WHERE HAVE WE GONE?!

Well folks, it's been a crazy ride this year, and for added stability, Gabe and I shelled out the monies for a domain name and hosting (for the love of god click on adsense).

You can still see medium-notch commentary on your favorite/geographically mandated to follow baseball team at www.5280sports.com/rox , and there's also a column for the Avs and the Broncos. We're like the Jeffersons, people. Except with less hangin' in chow lines.

Stupid school

Losing Steam

The Rockies just aren't that good. When they are good, it's usually for one game which is surrounded by two or three horrible horrible games. We saw that kind of thing over the homestand this week. In the first game, the Rox squandered a good pitching performance, losing 4-2, and then in the second game, the Rockies were out of it by the fifth. On Sunday, the Rox continued their suck-fest with another poor starting pitching performance and poor offensive production, doing nothing to damage the undeniable argument that they just aren't very good.

They replaced Corey Sulivan with Larry Bigbie in center field, and oddly enough, swapping one mediocre fourth outfielder for another didn't do much. Now I'm not saying that benching Corey Sullivan is a bad thing, it's just that when his replacement is bad too, well, what's the point.

The entire season has had an aura of futility that was lifted for about a week. The Rox won on the road consistently for the first time all year, and then they came back and swept a double-header against the Marlins. Then they were swept by the team that up until about a week ago had a starting short stop hitting .182.

Things are looking grim, folks. The rotation is bad, the starting lineup is full of slap hitters, and frankly, improvement hasn't happened as you'd expect. Sure we're winning more than once every nine days, but we aren't winning more than four games, max, every nine days. Things are looking mighty grim.


The Rockies are depressing beyond all belief.

Then again, football is back.

Boy

What happened to the starting rotation?

At the beginning of this year, the Rockies thought that their starting pitching was going to be a major strength for the team. The bullpen was going to be the question mark.

Like so many other things over the past few years at Coors Field, that was a misconception.

Joe Kennedy, the Rockies' opening day starter, had complained to the manager to be the number one guy. Jason Jennings, who turned out to be the number two guy, said the same thing. Boy were they wrong about that whole "being good" thing.

In the first game of the year, Kennedy was chased out with his tail between his legs. He didn't get the W, a rare case of justice in the exceedingly strange world of starting pitcher won-lost records. It was a sign of things to come. Kennedy won four games over sixteen starts, never going to the bullpen or being demoted. His ERA was equal to the goal of a Bronco red zone trip: 7 points. The young Uncle Charlie specialist was dealt to the Oakland A's, and he now works in relief.

As for the other contender for the number one job, Jason Jennings was decent in the early-going, but then tanked in May and June. Just as he was getting into a groove, J.J. broke his finger trying to take out a would-be double play turner. After the All Star Break, his ERA was just 3.00.

The number three starter for the Rox is the highest-ranked remaining pitcher for the team. Jeff Francis has had a predictably up-and-down rookie season. As you'd expect with a rook, Francis has shown flashes of brilliance, and even has sustained them for two and three game stretches, but has also looked absolutely horrible when he can't locate his pitches. His lack of overwhelming stuff demands pinpoint control for him to be very effective, and on days when he can't keep the ball down, The Franchise struggles in a horribly ugly fashion.

This leads us to the former number 4 starter: Shawn Chacon. After one year of an ill-advised switch to the closing role, the Rox decided to do something odd; the starting pitcher would start. Chac was easily the Rockies' most effective starter for much of the year. He injured himself sliding into a bag (on the opposite limb that Jason Jennings did), but aside from the time he missed, the Greeley native was the closest thing the Rox had to an ace. His 4.09 ERA was the best on the Rockies starting pitchers by almost an entire run. Despite his age, his ability, and his home-grown nature, the Rockies dealt him to the Yankees for some prospects. Let's not forget that the Yankees don't have anything resembling a farm system, so these prospects will not pan out.

In the fifth slot is Jamey Wright. Wright has been consistently bad, with few exceptions. There have been abberant zero or one-run starts when The Big Handsome pitched very well, but really he's been just a little better than Joe Kennedy. His 5.85 ERA speaks for itself.

