I don’t know what to say

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Tumblr
  • Add to favorites
  • Email
  • RSS

First of all, let me give a moment of silence for the Rockies pitching staff
.
.
.
ahem
.
.
.
There…. wait, who said that? Oh, Hi Christian Friedrich. I didn’t see you there. I guess I figured that you were still in Colorado Springs. Oh? now that you mentioned it, I did see you in yesterday’s game. You were great. But really, the rest of our pitching staff needs to be revived and fast.
I almost didn’t want to write much because we had a 5 game losing streak. It seems like the same old story with our pitching staff. Last year I couldn’t wait to get rid of Morales and Paulino. But in the case of Paulino, he rubbed it in the Rox face with his great performance in KC after leaving. Morales… I don’t know.
As for this year, our staff is not doing great. Apart from Moyer, and maybe Nicasio, we’re having issues. Pomeranz is doing okay for being a rookie. Guthrie was supposed to be a good pitcher from a bad team, but he’s landed on the DL, and is questionable for Tuesday’s start. Chacin, our future Ace, had a real terrible outing, and was initially demoted… only to be placed on the DL instead. That’s not the biggest joke on the Rox right now. The biggest joke is the revolving door of pitchers and the piss-poor relievers. And my best friend and Modesto correspondant, Ashlee (@Ms_APayne) has been keeping track of Jorge De la Rosa, but it hasn’t been so great of news. I don’t want to say more.
I have to agree with David Martin (@RockiesReview) that Apodaca may be a curse. But he’s totally backed by Jim Tracy, and Tracy is totally backed by Dan O’Dowd. So, I’m thinking that O’Dowd is probably the root source of the problem. I am shuddering if we have to go through a whole year of terrible pitching. Maybe I should just crawl into a big bottle of vodka and drink the whole season. The offense is not the problem like it was last year*. And while the defense has issues, I don’t think it’s the root source of the problem.
I just want the pitching to lay off the Butterfingers® and put down the kerosene cans. Just pick up their superscopes, and throw with precision. Sometimes, saying little is better for us all. For the love of purple!
* If only Scutaro can quit being hit by baseballs, I’d be happier.
Thanks to @RockiesReview and @Ms_Apayne for contributions to this blog.

Up on deck

The Rockies are off today, but play this weekend in LA, and then 2 games at Candlestick Park AT&T Park, before coming home with Arizona and interleague next week.

Sliding home

@RockiesReview had this to say about Dexter striking out too many times yesterday:

The only thing worse than Dexter Fowler’s approach at the plate is following his fiance on Twitter. #Rockies

Baseball, Rockies

Double down on the Rox

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Tumblr
  • Add to favorites
  • Email
  • RSS

“You got to know when to hold ‘em, know when to fold ‘em,
Know when to walk away and know when to run.
You never count your money when you’re sittin’ at the table,
There’ll be time enough for countin’ when the dealin’s done”
–Kenny Rogers The Gambler

So what do baseball and poker have in common? If you don’t like your hand, you can always ask for a redeal–and the higher rank wins. While I can’t endorse betting on baseball (especially you, Pete Rose)I see that a lot of this year’s Rockies team is like a deck of cards. In this game, the dealer is Jim Tracy, and the pit manager is Dan O’Dowd.
Read more »

Baseball, Rockies

Surveying the Rocky Road: April 2012

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Tumblr
  • Add to favorites
  • Email
  • RSS

11 – 11
This is the Rockies record for the whole month of April for the Rockies. Yes, that is exactly .500, the midway point, even-steven, and in balance. Some people may also use words as mediocre, and disappointing. The latter may be in reference to this year’s Rockies. However, in reference to the Rockies, I view this as right on the money, or a good thing.

Coming off a last year of 73-89, or 16 games below .500, this is an improvement. One has to also consider that, while this isn’t a do-over, there are many players on this team that were not on the team a year before. And, even this wasn’t set in stone through most of Spring Training. I mean, who would imagine having 49 year old Jamie Moyer in our starting rotation and have him as the most consistent pitcher? (Thank you @Supahfly328). Who would ever imagine having Michael Cuddyer on the Rockies? And yet, even with these changes, surprises come from inside. I mean, Todd Helton hasn’t homered since 2010, and certainly doesn’t get triples. Carlos Gonzalez seemed to find his bat and groove again. So, I think the shake-up has done some positive things to the team.

