the rockies has been a different story however. Robles is hitting .455 against the rockies with 9 rbi while hitting .254 with 12 rbi against the rest of the league.

I have added a small section to the webpage about the projects I am currently working on. Please check out my page on missing information and let me know if you can help. I would appreciate it.

On a note completely unrelated to baseball, I guess it was bound to happen sooner or later. Last night I was figuring it was just another initiation into parenthood, as I had the toilet in the garage, upside down, trying to fish a toy out that had been flushed and was stuck. I did get the toy out and it was exactly what the kids said was in the toilet. In case you were wondering, WalMart does have wax rings, for only $.98.

Iron Chef?

2005-08-22T14:18:00.000-06:00

Since last August, there has been a fair amount of talk, both from the rox and various media outlets, that Aaron Cook was set to emerge as the team ace and frontline pitcher that the organization envisioned when he was selected as the 70th player overall in the 1997 MLB amateur draft. August 7, 2004 was the day in which a blood clot was discovered in Cook’s lung, thus ending his season and possibly entire baseball career. During Cook’s nearly full year of rehabilitation from the clot and ensuing corrective surgery, he was labeled as the closest thing the rox had to an actual number one starter and team ace. His recovery and return to form were keys to the ultimate long-term success and competitiveness of the rox. One (mainly me) couldn’t help but wonder if this analysis was another version of wishful thinking on the rox’ part or, in fact, reality.

When Cook made his return to the mound on July 30, it seemed to have been wishful thinking. However, since then Cook has been the pitcher that the rox have so far only been able to dream about this season. UITR documents Cook’s statistics and performance in August, so I won’t go into that. I will, on the other hand, talk about Cook just before and just after the clot. In the five games prior to the clot and the five games since returning, Cook is 5-2 with a 2.99 ERA. That includes his shaky first outing where he allowed seven earned runs in 4.1 innings. It is difficult, if not impossible, to accurately determine a pitcher’s future performance given two five-game stretches, separated by nearly a year. Nevertheless, the folks here at DITR are ready and willing to anoint Cook the team ace until he proves otherwise. Incidentally, when the DITR polls asked the question as to who would emerge as the team ace for the rox in 2005, Aaron Cook’s name was not among the possible selections. Clearly this was an oversight on the part of the Poll Committee.

The draft file on the website has been updated with the recent signing of RHP Kyle Hancock, taken in the 3rd round. Tracy, however, reports today in the RMN that Hancock joined Casper for three games, threw one bullpen session and left the team without explanation. Stay tuned to DITr for further developments.

After a fairly lengthy absence, there is a new poll on the website. If there is a poll topic you would like to see in the future, let me know.

Toying With Us

2005-08-19T07:30:00.000-06:00

I know it's been far too long since I last posted an entry. Hopefully I can finish the year strong.

Just when you thought it was safe to go back to the ballpark. The month of August began on a relatively high note for the rox. Through July the rox had a record of 37-67, fighting off the royals for the worst record in baseball. They started the month on the road playing in one city, San Francisco, where they have traditionally played downright awful, and another city, Phoenix, where they have played okay, given it's the rox we're talking about. The rox proceeded to take two of three games in each series, equaling the most road victories in any other month this season. Optimism was running high, again, relatively speaking. Talk on the radio and print in the papers was that this team had turned the corner. The youngsters had learned how to win and win often. The majority of the pitching woes had been eliminated. We were on the verge of seeing what DD and the gang believed this group of players could eventually do. They returned to CF to embark on the longest homestand in franchise history thanks to a makeup doubleheader with Florida. The rox started the homestand by sweeping the Marlins, 4-3 and 5-3. Quite impressive by CF standards. The team ERA was at a season low.

As it turns out, they were only toying with us. The rox have won only two of the last nine games, losing two to Pittsburgh, the only team the rox have any hopes of catching to avoid the worst record in the NL. They wrap up the homestand with three games this weekend against the Cubs. The rox need to sweep the series to finish the homestand with a .500 record. Given the Cubs' success in the past at CF, that is unlikely.

Unfortunately, the truth is that this team will be bad the rest of this season and part of next season. The best case scenario is that the rox will turn the corner, if they do, sometime the second half of the 2006 season. Players like Francis and Atkins will have a full year under their belt. Holliday will have two. The rox are noticeably better with Barmes and Hawpe in the lineup and hopefully will have them for more of the season next year. DD and Hurdle have observed the value of a veteran bullpen and the youngsters who have remained have made drastic strides in their development. I think we may have seen glimpses of what the future holds for rox' fans, but glimpses are all we will get for the time being.

On a separate baseball note, the royals' current losing streak of 18 games has brought back memories of 1988. During the pre-rox era I was an Orioles fan. In 1988 the Orioles started the season my losing their first 21 games. Talk about depressing. You know it's going to be a long season when after only a few weeks people are already saying things like "Will the lady who left her nine kids at Memorial Stadium please come pick them up. They're beating the Orioles."

The good news. The bad news.

2005-06-24T07:58:00.000-06:00

The good news…the rox didn’t lose yesterday. The bad news…they didn’t play.

The bad news…the rox have passed the Royals for the worst record in baseball. The good news…the Royals hired Buddy Bell as manager, so it shouldn’t stay that way very long.

The good news…Jeff Francis pitches well at Coors Field. The bad news…he has to pitch on the road too. (Sounds weird doesn’t it.)

The good news…Helton hit a home run during the last road trip. The bad news…he’s still fourth in homers and rbi on the team.

The good news…the rox signed Desi Relaford as a versatile utility infielder. The bad news…he’s playing shortstop almost every day.

The good news…Eddie Garabito became the 55th player in rockies’ history and 4th player this season to hit his first mlb home run. The bad news…he’s playing for the rox instead of the Sky Sox.

The good news…we are only 43% into the baseball season. The bad news…there is only 57% of the baseball season left.

The good news…the rox are no longer last in mlb in ERA. The bad news…the rox have a higher road ERA than home ERA.

The good news…Real Men (Highlands Ranch Metro District D-Rec Softball League) won their first game last week. The bad news…the winning streak ended at one game. (Kind of like the rox.)

The good news…the rox signed Dan Miceli off the Japanese scrap heap. The bad news…he’s probably better than three or four of the pitchers the rox currently have in the pen.

The bad news…former rox pitcher Pedro Astacio was released by Texas. The worse news…the rox are interested in him.

The bad news…rox pitchers hit Craig Biggio three times in the last series. The worse news…Biggio will soon pass former rox manager Don Baylor for the all-time lead in HBP.

The bad news…the rox lead the NL in walks, hit batsmen and wild pitches. The good news…well, there isn’t any really.

The good news…Colorado has three championships this year so far (two professional, one collegiate). The bad news…the rox will not be joining that group in the foreseeable future.

The good news…Shawn Chacon and Aaron Cook are almost healthy. The bad news…they probably won’t make that big of a difference.

The good news…the rox’ bullpen has only had two losses and three blown saves in June. The bad news…they are still on pace for 32 losses and 32 blown saves for the season.

The good news…the rox have a .500 record at Coors Field this season. The bad news…opposing teams used to leave Coors Field whimpering after a three-game series against the rox.

The good news…the NL West gets a little weaker with the loss of Eric Gagne in L.A. The bad news…we were already considered the weakest division in baseball before.

It's About Time!

2005-06-15T07:47:00.000-06:00

I'ts been far too long since my last post. A family matter a few weeks ago took up much of my time recently and exhaustion has limited the creative energy lately. Hopefully I can recapture the energy and motivation to begin posting regularly once again. No central thought was on my mind today, so I am resorting to the "miscellaneous ramblings" format.

The rox lost to Cleveland last night 11-2 and as a result something happened for only the third time in their history. Jake Westbrook won the game for the Indians. Westbrook was the first round draft pick of the rox in 1996 and joined Jamey Wright as the only rox' first round draft picks to beat the rox (Wright has done it twice).

Speaking of the draft, the file of rox' draft picks has been updated and is on the website. It will be updated periodically as players sign.

Also speaking of the draft, congratulations to Blake Heym, a catcher from Grayson County CC, drafted by the New York Yankees as the 1,501st, and last, player taken overall.

This morning, the rox remain ahead of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays for the worst record in baseball, by one lone percentage point. I, personally, believe the rox can overtake SF for 4th place in the NL West and avoid the worst record in the NL for the season. SF, at least right now, may have bigger problems with their pitching staff than the rox. Also, SF's problems in the field are nearly the exact opposite of the rox. The rox are too young to compete regularly while SF may be too old to compete regularly.

One final thought for this abbreviated, yet overdue entry. My hat goes off to Clint Hurdle. As a fellow parent of a child with medical issues, I'm not sure how he is able to focus his attention and energy on managing baseball games with a sick child at home. Hang in there Clint. For all the boneheaded things they have done, kudos to the rox' brass for realizing there are more important things in life than baseball games and allowing Hurdle to be where he needed to be these last few weeks.

B.(I.)S.

