Welcome to Good Baseball

Watching the game tonight, I was reminded once again of just how good our team could be, and it made me think of a day when Coors Field might again be as ecstatic as Campden was tonight. Before I go any further, let me touch on just that: noise. Atmosphere is a huge part of any sport. In Europe, soccer games draw screaming crowds who shake stadiums, and make the game fun to watch, even on TV. One of the reasons why nobody goes to Rockies games may be because nobody goes to Rockies games. When a ballpark is full, and fans are screaming, it's a totally different feeling. It makes fans appreciate the game, and it drives players to compete even more. It's what makes playoff baseball great even when your team isn't in it, and the atmosphere at Campden Yards tonight made the game so exciting, that I skipped most of dinner to see it. But onto the game.

Despite being a win against the division-leading Orioles (which, coincidentally, I've been in Maryland for the last week, hence my lack of posts), a number of good things fell into place.

First and foremost, Todd Helton finally got a homerun, his first since May 14th. While one hit may not seem like a big deal, consider this: Currently batting .253 in about 200 at-bats, the difference between Helton at .253 and Helton at .300 is only 6 hits. In fact, throughout an entire season, the difference between an average .270 hitter and a great .300 hitter is only 15 hits - but those 15 extra battles are so tough, only the best make it. Tonight, going 1-3 with a walk, Helton showed that he's still a great hitter - and hopefully he'll continue with a little confidence, especially with the homerun coming to the oposite field, against a good pitcher and good team, in a packed ballpark. Everything is in place for him to go on a tear.

Secondly, all pitching was solid, for perhaps the second time this year. What I liked especially was that even though two of our pitchers got in big trouble, they pulled it out in front of screaming fans hoping the worst. Jason Jenning's sixth inning-ender double-play groundball was obviously a terrific performance, but what pleased me more was Brian Fuentes coming back from allowing a run with no one out to put the stomper on and close up the game. After the run scored on a close play at the plate, the crowd went nuts, and Fuentes looked more nervous than I've ever seen a professional athlete. But you've got to give credit to him for ending the inning by striking out Surhoff (keeping him on track to have more strikeouts than innings pitched) and getting the dangerous Mora (batting .310) to fly out to Corey Sullivan, the same man who may have thrown out the ultra-quick Eli Marrero two plays earlier on a close play at the plate that started with Sullivan making a head-first diving catch on a line-drive off the bat of catcher Fasano. It looked like Ardoin had his foot underneath Marrero's slide, and speaking of which, let's talk about a guy who isn't getting nearly enough credit.

Everyone always talks about the pitcher who gets it done, but what about the guy behind the plate? Besides being an excellent catch-and-throw guy (he proved that with three baserunner throughouts in his first two appearances), Danny Adroin seems to be a guy that pitchers like. With all due credit to JD Closser, calling a ballgame and recognising what pitches to throw against batters is something that Danny seems to have. Recognising the hard slider as the pitch that struck out Slammin' Sammy Sosa three times during the game is a testament to the fact that Ardoin may have the gift of calling the game. But don't take my word for it. In the last month, in the six games featuring Ardoin (minus the 15-5 Chicago effort which was largely Matt Anderson's fault), Rockies pitchers have allowed just 19 runs. In contrast, in the just three games with JD closser, pitchers have allowed 21 runs. Even though the team has gone just 3-4 with Ardoin behind the plate, this is more due to offense than pitching. The Rockies lost a 2-1 game to the league-leading White Sox, and a 7-6 game to Cleveland. Plus, Ardoin is batting a respectable .250, whereas Closser is well below the Mendoza line, at a mere .188. What I'm getting at is that there's more to catching than blocking a ball behind the plate, and Ardoin has it. He knows how to call a game, and he has some hitting potential. I'm wondering why management chose Closser to ascend the ranks instead of Ardoin, and I will not be happy if Ardoin is cut when veteran Todd Greene returns for the DL after pulling a hammy in a tough play walking across home plate.

Overall, we could be a really good team, but I don't think all factors have clicked yet. We're winning games with EITHER good pitching OR good offense, but not both. Once Helton pulls out of his slump (and I maintain that he will), and the clutch hits start coming from a few other guys, I think this team is ready to go on a tear. The question is, who will be there when it happens?

-Gabe
Back from Maryland, en route to Lawrence, Kansas.

P.S. - If someone wants to buy me MLB.TV for the next five weeks (I'll be away) and somehow remove blackout restrictions on my Denver registered account, please e-mail me at potterhead4@comcast.net . Thanks.

A Complete Game: Rockies 2, Tigers 0

The Rockies' main problem this year hasn't been starting pitching. Sure, the starters have had their fair share of bad outings, but every pitcher, and more importantly every rotation has a few bad days. So far, if we can say one good thing about the Rockies' pitching, it's that our starters have not even come close to being the worst rotation in the league. And this has all come without Aaron Cook, who was supposed to be our ace this year.

No, the problem for our beloved Rockies has occured well beyond when the starters have been pulled, in the realm of middle relief, specifically in the dreaded 7th inning. Rockies middle-innings pitchers have struggled all season, and their failure has been the defining point of another loosing season.

