"I Wanted To Be A Rockie"

The Rockies made 3 big moves this week:


1. Traded for Jose Lopez, a utility infielder with a good bat.

2. Extended Troy Tulowitzki's contract out to 2020

3. Re-signed Free Agent Jorge De La Rosa to a 2 year deal with options for 2013 and 2014.


Any deal will get criticized and many times praised, but the fact that the Rockies went out and got it done with Tulo and "George" shows that they are committed to try to build a winner.


While the National Press is obsessed with the saga of Derek Jeter and the Yankees, the Rockies have gone out and created a more solid core base of players for the next 4 years without paying outlandish sums to bring players here.


We won't try to claim De La Rosa is Roy Halladay or Cliff Lee, or C.C. Sabathia, but Jorge is a good fit as a starter for the Rockies, and when he stays within himself, can have long outings, and possibly win 15 games as the #2 pitcher behind potential 20 game winner Ubaldo Jimenez.


Meanwhile the emerging leader of the team as Todd Helton's replacement is more and more Tulowitzki. He had a rough year in 2008, but has matured over the past two years, and deserves the extension. That he was willing to commit to Colorado long term, says a lot about what this Franchise and this region offers to players.


The most significant quote was Jorge De La Rosa saying "I wanted to be a Rockie" speaks volumes about what this means to the future of pitching here. 10 years ago, the Rockies had to pay enormous sums to get players to come here and most of them flopped. Now we have a pitcher who could have gone East, albeit to current non-contenders Pittsburgh and Washington, who decided to come back and face the trials and tribulations of pitching here.

Saving the Worst For Last

A major league baseball season is a collection of 162 games, the composite results of which determine your standing. As Rockies fans have found out over the past few years, a bad stretch is not something that is insurmountable by a good stretch somewhere else. An 18-27 start in 2007 and a 20-32 start in 2009 were overcome by prolonged good stretches elsewhere in the season.

2010 on the other hand, never got that horrendous start, but never had the prolonged stretch of winning either, without a corresponding bad part. Part of that was because of the Jekyll and Hyde facet of their Road vs. Home performance--even more pronounced than usual. In the end there was just one winning road trip and one losing home stand.

Injuries are a factor, but then they always are. Having 4 of 5 starters and the closer down early didn't allow the Rockies to get a good feel for the rotation until about mid-season. Last year's amazing success of the starters avoiding injury, wasn't going to happen again, but 2010 was the Yang to last year's Yin. Perhaps 2011 will be somewhere in-between.

The injuries did lead to us Rockies fans getting a glimpse of the future. Jhoulys Chacin, Esmil Rogers, and Greg Smith had significant starts, and the 22 year-old Chacin looks like a mainstay in the Rotation going into 2011. We also got extended looks at Eric Young, Jr., Johnny Herrera, as well as a glimpse of Chris Nelson, and Michael McKenry.

This team was projected to win the NL West by a lot of the experts, and came up short. You will hear a lot of blame going to Dan O'Dowd for not making a move in July when San Diego and San Francisco were getting help. But looking at the Transactions San Francisco made, there were no major players, except for possibly Jose Guillen on the bench. They also take a starting lineup into the postseason with 5 of the 8 over 30. Their pitching staff is still rather young, but they will need to rebuild the offense around Posey and Sandoval in the next few years.

Meanwhile, the Padres major move in July got them Miguel Tejada and Ryan Ludwick. The Padres led the giants by 3.5 games on July 29th, but with their moves have gone 28-31 and will miss the playoffs again.

But even without the help of July trades, the Rockies still made a run, albeit late, and ran out of gas too soon. But they did not mortgage the future for one Division Title. They are 21-15 since August 22 6.5 games better than the Padres who were in 1st place at the time, and only 1.5 games worse than the Giants in that span.

The Rockies gave us excitement this year--a no-hitter by Ubaldo Jimenez who also flirted with 20 wins, and Cy Young; a 9 run ninth inning against the Cardinals to complete a 6-run deficit comeback win; A 12 Run inning against the Cubs all scoring with 2 outs; Troy Tulowitzki's Sizzling September; and Carlos Gonzalez' breakout year and contending for the Triple Crown.

There are certainly moves to makes and evaluations to consider, and I'll look at those later, but as disappointing as the finish has been, the 2010 Rockies leave behind a lot of great memories for us.

Sprint to The Finish

Baseball has long been described as a marathon, not a sprint, but with two weeks left in the season, it becomes a sprint to the finish for teams like the Rockies.

Despite the trip up in LA yesterday, the Rockies are positioned well if they can turn on the afterburners to the finish. Because they have been on a roll the past couple of miles, the question becomes do they have enough gas left for the finish?

The NL West Title is looking more and more the likely scenario for the Rockies to get to the Playoffs. The Rockies fell 3.5 games off the Braves pace for the Wild Card over the weekend. The Braves could trip up especially with 6 games left against their NL East opponent the Phillies, however, the Rockies like in 2009 should focus on the West regardless.

One thing many people have overlooked is that the Rockies have shaved 10 games off the Padres lead in 4 weeks. On August 22, the Rockies trailed the Padres by 11. Now they trail them by 1, an incredible move, although in 2007 with their 14 of 15 sprint, they gained 9 games on the NY Mets who although in 1st place in the NL East at this point, eventually fell behind the Phillies, Padres and Rockies to allow the Rockies play the tiebreaker with San Diego. And that all took place in two weeks.

This year from this point it doesn't take a miracle finish, all they have to do is play 2 games better than both the Giants and the Padres and their first NL West Title will be theirs.

Do they have it in them to accomplish that? Stay tuned for the final sprint in the marathon.

Rockies 2011 Schedule

The Rockies have released the full 2011 Tentative Schedule:

The Series (all series 3 games unless noted in Parenthesis)
April 1-3 Arizona
April 5-6 L.A. Dodgers (2)

April 7-10 at Pittsburgh (4)
April 11-14 at N.Y. Mets (4)

April 15-17 Chicago Cubs
April 18-20 San Francisco

April 22-24 at Florida
April 25-27 at Chicago Cubs

April 29-May 1 Pittsburgh

May 3-5 at Arizona
May 6-8 at San Francisco

May 9-11 N.Y. Mets
May 13-15 San Diego
May 16-17 San Francisco (2)

May 18-19 at Philadelphia (2)
May 20-22 at Milwaukee

May 24-26 Arizona
May 27-29 St. Louis

May 30-June 1 at L.A. Dodgers
June 3-5 at San Francisco
June 6-8 at San Diego

June 9-12 L.A. Dodgers (4)
June 13-15 San Diego
June 17-19 Detroit

June 20-22 at Cleveland
June 24-26 at N.Y. Yankees

June 28-30 Chicago White Sox
July 1-3 Kansas City

July 4-7 at Atlanta (4)
July 8-10 at Washington

July 12 All-Star Game at Phoenix

July 14-17 Milwaukee (4)
July 18-21 Atlanta (4)

July 22-24 at Arizona
July 25-27 at L.A. Dodgers
July 29-31 at San Diego

Aug. 1-3 Philadelphia
Aug. 4-7 Washington (4)

Aug. 8-11 at Cincinnati (4)
Aug. 12-14 at St. Louis

Aug. 15-17 Florida
Aug. 19-21 L.A. Dodgers
Aug. 22-24 Houston

Aug. 26-28 at L.A. Dodgers
Aug. 29-31 at Arizona
Sept. 2-4 at San Diego

Sept. 5-7 Arizona
Sept. 9-11 Cincinnati

Sept. 13-14 at Milwaukee

Sept. 15-18 San Francisco (4)
Sept. 19-21 San Diego

Sept. 22-25 at Houston (4)
Sept. 26-28 at San Francisco

More analysis later...

