Live from Tucson - 3/16 edition

by PioneerSkies on Mar 16, 2009 11:41 PM MDT

Greetings from Tucson! Today the Rockies beat the Dbacks 8-3. As everyone probably knows, Todd Helton, Carlos Gonzalez and Christian Colonel homered for the Rox, and Jhoulys Chacin was impressive--except for the 3rd inning. I think a fielding error kind of went to his head, but he didn't give up the lead and he did well to bear down and strike out Punk Jupton.

via lh4.ggpht.com

Poseidon's Fist, mkorpal, DbacksSkins and I were at the game.

via lh6.ggpht.com (courtesy of DbacksSkins)

via lh5.ggpht.com (again, courtesy of DbacksSkins)

As Helton stepped for his first AB, DbacksSkins snickered when I said 2009 would be a Renaissance season for Todd. Todd put his money where my mouth is by blasting a 2 run homer.

via lh4.ggpht.com

Perhaps best of all, I got autographs from Clint Hurdle, Don Baylor and Todd Helton before the game. See all of the pictures from today here (including a few of my folks--we went golfing at Randolph North after the game). Captions will be added on an ad hoc basis.

Tomorrow, Poseidon's Fist, mkorpal and I will be at the game against the Kyle Davies and the Royals at Hi Corbett. Until then, GO ROCKIES!!!

Eat. Drink. Be Merry. But the above FanPost does not necessarily reflect the attitudes, opinions, or views of Purple Row's staff (unless, of course, it's written by the staff [and even then, it still might not]).

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I pity the fool that snickers at the Toddfather!!

"Never fall in or out of love too early in the Spring." ~ Tony La Russa

by Charlie77 on Mar 17, 2009 12:38 AM MDT reply actions 1 recs

It's funny

I believe at that snickering, I retorted with the prediction that Helton would go deep. Later, mkorpal accurately prophesied Quintanilla’s double. It was a good day.

"I have no special talents. I am only passionately curious." - Albert Einstein

by Andrew T. Fisher on Mar 17, 2009 12:46 AM MDT up reply actions

I didn't snicker at Helton.

I snickered at the idea that somehow, 2009 was magically going to be his Renaissance year. Better than 2008? Sure, but that doesn’t exactly put it in Renaissance territory.

We are truly in the presense of greatness here…-- unnamedDBacksfan

by DbacksSkins on Mar 17, 2009 8:46 AM MDT up reply actions

If the Toddfather can have a healthy year..

That will give the Rockies a huge boost in the lineup. Especially if he can hit 40 doubles 20 HRs and draw 90 walks this year. Over his career he’s averaged 42/28/92

"Never fall in or out of love too early in the Spring." ~ Tony La Russa

by Charlie77 on Mar 17, 2009 10:20 AM MDT up reply actions

Bulletin board material

is always taken out of context or extrapolated to some degree. Anything to get us excited…

"I have no special talents. I am only passionately curious." - Albert Einstein

by Andrew T. Fisher on Mar 17, 2009 10:31 AM MDT up reply actions

I believe

DbacksSkins exact words were:

Todd Helton is the worst 1B in history. Even though he does steroids, he’ll never hit a home run ever again. And his facial hair looks stupid too.

Aut Vincam Aut Periam

by PioneerSkies on Mar 17, 2009 10:42 AM MDT up reply actions

Oh it's on like Donkey Kong now!!

"Never fall in or out of love too early in the Spring." ~ Tony La Russa

by Charlie77 on Mar 17, 2009 10:49 AM MDT up reply actions

Haha

He did make a comment about steroids!

"I have no special talents. I am only passionately curious." - Albert Einstein

by Andrew T. Fisher on Mar 17, 2009 10:53 AM MDT up reply actions

PS: “Helton is going to have a Renaissance year this year.”
DS: “Why? He on the ‘roids? He’s not getting any younger.”