2005-05-17T06:45:00.001-06:00

In my last posting two weeks ago I introduced BIS, Big Inning Syndrome. I detailed how the rockies have had problems with the big inning and gave a few statistics. Since then I have been working on a formula for a BIS Index, to track how the rockies do throughout the season in regards to big innings. As of May 3, the BIS Index was at 5.21 and topped out at 5.31 on May 6. As of this posting, the BIS Index stands at 3.85, so the rox have been able to avoid the big inning for the most part in the last two weeks, having only four big innings during that time. Here's the formula I came up with: BIS Innings/Total Runs*100*(BIS Runs/Total Runs). I may still find some flaws in the methodology, so it is a work in progress at this point. I will mention the BIS Index from time to time in DITr.

A big DITr welcome to Blaine Neal, the newest member of the rockies bullpen family. He seems to fit right in, giving up two runs in one inning for his rockies debut Saturday. You have to give DD some credit, he obviously is constantly on the lookout for potential arms for the pen. Unfortunately, quantity is only a good thing if there is some degree of quality also. That combination seems to have escaped DD and Clint up to this point. Now, it's not all doom and gloom for the pen like it was in April. Theyv'e pitched well in some close games, but the pen is still a work in progress. One indicator that the pen has been better overall is one-run games. The rockies had only one one-run game in all of April, beating the Giants 5-4 on April 16. The rox have had seven in May, meaning the pen is keeping us in games and not giving up tons of runs late like we were accustomed to seeing in April.

There's nothing like waiting until the last minute. Last week I got a call with an offer I couldn't refuse, so I have signed a summer contract with the Real Men of the Highlands Ranch Metro District League. You can track our progress here. The schedule starts tonight, let's hope the Real Men can keep the capital R all season.

In the Beginning

2005-05-03T12:10:00.000-06:00

I'm sure most of you have heard the question, "Where was baseball first mentioned in the Bible?". The answer, of course, is in Genesis 1:1, the first verse of the Bible, which starts out "In the b(ig) inning..." I loved that when my dad first told me it when I was about 10 years old.

I say this to introduce what has, up to this point, been the second leading factor in the overall inefficiency of the rox' pitching staff, the "Big Inning". While watching Francis give up four runs in the second inning Monday, and recalling Jennings and Kennedy having the same problem in the Dodgers series, I wondered how big the problem of big innings was. So, I looked into it, and here's what I discovered. On fifteen occassions, the rox have given up four or more runs in an inning. They've given up four runs eight times, five runs four times, six runs once and seven runs twice. Overall, the rox have given up 50% of the runs they have allowed in 7% of the innings pitched. I have two words to describe this: bad and horrible.

I have decided to term this issue "Big Inning Syndrome" and the problem with walks "Chronic Walking Disease". Hopefully Dealin' Dan can discover the antidotes for these sometime this season. We'd hate for the "victims" to go untreated all year.

On a separate note, it's not very often you get to watch a young hitter mature right before your eyes. That, however, is what we have been fortunate enough to witness with Brad Hawpe. The announcement by Hurdle Monday that Hawpe has been moved up to the fifth spot in the order illustrates the growth he has already undergone in this young season. The move was primarily strategic to alternate right and left in the batting order, but it clearly illustrates the confidence Hurdle has in Hawpe. Barmes has already made himself the man to beat for ROY, but don't be surprised to see Hawpe in the hunt as well come September.

Wright vs. Redding tonight at 8:05. Let's hope Wright doesn't succomb to BIS like his last game.

Swept

2005-05-02T08:30:00.000-06:00

The Designation Committee met and decided to take away the capital R. Since the feeling was that no explanation was really necessary for the move, none was given and the meeting was adjourned.

The rox were swept this weekend in L.A. by the Dodgers. No surprise there. What was surprising is that the bullpen didn't implode and let the Dodgers break open a close game. No, the starters took care of that duty in two of the three games themselves. Yes, the 7th inning came in the 5th in Friday and Saturday's games. Jennings allowed four runs in the 5th on Friday and Kennedy allowed five on Saturday to essentially put close games out of reach. Sunday's game was close the duration, so none of the pitchers outright failed, for a change.

The fact is, the rox actually outhit the Dodgers in each game of the series: 7-5; 7-6; and 6-4, but were ourscored 6-3; 6-2; and 2-1. This was partially a result of timely hitting by the Dodgers, but more so 23 walks by the Rox' pitchers. I hate to sound like a bad record, but control continues to be a major issue for this pitching staff, almost in its' entirety. In the 22 games played so far, the rox have walked 10 or more three times and 7 or more nine times. Through Sunday they average 5.60 BB/9 innings. The rox have also hit 13 batters, tied for the NL lead with the Mets and Reds.

Couple all that with our general inability to hit consistently on the road and the outcome is bound to be unpleasant. We are now hitting 74 points lower on the road than at home. Although this is not an anomoly, it still leaves very little room for error for the staff on the road. Walking batters at the current rate absorbs what little room there is and has certainly led to disaster on more occassions than not. The bad news is we haven't won a game in California this season. The worse news is we head to San Diego for three starting tonight. In my estimation, our only good chance of leaving California with a win and avoiding a second 8-game skid this season is Tuesday with Wright vs. Redding. We go against Eaton and Peavy in the other two games.

In an effort to find anyone who will throw strikes and get outs on a consistent basis, the rox have talked to former rockie reliever (twice) Dan Miceli about a minor-league contract. The word is that Miceli wants to play in Colorado, apparently because compared to the rest of the pen, he'll look pretty darn good.

Francis vs. Eaton at 8:05 tonight.

Miscellaneous Ramblings

2005-04-29T08:30:00.000-06:00

The bad news is there were two games postponed Thursday due to the weather. The good news is that Kim didn't have to start one of those games. Dohmann, Speier and Kim have been given their share of chances out of the pen this season. We know what happened to Dohmann and Speier, so don't be surprised if something similar happens to Kim. If Denny Stark shows any signs of effectiveness at CS, I suspect a move will be made shortly. I haven't read anything about this possibility, but I'd bet money that the Rockies are hoping Stark can take a spot in the pen.

Many thanks to the Kansas City Royals. If it weren't for you the Rox would be the laughing stock of MLB.

A week and a half ago I first mentioned Helton's slow start, but this is getting ridiculous. PW has started to pick up the pace, so now Helton needs to get going. As I also mentioned in an earlier post, Helton does typically start the season slow, but this year is completely uncharacteristic of Helton. He is currently fifth on the team in rbi and has a slugging percentage under .400. That's right, even Aaron Miles has a slugging percentage higher than Helton right now. I can only wonder if the early steroid issue and now the trade rumors have served as a distraction to him. Knowing Helton, this is driving him nuts.

Javier Lopez, the second casualty of the bullpen problems, was recently called up by the Diamondbacks and earned a save in one of his first appearances. Figures!!

The homerun swing will eventually come for Holliday. In the meantime, his ability to line the ball into the gap is impressive. He has already equaled his 2004 total for triples and is second behind Barmes in total bases.

I have a new poll on the website regarding the All-Star game. Please vote.

There is an update to the draft worksheet on the website. Vernand Morency, a 1998 pick by the Rox, was drafted by Houston in the 3rd round of the NFL draft.

I have added a few items to the "season snapshot". Please let me know if there are additional items you might like to see.

The Rox are in LA for three starting tonight. Jennings vs. Perez starting at 8:40.

Bullpen Woes

2005-04-25T15:55:00.000-06:00

(Insert Rockies' starter here) left the game with a lead or in a close ball game. (Insert Rockies' reliever here) came into the game and failed to protect the lead or allowed the deficit to increase.

We've seen this scenario before. In fact, it was almost one week ago I first wrote it, threatening to start every post with those two sentences. On Sunday, the starter was Francis and the reliever was Kim. The "bullpen watch" currently goes something like this: 7 losses and 7 blown saves. 2004 saw 39 losses and 34 blown saves by the pen, a mlb record, so we are well on our way to surpass that pace.

Ok, let's face it Dealin' Dan and Clint, the Kim "experiment" is over. His control is a mess and he can't get important outs. Kim is responsible for 3 of the pen's losses and 2 of the blown saves. With the re-signing of Denny Stark to a minor-league contract, you can expect Kim's days are numbered if he doesn't turn things around in a hurry.

The good news about Sunday's ballgame is that the Rox' pitchers only allowed two walks. The bad news is they hit four batters.

Over the weekend, the Rockies finally figured out the solution to the problems in the bullpen. All they need is every starter to pitch a complete game each game for the rest of the season and we'll be just fine.

It's a Start

2005-04-21T07:17:00.000-06:00

The Rockies won last night to give them consecutive victories for the first time this season. I know that many will say it's only two games, but I will go with the adage that you have to win two in a row to win three in a row...and so on. Also, I believe there are definite positives that can be taken from not only the last two games, but the last five. Here are some reasons to be optimistic:

This last time through the rotation, each starter has gone at least six innings, with Jennings being the only member to give up more than two runs. This is important if the Rox are going to have a chance to win, because clearly the bullpen cannot be counted on to shut down the opposition for four or five innings.

The Rox are 3-2 since they ended their 8-game skid. Now, this isn't anything to get overly excited about, but it does indicate that this young team is able to put each game behind them and start fresh each day.

In those five games since the losing streak, the team ERA is 4.40. Again, nothing to earn the Rox headlines on Baseball Tonight, but definitely a step in the right direction. On April 15 the Rox' ERA was 8.28, so 4.40 looks relatively miniscul.