Now it Gets Very Interesting

After struggling so long on the road this season, the Rockies have finally found their bats and have now won 7 in a row on the road all against NL West Opponents. Of course one very big bat in Troy Tulowitzki is only part of the story. Carlos Gonzalez, Melvin Mora, Jason Giambi, and Todd Helton are all starting to deliver again.

It's almost as if the antithesis of everything that went wrong in the first 120 games is all bottled into the final 40 games. Although it's not quite in the Rockies hands, a big finish say at 10-4 could very well put them in the playoffs, with a little bit of help, from other teams.

Cautious Optimism

The Rockies are riding a 7 game winning streak and have won 14 of the past 18 after knocking off the Reds today to complete a sweep of the 1st place Reds. They can't afford a let down now as the last place D-Backs come to town while the Padres and Giants play 4 in San Diego meaning with every win, they will pick up ground on one of the two teams ahead of them. San Diego then comes to Denver next week which puts the Rockies in a head to head to make a move on first place.

Meanwhile the Dodgers are fading and are now 7.5 games behind the Rockies which gives the Rockies an excellent chance to finish ahead of the Dodgers for only the 2nd time in their history.

The Cardinals and Atlanta also have a 4 game series in Atlanta. The more games the Cards can win helps the Rockies in the Wild Card Race.

Lots of possibilities remain for both Playoff berths, but the Rockies need to continue the roll they are on especially while they are home.

Total Collapse by the Padres???

In my last post,I put a caveat in "barring a total collapse by the Padres". Scratch that now. The total collapse of the Padres over the last two weeks, has allowed the Giants to get within 1 of the NL West Lead, and the Rockies have gotten to within 4.5 games with 4 weeks to go. The Padres have only one off day the rest of the year (Sept 20). The amazing thing about their 10 game losing streak is that 7 of the 10 have been at home. The 2nd most amazing thing about the losing streak is that 4 of the losses have been to last place Arizona.

The Rockies have another big week ahead of them. Although at home they have to play 4 against the Central Leaders Reds, before playing 3 against Arizona, while the Padres and Giants are trading blows for first place in 4 games this weekend. Before that the Padres play the Dodgers, while the Giants play 3 in Arizona early in the week.

The Rockies still have a long way to go, but they can't afford any more 3 game skids like they did last week in San Fran and the make-up game with the Phils. Granted they picked off the first game by the bay, but had they pulled out one of the other two, and avoided the disastrous 7th inning against the Phillies, they'd only be 2.5 games out of first and in much better shape.

If anything the stop in Denver helped them pick up their bats for San Diego.

It's not over yet, folks, but the run needs to happen now.

In the Rockies Hands

The Rockies are hardly in control of their own destiny, but they get to have a huge say in a lot of destinies including their own. Of their final 39 games (which started last Monday) the Rockies play 24 of them against teams that are currently either in 1st or 2nd place in their divisions, and 9 others against the Dodgers who are currently breathing down the Rockies back. Only the 6 remaining games against the D-Backs are the only games that aren't in the race.

This of course could be a benefit or a curse. I'm sure the NL East 2nd Place Phillies were ecstatic that the Rockies swept the NL East Leaders, Braves at Coors this week, but at the same time the Phillies managed to lose a half game on the Braves by getting swept by the pitiful Houston Astros IN PHILADELPHIA.

My advice for the Rockies is to go out and play the games. Concentrate only on the games you play, the rest of the results you have no control over.

The NL West title is in all reality out of reach barring a total collapse by the Padres (and they have 29 games against contending teams), so we may become Padres fans when they take on the Phillies this weekend, and have 7 games remaining with the Giants, but also play the Cards and Reds. The Reds have 25 games against non-contenders while the Cards have 22 Non-contender games, but the cards have 14 of their next 17 on the road (including last night's 13 inning loss to Washington). Looking objectively at the schedule though, the Reds and Cards have the inside track to both teams making the playoffs as the Central winner and the Wild Card in either order.

But then again, that's why the games are played on the field.

A Word About Brad Hawpe

One of the things, we as Rockies fans will have to get used to is the fact that we won't have a lot of long term players. It's not because the Owners are cheap, it's the business model that seems to work for constrained budgets in MLB. As soon as you go outside that plan and sign too many players to long-term contracts, rather than bring prospects up, it usually requires a major rebuild--see the Pittsburgh Pirates, Oakland A's and even the early 2000's Rockies.

That said, it is still tough to see Brad Hawpe just get released, going from All-Star to released in 13 months is an incredible downfall. I wish Hawpe well--he's a class act, but I'm also glad the Rockies didn't go out and spend a lot on a long-term contract for him.

Get a Grip

When I "opened" the morning paper (I get it via Kindle), I read where one writer said (hopefully, facetiously) that because of the Rockies road woes (Currently 23-36) they would have to win their remaining Home games--All of them. I can state unequivocally right now that that will not happen, so let's look at the reality of where the Rockies are.

First off, it's definitely not good. In 2007 they were 6 games out of first and 3 games out of the Wild Card. In 2009 they were 5 games out of first and 1.5 games ahead in the Wild Card. This year they are 8.5 games out of first and 5 games out of the Wild Card.

The Rockies desperately need a run of wins, which is not just a winning streak but a prolonged period of time winning, something like the Phillies 16-4 streak prior to last night, which pretty much started with the sweep of the Rockies (after a getaway win in St. Louis) or the 20-3 record the Rockies ran off last year in June. Or even the 21-1 record they had at the end of 2007.

The good news is if they have any kind of a run they will be doing it at the expense of the NL West, where 33 of their remaining 47 games remain. Of course, NOT getting on some kind of run means they get buried. The Rockies have had spurts of good Pitching and Good Hitting at different parts of the season. They haven't gotten them both going at the same time.

Let's also look at the Road Record. It is true they have not had a winning road trip, but that just tells me that a team this good won't go through the whole season without a winning road trip. They have 4 left (ignoring the makeup game with Philadelphia in Denver on September 2nd. 3 trips are against the West and the final one in St. Louis.

And if you take out the disaster that was the 2-9 road trip, the Rockies are 21-27 on the Road. Their other Road trips were 1-2, 3-4, 4-5, 3-4, 3-3, 1-2, 3-3, and 3-4.

It's definitely a cross roads for the Rockies, and hopefully they will respond positively, but it also may not be their year, which would be a shame after all the big moments of this season.