My beef was with the terminology. To me, a 40-20-90 year, like suggested by Charlie77, doesn’t count as a “Renaissance year” when it’s really just a bounceback year after one terrible injury-plagued season. Helton was at 42-17-116 just one year earlier.

For a real Renaissance year, check out the same stats during Tony Clark’s 2005 season, his first with the Dbacks: 22-30-37, after averaging 19-19-41 per season in his career to that point, but only 16-13-31 in the previous 5 seasons. (Note: I only used walks because Charlie did)

In contrast, in the previous 5 seasons, (including 2008) Helton averaged 38-18-100. So a 40-20-90 season would actually be a disappointment in terms of walks, and only a slight improvement in 2Bs and HRs. That’s called “return to the mean”.

Oh — and I did clap politely after the HR, saying something along the lines of, “I have always liked Todd Helton.” (Probably the only Rockie whose autograph I would care to have)

We are truly in the presense of greatness here…-- unnamedDBacksfan

by DbacksSkins on Mar 17, 2009 11:33 AM MDT up reply actions

PS-

this conversation is amusing me, rather than annoying me. Just wanted to clear that up. :-)

We are truly in the presense of greatness here…-- unnamedDBacksfan

by DbacksSkins on Mar 17, 2009 11:35 AM MDT up reply actions

Agreed

Quite amusing. He’ll never return to the form of the early part of the decade (Renaissance), but he certainly could get back to mid-decade form. He hit another home run today, you know ;)

"I have no special talents. I am only passionately curious." - Albert Einstein

by Andrew T. Fisher on Mar 17, 2009 6:38 PM MDT up reply actions

Yup, saw that.

Got a walk too, right? He’s turning into a regular Barry Bonds…

We are truly in the presense of greatness here…-- unnamedDBacksfan

by DbacksSkins on Mar 17, 2009 6:47 PM MDT up reply actions

Bonds was one of the few players

to have a higher OBP the last few years of his career than Helton.

"A great catch is like watching girls go by; the last one you see is always the prettiest." ~Bob Gibson
JFK

by jrockies on Mar 17, 2009 6:52 PM MDT up reply actions

Actually

Between 2002 and 2008 only BB has a higher OBP than Helton among those players with more than 300 games played.

"A great catch is like watching girls go by; the last one you see is always the prettiest." ~Bob Gibson
JFK

by jrockies on Mar 17, 2009 10:32 PM MDT up reply actions

He had a single too....

"I have no special talents. I am only passionately curious." - Albert Einstein

by Andrew T. Fisher on Mar 17, 2009 7:07 PM MDT up reply actions

Oh? He did?

Fail.

We are truly in the presense of greatness here…-- unnamedDBacksfan

by DbacksSkins on Mar 17, 2009 7:39 PM MDT up reply actions

You are the worst Rockies fan ever

"I have no special talents. I am only passionately curious." - Albert Einstein

by Andrew T. Fisher on Mar 18, 2009 1:26 AM MDT up reply actions

This

We are truly in the presense of greatness here…-- unnamedDBacksfan

by DbacksSkins on Mar 18, 2009 1:55 AM MDT up reply actions

Nice pics...

Oh to be stuck in Colorado… At least there’s not 3 feet of snow, I suppose.

by jefe_13 on Mar 18, 2009 11:27 PM MDT reply actions

That would indicate

that spring has actually arrived in the mountain state. I like the snow as long as it doesn’t happen during baseball season, which hasn’t officially started IN Colorado. So, snow now and not later.

"A great catch is like watching girls go by; the last one you see is always the prettiest." ~Bob Gibson
JFK

by jrockies on Mar 18, 2009 11:45 PM MDT up reply actions

Oh to be stuck in Colorado

Being “stuck” in Colorado is better than being stuck anywhere else—especially a place like Waco, TX.
Maybe you should just get a brother that lives in Arizona….

Aut Vincam Aut Periam

by PioneerSkies on Mar 19, 2009 10:11 PM MDT up reply actions