Spot starter turned every-fifth-day guy BK Kim has been the Rockies' second or third best pitcher since Chacon was dealt. Somehow, some way, the walk-happy native of Korea has wiggled his way out of jams en route to a very solid 4.68 ERA as a starter. His methods include, but are not limited to: Walking batters, hitting batters, striking batters out, poorly fielding bunted balls, and throwing wild pitches that bounce off of the backstop, immediately rebound back to the catcher, and allow him to get out of the inning unscathed. B.K., statistically, is the Rockies' best starting pitcher with the recent departure of Shawn Chacon.

Zach Day, Jose Acevedo, and Soo-Yun Kim are all vying for the fifth position in the rotation.

So, theoretically next year's rotation could be:

Jennings
Francis
Cook (could be ace, could be second or third)
Kim/Wright/Day/Acevedo/Kim/Young/Caravajal (pick two)

That's no good.

Whujumufujickle

Well after two nights of not watching the Rockies play, the Rockies are two games worse in terms of record. That's no good.

Seriously foks, if I'm not watching the Rockies, I'm gambling, or even more likely, playing madden. Oh Madden.

So I guess this is a post saying, "hey, I can not play madden for about five minutes or so."

Boy Balto is an incredible story...

Oh Slammina (baseball)

The Colorado Rockies cranked out their third victory on the current homestand Wednesday evening. The win, which moved the Rockies to 3-1 since their return to Coors on Monday morning, was largely the product of recently activated starter Aaron Cook. The red-headed sinkerballer tossed six and a third innings of very solid ball, allowing three earned runs.

When Cook's effectiveness waned during the top of the seventh, the Rockies threw Scott Dohmann on the bump with Cookie's runner on first. The Dough Man walked the hulking pinch hitter Daryle Ward, setting up Tike Redman, who promptly smashed a triple to right center field.

From there on out, the bullpens took over, with DeJean, Fuentes, and Cortes each working a scoreless inning apiece and maintaining the tie through the tenth. Mike DeJean had absolutely electric stuff, with a diving slider that fooled all of the Pirates he faced, and Fuentes was his usual self. David Cortes performed admirably, not fooling around with batters, but rather tossing the ball into the zone with impressive velocity.

In the bottom of the tenth, Todd Helton went with a pitch and sent a gigantic double to right center. Following Helton was exactly the guy everyone wanted to see in a clutch situation: Matt Holliday. Holliday punched a single up the middle and Helton scored from second base, sore calf and all. Tike Redman booted the Holliday single to center field, perhaps rushing to cut down the potential game-winning run, which sealed the deal for the recently resurgent Rox.

Up next for the Rox is the series finale against the unremarkable Josh Fogg. The Franchise will take the mound, trying to shake off a bad performance in Arizona that was only saved by an offensive explosion.

Hoo-rah

Two wins on the same day? What did we do to deserve this? Oh right, months/years of dedication to the team. I'm feeling like Mike Jones after he hit the big time but before he got slapped with a 250,00 dollar phone bill. Word.

On the other hand, I've got a beef with Clint Hurdle right now. He started J.D. and Gonzo in the first game, so there's no issue therein, but pulling your starting pitcher in the fourth inning of the first game of a double header? That's just stupid. Again, the Rockies won both games, so I can't complain too much, but in my opinion it was just stupid. The reason Tony LaRussa can get away with pulling stunts like that is that he's got a track record and a solid/not horribly overworked bullpen. Hurdle the hurdle (that must be navigated/circumvented to win) used six pitchers in the first game of a double header. Say what you will about "playing one at a time," but the Rockies players knew not to go shake hands after the game, and Hurdle should've been more mindful of the pitching situation. Plus it was hot as hell. Add to the heat the fact that BK is the least economical of any pitcher I've seen this year and was starting the second game, and you've got a pretty sticky situation. Especially 'cause the ice cream was melting. Oh those chocolate dipped cones are freakin' delicious...