Chin-hui Tsao. Tsao gives the Rox something they have never had: a pitcher who can consistently bring big-time heat. There aren't many players that can routinely turn on a 96+ MPH fastball, so a closer who can do that is a benefit. This doesn't work all the time (see Billy Wagner vs. Vinny Castilla), but the percentages are high. Tsao blew a 98 MPH fastball by Burrell, who has been one of the hottest hitters to start the season.

Clint Barmes. This morning, Barmes can look at the paper and see his name on top for NL batting average. Now, no one expects Barmes to hit anywhere close to this all year, but he has proven he can hit MLB pitching and has created somewhat of a dilemma for Hurdle when Atkins is healthy. Atkins was slated as the #2 hitter in the batting order, but how do you take Barmes out of that slot when he's hitting .463. Good luck to Hurdle figuring this one out.

It is getaway day in Philly, which means an 11:00 a.m. game today. Kennedy vs. Lieber.

Sound Familiar?

2005-04-19T08:01:00.000-06:00

"(Insert Rockies' starter here) leaves the game with a lead or in a close ball game. (Insert Rockies' reliever here) comes into the game and fails to protect the lead or allows the deficit to increase."

I think I will just start every DITR posting with those two sentences from now on. It certainly seems to be a reliable, although dissapointing, trend. On Monday, the starter happened to be Chacon and the reliever happened to be Speier. What is particularly alarming to me about the Rockies bullpen situation is that it isn't one or two guys that are struggling, it's pretty much the whole crew that has shown the inability to get guys out at one time or another. In fact, the only member of the pen that hasn't given up runs in bunches and at inopportune times is the guy who was considered the weakest link of the bunch, Marcos Carvajal.

I know Helton typically starts the season slow, but I'm not sure how many times I've heard already, "boy, Helton JUST missed that pitch".

Dan Lucero, of Up in the Rockies, kindly pointed out to me that in my answer to last trivia question, I meant Kevin Sefcik, not Kevin Seitzer. He is correct. It's a little embarrasing to mess up the answer to your own trivia question. As for my latest trivia question, Head Bum, of Rox Head, alertly pointed out that Charles Johnson has returned to the Devil Rays and has some at-bats, so the total of players playing for three recent expansion teams is now eight. It's even more embarassing to get the question for your trivia wrong. Here are the answers to the most recent trivia: Quinton McCracken, Craig Counsell, Greg Colbrunn, Lenny Harris, Mike Myers, Vladimir Nunez, Bobby Witt, and of course, Charles Johnson. I'm still reeling from this last trivia fiasco, so no new question this week.

I forgot to mention in my last posting a couple of new features on the DITR website. First, for a few years now I have tracked the Rockies' ERA on a daily basis. As a result, I have a chart of the ERA since 2002, which will be regulary updated to reflect the 2005 ERA. Secondly, I have added what I call the "Season Snapshot". This is simply a summary of how we are doing for the season, both in terms of record, standing and a few statistics also. The snapshot will be updated each day, so visit often.

Today is getaway day, so that means an afternoon game. Go Rox.

Walks Analysis

2005-04-14T10:20:00.000-06:00

In yesterday's post, I mentioned briefly that walks have been a big problem in this young season of 2005. I wanted to expand on that thought with an analysis of walks, past and present. If you are bored by statistical analysis, stop reading now and move on to the next entry in the blogosphere. However, if you choose to continue, I think you will agree with me that my findings are interesting and somewhat troublesome. One doesn't have to analyze the stats to know that the Rox' pitching staff has struggled so far, but an analysis of the statistics will shed light on exactly how badly they have struggled.

As I also mentioned yesterday, the Rox' BB/9 ratio before Tuesday's game was 6.84. After zero walks Tuesday and 10 walks Wednesday, the ratio stands at 6.55. I queried my trusty Lahman database and discovered that the highest ratio for a season since 1960 was 4.93 by Detroit in 1996. This is not a new problem. I recall being frustrated many times over the years with the frequency and timing of walks by the Rockies pitching staff. Of the previous 12 seasons for the Rox, they led the NL in walks allowed five times. (Frankly, I expected it to be more than that.) However, only once, in 2000, was their BB/9 ratio less than the league average(3.70 vs. 3.86). Click here for a graphical representation of this analysis. From 1993-2004, the league average BB/9 is 3.43 while the Rockies' average BB/9 over the same time period is 3.81.

An even more troubling statistic is the ratio of walks plus hits per nine innings. So far this season, this ratio sits at 17.32. Simply put, this means the Rox are allowing nearly two base runners per inning. Taking it one step further, the opposition is getting a runner into scoring position almost every inning. If this trend continues it will most definitely be a long and frustrating season. I fully expect the trend to normalize somewhat, but it demonstrates just how poorly the Rockies' pitching has performed early on.

The answer to the last DITR trivia question was Craig Counsell and Kevin Seitzer. Incidently, Seitzer's single at-bat for the Rox was the last of his career. Here is the next DITR trivia question: No player has played for all four recent expansion teams. However, seven players have played for three of the four. Can you name three of the seven? Hints: Two of them should be easy for die-hard Rox fans and only one of the seven has not played for the Rox.

I have a new poll on the website, this time regarding Garrett Atkins.

Miscellaneous Ramblings

2005-04-13T08:00:00.000-06:00

Well, another bad outcome to a game that the Rox could have won. The bullpen will get the loss but it was really Miles' boot of a routine grounder that opened the gates for the snakes. Despite the loss, there are some positives to focus on. First of all, Chacon delivered only the third strong outing by the rotation this season. After giving up a run in the first inning, Chacon settled down and was impressive. He was efficient, throwing 88 pitches over six innings, an average of about 15 per inning. He is obviously much more comfortable back in the rotation than he ever was as the closer last season. Second of all, the Rox pitchers did not allow a single walk. Before last night's game, the Rox had been giving free passes at a staggering rate of 6.84 per nine innings. Last season, the league average rate was 3.38. Clearly, the Rox must reduce their walks allowed dramatically if they are to have any degree of success at all.

Once again, being a high profile columnist has it's advantages. My contact within the Rockies clubhouse tells me the number one injury being treated in the trainer's room is whiplash. This injury has been experienced primarily by members of the relief corp, but some members of the rotation have had flare-ups also.

The bullpen at Colorado Springs appears to be ready if the Rox' relievers continue to falter. Chiasson, Witasick and Anderson allowed four runs in three innings last night for the Sky Sox.

Last week, Dan Lucero at Up in the Rockies, mentioned that Allan Simpson did something that happens every season, but not usually this early. That is, each season some pitcher for the Rox plays his way off of the team, back to CS. In fact, Simpson not only pitched his way off of the parent club, but completely out of the organization. Now that's not easy to do in the first week of the season.

It's becoming obvious to me that the bullpen was considered the wildcard for this team by Dealin' Dan and Clint. How else do you explain the number of moves that have been made already. DD was preaching patience to the media and fans every chance he got, but has demonstrated very little when it comes to the bullpen.

Apparently, the traditional June/July swoon has been moved up to April this season. Hopefully in 2006 it will be moved up to March and we won't have to worry about it anymore.

WOW!

2005-04-05T07:30:00.000-06:00

That's about the best way I can describe what the kiddos did Monday. To be down by two runs against one of the best closers in baseball, and to rally to win the game, in dramatic fashion no less, was something that I think nearly every Rox fan will remember for quite some time. Almost every member of the Kiddie Corp was instrumental in a truly memorable Opening Day victory. Baker hit is first MLB homerun, becoming the 52nd player (the spreadsheet on the website is updated) to hit his first as a Colorado Rockie. He also became the 5th Rockie to do it in his MLB debut. Can you name the other four?

Miles was lights out from the leadoff spot, an area of concern among many in the Rockies blogosphere. Barmes was solid from the #2 spot, that is until the 9th, when he was big-time clutch. Barmes' walkoff homer reminded me of Dante's walkoff to christen CF in 1995. The big difference was that Dante had established himself as a clutch hitter while Barmes is still an unknown. Cory Sullivan, who has done nothing but earn his way onto the big-league roster the last two springs, finally made his debut with a pinch-hit, rbi double and the tying run. Somewhat lost in the offensive performances was the fact that Ryan Speier earned his first MLB win. To top it all off, Baker, Sullivan and Speier all played in their first game above AA.

Not bad for a bunch of kids that almost nobody in Denver knows about, let alone the rest of the league. One thing can be said for sure, these kids do not quit. They may lose a lot of games. On the other hand, they might surprise a lot of people and be pretty good. Either way, they should be fun to watch. Thanks KC for a great game and what will be a fond memory.

Tribute to Cat

2005-04-01T13:45:00.000-07:00

I mentioned in my post earlier this week that Andres Galarraga had decided to retire, but I felt his retirement warranted a bit more attention than that. Here is my tribute to the "Big Cat".

He was signed by Montreal as an undrafted free-agent on January 19, 1979. He spent his first five seasons of professional baseball at either the Rookie or A level before moving to AA in 1984 and AAA in 1985 and playing 24 games for Montreal in 1985. He hit his first MLB home run on September 21, 1985 at Busch Stadium against the St. Louis Cardinals off Kurt Kepshire.

He was signed by the Rockies as a free-agent on November 16, 1992. He got his first home run as a member of the Rockies on April 10, 1993 at Mile High Stadium vs. Montreal off Dennis Martinez. Galarraga almost instantly became a fan favorite and won the NL batting title that year. Galarraga totaled 172 home runs, 579 rbi and a .316 average for his career as a Rockie. Through 2004, he is in the top 5 all-time for Colorado in nearly every offensive category, including stolen bases.