The Road Woes

The Rockies have never been a good road team. Except for 2007 and 2009, they have never been anywhere close to .500 on the road. The biggest surprise of 2009 was the Rockies actually got kick-started on the road to the Wild Card on the road by winning the first 8 of their season high 11 game winning streak on an 11 game road trip. After dropping 3 in a row to Houston, they salvaged the last game, then swept 4 in St. Louis and 3 in Milwaukee.

Hopes were high this year as the Rockies headed into the All-Star break winning 8 of 10 at home and embarking on the season's longest road trip of 11. The Rockies of course, tanked it, losing 3 of the first 5, then dropping the final 6, to take them to 20-32 on the road.

The Rockies are gangbusters at home, winning 36 of 55 at home. Even if they were to continue that pace the rest of the season (18-8) they would finish 75-60, without the 27 remaining road games.

Simplified, they would need to go 15-12 on the road to hit 90 wins, which is always my target for the Wild Card slot. 20-7 and they would have 95 wins, and a probable NL West title as 18 of their remaining road games are against the NL West. A big road kick now would be huge.

Which brings up another point. The NL West still has 44% of their composite games against each other (79 intra-division games of 180 total for the season). That means there are 158 decisions to be made in direct competition with the West. Each team has 30-33 remaining games vs. the West. There are also 78 composite games against the Central Division with the Padres having the most at 21. The Dodgers have the most games remaining against the East with 13 of the 32 composite games left.

The Padres probably have the most favorable schedule left although they still have two 9 game road trips each going to two other time zones. The Rockies don't go East of the Mississippi after this road trip, and play all their games, except the season finale series against St. Louis in the Mountain and Pacific Time Zones.

The Wild, Wild West

The Rockies are finally hitting as expected, and had two tremendous comebacks against the Cardinals while the Giants pounded Milwaukee, bringing the NL West closer to a true four-team race.

The last weekend prior to the All-Star break brings the first-place San Diego Padres to town to face the (finally) hit-stroking Rockies. It includes the return of Jorge De La Rosa to the rotation, which would finally bring the Rockies planned 2010 Rotation to Full Strength. (My personal preference for the rotation after the AS Break--De La Rosa, Jimenez, Hammel, Francis, Cook). The Rockies are currently tied with the Mets for the Wild Card lead, but have a chance to chase down the Padres with another sweep. So far this year the Rockies lead the Series with San Diego 6-3.

A lot of local discussion lately has centered on whether Ubaldo Jimenez should start the All-Star game. He will certainly pitch early in the game regardless. The bigger travesty is that Catcher Miguel Olivo won't even be on the roster. I used to love the All-Star game, but they now have bigger rosters and seemingly more undeserving players going than ever. Why Votto wasn't on the roster to begin with was beyond me. Arguably he's better than Pujols this year, Votto certainly should have been picked over Gonzalez or Howard. And did they seriously only pick one player from the Padres for this game (Prior to Heath Bell Being Added)?

The Current Run

You can only look back from the future. For all the belly aching on the radio and in the paper about the Rockies struggles scoring runs, blown bullpen outings, and the need to shake things up if the players don't respond, you have to look at reality once in a while.

Here are some things you wouldn't know if you only listened to the naysayers:

1. Rockies are in a tie for 3rd Place with the Dodgers in the NL West 4 games behind the Padres. In 2009 at this point they were in 3rd, but were 10 games behind the Dodgers.

2. The Rockies are still a game ahead of last year's pace at 38-33. After 71 games last year, the Rockies were 37-34. After 72 they were 37-35.

3. Last year through 71 games, the Rockies scored 4 runs or less in 35 games, and were 9-26. This year they have 7 more games with 4 or fewer runs and have won all 7 for a 16-26 record.

4. Last year as with this year through 71 games, the Rockes held their opponent to 4 runs or fewer 43 times. This year they have 2 more wins at 33-10 vs. 31-12 last year.

5. Since May 19, the Rockies have compiled a 19-12 record (.613) 3rd best in the National League. Only the Mets and Braves have better records over that period of time.

This not to say, there are no concerns, but it's certainly not time to overreact and panic. Fortunately, the writers and talk show hosts don't make the personnel decisions.

A Big Stretch

The Rockies enter an opportune time to make a move in the NL West race. Over the next 5 weeks leading up to the All-Star Break, the Rockies have 3 Homestands and two Road Trips. That's 23 of the next 32 at home. In the first two months of the season the Rockies have only played 24 home games and 32 on the Road. The Rockies can use this stretch to get their bats back and get some consistency on defense.

After the All-star Break the Rockies have an 11 game road trip and 25 out of 36 on the road.

Week in Review May 24-30

The Rockies swept the D-Backs and lost 2 out of 3 against the Dodgers to have a 4-2 home stand for the week. The Rockies outscored their opponents 36-19. Meanwhile The Padres went 4-2, The Giants were 5-1, Dodgers were 3-3 while the D-Backs were winless at 0-6.

This week the Rockies take to the road against the West including their first trip of the year to Phoenix completing a 12 game stretch. After this week, only 9 games remain against the West until August.

Results:
May 25--D-backs 2 ROCKIES 3
May 26--D-Backs 3 ROCKIES 7
May 27--D-Backs 2 ROCKIES 8
May 28--DODGERS 5 Rockies 4
May 29--Dodgers 3 ROCKIES 11
May 30--DODGERS 4 Rockies 3

This Week:
May 31--Rockies @ Giants
June 1--Rockies @ Giants
June 2--Rockies @ Giants
June 4--Rockies @ D-Backs
June 5--Rockies @ D-Backs
June 6--Rockies @ D-Backs

PLAYER OF THE WEEKCarlos Gonzalez got back on track hitting .421 including 3 HR's and knocking in 5 with 2 Swipes.

PITCHER OF THE WEEKIn 1972, I watched what up to this year was one of the most impressive pitching performances, when Steve Carlton won 27 games for a Phillies team that won only 59 games in total and had a 1.97 ERA. Whether Ubaldo Jimenez can get anywhere near 27 wins is doubtful, but his dominance so far this season is amazing. He threw 8 shutout innings against the D-Backs to lower his ERA to 0.88 and is now 9-1 after 10 starts.

How Sweep It Is!

All is right in the Rockies world as the Rockies accomplished 5 things it hadn't before in the 2010 season: 1. Winning streak longer than 3 (Currently 5), 2. A series sweep, 3. Hit A high water mark (so-far) of 3 games above .500, 4. Hit Back-to-back-to-back Home Runs and 5. Won at home on a Thursday, (Previously lost to the Mets on 4/15 and the D-Backs on 4/29.)

The Rockies are scoring runs, pounding Home Runs, and getting great pitching and defense for a few games and all the fretting is over (at least until they lose a game or two again.)

The Rockies dispatched the Arizona D-Backs in 3 games with the starting pitching trio of Jhoulys Chacin, Ubaldo Jimenez and Jason Hammel, combining to give up 4 runs in 19 1/3 innings (1.86 ERA) walking 5 and striking out 16.