Yet, we’ve seen the hiccups early in the team. Opening day was a huge fiasco on the scoreboard, and the media harshly criticized this. They deserved to, but some went to the extreme saying this team is another fiasco. Former Denver Post columnist Dave Krieger (@DaveKrieger) used The Blowtorch of the West™ and 850koa.com to blog and air his concerns about the Jim Tracy Sunday Special* lineup. (*patent pending). Yes, he used the Rockies flagship station AM 850 KOA to criticize the Rockies. Thank God this is America :D Also, Troy Renck harshly demanded Jhoulys Chacin’s demotion as well. Okay, sure, this was May 1st. But Renck’s presence on the Denver Post, and through social media Twitter, is much more critical than in years past.

While the team is a work in progress, the real issue relies on its leadership. Yeah, I’m talking about coaches, and especially Jim Tracy. In the beginning, it seemed like nothing had changed. Our starting pitching wasn’t great (outside of Moyer), and it was puzzling what was up with the defense. On the 2nd home game (which should have been my first), it was a slugfest. The team was nowhere near consistent. He tried his “Sunday special” as I said above, but no one was amused when the Sunday loss record looked like a repeat of 2011. Tracy seemed to have changed his tone the next week, which ended up with a win. And while we lost on the 29th, it was in extra innings, and a much closer game. Then there was the one game on April 30, that Tracy doubled down on the blackjack table in the 7th. Nicasio, Rogers, Brothers, and Escalona to load the bases and get out without a run. I can’t say that Tracy is proactive, as he seems to do a lot of reacting.

Our strength seems to be the offense is now present. It is now willing to put up numbers, and put more effort into games. Sure, we won’t win every game, but apart from a few players and a few days, I think we can have a good team. Our weakness seems to be still in the pitching. Sure, we had some defensive errors early in the month that really hurt us. But, our starting pitching wasn’t strong: we had to burn through our bullpen a lot earlier, and even the bullpen has led on some collapse later on. The only one consistent enough was, indeed, Moyer.

At the beginning of the season, I didn’t like the outcome of the season. I had a prediction of the team ending up 6 games over .500 (or 84 wins.) It wasn’t looking like that. I had said that I was pondering whether or not I’d start a #FireTracy and #FireODowd petition. But I wanted to see how close to .500 and how our team was doing this month before I made a decision. I can safely say that while there are perks that seem “LaRussa” like in Tracy, he has adapted enough that I’m satisfied to give this year another roller-coaster ride.

Surveying the Rocky Road is my monthly analysis of the Rockies team throughout this season.
Thanks to @Supahfly328 and media figures @TroyRenck and @DaveKrieger for contribution to today’s blog.

Under further review

Yeah I mentioned it earlier that Chacin was optioned. The fact of it was that Chacin was the weakest pitcher. There are too many places to look for that, I’ll just give you a head start with Mark Townsend’s blog linking all the articles. But, for the record, he was the weakest pitcher. One or two starts can be excused, especially if weather is involved. I saw the first 4 innings at Buffalo Wild Wings, but could immediately tell something was up, when we were down 4-0 in the 1st inning. Renck equated it to taking a picture perfect day and putting Ragu (I’d say blood, but that’s me.) over the mound. If the brass optioned Pacheco so he can get daily reps on 3rd base, I don’t see why they couldn’t do the same for a pitcher who needs to find himself. I don’t want to be mean to him, as he was ideally thought of as our ace next to former Rox Ubaldo Jimenez. But who knows: this may be for the best for him. I wish him luck.

No word yet on who is his replacement at press time.

Also, I had said that the Dodgers series was the most interesting. Before the series started, the Dodgers had first place in the NL West (and also league) with a commanding lead over the Rox in 2nd place. I was hoping for us taking 2 games to show some confidence and make it interesting. Apparently, it was possible we could have had a sweep if we weren’t down 7 runs before the bottom 5th started. But at least I’m satisfied with what we did accomplish, and look forward to more NL West matchups this season.