Cat was a five time all-star, in 1998 with Montreal; 1993 and 1997 with Colorado; and 1998 and 2000 with Atlanta. As I was reading the many articles this week about Cat, the comment that stands out in my mind is that he certainly would have eclipsed 400 home runs for his career had he not been out an entire year fighting cancer. For some reason, the reality of that struck me, making me realize that beating cancer may be his most impressive accomplishment. Thanks Cat for the tremendous memories!

Inaugural DITR trivia question: There are two position players who, in their career as a Rockie, have one lone at-bat. Can you name either of them? Hint: One of the players went on to win two World Series. Leave your answer as a comment.

I have added a file of career Rockies' batting stats to the webpage.

Who's on Third?

2005-03-29T20:05:00.000-07:00

Jeff Francis won the last poll. Visit the previous polls page to see the full results. The new poll is somewhat of a follow-up. Please vote on the webpage.

On Monday, the Rox optioned Jeff Baker to Tulsa. This came as a surprise to me, as well as many others in the Rox’ blogosphere. The fact that Baker was optioned was no surprise, but where. The unanimous consensus was that Baker would be playing third everyday in Colorado Springs. This move is presumably so Baker can get a full workload in the outfield, which is fairly set at CS. This does make sense given the Rox’ recent indications that Atkins will hold down third base until Ian Stewart is ready, leaving Baker without a long-term position with the Rox. The Rockies’ solution? Move Baker to the outfield. This is all fine and dandy I suppose, but it does beg the question, initially posed by my baseball buddy Scot, who will play third at CS? Good question. After rummaging through the possibilities, I came up with two, Andy Tracy and Tim Olson. Tracy was at CS last season and out of 117 games, played 17 at third and 100 at first. We know he won’t be playing first, that’s Ryan Shealy’s job. As for Olson, in 37 games last season at Tucson, he played eight at third base. The most likely scenario is a platoon situation while the player with the off day serves as the Sky Sox’ primary pinch hitter. If you have any ideas, please let me know.

In a separate, but related note, Dan Lucero, in Up in the Rockies, reports that another third base prospect, Matt Macri, has been converted to second base. This is further evidence that the Rox figure Stewart will be a star and are quickly trying to find alternative positions for their other third basemen, which, until now, was a deep pool of talent.

Just four days

Soon we will embark on what I like to consider a series of 162, 2-3 hour therapy sessions. Unfortunately, we may need therapy from the therapy. Click here for the official “DITR Philosophy of Life”.

Amendment to the Roster Analysis

It seems I was pretty much right on the money for the lineup in my roster analysis in the last posting. Don’t worry; I won’t let it go to my head. When I get something right, I generally attribute it to the “Blind Squirrel Theory”. The bullpen, on the other hand, is possibly a bigger question mark than it was last week. The Rox’ higher ups are, I’m guessing, crossing their fingers with Tsao. It’s not as though Tsao will be the savior for this team, but the next best option for closer seems to be Fuentes, who is best suited in a set up role. According to Tracy Ringolsby in the Tuesday RMN, Allan Simpson has pitched his way back into contention after a poor start in the spring. The Rox also seem determined to keep Marcos Carvajal, a Rule 5 guy from the Dodgers system. This would leave one spot open for Oliver, Speier or Cortez. If I had to guess right now I would say Speier or Cortez, who both have options left and could go to CS when Aaron Cook is ready and takes a spot in the rotation with Wright moving to the bullpen. As for Carvajal, keeping him would be at the expense of either Speier or Cortez, who have both pitched better in the spring than Carvajal. However, not keeping him would mean giving him back to the Dodgers, which is almost always a bad option. This was John Sickels’ comment when I asked him about Carvajal:

Fastball 93-95 MPH, sometimes as high as 98. Breaking ball very erratic and his command is not always up to par. Good long-term potential but will struggle if over exposed in the majors right now.

Keeping Carvajal may very well pay off dividends in the future, although at the expense of a better bullpen now. This is, however, consistent with the Rox’ commitment to youth and the future that has been well documented.

Good news Rox fans! Baseball Prospectus has the Rox ranked 26 in the majors in the latest hit list, up from 29. There’s hope after all!!

On a rather sad note, Andres Galarraga has decided to call it a career, announcing his retirement on Tuesday, one home run short of 400. The Big Cat’s open stance and contagious smile will sorely be missed.

Like my friend Rick says, TTFN.

Roster Analysis, Miscellaneous Ramblings

2005-03-23T07:49:00.000-07:00

Roster Analysis

With only nine spring training games left, the major-league roster is finally starting to take shape. The lineup appears to be close to being set, with Garret Atkins and Clint Barmes winning the everyday third base and shortstop jobs, respectively. Despite Aaron Miles’ knee injury early in ST, I expect he will be the second baseman Opening Day. Preston Wilson has experienced no ill effect from his recent knee surgeries, although he has yet to be tested in ST like he will be in the regular season. I believe Brad Hawpe has earned a platoon in right with Dustan Mohr. Desi Relaford’s injury has thrown a bit of a wrench into the infield utility position, so it may take the rest of ST to sort that out. Garabito and Amezaga are competing to take over that role if Relaford isn’t ready by Opening Day. Cory Sullivan has played well enough to make the team as the fifth outfielder and primary pinch hitter. His success may cost Greg Norton and Andy Tracy a roster spot. The Rox seem to be intent on J.D. Closser as their starting catcher, although I believe he will share the job with Todd Greene at least the first half of the season. Helton, Luis Gonzalez and Matt Holliday rounds out the lineup.

Chacon’s injury and Jason Young’s performance has created some speculation that Chacon may be on the DL to start the season with Young in his spot. However, the fact that the Rox have offered Young to the Red Sox for Byung-Hyun Kim suggests that Chacon is expected to be ready by the regular season and as a member of the rotation. Jamey Wright has earned a spot in the rotation, at least for now. If he struggles like he has the last couple of ST starts, Aaron Cook could very possibly replace him when he is ready, sometime in June. Jennings and Kennedy were locks for the rotation and Francis had the job to lose, which he didn’t. The bullpen still remains the wildcard for this team in 2005. As has been the case in virtually every season the Rox have played at CF, the team will go only as far as its bullpen takes it. A bullpen that had only one pitcher guaranteed of a job, Brian Fuentes, has had some good days and some bad days. Tsao has earned the closer job and has looked solid for the most part. Ryan Speier, not a day over AA, and Fuentes, have emerged as the top setup candidates, while Darrin Oliver and Javier Lopez have nailed down the other lefty jobs. David Cortez, a minor league free agent, has nearly guaranteed himself a job with his performance this spring. Scott Dohmann figures to have earned the other right-handed spot out of the pen.

Miscellaneous Ramblings

The possibility of Bonds missing the entire season could dramatically change the NL West this season.

With reports that the Mets are considering an in-house candidate as backup catcher, it seems likely that Charles Johnson will be released within the next week.

In his latest posting, my friend Rick Cummings asks if the Rox win the Cactus League will there be a “NL Spring Training Champions” banner at CF. Rick claims to have been primarily responsible for getting the “1995 NL Wild Card Champions” banner removed from the right field wall at CF. I am not certain that is true, but he is right, “Wild Card” and “Champions” do not belong in the same phrase. For those new to DITR, Rick is the great-great-great-great grand nephew (something like that) of Candy Cummings.

In a note completely unrelated to baseball, read Jest in Time from snopes.com. It really makes you wonder about some people.

In its March 9 issue, Baseball Weekly listed the minor league managers, hitting coaches and pitching coaches. So, here are former Rox who are either managing or coaching in the minors this season:

Howard Johnson, hitting coach, Norfolk (AAA-Mets)
Alan Cockrell, hitting coach, Colorado Springs (AAA-Rockies)
Danny Scheaffer, manager, Memphis (AAA-Cardinals)
Bryn Smith, pitching coach, Salt Lake City (AAA-Angels)
Jayhawk Owens, manager, Chattanooga (AA-Reds)
Mike Harkey, pitching coach, Mobile (AA-Padres)
Nelson Liriano, hitting coach, Wichita (AA-Royals)
Garvin Alson, pitching coach, Kane County (Low A-A’s)
A.J. Sager, pitching coach, West Michigan (Low A-Tigers)
Jim Czajkowski, pitching coach, Rome (Low A-Braves)
Steve Decker, manager, Salem-Keizer(SS-Giants)
Jay Gainer, manager, Yakima (SS-Diamondbacks)
Butch Henry, pitching coach, Billings (SS-Reds)

Interestingly enough, there are more former Rox who are pitching coaches than hitting coaches.

Only twelve days until Opening Day.

History of Baseball in Denver, Part III

2005-03-11T07:15:00.000-07:00

For some reason, the previous poll was deleted, so I don’t know the results. Go to the polls, your vote does count. I have moved the poll from the blog to the webpage.

The Designation Committee met and decided to restore the capital R for the beginning of the season. We will see how long they keep it. For those new to DITR, please read the August 29, 2004 archive.