Not so tonight, however, and most of that credit goes to Mr. Wright, who pitched 7 and a 1/3 scoreless innings, and dropped his ERA below 6 with this outing. If there's one weakness with our starters, it's been durability. The five starters average a mere 5.74 innings, which means more games than not, the Rockies have had to break into the bullpen early, forcing pitchers like Dohhman (ERA 18.9) to throw. Jamie's stellar, lengthened performance tonight behind a mere 2 runs of offense allowed the Rockies to cut past some of their not-so-successful relievers, and go straight to 8th-inning ace Jay Wotasik, and the recently dynamite Brian Fuentes, both of whom pitched well, allowing no runs.

What I'm getting at here, is that for the first time that I've seen this season, the Rockies may just have played an all-around complete game. Though they didn't get much offense, they didn't have to, because behind stellar defensive play from the likes of recently-hot Garret Atkins behind solid, prolonged starting pitching carried the team to victory. The main component behind Rockie failure this year has been the un-timely error, coupled with bad middle-relief. Today, the Rockies avoided all of that in a tight game, and were able to pull a tight one out when it counted. How many times have we been able to say that this year?

Overall, I'm beginning to like the way the Rockies have been playing, even against the White Sox, who swept them. In all three Sox games, the starting pitching was great, and the score was close going into the later innings. I'm also seeing the Rockies' hitting develop. Though the White Sox incredible staff seemed to shut us down, we're getting timelier, clutch hits from people like Corey Sullivan, and our outs are getting more productive too, with guys like Dustin Mohr hitting groundballs to move a runner to third. Though the Rockies may not be putting everything together nightly yet, they played a good series against the league-leading White Sox, and looked like a Major League team. I've seen plenty of other series where it's looked like the Rockies are a AAA team trying to hang with teams not nearly as good as the Sox. Whatever the result of the season, our young faces are finally coming together into a baseball team, and based on the latest ballgames (which have been really good games), I think we're going to enjoy the rest of the season. At least, it's looking better than this Monday.

Gabe

Helton

Though I didn't want to get into this discussion, the good folks over at Purple Row have wondered about trading star Todd Helton, or at least tried to start a conversation on that hot topic. As our disclaimer at the bottom says, he's not for sale, and the rumors are just rumors - but just in case you've really got a case of the giggles about this, here's why we shouldn't, and won't trade Helton.

-He's the only reason less-than-diehard fans have to go to the ballpark now that Barmes is out.
-He's a good veteran mentor for the kids in the clubhouse, and really ties a young team together.
-There's no decent replacement.
-Management doesn't want to eat the salary from the 9-year deal he got a while back.
-You shouldn't trust our management with any player we might get for Helton. They'll probably end up getting nothing for him anyways.

But most of all, Helton himself has said he doesn't want to go, and likes anchoring this young team..

Even though he's in a bit of a slump, there's no reason to dump him like we did to Juan Pierre, who had a bad month, and went on to anchor a Florida team that won the world series. So there's no argument there. Plus, I think Helton will be out of his slump by the all-star break.

Anyhow, if you're still not convinced that we shouldn't AND won't trade Helton, you're probably a Dodgers fan or a moron. Or both. But don't take my word for it, please tell me why I'm wrong.

Gabe

A Tale of Two Opposites

Tonight's game (Rockies vs. Sox Take II) chronicles an amazing difference between two teams at polar opposites in terms of record and two other important stats: pitching and hitting.

The Colorado Rockies have the best hitting in the league, with four players batting above .300, three in the .290s, and one who will be batting .300 by the All-Star Break. (there's my official helton prediction). The Sox, on the other hand, have the worst hitting in the league, with one player batting about .300 (albeit in just 52 atbats), and one in the .290s (the former Rockie, Juan Uribe).

So why do the Sox have one of the best records in the league, and the Rockies one of the worst? It's because unlike what appears to be current-day sentiment, pitching beats hitting every time. I think the Sox's formula will finally force managers to realize that slugging isn't everything, but my question is, what took them so long? If the league had been paying more attention to our Rockies, the league could've figured that one out long ago.

What am I talking about? The Sox have the best pitching staff in the league, and the Rockies have the worst. That should say it all right there, because Pitching is something that has always plagued the Rockies, from day one. Our ownership has never been willing to dig deep in those million-dollar pockets and sign a good reliever or two, despite contuining signs that pitching is really what matters. Of course, they weren't too worried back in the day, when the Rockies were still drawing 30K to the field night after night. But this year, with attendance dwindling even further, the only reason to go to the ballpark seems to be Todd Helton, who's deep in the worst slump of his career, and Clint Barmes, former rookie of the year candidate, who's going to be out of business for 3 months.

What's so interesting about this game is that it brings all of these facts into focus. If the owners don't see the Sox with their terrible hitting and brilliant pitching with the best record in the league, and take it as a wakeup call that the Rockies need pitching, I don't think we'll ever see a good team under this ownership.

But here's to the rest of this year!

-Gabe

First Post

hi, welcome to Rockies Disaster Report. This is really just a test post, but I will mention a few things we're not happy with that happened on Monday:

1. Rockies lost 9-3, snapping a 4-game winning streak, the longest of the season.
2. Clint Barmes feel down some stairs on Sunday and broke his collarbone. On monday, he was placed on the 60-day DL, and will be out for at least that long.
3. Skip's little girl was back in the hospital. We're praying for her and Clint's family.

Anyhow, we'll be back soon with daily commentary.

Yours,

Gabe and Sam