Sliding home

I’m giving this to @gorox1983. He mentioned my favorite (former) Rox player, after the Angels no-hit the Twins:

@Supahfly328 Netta gets the “most likely to succeed” award by default.

Baseball, National League, Rockies , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Taking Attendance

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Tumblr
  • Add to favorites
  • Email
  • RSS

Whose house? Our House!

Troy Renck of the Denver Post made a tweet last week related to the Rockies/Pirates game.


This is kind of disturbing, considering PNC Park has a capacity of 38,362. In fact, I heard on one of my podcasts that attendance is down at many parks. Maybe that’s why Marlins Park has a low capacity of 36,742 (Though from @kriztweetsalot, she says they still don’t sell out, despite it being a new stadium.) In stark contrast to Coors Field opening in 1995–ironically now the 3rd oldest NL park–and just after the players’ strike, they still sold out all their home games that year. (Coors Field has a capacity of 50,490).
Read more »

Baseball, National League, Rockies , , , , ,

In the land of Three Rivers

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Tumblr
  • Add to favorites
  • Email
  • RSS

From the clubhouse

And the Lord told Tracy, Speak to the rock, and thy team shall be blessed. And Jim Tracy took his team to Pittsburgh, and smite the rock with CarGo’s bat. And the Lord was not pleased and caused the heavens to open up over PNC Park. And Tracy prayed, asking for the rains to stop. And The Lord replied, Because thou hath disobeyed me, thou shall face thy nemesis, and they shall cause grief in the hits and runs thy team will score.
–The Book of Baseball 4:23-25, Red letter edition

I hate rain. Besides the fact you can’t play ball, it ruins a lot of plans for outdoors. (Yes, we could always use a little more rain in this dry state of Colorado, but I digress.) But I do love doubleheaders, and the Rockies had one of those after being rained out Monday at PNC Park in Pittsburgh. And we even got the “traditional” doubleheaders, where the two games are played almost immediately back to back. And then, we got to see some old faces, this time they decided to haunt us.

One of the players I still like even if he’s no longer on our team is Clint Barmes. He was what I originally classified as part of the “double play machine”, also known as #DPmachine on twitter. But it wasn’t just that. He had the great plays. I remember in 2009 when he ran all the way to the 1st base foul line just to catch a popup. Unfortunately, the reason he was released was primarily because his bat wasn’t stellar. It’s kind of the same problem that’s plagued the Rockies in recent years (as recently as 2011). It was not, like what @t3mperedsteele thinks, that his dropped blooper that ruined #ubaldouche’s claim at win #20. If that is the case, I think we should cut Troy Tulowitzki for his 6 errors… or what about Holliday’s butterfingers? lol

And then, there was a former manager of ours in the opposite dugout. Clint Hurdle, the last manager released by his former bench coach (and current Rockies manager) Jim Tracy. In retrospec, each game was as interesting as the manager dual going on. Who could outperform each other. And if the series proves right, Hurdle won by a 2-1 margin. But, each team would have to battle elements both within and external factors. If you are familiar with other Rockies games this year, this series might have set you back. You’d never thought the Rockies could win 2-1 in a day game, let alone a doubleheader. Yet, despite the low score, the level of frustration increased the later it got, because we were at risk of being no-hit against. It was broken up in the 7th inning, as we got our first run. Getting the winning run in the 8th was a relief. And I have to thank @ColoSportSpaz for being an excellent partner on twitter while the game was going on.

If I go from the best game to the worst, Tuesday’s game was the second best game. It was also another close one. Carlos Gonzalez had 2 2-run homers. However, Rex Brothers had some issues, and then Belisle gave up the winning run. A healthy talk with @Townie813 and @RockiesReview about a decision I disagreed with: I thought Tracy should have put in Belisle instead of Brothers. Or my ultimate suggestion: Belisle in the 7th, Brothers in the 8th, if he wanted to give Rex some reassurance. I do concede that Belisle had a bad night, which is rare for him, and we can write that off. It may not have mattered in any case, given the outcome of both pitchers. But it was a shame that effort by one player offensively was essentially wasted.