Jeff Francis, Aaron Cook and Chacin face the Dodgers this weekend in a series that could move the Rockies into 2nd place in the Division.

Ubaldo Jiminez will start on Monday, giving him a chance to get his 10th win in the first two months of the Season. Is it possible for him to get two straight NL Pitcher of the Month awards with a 4-1 record and 0.973 ERA and 30 K's? Other contenders, Johnny Cueto, Cincinnati Cincinnati 5-0, 1.846 ERA 40 K's, Mat Latos, San Diego, 3-1, 1.286 and 29 K's, and Jonathon Broxton, Los Angeles with 1-0 and 10 saves 2.189 ERA and 12 K's.

Troy Tulowitzki has 5 HR in his last 7 games, after hitting 1 in the first 40.

Week in Review May 17-23

The Rockies salvaged a 3-4 week and Road Trip by winning the last two games against the Royals in Kansas City. Elsewhere in the Division, this week's two opponents, the D-Backs and the Dodgers were 5-2, while the Padres went 4-3. The Giants were a dismal 1-6 for the week. The Rockies currently reside in 4th place in the NL West 4 games behind the Padres, 3 behind the Dodgers, .5 behind the Giants and 2.5 games ahead of the D-Backs. The Rockies spend the next two weeks battling NL West opponents.


Results:
May 17--Rockies 2 CUBS 4 (11 Innings)
May 18--Rockies 2 CUBS 6
May 19--Rockies 3 ASTROS 7
May 20--ROCKIES 4 Astros 0
May 21--Rockies 2 ROYALS 9
May 22--ROCKIES 3 Royals 0
May 23--ROCKIES 11 Royals 7

This Week--
May 25--D-Backs @ Rockies
May 26--D-Backs @ Rockies
May 27--D-Backs @ Rockies
May 28--Dodgers @ Rockies
May 29--Dodgers @ Rockies
May 30--Dodgers @ Rockies

PLAYER OF THE WEEK Troy Tulowitzki has hardly been in a slump this year, but he broke out some power last week hitting 3 home runs on the road. For the week Tulo was 10 for 28 (.357) with 3 dingers and 6 RBI's.

PITCHER OF THE WEEK Ubaldo and Francis had more great starts, but this week we are going to cite Manuel Corpas who has assumed the temporary closer role with gusto over the past couple weeks. Last week he threw for 3 innings and got a save.

STAT OF THE WEEK Rockies catchers lead the majors in caught stealing so far with 17 stops, and have thrown out 45% of 38 Steal attempts. Meanwhile Rockies pitchers have picked off 11 others. Smith, Hammel, Francis and Beimel each lead the team with 2 so far.

Four and Under

Jim Tracy mentioned yesterday that the Rockies had scored 4 runs or less in the past 8 games, but were still 4-4 during that stretch.

One way I track the Rockies results is by breaking them into runs scored and runs against groupings. One such grouping is 4 and Under.

This year the Rockies have had 25 games in which they scored 4 or fewer runs. They are 9-16 during those games. For comparison, in 2009, they had 24 games to this point where they had scored 4 and fewer runs, and wer 5-19 during those games.

The converse of this is to look at the games in which you hold your opponents to 4 and fewer runs. The Rockies in 2010 have done this 24 times and are 19-5 in those games vs. 23 games in 2009 where they were 14-9.

One thing I said about the Rockies, when I first came to Denver in 1997 during the heydays of the Blake Street Bombers, was that the Rockies were going to have to learn to win low scoring games, 1-0, 2-1, 3-2, 4-2, 2-0, 3-1. It seems they are finally getting to that point. in 14 of the 25 games where the Rockies have scored 4 or fewer runs, they have also kept their opponent 4 or under, with 6 other games where the opponent has scored 5.

Eventually the hitting will break out with regularity and the Fast Food stand will be giving out Tacos all too frequently, but for now, take the positive of the team learning to win low scoring games.

When the Rockies have scored 5 or more runs, they are 12-6.

Week in Review May 10-16

The Rockies got above .500 for the first time in 3 weeks on Sunday, completing a 4-2 rain-soaked broken schedule home stand to end up 19-18. The significance of 19 wins prior to game 46 has been an obstacle to the Rockies in the past 3 seasons, as every year after game 45, the Rockies had an 18-27 record. Meanwhile the Dodgers completed a 6-0 road sweep of Arizona and San Diego, Arizona went 1-5, San Francisco and San Diego were 3-3.

Results:

May 10--PHILLIES 9 Rockies 5
May 11--Phillies @ Rockies PPD
May 12--Phillies 3 ROCKIES 4 (10 Innings, 1st Game)
May 12--Phillies @ Rockies 2nd Game PPD
May 13--Nationals 14 Rockies 6 (8 Innings, Rain)
May 14--Nationals @ Rockies PPD
May 15--Nationals 2 ROCKIES 6 1st Game
May 15--Nationals 3 ROCKIES 4 2nd Game
May 16--Nationals 1 Rockies 2

This Week
May 17--Rockies @ Chicago
May 18--Rockies @ Chicago
May 19--Rockies @ Houston
May 20--Rockies @ Houston
May 21--Rockies @ Kansas City
May 22--Rockies @ Kansas City
May 23--Rockies @ Kansas City


PLAYER OF THE WEEKMiguel Olivo hit a Home Run to win Wednesday's game with the Phillies. He then went on to hit 2 more home runs during the week. He drove in 6 runs including one Sunday on a Sacrifice Fly. For the week Miguel went 9 for 18 to bat .500.

PITCHER OF THE WEEK Ubaldo Jimenez probably had the best start of the week, but this week's award has to go to Jeff Francis whose long-awaited return came Sunday, before 40,000+ fans. Jeff let the first batter he faced score, but then shut down the Nationals over 7 innings.

STAT OF THE WEEK Of the 179 runs the Rockies have scored this year, nearly 50% (88) of them are in the first 3 innings and only 19% (34) have been scored after the 6th. Last year they scored 32% in the first 3 and 32% after the 6th with 36% of their runs in the middle innings. But after 37 games last year, the percentages were 38%, 34% 28%

Marking Time

It's always funny watching the reactions of fans to the day to day ups and downs of a sports team, but it's even funnier to watch sports reporters especially the beat reporters do it.

After Olivo's HR beat the Phillies they latched onto Jim Tracy's "turning point" comment and mused about the coming good times. And after the Rockies literally got swamped by the Nationals last night, it's all about the starting pitching, and any momentum from Wednesday is gone, ignoring the fact that the Bullpen gave up 8 of the 14 runs in what I will refer to as "the game that should have never started."

First of all here is the "Turning Point" comment according to Dave Krieger of the Post: "There are games that spearhead a club and trigger a club in the direction that you know it's more than capable of going," Tracy said. "And this one may be just that one that we were looking for. We're not at full strength just yet, but as I've said, nobody's complaining about it."

Key words: "may be". Or "Maybe not".