Well the Rockies won both games, BK carried the team into the eighth, something that never happens with Rockies starters, and Mark (again, not TGTBATB), Gabe, and I had to leave for a slew of reasons. Ok, Madden and affordable food (turned out to be free).

Oh yeah, I forgot to add in this conversation the co-bloggotronomator and I had during the second game in the car:

Jeff Kingery: And Miles leads off the inning with a double!
Me: Shut up, Gabe, it's just one hit.
Gabe: You didn't see Gonzalez hitting doubles, did you?
Me: Shut. Up.
Jeff Kingery: And Danny Ardoin hits a line drive over the fence!
Me: Just don't say anything.
Gabe: D--
Me: SHUT UP.
Gabe: Yeah but--
Me: WE'RE TURNING ON MIKE JONES.
Mike Jones: 231, 830, 8 zero zero fo', hit Mike Jones up on the low, 'cause Mike Jones about to blow...

Speaking of Mikes, Michael Strahan is a beast.

Speaking of Michael Strahan, I'm going to play Madden

Dear god

Dear God it was hot today. Gabe, Mark (not of TGTBATB) and I met up with some good people at the Rockies game and had a nice time. Everything was expensive except for the tickets (rockpile tix, friendshipizing w/usher who clearly approved of youthful mischief allowed for closer viewing), and in the words of one of the good people we met up with, Coors Field "financially and emotionally raped us." Also, I drank a 2 liter of the official non-alcoholic Jew beverage seltzer and half a liter of Coke in less than three innings. Shade never came. Ever.

Gabe, Mark and I also left after the first game, sadly enough, due to Madden. We bailed on the Rox, having already seen a sweet extra-inning victory and hungry for Madden. Basically, we did the Dodger fan thing and left about halfway through the event, although we didn't arrive late nor did we steal our team from Brooklyn.

So we went to a Madden tournament which I did very poorly in due to a variety of factors including but not limited to: Sean King's fake 99 speed, a fictitious wideout for the opposing team that caught 200 yards worth of passes, bad controllers, jerk opponent, jerk host, small television, recent ban on performance-enhancing steroids, indefference of administrators to the various factual inaccuracies of the rosters i.e. sean king's 99 speed, the game being played on Pro instead of All-Madden, employee pricing on general motors vehicles, my ailing quadriceps, the game ending after the third quarter which nobody told me about until halfway through the third, and Trevor Price's ammended 99 speed which successfully eleminated any scrambling threat that Donnavan McNabb had in his brain.

Come to think of it, why am I writing instead of playing Madden?

Buy me some peanuts and crackerjacks...

Well it's a big day in the news - aside from the Rockies losing, Peter Jennings died, the submarine dudes were rescued, and it's the anniversary of the dropping of the bomb on Hiroshima. And in breaking news, myself and cohort Sam will be hitting the ballpark tomorrow with a couple other members of the gang for the two-fer deal included with this upcoming day/night doubleheader. I'm excited to see Kim/Kim pitch, especially the latter, who should put on quite a show given his late hottness.

And yet, I still have a few notes about tonight's game:

1. Carvajal just didn't seem to be in sync. After giving up back-to-back homeruns to thel ikes of Clarck and Glaus, you'd think he would realize that hanging sliders and various other pitches doesn't work.

2. Okay, I'm gonna be honest. I'm in the minority in the blogging world because I'm of the opinion that Miles should be starting ahead of Gonzales. But, going 2-4 with a double and a single does give him a pretty good day. The only knock I can put on him is the strikeout, but as Sam constantly reminds me, Miles has the same disease with a worse OBP. I'm beginning to turn a little on this issue

3. Atkins continues to hit well, but here's the best part (even though he missed an RBI opportunity): he had 1 BB, but 0 strikeouts. What I'm liking more and more about Atkins, is that he gets good wood on the ball. I've rarely seen him in bad at-bats, and his defensive play has been very good.