The worst of the series was the ‘nightcap’ of the doubleheader. Despite the ‘sun conspiracy theories’, Chacin let a few fly ball oopsies by CarGo rattle him out. before the 5th inning was over, there was a 5 spot given to the home team. Please don’t mention ‘ace’ with him… I think he’s on the hotseat to perform better. Interesting enough, Tracy used the “extra man” rule for the doubleheader to use Zach Putnam for the 2nd game. Putnam held the fort down during this time, but will ultimately be returned to the Springs before Friday’s game.

In short, an odd series, complicated with rain and little hits. I felt like Tracy sinned in his manoevers, and suffered as a result. But I can’t complain about a team at .500 through April so far. If we do break out, Tracy has learned his lesson. If not, the book of Baseball has written his departure in chapter 10 verse 1 or so.*

*The Book of Baseball is cleverly written with each month being a chapter, and the verses are the days.

Thanks to @ColoSportSpaz @Townie813 @RockiesReview for your contributations to today’s blog

Up on deck

This weekend will be a great one. The Mets come into town for the weekend, hoping they don’t leave us a rotten Apple Core in Denver. Then, we get our first look at our nemesis, the 1st place Dodgers. I’m looking forward to this series, though I hope we can put up a good fight, and 17-16 runs a game. :)

Sliding home

Rafael Rojas C (@rafaelrojasc) is a great read during Rockies games. He has two awesome quotes about the Pittsburgh Series that I’d love to share:

Revenge of the former Rox. Now on DVD.

and

The DVD Jhoulys Chacin hates watching is on endless loop: high, low pitches, on the side pitches. Command difficulties galore.

Now I want to watch some Major League on DVD… or bluray :)

Baseball, Rockies , , , , , , , , , , ,

Tracy paving Rocky Road

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Tumblr
  • Add to favorites
  • Email
  • RSS

From the Clubhouse

In the course of a year, so much has changed. As true Rockies fans know, we live each game and series on Rocky Road. (No, not the ice cream… though I do have a sweet tooth :) ) We can go for stretches along relatively smooth dirt roads (they’re never paved, except the stretch along September/October 2007). Each dip and pothole represents our struggles and dings. Storms wash our road out, but we trudge on. Uphill climbs represent our quest to compete, especially with those around us. When our team tanks, the road goes downhill… as if we’re headed towards Hades. Bandwagon fans jump on our bus along our smooth portions, and hop off with each bump. But who paved this road? Oh, I see the sign now:
Read more »

Baseball, Rockies , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Why you should like Moyer over Tebow

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Tumblr
  • Add to favorites
  • Email
  • RSS

Whose House? Our House

There are some people who may appear to be the nicest people in the world, but betray you when you least expect it. Then there are people who appear to be very shady, but are deep inside the nicest people if you give them the time of day. And then there are people who are dedicated till the day they are physically incapable of doing the job they desire.

It does sound a lot like I could be writing this on my livejournal. In fact, it is actually triggered because of all the coverage around Jamie Moyer. He isn’t exactly the Tim Tebow of baseball, particularly because he’s at the opposite age spectrum as Tebow. But, let me compare the two. Here’s how the two are similar:

First of all, both have played for teams in Denver at one point. Tebow was on the Broncos up until recently when he was traded. Jamie Moyer is on the Colorado Rockies this year. They both have control of their game based on their style of play. In Tebow’s case, he had plays adapted for his style of running game. Moyer, on the other hand, uses pitching motion rather than speed. They are both modest, thinking of the team first rather than themselves. And finally, they have both received more than a fair share’s attention of the media. Neither one desired it, but they are both special cases.

Now, where they differ is significant. Tebow was given a job. Yeah, he was drafted in. But when Kyle Orton was terrible last year, the fans demanded Tebow. Moyer, on the other hand, legitimately earned his position. Coming out of Spring Training, he showed he was not only better from his TJ surgery, he had one of the best performance of all the pitchers. Tebow was considered a work in progress. While Moyer seemed to be on the decline with the fastball, he proved he had mastered the skills to fool batters. Tebow is young. Moyer may be old, but he still has youth within himself. Tebow never started a season as the main player (yet). Moyer has already. And finally, Tebow brought a team to 8-8. It’s too early to tell with Moyer (1-2 record), but his two (nearly 3) losses were due mostly to failures with the defense.

