Friday Rockpile:
by Rox Girl on Aug 29, 2008 12:36 PM MDT
in Rockpile
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PrintI tired to create one of these yesterday, too, hopefully today's more successful.
The Rockies have positioned themselves fairly well for making up more ground this weekend. A Dodgers sweep over the D-backs and a Rockies sweep over the Padres would leave us in even better position, but don't think the Padres won't remember who it was that kept them out of the playoffs last year, and we can expect them to come out intent on returning the favor. They looked like a very strong team against Arizona, I'm a little worried we might be running into a trap here. If you reverse the optimal result I laid out, D-backs sweep, Padres sweep, the campaign will be over. Or then again, maybe not, because it seems I keep on thinking that only to find the Rox right back in a decent position a week or two later after they fail to take advantage of a good opportunity. At any rate, it's that consistent failure in the face of opportunity in 2008 that has me most dubious about what is about to happen this weekend.
Still, time to put the doubt aside and be a fan, this is where we as Rockies followers can finally have some real fun and interest in the season, and I want that more than more 2009 speculation, thank you very much.
Slightly off topic question, is it just me, or do some bad teams get labelled with "bad chemistry" more than others? In a video report on the FoxSports website, Ken Rosenthal says this is the cause of a Dodgers collapse. This seems to be the cause of the Dodgers collapse every year, though, and wasn't Joe Torre specifically brought in to stop it this time? Why doesn't anybody mention the Rockies bad chemistry? We were the NL champs in 2007, the only reason good teams would go bad is chemistry, right? I personally think it's mostly bunk, of course, but I wonder what others think.
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couldn't agree more
everytime it seems like we have a chance….they shoot us down….i expect the same this weekend
this team is utter rubbish...
Dodgers
I think they really were hurt by bad chemistry last year, they had clear divisions in the locker room and nobody believed in the manager. This time, Juan Pierre is their only real malcontent, but nobody else seems to be a problem (unless you count Jeff Kent, but thats sort of a given).
As they say, though, winning = chemistry.
Pierre over Manny
Okay, I admit I haven’t followed Pierre very closely since he left the Rockies, but I always thought he was an extremely hard working player and an asset to the clubhouse. What happened? Seriously, I don’t know much about him anymore. Now Manny…. there’s a guy that screams clubhouse trouble. I’d like very to place all the blame on him rather than an ex-Rockie.
But enough about the Dodgers…. First game of a huge Rockies weekend tonight and I gotta go get some snacks in the house and chores done in the yard so that I can stay up late to watch the 07 NL Champs make their run at a repeat.
Pierre
Is a hardworking guy, and is a good clubhouse guy…when he’s playing. He had some incredibly long games-played streak…but ever since the Dodgers signed Andruw Jones, he’s been chirping about not being a fulltime player anymore. Made worse by the fact that Dodgers fans HATED him last year, and the media abused him, and then they signed a player over him—kinda easy to understand his initial frustration.
Then, he won his job back after Jones flamed out, but then lost it again with Manny and lately one local columnist has been banging on him quite a bit and has started the whole thing over again. He’s hardly a major distraction, because most of his anger seems provoked by the media, but its certainly not working out for him in LA.
For his part, everyone loves Manny so far (save Jeff Kent, who got cheesed when the media attributed his recent hot streak to batting in front of Manny). He’s obviously a ticking time bomb, but probably not until his next contract. In short, Manny is not the Dodgers problem. Their real problem is that all of their blue-chip prospects are not superstars (yet), and as a result they are filled with decent but not great hitters (outside of Manny). Ethier is a replacement-level type guy, Loney is looking a lot more like Mark Grace than (early) Todd Helton, and Kemp is good but not yet great. Add that to a solid but seemingly gassed Martin, over the hill Kent, average Blake, no decent SS…just not a great lineup. And, they actually seem worse than the Rox at hitting in the clutch. Just can’t score.
Historically
(1 year of history of course) We are an awesome September team. We rule Sept and I have never been convinced the AZ D-Bags and Dodgers were ever really that good. I am completely optimistic about another Sept Run. We can deffinetly go 20-7 and I highly doubt that the D-Bags can go 15-14 to finish out. Plus I just got my season ticket playoff order form in the mail. Woooo!!!!
Personality chemsitry is overrated
Mostly a ruse by certain writers who don’t know as much as they get paid to write about. But chemistry in club makeup is a problem. Between Andruw Jones and Pierre neither one hitting worth anything, the Dodgers have no outfield bench. When Martin’s playing any position other than catcher, their weakened as a team. Their pitching staff is hurt and not that good.
The reality is, Torre may be a better clubhouse guy, but the team isn’t any better than it was a year ago, so why would they perform any better over 162 games?
Watching the purple row from high atop the big brown monolith on California Ave
Let's compare
the Row to a clubhouse.
Last year, before “The Streak”, the Rox were lovable losers. The Row was full of optimism, happiness and love for all. Then, we had “The Streak”, and the Row became a regular hugfest.
Now, we’ve face some adversity. At times, the Row has become pessimistic, enraged and ornery. Bickering has ensued. Alas, the chemistry has been upset. It’s just the effect that losing has on any group.
So, it’s not that teams lose because of bad chemistry in the clubhouse, it’s clubhouses have bad chemistry because they lose.
p.s. I threw in the “alas” to impress the Ivy League crowd.
Definitely some bad chemistry on the Row.
I slammed a batting helmet to the ground in the clubhouse and Russ questioned my commitment to winning with a local reporter. We better make a comeback soon.
Get over it already!
If the helmet wouldn’t have bounced back up and broke your typing finger nobody would even remember it now. What’s important is that it’s healed now and you’ve got your velocity back. ;)
Good point,
she only uses that finger for “p” & “;” anyway and that was a miscommunication with Russ, he was really questioning Lee’s commitment to winning the war with the reporter.
That would be Russ...
That or questioning the Commander Thire’s commitment to winning the Clone Wars.
Well, who the hell
wraps up his special order around a bunch of cigars and hands them to a messenger who loses them in a field, only to be picked up by some Union soldiers?
Hmm, sounds like that could be the point of departure for some not very good alternate history novels. {checks} Damn it, I have those books on a shelf. There goes my chance at a crap load of money.
"Keep your head down, and inch toward daylight." - Blade of Tyshalle
Purple Row - Covering all your Rockies needs!
Russ isn't perfect either
Remember that game he shoved me in the face for trying to walk out of a game thread early? He had to be held back by Lo Do Magic and Charlie77. It was an ugly incident, but shockingly the Row picked up it’s post quality shortly thereafter.
I punched
the water cooler at work…well, it was more of a slap…well, not really, but I thought about punching the water cooler…doesn’t that count for anything? I did crush a paper cup and slam it into the waste basket.
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