Truth is, the Rockies have neither been sensational or awful in the first 6 weeks. Over the first 34 games, they have never been better than 2 games over .500 and never worse than 2 games under .500. Their longest winning streak has been 3 games, and their longest losing streak is also 3 games. They have yet sweep a series, but have yet to be swept.

You could say the Rockies have no real direction so far.

The Starting Rotation should get back to some semblance of order this weekend, dropping out Greg Smith and adding Jason Hammel and Jeff Francis. Give them each a couple of starts, see how Chacin rebounds in his next start and by the time the Rockies return from Kansas City next weekend, we'll have a better idea about the direction they are going.

PHANTOM TRANSACTIONS It was reported Wednesday in the MLB Transaction report that Hammel had been activated from the DL and then Mora was on the DL saving Eric Young from being sent to the minors. It turns out now that EY is going on the DL. But none of the above transactions have actually taken place (although the first two appear in the Rockies Transactions on their website


When all is said and done though, the Rockies current 25 Man Roster is this:
Starting Pitchers
Jimenez,
Cook,
Chacin,
Rogers,
Smith,

Relief Pitchers
Beimel,
Belisle,
Daley,
Betancourt,
Flores,
Corpas

Catchers
Olivo,
Phillips

Infielders
Helton,
Barmes,
Tulowitzki,
Stewart,
Giambi,
Mora

Outfielders
Gonzalez,
Fowler,
Hawpe,
Smith,
Spillborghs,
Young

Hammel and Francis should be added this weekend with Young, and one of the relievers deactivating.

Five For Five

Prior to today, Miguel Olivo had had 5 hits in one game. It was back in 2007 when his team at the time, the Florida Marlins, took on his future team the Kansas City Royals. Olivo, had 3 singles and two Doubles in that game drove in a run and scored another as the Marlins won 9-8. Also noteworthy 3 of his hits including both doubles came against current teammate, Jorge De La Rosa.

Wednesday in what was to be the 1st game of a twin bill, Miguel Olivo again had 5 hits in one game including the 10th inning game winning home run that ended it. Once again he had a run and a RBI and also had a double. This time his first 3 hits, 2 Singles and a Double came off one of the best pitchers in the game, Roy Halladay. The game had to be a big boost to Olivo, who had gone 2 for 28 prior to the game.

Tonight's game was Postponed because of the weather, and looking at the schedule, the best date to make it up would be September 2nd, when the Phillies will be returning home from a West Coast Road trip and the Rockies will be in the middle of a trip to California. The one hitch with that date is that it would require the Phillies to play 23 straight days which would require a waiver from the players. The other possible date would be August 2nd, when the Rockies are already home and the Phillies are on the road between Washington and Miami, but that would put both teams beyond the three weeks without an off day rule.

Week in Review May 3-9

The Rockies recovered in the 5th week and salvaged a 3-3 finish in the final 6 games of the longest road trip of the first half. Their two opponents the Padres and the Dodgers also went 3-3, while the D-Backs had the only losing record at 3-4 while the Giants went 4-2.

Results:
May 3--ROCKIES 5 Padres 2
May 4--Rockies 2 PADRES 3
May 5--ROCKIES 6 Padres 5 (12 Innings)
May 7--Rockies 5 DODGERS 6
May 8--ROCKIES 8 Dodgers 0
May 9--Rockies 0 DODGERS 2

This Week
May 10--Phillies @ Rockies
May 11--Phillies @ Rockies
May 12--Phillies @ Rockies
May 13--Nationals @ Rockies
May 14--Nationals @ Rockies
May 15--Nationals @ Rockies
May 16--Nationals @ Rockies


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PLAYER OF THE WEEK:It took 6 games on the road trip, but the Rockies finally had a Home Run in the 12th inning at San Diego. Ian Stewart went on to hit another one on Saturday. For the week Stewart batted .352 with 5 RBI.

PITCHER OF THE WEEK: Ubaldo Jimenez finally lost a game, but for one bad bounce, he could have left another game giving up 0 runs. Ubaldo pitched twice going 7 innings in each, giving up 2 runs (one in each game), and struck out 18 total in the two games. But you still have to mention the outing by Jhoulys Chacin who followed his first start with 7 1/3 innings, 6 hits and striking out 7.

STAT OF THE WEEK Ian Stewart not only has all 6 of his home runs hit on the Road this year, but all of his extra base hits have been on the road including 4 doubles and a triple.

Mile Post 1/6

One of my favorite ways to measure a baseball season is in 6ths. One reason is that it's a significant number of games (27) and divides evenly into the 162 game schedule. Unlike 1/4 which is 40.5 games, 1/3 which is 54 games or halves at 81 games, it essentially breaks the season into full months.

The Rockies passed the 1/6th mark of the 2010 season on Tuesday night, compiling a 13-14 record in the first month of the season. It's their best start at the 1/6th mark since 2006 when they were 15-12. The past 3 seasons, they were 11-16 at 27 games into the season.

The Rockies are currently 3-3 on their California swing and longest Road trip of the first half. After the weekend series in LA, the Rockies will have 7 home 7 away, 6 home, 6 away and 13 of 16 at home. Altogether that's 26 of 42 at home. They are also 4-5 on this 12 game stretch against the West (and 6-6 for the season). They will take another two week break from the West before playing an additional 12 games against their division foes.

You have to like the approach the Rockies took to get runs in San Francisco and San Diego. It started Friday Night with Eric Young and Carlos Gonzalez stealing bases in the 1st inning. It paid off on Sunday, when Jason Giambi stole a base, and Melvin Mora tried to score on a Paul Phillips single to Left, but Spilborghs got cut down on a cutoff. Then on Monday, Helton attempting a bunt, and Tulowitzki following it up with a successful bunt, that put two runners in position to score on a single by Gonzalez.

It doesn't always pay off right now, but that is the kind of adaptive strategy that can win some ballgames over the course of the season that could make the diffence in the standings. It shows that these players are willing to do what it takes to win ball games, and not just try to jack balls out of the park.

Speaking of Home Runs, Ian Stewart's dinger in the 12th inning Wednesday night, was the first of the road trip. Sometimes THAT's good to see also.

Week in Review April 26-May 2

The Rockies ended their first losing week of the year with a win to go 2-4 during the week. Meanwhile the West Leading Padres turned in a 5-2 week, the Giants went 4-2, and the Dodgers and D-Backs went 3-4.

Results:
April 26--D-BACKS 5 Rockies 3
April 27--D-Backs 1 ROCKIES 12
April 28--D-BACKS 12 Rockies 11 (10 Innings)
April 30--Rockies 2 GIANTS 5
May 1--Rockies 1 GIANTS 6
May 2--ROCKIES 4 Giants 1

This Week
May 3--Rockies @ Padres
May 4--Rockies @ Padres
May 5--Rockies @ Padres
May 7--Rockies @ Dodgers
May 8--Rockies @ Dodgers
May 9--Rockies @ Dodgers

The Rockies will complete their longest road trip before the All-Star Break and 2nd longest of the entire season this week, traveling to San Diego and Los Angeles. The following 5 weeks are one-week home stands followed by one week road trips, until June 15. The only road trip longer than this one will be from the All-Star break through July 26 an 11 game 3 city trip.