Please visit Rox Head, a fellow Rox devotee and blogger. I particularly like his term for Gen R, the Kiddie Corp. My friend Scot, who was a guest writer here at DITR a couple of months ago, has joined the 7% of Americans who publish a blog. Visit him at Admirable Thoughts. My friend Rick retired from blogging about the same way he retires in real life. Visit his new blog Notes From the Morning Meeting. I forgot to mention in my last posting that I started a second blog, Rockies Minor League Report. During ST I will be highlighting the Kiddie Corp and prospects in camp. Once the minor league seasons start it will be strictly prospects. Also, the DITR website and blog have new addresses. Please update your bookmarks and I encourage subscribing in some fashion.

This is the third and final part of the series History of Baseball in Denver. The format for this edition, Facts and Events, will be somewhat of a hodgepodge listing of interesting items, in no particular order. I must say, except for Hit or Error, this is the most fun I’ve had writing for DITR.

Ryne Duren pitched a no-hitter for the Denver Bears in his first game after a trade between the Kansas City A’s and New York Yankees June 15, 1957. Duren remains the only home pitcher to toss a no-no in the history of professional baseball in Denver. Read more about Duren in this 2004 article from Baseball Digest. Of course, Hideo Nomo is the only pitcher to throw a no-hitter in a major league game in Denver at CF September 17, 1996 for the Trolley Dodgers, aka Dodge Ball Boys.

On June 2, 1987, Joey Meyer of the Denver Zephyrs launched a 582-foot homer that ricocheted off of seat 9 in row 3 of section 338 in the upper deck of the east stands in Mile High Stadium, the longest home run in Denver history. To put it into perspective, currently the longest home run at CF was by Pizza Boy 9-26-97, also for the Dodge Ball Boys, off Darren Holmes that traveled 496 feet and I’m sure took a few years off the life of the concessionaire running the lemonade stand in almost straight-away center field. Until the Rockies moved into Mile High, the seat where Meyer’s home run landed was always designated with a different color than the seats around it.

In Part II I mentioned that Bryn Smith was one of several players who refined their skills in Denver as a minor league player and went on to have a successful major league career. Well, Smith not only played in Denver as a member of the Bears, but also as a member of the Rockies. Smith was part of the starting rotation for the Rockies’ inaugural team. He was the starting pitcher for the first Rockies’ home game on April 9, 1993 and earned the victory for the first win in Rockies’ history. Visit Retrosheet for the box score of that game, which I’m proud to say that I was at.

In 1983, longtime Denver promoter Barry Fey organized an old-timers game in efforts to persuade MLB that Denver deserved and could support a major league team. The game drew 57,000 fans, more than any major league game that year. I attended that game on September 30, 1983 with my dad and got to see the likes of Ernie Banks, Hammerin’ Hank and Willie Mays play and Joe DiMaggio coach. What a thrill for a 14 year-old kid who loved baseball! Somewhere packed in a box I still have the program from that game.

George Tebeau, mentioned a few times in both Parts I and II, starred for Denver teams in the mid-1880’s before making it to the National League. He also resurrected the Western League in 1900 and owned the Denver Grizzlies/Bears. Tebeau’s greatest achievement, though, was co-founding the American League in 1901, originally as a competitor to the National League before joining to form the major leagues in 1903. Tebeau went on to own the Kansas City Blues of the American Association. He is widely recognized as saving professional baseball in Denver and possibly Kansas City.
I know there are many important events that I have omitted. I welcome your comments regarding events you have read about or remember fondly. I hope, like me, you have a greater appreciation for Denver’s baseball history.

History of Baseball in Denver, Part II

2005-02-28T21:09:00.000-07:00

In a not-so-surprising result, Dinger was voted the most likely to be the rox’ ace for 2005. Please vote in the new poll.

As I mentioned in History of Baseball in Denver, Part 1, Denver has had professional baseball at one time or another since 1862. Early professional teams were comprised mostly of company teams or club teams. Few of these teams had any players that were paid. The first all-salaried professional team in Colorado was the Leadville Blues in 1882 and Denver first fielded an all-salaried team in 1885, both playing in the Rocky Mountain League with teams from Pueblo, Colorado Springs and other Colorado cities.

In 1886, the Western League was formed with other cities such as Omaha and Topeka, among others. In it’s inaugural season, the Denver Mountain Lions won the Western League pennant with a record of 54-26. In 1888, the Denver Mountaineers won the pennant for what was then called the Western Association, however the season consisted of only 24 games. Denver fielded teams in the Western Association off and on through the 1895 season. Denver played it’s last season in the league, now called the Western League, in 1899 as the Denver Nine.

In 1900, the Western League was reorganized, led by George Tebeau, as part of efforts to establish an official minor-league system to feed the major leagues. For years Denver’s Western League team was called the Grizzlies, but was also commonly referred to as the Bears. The 1900 Bears/Grizzlies won the first new Western League pennant. They didn’t win another one until 1911, but then won three pennants in a row as one of the most successful teams in Denver history. The 1911 Grizzlies, 111-54, were listed as number 22 of the 100 greatest teams in minor league history by Minor League Baseball. Denver fielded a team in the Western League every year until after the 1917 season when a team didn’t exist due to World War I.

In 1922, Denver returned to the Western League, this time officially as the Bears and as a Class A minor-league franchise. 1932 was the first year Denver was affiliated with a major league team, the St. Louis Cardinals. Following that year Denver suspended play due to the Western League needing to reduce travel expenses and remove Denver from the schedule as a result of the Depression.

During the Depression and World War II, Denver got it’s baseball fix from the semi-pro Denver Post Tournaments. These tournaments often brought major league all-star teams to compete with Denver semi-pro and club teams. Players such as Babe Ruth, Lou Gerig and Rogers Hornsby played in the Denver Post Tournament. In 1934, the Kansas City Monarchs of the Negro League came to play in the tournament, bringing future Hall of Famers Satchel Paige, Josh Gibson and Cool Papa Bell.

After a six-year absence, the Bears rejoined the Western League, still a Class A league, in 1939, although for only a few years. In 1947, baseball returned to Denver, this time for good and as an affiliate of the New York Yankees. In 1948, the Bears were sold to the Howsam family, who then built a new stadium, Bears Stadium, and also brought the Denver Broncos to town in 1960 when the AFL was formed. The Bears won one more Western League pennant before moving to the American Association and the Class AAA level in 1955 as the affiliate of the New York Yankees.

From 1963-1968, the Bears were members of the Pacific Coast League, but returned to the American Association in 1969. The most successful seasons for the Bears occurred during the period of 1976-1981 as an affiliate of the Montreal Expos. During that stretch the Bears won three minor league championships. The 1980 team, 92-44, is listed as number 37 of the top 100 teams in minor league history by Minor League Baseball. The Bears remained a fixture in Denver sports until being sold in 1984 and renamed the Zephyrs, much to the dismay of many Denver baseball fans. Several Bears and Zephyrs players went on to have successful major league careers. Players such as Andre Dawson, Tim Raines, Tim Wallach, Gary Sheffield, Daryl Boston, Eric Davis, Rob Dibble, Whitey Herzog, Barry Larkin, Don Larsen, Lloyd McClendon, Paul O’Neill, Bryn Smith and Chris Sabo perfected their skills in Denver before making their mark on the major league stage.

1992 was the final year of minor league baseball in Denver, as the Zephyrs moved to New Orleans to make way for the National League expansion Colorado Rockies, who began play in 1993.

Author’s note: I have added an Excel file on the website which has a chronological history of teams in Denver as best as I can determine from my research.

History of Baseball in Denver, Part I

2005-01-23T20:45:00.000-07:00

First, I have a little housekeeping to take care of. I’m sad to report that the individual who was the initial inspiration behind DITr, my friend Rick Cummings, has decided to retire his blog and hang up his keyboard, so to speak. In fact, when I consulted him on a name for my blog, one of his MANY suggestions was Diamond in the Rox, which was also one I was already considering. Rick, I will miss your humor, wit and creativity. Thanks for the memories.

I’m happy to report that DITr has undergone an expansion of sorts. I have created a DITr web page, which consists of a few files available for viewing and download, links to websites I have referred to in previous editions of DITr and other references I have enjoyed. This web page culminates a vision I have had for about four years. I have also added a poll to the blog page. You will find the poll and a link to the web page in the left margin.

Now, on to the topic at hand: the history of baseball in Denver. Given the fact that the Colorado rockies will be entering their 13th season, some may assume that Denver has a short history of baseball. In actuality, professional baseball has been in Denver at one time or another since the mid-1800’s. Like much of the United States, Denver has a rich baseball history. This edition of DITr will be the first in a three-part series about the history of baseball in Denver. The three parts will be as follows:

Part I, Stadiums of Denver
Part II, Teams of Denver
Part III, Facts and Events

History of Baseball in Denver, Part I, Stadiums of Denver

One of the earliest fields in Denver was Broadway Grounds at Broadway and Colfax, about where Civic Center Station is located today. Professional baseball was played at Broadway Grounds starting in 1862. Grandstands were erected for big games and special events. Broadway Grounds was the setting for the Festival of Mountain and Plains, which began in 1895 and held until 1912. The festival eventually became A Taste of Colorado, which takes place annually at Civic Center Park.

Another early field was located between 32nd and 33rd and Larimer and Market streets and was known as Larimer Street Base Ball Park. It served as the home field for the first all-salaried team in Denver in 1885, when improvements were made including sod, stands, shelter for spectators and concessions. It also was the home field for the 1886 Western League pennant winning team, the Denver Nine. Tickets were twenty-five cents for adults and ten cents for children.