I got so sick of listening about Tebow around here, that I was ready to throw my radio at the Clear Channel studios in DTC because that was all you’d hear coming on the airwaves. It was like everyone and their best friend’s dog was talking about him as if he is God. I’m actually glad he is gone, if only to clear the waves for the other 3 sports (including Rockies). I do wish him well in New York, but let’s just leave it at that.

But when it comes to Moyer, I’ve heard plenty of people describe him in ways that make me embarrassed and a bit upset, actually. To be honest, he’s the best pitcher on our team as I’ll provide quotes later on. Some people have made jokes about him being too old to play. That sounds almost as discriminating as saying that all Mexicans are illegal, or that blacks are dirty, or Californians are ruining Colorado. Don’t! There is something called “showing respect”. And even Moyer believes that if he doesn’t have a good season, he knows when to hang up his glove. His two losses were due mostly in fact to the team behind him could not play defense or offense long enough to help him out. In fact, Tulo almost ruined it as well on the night he did earn the win with his 2 error night. But remember that in baseball, 1 person can ruin it, but all 9 players must also show their effort to hit the ball.

I’m actually glad he’s gotten some media attention in the positive way. But if I see people giving him a hard time because of his age, I may be slapping the #ubaldouche tag as a reminder to wake up and give the guy a chance.

* The #ubaldouche tag refers to Ubaldo Jimenez, our pitcher who, while had a good first half of 2010, underperformed in 2011 because he betrayed the team. He’s also the first guy I was thinking of in my introduction.

Under further review

The Rockies ended up winning their 2nd series this week against the San Diego Padres. Moyer did get his first win, and subsequently is getting calls from everyone, including Cooperstown. The latter involves a donation of cap and glove, which will be donated soon. Wednesday, they won 8-4, again leading to another Taco day today.

Incidently, when the Rockies have scored 5 or more runs, they are 6-0. When they have scored less than 5 runs, their record is 0-6. That makes them 6-6, or an even .500. I could go all Purple Row on you and pull up sabermetrics, but I guess the moral of the story is that when the Rockies score runs, we win, right? I’ll take that bet in Vegas. :)

Up on deck

The Rockies have the day off as they are traveling to Milwaukee this weekend, and then to Pittsburgh to start next week. I should have a blog before Monday’s 5:05pm start time. But do enjoy your tacos today between 4 and 6pm to celebrate another win, and Moyer’s win.

Sliding home

Plenty of Moyer quotes to pull up, but I think this one tweeted by Andrew Fisher (@PoseidonsFist) says it best:

“Baseball is my life. It’s pretty much all I know.” – Jamie Moyer, choking up a bit after the game.

Baseball, Football, Rockies , , , , , , , ,

Un-freaking-believable

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Tumblr
  • Add to favorites
  • Email
  • RSS

Grand Slam

On Sunday morning, I was checking my iPhone for my e-mail. I got this interesting message as I am on West 38th Avenue, headed home via Coors Field. In case you didn’t get it, this is what it said:

Read more »

Baseball, National League, Rockies , , , , , , , , , , , ,

The proper start

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Tumblr
  • Add to favorites
  • Email
  • RSS

Grand Slam

This is the start that should have been on Monday. There’s no doubt in our minds that Monday stunk worse than Greeley. So, I declare it a mulligan day. What, we have to count all 162 games? Okay, I’ll just ignore it for now.

Yes, I did go to this game. This was supposed to be my first game, had I not gotten tickets to Monday’s game at the last minute. And this time, it felt like a charm. I was (sorta) well rested, and (sorta) prepared for it. The weather was (sorta) ready for the game. But the Rockies were fully ready to come out of the game determined to be on the top. And boy, was it reversed compared to that… oh I’m not thinking, nor am I listening. (puts Q-tips in ears) Yes I’m a brat.

