Sunday, August 07, 2005

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

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