As baseball grew in popularity, so did the demand for baseball fields. River Front Park was privately developed as part of a 50-acre recreational area located between 16th and 17th streets and the Platte River and Bassett Street. The field was located in the center of a half-mile racetrack. Professional baseball was played at River Front Park in 1887 and 1888.

In 1889, a new park for professional baseball was built at Broadway and Cherry Creek. Known as Athletic Park or the Base Ball Park, it was built by the Denver Tramway Company at a cost of $11,000. The first game was played March 31, 1889 between an Aspen team and the Denvers. A fire in 1899 caused heavy damage. George Tebeau rebuilt the part for his new Western League team, the Denver Nine, at a cost of $5,000. On July 16, 1901 another fire destroyed the majority of the grounds. On July 18, 100 men began work to reconstruct the stadium and completed the reconstruction in a little over a week, increasing seating capacity by 50% in the process. The Athletic/Base Ball Park was used for professional baseball until 1922.

Union Park was built in 1901 and located at Exposition and Broadway, but was renovated and expanded in 1922 when a group of businessmen bought a minor league team from Joplin, Missouri and moved the team to Denver. The new owners could not reach an agreement with Tebeau for the team to play at his stadium, so they quickly remodeled Union Park to serve as the team’s new home and renamed it Merchants Park. The stadium got its name from the Merchants Biscuit Company, now part of Keebler Company, which leased the land to the owners and provided funds for the expansion. Merchants Park was built at a cost of $20,000 and seated 8,000. Construction started just five weeks before the start of the season and was nearly completed for the first game April 28, 1922. All that was missing was paint on some of the stands. The center field fence was 457 feet and only three home runs were hit over center field in the park’s 26-year history. Babe Ruth, while on a barnstorming tour in 1927, hit one of the home runs. Lights were added to the park in 1931, four years before Crosley Field in Cincinnati became the first major-league field to have lights. For much of the park’s history, nearly every aspect of the park was considered seriously inadequate. Merchant’s Park was actually termed the “Worst Park in America”, among others that were not endearing. In 1945, the grandstands were condemned when the park was deemed unsafe just three days before the start of the season. The park was reopened in 1946 after renovations and improvements were made. The last game at Merchants Park was played on July 26, 1948.

Bears Stadium opened August 14, 1948. The stadium was built at a cost of $250,000, was the first concrete, amphitheater-style stadium in Denver, and was constructed on the city dump. Box seats cost $1.25; reserved seats $1.10 and general admission tickets cost $.90. Construction was not completed by opening day, but construction continued and seating capacity eventually reached 18,523. Attendance in 1949 totaled 463,029, outdrawing two major-league teams, the St. Louis Browns and the Philadelphia Phillies. In efforts to lure a major-league team as well as an American Football League franchise, the south stands were built in 1960, increasing the capacity to 26,623. Portable seats were also added on the east side to increase the seating to 35,000. In 1961, the city of Denver purchased Bears Stadium from the current ownership group and renamed it Mile High Stadium. Various expansion projects from 1968 to 1988 increased the capacity to 76,131. Mile High was used for both football and baseball. When constructed, the east stands were designed to move forward 145 feet for football and back for baseball. The stands were raised by 1.5” of water and moved in six-foot intervals by hydraulic cranes, taking two hours and five minutes. The last baseball game at Mile High was played August 11, 1994 when major-league players went on strike and the remainder of the 1994 season was cancelled.

On August 14, 1990 voters approved a .1% sales tax to finance construction of a baseball-only stadium in efforts to obtain one of two expansion franchises being awarded by the National League. Coors Field was constructed, at a cost of $215 million, on the site of the Denver Pacific Railroad, which, in 1870 connected Denver to Cheyenne, and the transcontinental railroad. Construction workers found ruins of the Denver Pacific Station between first and second bases. Three historic buildings were preserved on the Coors Field property: The Union Pacific Freight House at Nineteenth and Wynkoop streets, the Banker’s Warehouse, and Transport Service Station, both near Twenty-Second and Blake streets. Originally planned as a 43,800-seat stadium, capacity was 50,249 at completion due to the unexpected attendance of the Colorado Rockies. Coors Field opened in 1995 with replacement players while major-league players were still on strike. The first official game at Coors Field was played April 26, 1995 between the Rockies and the New York Mets after the players’ strike was settled.

At the time of posting: 24 days, 15 hours, 17 minutes until pitchers and catchers report.

Rants and Thoughts

2005-01-13T20:30:00.000-07:00

The celebrating has not stopped here at DITr since the rox' free-agent signings of Dustan Mohr and Desi Relaford. Being a high-profile columnist has it's advantages. I just got a tip from someone, with the condition of anonymity, in the rockies' marketing department that the 2005 team slogan will most likely be "We're lookin' up at the rest of the NL". For this edition of DITr, I have invited my friend, Scot Marion, to be a guest columnist. If you thought being a rox fan right now was rough, Scot is also a royals fan. Yikes! If there's anyone that deserves pity, it would be Scot. Heeeeeere's Scot.

First, I want to thank Todd for the chance to be his first guest columnist for DITr. A lot of different things came to my mind to write about. Then I realized that I always like the articles that are just a lot meaningless points and use data and I knew I could do that. So here we go with my useless rants and thoughts.

Am I the only one who looks at Jake Plummer with his beard and wonders when he is going to move to a small cabin in Montana with only a typewriter?

Does anyone really believe MLB baseball and the players union when they say the new steroid policy is really much better than the old one?

Reasons why the rox might get back their capital “R” in 2005: Darrin Oliver, 2005 NL CY Young Award Winner.

How many people has Lou From Littleton (Denver Sports Talk Show Host) ask the question “Who Is Tougher Than (fill in the person’s name here)” about?

Jason Stark of ESPN.com gave a list of reasons why the NY Yankees will not win the 2005 World Series and my favorite was “NO $207-MILLION TEAM HAS EVER WON A WORLD SERIES”. Hard to argue with that kind of logic.

Can you believe the rox are still paying Mike Hampton to pitch for the Braves for the next two years? Plus, if any team he is on ever waives him in the next couple of years, we would have to pay him even more money! Maybe his agent could help work out privatize Social Security and 401K plans for me.

Reasons why the rox might get back their capital “R” in 2005: Major League Baseball allows them to have a set of players that only plays on the road and another set of players that plays only at home.

It is hard to understand why there is no excitement about the Colorado Avs undefeated season thus far.

I want to go to spring training someday, why doesn’t someone ever pay for me to go? I know, keep dreaming buddy and get a job so you can pay for your own trip.

Softball Hot-Stove Topics: Which team will free-agent Todd Nikkel sign with? You can bet it will not be about the money, but the chance to win. Well, unless the team fee is too high.

Reasons why the rox might get back their capital “R” in 2005: Desi Relaford’s vocal teaching ability (a real reason given for signing him).

There are no better GMs than Todd and I, at least on paper.

I miss the Rockpile at Mile High, that was just awesome to hear and to feel the thunderous chant, “GO” – “ROCK-IES”.

I wonder where Billy Jo Robidoux, former Denver Zephyrs great, is today? He had the best name of any player for the PA to introduce when he was at bat.

Reasons why the rox might get back their capital “R” in 2005: Return to Zephyr’s traditions of Businessperson Specials, Ringing of the Bell, Winning, and Attendance Exaggerated Announced Figures.

Will Dan Reeves ever enter the Bronco’s Ring of Fame, like he so richly deserves?

Isn’t Win, Lose, & Drew the most insightful of any Denver Sports Media?

The Colorado rockies have never finished above the LA Dodgers in the standings. Don’t look for that to change this year.

Reasons why the rox might get back their capital “R” in 2005: Todd Nikkel Bobble Head Day.

Chicago White Sox last won the World Series in 1917 and the Chicago Cubs last won the World Series in 1908. Frankly, I think there are more problems for those clubs than goat and black sox curses.

People in Kansas City voted to pay for a new arena in 2004 to get a pro basketball team. Go figure, I did not realize KC was so big into the WNBA.

Reasons why the rox might get back their capital “R” in 2005: A trade sending Dinger, a box of t-shirts, and the famous player to be named later to the Nuggets for Rocky.

I’m out of here. Oh baseball fans, pitchers and catchers report in about a month! As for rox fans, take heart, there is always 2006 or 2007 or at least the fact that we are not a Chicago baseball club.

Journey to Cooperstown

2005-01-02T21:46:00.000-07:00

Hall of Fame ballots are due January 15 with the induction ceremony July 31, so the first edition of DITr for 2005 will be dedicated to the Hall of Fame. There are three parts to this edition. First, I’ll give a brief history of the HOF. The second part is an overview of the election process and the third part lists the candidates who would be on my ballot if I had a vote.

History of the HOF

The HOF currently has 258 members, consisting of 211 player inductees, 16 manager inductees, eight umpires and 23 inductees under the category of pioneers/executives. The first class of inductees was in 1936 and included Ty Cobb, Walter Johnson, Christy Mathewson, Babe Ruth and Honus Wagner. Some inductees that are worth mentioning for me personally are Eddie Murray (2003), Earl Weaver (1996), Rod Carew (1991), Joe Morgan (1990), Jim Palmer (1990), Johnny Bench (1989) and Lou Brock (1985). Other inductees worth noting are George Brett (1999), Nolan Ryan (1999), Steve Carlton (1994), Reggie Jackson (1993), Brooks Robinson (1983), Hank Aaron (1982), Willie Mays (1979), Jackie Robinson (1962), Candy Cummings (1939), and Cy Young (1937).