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PLAYER OF THE WEEK:Jim Tracy moved Carlos Gonzalez to #5 in the order and then #3 and CarGo responded going 9 for 27 for a .333 average in the week, with 2 Homers, and 3 steals. He also had a double and triple among his 4 extra base hits. He scored 4 runs and knocked in 10 and leads the team with 17 RBI's on the year.

PITCHER OF THE WEEK: In 4 games during the week in which Ubaldo Jimenez was NOT the starter, the Rockies gave up 28 runs before Sunday. Jhoulys Chacin not only stopped the bleeding but shut the Giants down giving up one hit and striking out 7 in 7 full innings pitched, walking 3 and throwing 99 pitches. It was exciting to watch another young Rockies pitcher in the making.

STAT OF THE WEEKPrior to Sunday's game the Giants starters had had 13 straight games of giving up 2 runs or less. The Rockies got to Jonathan Sanchez today for a total of 3 Runs--two of them scoring AFTER Sanchez left the ballgame in the 5th inning.

The Pitching Staff

It was bound to happen. Multiple injuries to the pitching staff. After the incredible string of successive starts last year from mid-April when Franklin Morales went down, to late August, when Aaron Cook went down for a month, the Rockies starting staff had been pretty reliable.

In 2010, Jeff Francis, who was out all last year, went down after his last start of Spring Training, and for the first month of the year including tonight, the Rotation has gone, Jimenez, Smith, Cook, De la Rosa, Hammel. The last two are now on the Disabled list and Smith got annihilated on Wednesday, before the Rockies came back, and subsequently the bullpen ultimately blew the game.

Tomorrow, a guest starter will be in the lineup--expected to be Esmil Rogers, and Jhoulys Chacin will take the hill on Sunday against the Giants.

Let's go back to Smith. Smith pitched the first game of the DH on Saturday, and pitched Wednesday on only 3 days rest. Whether that had something to do with it, we will see on Tuesday in San Diego.

I'm not going to sugar coat it, the Pitching has been a problem all year. With the exception of Jimenez who is a strong candidate for Pitcher of the Month at 5-0, none of the starters have really been consistent. Cook showed signs of his former brilliance last Saturday in the nightcap, when his sinkerball was finally working. If he follows that up tonight with a good outing, then that for now, will alleviate one of the problems. The big question will be when does de la Rosa return? If it's only a couple weeks that he's down, then the Rockies can probably weather this storm, but if it's a month or longer, a trade may be necessary for a veteran starter, because the Rockies can't afford to be patient with their young pitchers, like they have the past few years. Chacin, Rogers, or Smith will have to either come through and then Francis and Hammel will have to come back from the DL strong.

You could see the change coming--Miguel Olivo has been tremendous in the early going while Chris Iannetta was mightily struggling in his starts. Iannetta was sent down on Monday to get more AB's while the Rockies continue to ride Olivo's back, both offensively and defensively. I expect Iannetta to be back--the Rockies have invested too much in him to be done with him--but for now, Olivo is an exciting player to watch.

With a win tonight the Rockies will have their first winning April since 2006 when they were 15-10. Even with a loss it will be their best April since then. They have been 10-16, 11-17, and 8-12 over the past 3 years.

Week in Review April 19-25

In Week 3, the Rockies posted their first winning week, winning the last 3 out of 4 games to go 4-3 for the week. Only the Padres at 5-1 had a better week in the West. Arizona finished 3-3, the Giants and Dodgers both went 2-4.

Results:
4/19 Rockies 2 NATIONALS 5
4/20 ROCKIES 10 Nationals 4
4/21 Rockies 4 NATIONALS 6
4/22 ROCKIES 2 Nationals 0
4/23 Marlins @ Rockies Ppd.
4/24 MARLINS 4 ROCKIES 1 (Game 1)
4/24 Marlins 1 Rockies 8 (Game 2)
4/25 Marlins 4 ROCKIES 8

This Week:
4/26 D-Backs at Rockies 6:40 PM
4/27 D-Backs at Rockies 6:40 PM
4/28 D-Backs at Rockies 1:10 PM
4/30 Rockies at Giants 8:15 PM
5/1 Rockies at Giants 2:05 PM
5/2 Rockies at Giants 2:05 PM

The Rockies head into the next two weeks playing all 4 of their NL West Opponents.

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PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Troy Tulowitzki got untracked this week in a big way, getting his first HR of the season. Altogether he batted .392 and drove in 4 runs.

PITCHER OF THE WEEK: What's with all the Saturday Night Gems? This week it was Aaron Cook working his sinkerball pretty well, and had his 10th complete game of his career on Saturday Night. He also became the winningest Rockies pitcher at Coors Field recording his 32nd win. Most importantly, it was Cookies first win of the season.

STAT OF THE WEEK: Rockies pitchers are 11 for 40 for a .275 batting average and have knocked in 6 runs. The Rockies starters have had multi hit games 3 times so far (Aaron Cook twice and Jorge De La Rosa once.) For the week the pitchers wer e 6 for 16 .375 with 3 RBI and 3 Runs Scored.

Some Good Signs in the Split

The Rockies dropped the opener today 4-1 but salvaged the nightcap 8-1 behind a complete game by Aaron Cook.

Some Random thoughts:

Aaron Cook finally had his sinkerball working in his 4th start of the season. One game is not a trend, but with a veteran like Cook, who has really been struggling since late last July, it was a good performance to watch.

It seems to me in the early going that Troy Tulowitzki has been trying to do to much at the plate and today, he finally looked like he was in a groove to actually contribute. He had two singles in the first game and scored the only Rockies run. He followed that up with 2 more hits tonight, including a 2 run double, and scored Cook on a Double Play ball in the 8th. It seems like every year, we need to wait for Tulo to stay within himself. Hopefully, this is the point this year that he realizes it.

Dexter Fowler has to be happy with his game tonight. 3 for 3 with two walks and a Steal. It was surprising to see all the speculation on the National level about Dexter being sent down to the minors. He may lose some playing time if Seth or Ryan were to start getting hot, but Dexter now has hits in his last 4 starts, so he may be heating up as well.

Carlos Gonzalez broke an 0-13 string with a base hit late in tonight's game.

I continue to be impressed with Miguel Olivo. He continues to throw out runners, and hit Homers. I wouldn't be surprised to see him get more starts than Iannetta, until Iannetta starts breaking loose.

Greg Smith has had some so-so performances, but you have to keep in mind that he's coming back from an injury that kept him out most of last year, and although he's in the #2 starter spot by happenstance when Francis went down, he is in actuality the team's 5th Starter. His last two starts have not been great, but he avoided getting the team into a deep hole in both of them. Whatever experience he can get out of this will be good for his and the Rockies future. He doesn't have overpowering stuff like Jimenez or De La Rosa, but he is reacting well when he gets in trouble.

An Argument for Parity?