Highlight of the game

There are a lot of them. Despite not having any home runs by the Rockies, they proved that they can actually hit and score without them. I’ll leave my highlight to Ramon Hernandez in the 5th. He got a routine RBI single to right, but Cuddyer got stuck in a rundown between 3rd and home, which enabled Hernadez to run his way to 3rd. Cuddyer became safe at home, so you can score another RBI for that.

Now there were other highlights, and I could add any ball that went between Melky Cabrera and Angel Pagan in left center field. The Rox hit that gap at least 3 times, 2 of them were back-to-back. Melky finally realized he might want to stand a bit more to his right. But he didn’t last longer than the end of that inning, being lifted by Theriot. (Yeah, I was sitting in the LF pavilion). Then there was the 11-batter 5th, where we put up 7 runs. And, oh yeah, Tim Lincecum was gone after a touch after 2 innings. Except for the 6th and 7th (and 9th which was not needed), the Rockies scored in every inning.

Schmuck moment

The schmuck moment is courtesy of the 6th inning. See, the 5th was too long, that the fans got drunk and did the wave in the 6th. WHY? THERE’S NO ROOM FOR THE WAVE AT A BASEBALL GAME! Okay, rant is over. But the later the game went, the more drunk the fans became–even yelling schmuck comments at Cabrera, CarGo, and Theriot. Yeah, you got that right: our own player was involved when he was in the field. Schmuck.

The runner up goes to the 4th inning where Jeremy Guthrie, who was decent till this point, gave up a pair of back-to-back homers to start the inning. He would end up being replaced shortly after that, giving only a 3.1 inning start. Normally not a great sign, at least he was off the hook for win/loss record.

Absurd moment

Tyler Chatwood, a pitcher I feared when he came out in the top of the 7th, settled down after his initial home run. But the absurd moment was not during the game, but after the game ended: he got a save. It’s an obscure rule that grants pitchers with a save if they pitch for the last 2 consecutive innings. Okay, he had 3, but there was nothing for him to save with an 8-9 run lead. This is why the save rule is meaningless.

Final notes

Yes, this is the first Tacos game, and it was earned in the 4th inning. That’s right, CarGo has your tacos! (4 tacos for $2 between 4-6pm today.) Too bad we can’t sweeten the deal since we ended up with 17 runs.

The weather had part of a role before the game, causing batting practice to stop early with rain and lightning threats. It also had a brief downpour during the top of the 5th inning. And then again about 45 minutes after the game. (But by that time, I was on my way home.) In each case, you have to remember the Colorado Mantra: “If you don’t like the weather, wait 10 minutes.”

Speaking of weather, when the rain comes down, I’ve had to stop scoring and enjoy the game. Not this year. Even when the rain came down, I did close my book and put it away. But I kept scoring with the K-force lite app. It’s a great app. Though with the game, I have to fix a few mistakes that I might have caught with my book. And one of the Fielder’s Choice plays was hard to fix, though I got that corrected. And with that long top 4th and bottom 5th, I had to use my backup battery and quit tweeting till after the game. But it still worked.

Up on deck

The Rockies will play today at 1:10pm vs. the Giants. Then they play the Diamondbacks at home this weekend. My next game is on Monday night, so if you want to say hi, I’ll be at the ballpark at 4:45pm for batting practice.

I’ll start to post some pics of the game soon. I have some of everything, from field to rain to Dinger.

Sliding home

I’ll use @TroyRenck’s tweet since this is relevant:

The 11 extra-base hits without a HR is a#Rockies’ record, according to team

As long as we can score and win, I’m happy.

Baseball, National League, Rockies , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Open home

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Tumblr
  • Add to favorites
  • Email
  • RSS

ʞaught looking

I had another blog post ready, but I’ll postpone it to another day. But today is supposed to be a great day. I managed to get tickets to today’s Rockies game. Our home opener. I have never been to an opening day game before. And in Club Level? (for those asking, I got a deal at half price.) I wouldn’t miss it for the world.

And yet, today was… in a word, frustrating. Remember my experience when I had problems with At Bat this spring? Yeah, that’s how I felt today. It’s weird, but it was the case. Read more »

Uncategorized