Process and Rules for Election

Qualifying members of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America (BBWAA) hold an annual election to determine members of the HOF under authorization by the Board of Directors of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, Inc. In order to be eligible candidates must meet the following requirements:

1. A player must have been active at some time during a period beginning twenty years before and ending five years prior to election. (Players not meeting this requirement may be elected by the Veterans Committee, which I will not get into here.)
2. A player must have played in each of ten seasons, some part of which must have been within the period describe in #1.
3. A player must have ceased to be an active player at least five years prior to the election.
4. In case of the death of an active player or a player who has been retired less than five years, a candidate who is otherwise eligible shall be eligible in the next regular election held at least six months after the death. (This has occurred on four occasions: Lou Gehrig in 1939, Roberto Clemente in 1973, Thurman Munson in 1979 and Darryl Kile in 2003. Gehrig and Clemente were elected.)
5. A player on Baseball’s ineligible list cannot be an eligible candidate. (The most notable player falling under this requirement would be Pete Rose.)

A six-member Screening Committee, each elected by the BBWAA determines nominees. Eligible candidate who 1) received a vote on a minimum of five percent of the ballots in the preceding election or 2) are eligible for the first time and are nominated by at least two members of the Screening Committee will be included on the ballot. Electors may vote for no more than ten candidates. Candidates receiving votes on seventy-five percent of the ballots will be elected as a member of the Hall of Fame.

2005 Ballot and My Selections

The 2005 ballot consists of 27 players, 12 of which are on the ballot for the first time. For a complete 2005 ballot, visit www.baseballhalloffame.org. First-ballot inductees are not very common. In the last 15 years there have only been 16 first-ballot inductees. In my opinion, Wade Boggs is the only first-ballot nominee who should be elected this year.
Here is my ballot if I were a member of the BBWAA:

Wade Boggs- 1st year on ballot. Boggs hit .328 for his career, which ranks him 26th all time, and had 15 seasons hitting at least .300. He was a five-time AL batting champion and is one of 25 players to reach the 3,000-hit mark. All other qualified players with 3,000 or more hits are in the HOF. Boggs won two AL Gold Gloves and finished in AL MVP voting four times.

Lee Smith- 3rd year on ballot. Smith is the all-time leader in saves, with 478. He had 13 consecutive seasons with 20-plus saves and 10 seasons with at least 30 saves and one season with 40-plus saves.

Goose Gossage- 6th year on ballot. Gossage ranks 15th all-time in saves and led the AL in saves three times. Often considered the first of the modern-day closers. Helped revolutionize the late-inning reliever. In his era, however, saves were not typically just one inning, often two or three innings.

Bruce Sutter- 12th year on ballot. Along with Gossage, revolutionized the closer role. Ranks 18th all-time in saves and won the Cy Young award in 1979. Is credited with also revolutionizing the split-finger fastball.

Alan Trammell- 4th year on ballot. Along with Cal Ripken Jr., Trammell revolutionized the shortstop position. Overlooked by some due to Ripken’s offensive statistics, still produced more offense than recent shortstops. He had seven seasons with a batting average of .300 or better and won four AL Gold Gloves.

Ryne Sandberg- 3rd year on ballot. What Trammell and Ripken did for the shortstop position, Sandberg did for second base. Until 2004, when Jeff Kent passed him, Sandberg held the career record for homeruns by a second baseman. He won the NL MVP in 1984, ranks 1st all-time for highest fielding percentage for second basemen and holds the MLB record for consecutive errorless games by a second baseman at 123. He won nine consecutive NL Gold Gloves and led NL second basemen in fielding percentage four times.

To see the results of one writer’s ballot, read Tracy Ringolsby’s December 24 column at http://www.rockymountainnews.com/

I certainly learned a great deal about the HOF doing research for this column, I hope you did too and enjoyed the column.

Miscellaneous Ramblings

2004-12-13T10:00:00.000-07:00

I know, it's been far too long since my last DITr posting, but my energy level has been pretty low lately and I haven't had much motivation to write. So, here are some of my most recent thoughts.

Awhile back I mentioned that the two days I look forward to the most once the World Series is over were the first day of spring training and the day the new Lahman database is released. The 2005 database was released a few weeks ago. The first query I always run is to get the career batting totals for the rox. Helton is the franchise leader in hits and doubles, while Walker is the leader in home runs, rbi, runs and games. Helton, Walker, Castilla, Bichette and Galarraga make up the top five in all of these categories. If you enjoy statistics and know how to use MS Access, then you can have a lot of fun with this database. In the four years I've had it, I've only scratched the surface on what information it has. You can download the database for free at www.baseball1.com.

I have to admit, there isn't a single thing I like about any of the other teams in the NL West and when they make improvements it really chaps my hide. Even with that said, it doesn't make any sense what the snakes(Diamondbacks) are doing. Earlier this year, new managing partner Ken Kendrick met with MLB officials to plead with them to forgive their $80 million loan or they might have to declare bankruptcy. With $55 million in deferred payments due in 2005 alone and debt currently at $100 million, they signed Troy Glaus for 4 years/$45 million and Russ Ortiz for 4 years/$33 million. All of this in the face of Selig's supposed tough stance on enforcing a debt/equity level that Arizona is in violation of.

For every player that says "it's not about the money" there is a player like Charles Johnson that proves it IS about the money. Given the opportunity to be traded to a team where he will actually play, he demanded another guaranteed year be added to his contract to approve the trade. The two teams that were interested pulled their offers and now CJ will ride the pine with the rox and take up a spot on their roster until he is eventually released.

My pick for the most exciting bowl game this year: Liberty Bowl, Louisville vs. Boise St. on December 31. Louisville ranked first in the country in scoring at 50.3 points per game and Boise St. was second at 49.7. The two teams combined to average more than 1040 yards of offense this season.

This was the first time in history that two teams had teammates that were finalists for the Heisman Trophy. It seems fitting that those two teams will be playing for the national championship. In my opinion, there is no BCS controversy this year.

This is from the "Comes back to haunt old team" category. In order to stay in the hunt for the AFC West title, Denver needed to win and San Diego to lose. San Diego was in a dog fight with Tampa Bay, the game tied until SD intercepted a pass and returned it for a touchdown late in the fourth quarter. The quarterback who threw the interception: Brian Griese.

Why is it that athletes are routinely criticized for getting paid so much money to "play a game" when other entertainers seem to be largely exempt from the same criticizm? I saw recently that Barry Manilow signed a deal with a Las Vegas casino to perform 365 shows for $55 million. This was the richest contract since Elton John's $50 million deal for 75 shows.

Approximately 61 days until spring training.

And the Award Goes To

2004-10-29T13:05:00.000-06:00

It's time for the annual DITr regular season baseball awards to be announced.

But first, a few thoughts on the recently completed World Series.

In my opinion, despite the historical significance of Boston's victory, it was one of the least entertaining World Series in recent memory. There was very little drama or tension. There were no lead changes, St. Louis NEVER had a lead in the entire series.

Some may say that the Cardinal hitters didn't show up, but Boston's pitching dominance was the real story. At no point in the regular season or playoffs up to the series had St. Louis been held to three runs over three games.

Manny Ramirez did not deserve the MVP. I think it should have gone to Curt Schilling. I felt his performance in game 2 set the tone for the rest of the series. The fact that he was even able to pitch, and then pitch lights out, was impressive. I rank that right up there with Kirk Gibson's bottom of the ninth, two-out, two-run, walk-off home run in game 1 of the 1988 World Series for Los Angeles when he could barely walk to the plate. Just plain gutsy.

Now for the awards.

NL MVP
Adrian Beltre, 3B, Los Angeles .334 48 HR 121 RBI - Other candidates for consideration: Barry Bonds and Albert Pujols. This was probably the toughest one for me to decide. Bonds may have had one of the most impressive seasons ever, given the fact that no one pitches to him and he still managed to hit 45 hr. His OPS(on-base pct. plus slugging pct.) was a ridiculous 1.422. Pujols was nearly identical to Beltre in all categories but doubles, where he hit 51 compared to Beltre's 32. However, I honestly felt that Beltre had the greatest impact on his team. The Dodgers increased their runs scored per game by over one run compared to 2003 and hit 79 more home runs than 2003. They finally had an offense that could support their fine pitching, and it showed, as the Dodgers won the NL West. Now, I dislike, maybe even hate the Dodgers, so I'm not predetermined to give an award to them, but Beltre was the MVP in my book.

AL MVP
Vladimir Guerrero, OF, Anaheim .337 39 HR 126 RBI - Other candidates for consideration: Manny Ramirez and Miguel Tejada. Ramirez had another impressive season at the plate. Maybe, like Bonds, we've come to expect it so it's not that big of a deal. Tejada led mlb in rbi. However, any player that finishes in the top five in all triple crown categories gets my vote. Guerrero was 3rd in average, 4th in home runs and 4th in rbi.