Going into today's games, 10 of the 16 National League Teams are within 2 games of .500. The Exceptions are Philadelphia, San Diego and St. Louis at 10-6 on the plus side, and Houston at 6-10, Chicago and Cincinnati at 7-10 on the down side. Still everyone at +-4 after nearly 3 weeks looks pretty competitive so far.

Rain/Snow Out

The Rockies and Marlins had to postpone their game tonight at Coors field due to the bad weather. The most interesting fact of this postponement is that it is the first game in the 2010 MLB season--ANYWHERE--that has been postponed, nearly 3 weeks into the season. Most seasons have many weather issues in various places in the first few weeks.

Tomorrow's Doubleheader is a single-gate event starting at 3:10 Saturday Afternoon. Sunday's game has been moved to 3:10 also as a memorial service honoring Keli McGregor will be held at 11 AM.

The Early Road Trip

It certainly could have gone better, but it could also be worse. For instance last year the Rockies first multi-city trip resulted in a 2-8 record and put the Rockies in an early hole, already trailing the first place Dodgers by 4.5 games, and were going to get a lot worse before it got better.

So this trip's 3-4 record and overall 8-8 record only leaves the Rockies 1.5 games behind the first place San Diego Padres--off to a surprising 9-6 start despite 12 of their first 15 games being against division opponents.

The Rockies experienced some very big highs and lows on the trip, an Ubaldo Jimenez No-hitter, the death of Team President Keli McGregor. There was also the heart-wrenching loss on Sunday, the too many errors, as well as frequent walks by the pitching.

But the ups and downs come with the territory of being a contender, and the kinks will pop up from time to time. The importance of this coming home stand finishes a stretch with the East, before one series with each of the four NL West opponents. This is an opportunity to make a mark on the division, before embarking on another 2 week stretch out of the division. Last year by May 7th they had already played 22 of their 72 NL West games. This year they will only play 15 in that span. It's imperative that the Rockies improve on their 9-13 start with the West from last year.

An 8-8 start for the Rockies is not a hole. Check back on May 9th to see if kinks are out yet in the second 10% of the season.

Ubaldo Jimenez No-Hits the Braves

Ubaldo Jimenez became the first Rockies Pitcher in history to throw a no-hitter, as the Rockies broke a 2-game hitting streak and shutting out the Braves 4-0 Saturday Night. Ubaldo also knocked in a run and scored. Dexter Fowler saved the no-hitter with a spectacular catch on a Troy Glaus fly ball. Ubaldo walked 6 in the first 5 innings, but went to the stretch to mow down the final 15 hitters. He pitched a career high 128 pitches in only his 3rd start of the season and is now 3-0.

Stay Steady

Being a Rockies fan, the hardest part about the beginning of the season is that it' easy to get too excited when they win and too negative when they lose. The Rockies have dug themselves into big holes early in the season many times. In fact in the last 3 years they have always been 18-27 after 46 games.

There are problems right now all over the board. De La Rosa followed a superb start last Friday with a clunky one on Thursday. Hammel had one of the worst starts for anyone over the past year. The Rockies have committed 9 errors including 3 in Wednesdays win. The timely hitting for the most part hasn't been there.

The team however is currently 5-5, and the key is not to get too buried. Two duds of games in a row is never good, but the Rockies just don't seem to do well against Lowe. Getting in an 8-0 hole in the 2nd wasn't good, but the Rockies continued to play. Will that carry over into the rest of the road trip?

If we know Jim Tracy at all, we know that the answer is no. He will rally them to focus only on tonight's game and after that, he will get them to look at tomorrow's game.

The fans should do the same.

Week in Review April 12-18

For the second straight week the Rockies went 3-3, winning at home 2-1 and losing on the road 1-2. The 6-6 record is good enough to tie for 2nd behind the Giants, who also went 3-3 this week. The Padres and Dodgers were 4-2, while Arizona went 1-5 and fell from 2nd to last place.

Results:
April 18 L Rockies 3 BRAVES 4
April 17 W ROCKIES 4 Braves 0 (U. Jimenez No-Hitter)
April 16 L Rockies 5 BRAVES 9
April 15 L METS 5 Rockies 0
April 14 W Mets 5 ROCKIES 6 10 innings
April 13 W Mets 3 ROCKIES 11


Next Games:
April 19 @ Washington 5:05 PM MDT
April 20 @ Washington 5:05 PM MDT
April 21 @ Washington 5:05 PM MDT
April 22 @ Washington 2:35 PM MDT
April 23 Marlins 7:10 PM
April 24 Marlins 6:10 PM
April 25 Marlins 1:10 PM



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PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Nobody had a spectacular week but Brad Hawpe went 5 for 9 and drove in 3 for the week, batting .556.

PITCHER OF THE WEEK: Who else but Ubaldo Jimenez who threw the Rockies first no-hitter ever, even though he walked 6 early, he was dominant over the final 5 innings striking out 7 total.

Week in Review April 5-11

One week is in the book, and the Rockies came out of the gates with a .500 winning pct at 3-3. That was good enough for 3rd place in the NL West as the Giants went 5-1, and Arizona 4-2 behind the Rockies were the Dodgers and Padres at 2-4.

Results:
4/5 ROCKIES 5 Brewers 3
4/6 Brewers 7 ROCKIES 5
4/7 Brewers 5 ROCKIES 4
4/9 ROCKIES 7 Padres 0
4/10 Padres 5 ROCKIES 4 14 Innings
4/11 ROCKIES 4 Cardinals 2

This Week's Schedule:
4/13 NY Mets at Rockies
4/14 NY Mets at Rockies
4/15 NY Mets at Rockies
4/16 Rockies at Atlanta
4/17 Rockies at Atlanta
4/18 Rockies at Atlanta


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PLAYER OF THE WEEK:
The Rockies' new catcher, Miguel Olivo only played in 3 games, but he showed why the Rockies were high on him in replacing the popular Yorvit Torrealba. Miguel hit 2 Home Runs one of which took Tony Gwynn, Jr.'s glove over the wall with it, drove in 3 and had a .455 average in his Rockies Debut week. Defensively, he had 4 assists including throwing out two runners stealing.

PITCHER OF THE WEEK: Although Ubaldo Jimenez won two games in the first week, this week's honor goes to Jorge De La Rosa who pitched a Home Opener classic on Friday as he led the Rockies to a 7-0 win. "George" gave up 1 Hit 9 K's Walked 1 and Hit one batter.

The First Series

The first series of the year always comes with great anticipation, and it's easy to get too caught up in the result of that series. In 2010, the Rockies won opening day, but then dropped the next two. In 2009, the Rockies lost the first game, but won the next two.

In any three game series, you can hope for a sweep, but most of all you hope to avoid a sweep. The first series of the year always matches up the #1 pitchers on both teams in the opener, usually followed by the #2's and #3's. The Rockies got a great start out of Jimenez on Monday, and then got a little stuck putting out there #5 pitcher because of Francis going on the DL. By all rights, De La Rosa would be the #2 pitcher, but Jim Tracy wanted him to be the pitcher at the home opener. Smith held his own, but the Rockies still lost. Wednesday's game had to be a little disheartening as the Rockies got out to a 3-0 lead, and had a chance to put the game out of reach further in the 1st, and eventually blew a 4-1 lead to lose 5-4.