4. The basepaths are still looking like slip-n-slides with Closser behind the plate. He allowed 4, count'em, 4 stolen bases today, three from the speedy but aging Craig Counsell. Now I'm not saying that Counsell is a bad person to let steal, because he's a damned good runner, but Closser just does not seem to have the arm to play a good defensive catcher. And even though he's been on an offensive tear recently, he went 0-3 with a walk, and is still batting 2 points below defensive stud Danny Ardoin. Yes, his OBP and slugging are a little higher, but it's my opinion that (at least on the road), defense is worth more than offense. When the Rockies are scoring 4 runs, I'd much rather get Counsell out twice than have our 8-hole man reach base .24 more times out of every ten at-bats. I realize that JD is a better slugger, so maybe my argument doesn't hold up as nicely at Coors field, but Danny Ardoin should be given many more road starts, especially considering the fact that pitchers perform better when he's behind the plate. Now I know I've spent a lot of time ranting about this, but all said and done, I'm rather content with our catching situation. JD will only become a better hitter (as will Ardoin, for that matter), and Danny will only get better defensively. Some have called this our weakest position, but even with TG out, I don't see why - we've got a pretty solid core.

5. Despite the fact that we only scored 4 runs tonight/last night, I've really liked how this team has been scoring lately. We've been able to put together good smallball with a lot of clutch hits and some decent power. Get Helton/Barmes back in the mix, and I think we'll have a damned good offense, especially as this team starts to come together offensively even more. Over the last few series, I've really seen an improvement, and we haven't had a 2-run night in a long time, which is a good sign. That said, we could use a little bit more production out of the likes of Corey Sullivan and Garret Atkins (the latter in the power department), but I think that will come.

6. This brings me to six. As I believe my co-blogger mentioned, Francis is considered an RotY contender even though his numbers have been sketchy lately. The reason he's won 11? Run support. Francis has been getting stupendous run support all season long, and that's half the reason why he's been successful. If, as I've mentioned, our offense continues to produce, we can put a winning team on the field. It feels a lot better to a pitcher when he's got a 2-run cushion than when he's hanging on to a 0-1 deficit, and I think more than anything, that's the key to Coors Field pitching. Every pitcher is going to give up runs at Coors Field, but every pitcher also tends to tense up when he's in a tight ballgame, especially in Coors Field, which is a park known for some of the quickest lead-switches in the game. So what's the solution? Give them run support, let them relax and throw their stuff, instead of dreading the sound of the airstream in left-center (I made that up). If this seems obvious, tell it to Dan O'Down and Monfort & Co. They traded Chacon purely because of record, when he had a great Coors ERA, and was getting 0 run support. Francis, on the other hand, is the opposite story, and he's still wearing a Rox uniform.

That's it for tonight. It's late, and I've got a ballgame to attend tomorrow. In fact, all of you should come out and enjoy the deal. It would be very cool to show the team a little more support than usual. So that's it, I'm starting a movement. It's the Double-Day-Disaster Movement. All 30 people who visit this site daily, come out and join us. You can't pass up a 2-for-1 deal! You just can't!

-Gabe

Miscellany

I stumbled upon Lou From Littleton's comments on the Chac trade while looking for an example of Aaron J. Lopez' lame writing. You can find it here. It's alarming to me because Lou from Littleton is the most delusional Denver sports fan in the metro area, which is plenty obvious if you listened to him when he was on KOA or right now on KKFN. He's pretty pissed. Think about this: everyone thinks that Jeff Francis is a premier candidate for Rookie of the Year, but his ERA is 5.37. The reason everyone thinks he's the premier ROY guy is that he has 11 wins, due to top-of-the-league run support. If Chac got that kind of offense to support his outings, I'm damn near positive he'd still be on this team and would be plastered on the side of Coors with the GEN-R logo emblazoned below his face.

I just don't like Lopez' writing is all.

So Joe Sakic took a shot at Coors in the paper.

"I'm happy they didn't enlarge the nets. Making the goalie pads smaller is enough. I wouldn't want it to be like Coors Field where you have such high-scoring games."

I actually don't really care that much, just thought it was nice that the Rockies appeared on the second page of the paper for a change.

The game starts at...2:40 today...for some reason or another...