NL Cy Young
Randy Johnson, Arizona 16-14 2.60 ERA 290 K 44 BB - In my opinion, neither Cy Young race had any candidates that truly measured up to the winners. This selection will most likely surprise many, but I think the statistics will prove my point. Hitters batted only .197 against Johnson. This was second in mlb only to the AL winner. A widely used pitching statistic is WHIP(walks plus hits/innings pitched). Johnson had a WHIP of .90, first in mlb. Johnson's 16 victories were 31.4% of his team's total. This is the highest percentage since Phil Niekro won 31.8% for Atlanta in 1979. I could go on and on, but I won't.

AL Cy Young
Johann Santana, Minnesota 20-6 2.61 ERA 265 K 54 BB - For starters (pun intended), Santana was 13-0 with a 1.18 ERA after the all-star break. He was truly dominating the second half of the season, no matter how you look at it. For the entire season, hitters batted .192 against him, first in mlb. Santana's WHIP was .92, second in mlb only to Johnson.

NL Manager of the Year
Bobby Cox, Atlanta - Other candidates under consideration: Tony La Russa and Phil Garner. Cox continues to produce a winner in Atlanta when very few expect it. Some of the credit would have to also go to General Manager John Schuerholz. Cox and Schuerholz are the longest running GM/Manager duo, having been together since 1990.

AL Manager of the Year
Buck Showalter, Texas - Other candidates for consideration: Alan Trammell and Terry Francona. Showalter took a team that had recently been the bottom feeders of the AL West and made them a contender in the division, finishing only 3 games back of Anaheim. Texas had not won more than 73 games since 1999 and won 89 in 2004.

NL Rookie of the Year
Jason Bay, OF, Pittsburgh .282 26 HR 82 RBI - Other candidates for consideration: Khalil Greene and Aaron Miles. Bay was part of the trade that sent Brian Giles to SD and proved he belonged in the majors. Anytime a rookie hits 20+ home runs he gets serious consideration here at DITr. Greene was also a serious candidate, but had the second lowest fielding percentage in the NL for shortstops.

AL Rookie of the Year
Justin Morneau, 1B, Minnesota .271 19 HR 58 RBI - Other candidate for consideration: Bubba Crosby. Morneau was third in home runs (19) among MLB rookies, behind Bay (26) and Crosby (22). Here's the kicker: he had 280 at bats compared to 545 for Crosby. If you were to pro rate Morneau's statistics for an entire season they would be 41 HR and 126 RBI.

NL Surprise Player of the Year
Jaret Wright, SP, Atlanta 15-8 3.28 ERA 159 K - Wright emerged as a potential star with Cleveland in 1998. The last reasonably good season he had was in 1999. Since then, Wright had totaled 11 wins and 166 strikeouts. Wright's era of 3.28 in 2004 was the best of his career. Leave it to Leo Mazzone to turn a pitcher's career around.

AL Surprise Player of the Year
Michael Young, SS, Texas .313 22 HR 99 RBI - Young moved to shortstop from second base with the trade of Alex Rodriguez and the acquisition of Alphonso Soriano. His 2004 statistics weren't a vast improvement over 2003, but I chose him for who he replaced. A-Rod's statistics were .286, 36 home runs and 106 rbi, all for $21 million dollars. Texas got similar production out of Young for $450,000.

Approximately 105 days until Spring Training.

People ask me what I do in the winter when there's no baseball. I'll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring. - Rogers Hornsby

Election Analysis

2004-10-18T07:30:00.000-06:00

I recently made the discovery that there are other things in life besides baseball. I was shocked at this discovery and I'm not sure the reality of it has fully sunk in yet. After the World Series is over I look forward to two days, the first day of Spring Training and the release date of the new version of the Lahman database. Hopefully you can see how this discovery would rock my world. I'm still perplexed at the thought, but nevertheless, it is true.

Upon my discovery I decided it might be a good idea to occassionally depart from the topic of baseball here at DITr. So, future topics will fit into one of two categories: "baseball" or "other things". This week's topic will fit into the category of "other things", specifically the upcoming Presidential Election. (Now, given the facts that W is an avid baseball fan, a former MLB owner, and a former candidate for MLB Commissioner, it would be easy to overlap the two, but I will try and resist the temptation.)

I am analytical by nature and love to do research, so with all that said, I'd like to offer my analysis of the election that is a couple weeks away. Now, before you close your browser figuring this is going to be REALLY boring, let me assure you that my election analysis will be much shorter than my baseball analysis. After all, I only recently discovered this stuff.

I did some digging in Algore's favorite invention and found some interesting data. According to my analysis, the Presidential Election boils down to one thing...Missouri. Let me explain my findings and I think you will agree. Since 1972, there are six states that have voted for the winning Presidential candidate in each election: Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, Ohio and Tennessee. Of these six, Kentucky, Missouri, Ohio and Tennessee have chosen the winning candidate each election since 1964. As impressive as that is, Missouri also voted for the winning candidate in 1960, giving it 11 straight Presidential Elections in which it voted for the winner. So, my conclusion is, there's a good chance that whomever wins Missouri will be our next President.

Now for the projection of who that might be. According to electionprojection.com, Bush holds a rather narrow lead of 3.24% with a margin of error of .8% in Missouri. The bottom line is, it seems as though we are in store for another very close, fight-to-the-finish type race.

I hope this analysis has been helpful. I promise, no more "other things" for awhile, just baseball.

To Quote a Famous Baseball Player

2004-10-15T08:45:00.000-06:00

It's budget season at Denver Botanic Gardens, so I haven't had much creative energy lately. Thus, the extended period between postings. It hasn't been for a lack of ideas, just the time or energy to write them down.

Of the many reasons that baseball is so near and dear to my heart, one is the ability for players, managers, etc. to express themselves in colorful and, often times, humorous ways. In fact, in my opinion, a manager is not really very good unless he can explain an ordinary event in such a way that will give you a little chuckle. With this in mind, I have compiled some of my favorite quotes by baseball players, about baseball players, or about baseball in general. If you enjoy these quotations, visit Baseball Almanac's website and browse their vast collection.

Without question, the most popular baseball personality to be quoted is Yogi Berra. His quotations have become so popular as to have actually earned their own term, a Yogiism. Most people today are probably familiar with at least one Yogiism, whether or not they know Yogi Berra said it, or even who Yogi Berra is. I do not have any Yogi Berra quotes here. I thought it would be more fun to mention those that are not as well known.

Wait until Tommy (Lasorda) meets the Lord and finds out he's wearing pinstripes. - Gaylord Perry

All last year we tried to teach him (Fernando Valenzuela) English, and the only word he learned was million. - Lasorda

He (Daryl Strawberry) is not a dog; a dog is loyal and runs after balls. - Lasorda

The only thing Earl Weaver knows about big-league pitching is that he can't hit it. - Jim Palmer

Don Drysdale would consider an intentional walk a waste of three pitches. If he wants to put you on base, he can hit you with one pitch. - Mike Shannon

I hated to bat against Drysdale. After he hit you he'd come around, look at the bruise on your arm and say, "Do you want me to sign it?" - Micky Mantle

He (Bob Gibson) pitches as though he's double-parked. - Vin Scully

Bob Gibson is the luckiest pitcher in baseball. He is always pitching when the other team doesn't score any runs. - Tim McCarver

Trying to hit him (Sandy Koufax) was like trying to drink coffee with a fork. - Willie Stargell

Blind people come to the park just to listen to him (Tom Seaver) pitch. - Reggie Jackson

Every hitter likes fastballs just like everybody likes ice cream. But you don't like it when someone's stuffing it into you by the gallon. That's how you feel when Nolan Ryan's throwing balls by you. - Reggie Jackson

It's not that Reggie (Jackson) is a bad outfielder. He just has trouble judging the ball and picking it up. - New York Yankees Manager Billy Martin

There isn't enough mustard in the whole world to cover that hot dog. - Darold Knowles about Reggie Jackson

If he can hit .350, we (Missouri driver's license bureau) figured he (George Brett) could see. - Harley Duncan on why they waived the eye test

He's (Rod Carew) the only guy I know who can go four for three. - Alan Bannister

I found out (after getting glasses in 1986) there are a lot of ugly people out there. - Eddie Murray

For my friend, Rick Cummings:

A surge of joy flooded over me that I will never forget. I felt like shouting out that I had made a ball curve. I wanted to tell everybody - it was too good to keep to myself. - Candy Cummings, inventor of the curve ball

Nothing is better for a good chuckle than a handful of quotes by Bob Uecker.

Career highlights? I had two. I got an intentional walk from Sandy Koufax and I got out of a rundown against the Mets.

I led the league in "Go get 'em next time".

In 1962, I was named Minor League Player of the Year. It was my second season in the bigs.

I signed with the Milwaukee Braves for three thousand dollars. That bothered my dad at the time because he didn't have that kind of dough. But he eventually scraped it up.

I didn't get a lot of awards as a player. But they did have a Bob Uecker Day Off for me once in Philly.

And, lastly, my all-time favorite baseball quote:

When I was a small boy in Kansas, a friend of mine and I went fishing and as we sat there in the warmth of the summer afternoon on a river bank, we talked about what we wanted to do when we grew up. I told him that I wanted to be a real major league baseball player, a genuine professional like Honus Wagner. My friend said that he'd like to be President of the United States. Neither of us got our wish. - Dwight D. Eisenhower