Now truthfully, I was out of town and didn't see or hear any of the games, but when I came home and saw the paper this morning and the comparisos to last year, I cringed. It's only 3 games people!!!! Granted the 2010 Rockies are 1 game behind the 2009 Rockies, but the Rockies like last year were in all 3 games. There were some opportunities to knock in more runs, the bullpen faltered a couple of times, but all in all, I would expect this Rockies team to gel a little bit faster than last. It doesn't hurt that they will play 6 of the first 9 at home instead of playing only 3 of the first 14 at home last year. Last year they also played 20 of the first 25 against the west, while this year, the only west games are this weekend in the first 19. They don't play their 20th game against the west until May 29th.

Let's let them get their feet a little more wet and see what they can do, shall we?

Rockies Win Opener

The Rockies won their Season Opener 5-3 against the Milwaukee Breweres on Monday. Rockies are now 10-8 in the season opener and evened their road opening day record to 6-6.

Ubaldo Jimenez had a nice outing for the Rockies going 6 innings and giving up only 1 run. Ian Stewart hit the first Rockies 2010 HR in the second. The Rockies first run scored on a Wild Pitch, Brad Hawpe scoring just before Stewart's solo shot. Stewart also drove in another run on Sacrifice Fly, Troy Tulowitzski drove in Carlos Gonzalez in the 5th, and pinch hitter Ryan Spillborghs drove in CarGo again in the 9th.

Altogether the Rockies pounded out 10 hits in the game.

The two teams meet again Tuesday Night and Wednesday afternoon.

Opening Day 2010

As the TotallyGruntledRockies blog heads into it's first full season, the excitement of Opening Day is upon us. The Thrill of what was an amazing 2009 season is replaced by a somewhat very optimistic outlook for the Rockies 2010 season.

Here at TGR, we welcome that optimism but hope to shed light on how the pace is going. The Rockies defied all odds last year by going 72-40 during the last 4 months an incredible .648 percentage, over 70 percentage points higher than the 2nd best team in the NL over that span.

This year Jim Tracy molds the team as he wants them from the beginning. Can they maintain the focus and attitude that gave them such a good run last year and keep it the entire season. Will the Hitting improve especially with runners on base. Will the pitching be anywhere near as good as last year?

These are all questions that will get answered over the course of the next 6 months and 162 games. Here at TGR we'll analyze the results, the schedule the pace and where they are in relationship to the NL West Title and/or the NL Wild Card.

My feeling always is that it takes 95 wins to be division champs and 90 wins to gain the Wild Card. Sometimes it's a few more, sometimes it's a few less, but if you follow the pace to either one of those plateaus usually you make the playoffs.

The Rockies finished the spring with a 17-13-2 record going 6-4-2 in the final two weeks. A few questions about their pitching, but the hitting seems to be ready for the start of the season.

The first week includes 3 games at Milwaukee followed by three at Coors starting Friday afternoon. Not sure of the significance of starting the season at two beer parks, (Miller and Coors) and also finish the season at the 3rd (Busch).

It's all optimism from here, follow the Rockies and their pace along with other statistical tidbits during the season.

For now, PLAY BALL!

The Final Two Weeks of Spring

It's always been my view that the results of Spring Training exhibition games aren't that important to the regular season as much as the preparation that happens during the Cactus and Grapefruit league games.

But the final two weeks of the spring give you some clue as more and more the regular players are starting, and the pitchers are getting longer and longer starts.

The Rockies in 2010 are off to a decent start. They are currently 11-8, and their biggest concern is who to start as the Closer until or if Huston Street can take over later on. Aaron Cook had one horrible outing and a couple of the other pitchers had a bad start or appearance. Ian Stewart is lighting up Arizona as is Carlos Gonzalez and Chris Iannetta, while Eric Young is struggling at the plate.

Starting today, the Rockies have 14 spring games before heading to Milwaukee for Opening day on April 5th. These are the games that will tell us something.

Or have nothing to do with the regular season.

Spring Begins

The Rockies are starting their final spring training in Tucson, and for the first time in their 18 year history, they are being considered a serious contender in the NL West.

Hope always springs eternal among major-league teams in February and March, with many hopes dashed quickly in April and May. One of the exceptions was last year's Rockies team who were hopelessly out of the playoffs by Memorial Day, but resurrected themselves to make the Playoffs for the 2nd time in 3 years.

But don't get overconfident. Things can change from one year to the next as we saw in 2008, when much of the same NL Champion 2007 team sleepwalked their way to a miserable 2008 and first third of 2009. The same thing can happen this year if they take themselves too seriously and don't prepare well in the spring.

Here are some things the 2010 Rockies have to watch out for.

1. A slow start--Now for most teams a fast start is getting out to a 20-10 record in the first month, but for the Rockies a fast start would be somewhere in the vicinity of .500 at Memorial Day. The last time the Rockies had a winning record at the end of May was 2006 at 27-26. This year realistically they need to build on last years, 72-38 finish, and show steady progress throughout the season.

2. Wearing down the bullpen--Last year the starters had an unbelievable stretch of healthiness, despite Franklin Morales going down in his 2nd start. Between April 22nd and August 10--a span of 99 games--the same 5 pitchers started every game for the Rockies. Altogether those 5--Cook, Jimenez, Marquis, de la Rosa and Hammel combined for 155 of the 162 starts. All but Marquis will be back, replaced by Jeff Francis who had 34 starts in 2007. The key will be for all 5 to stay healthy and get into the 6th inning again more times than not, which will spread the work out for the Bullpen.

3. More run scoring early--The biggest frustration with the Rockies in 2009, was their lack of run production early in ball games. Looking at a distribution of runs over the season, runs were pretty consistent across each 3 inning span. The most productive innings were the middle innings 4-6 which were also the opponent's least productive innings. Better scoring in the first 3 innings could take a little more pressure off the starting pitching which goes back to relieving the bullpen a little more.

4. More concentration on speed--Over the last 3 years, the Rockies have progressed from bombers to heads up players who utilize their speed as well as their power. And with speed that's not just stealing bases but taking the extra base more often. Without Matt Holliday, the Rockies hit 30 more home runs than in 2008, and 19 more than in 2007. The power is just spread among all the players. In 2009, they had 106 SB's about 35 fewer steals than in 2008, but a handful more than in 2007. They need to bring that up to about 150 steals, keep the power about the same.

5. Jim Tracy from the beginning--It was simply amazing to marvel at Jim Tracy almost from the start of his tenure. Sure he said the winning streak was not an aberration, but what he expected his players to do. And he followed through on it. But Clint Hurdle got a lot out of his players down the stretch of 2007, and then couldn't get them to respond again in 2008 or 2009. I believe Jim Tracy has a different approach, and won't allow the team to get complacen, and will stay on them from the beginning.

Hope springs eternal in Tucson. This time it may be real hope.