Tuesday Rockpile: Tim Wheeler inked, more on club's national attention and Ian Snell
by Andrew T. Fisher on Jun 16, 2009 8:53 AM MDT
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Buster Olney: Diagnostics a key to Colorado's surge - ESPN
ESPN notices of course. Olney quotes Aaron Cook as crediting increased focus, concentration and a looser clubhouse for the streak. He also notes that Bob Apodaca helped find a huge flaw in Cook's delivery following his horrendous start in LA April 18. It was immediately fixed, and then:
Cook's ground ball ratio has increased by a factor of three since he made that adjustment, and his ERA is at 2.91 since. -Olney
That's what a pitching coach is supposed to do.
Rockies unsurprised by 11-game streak | ColoradoRockies.com: News
The headline is a bit righteous. Every team should be a bit surprised by an 11-game streak, but Thomas Harding's point is that much of this roster already had an 11-game streak in their pocket, even if their manager had never had a double digit streak.
Rockies' streak at a glance | ColoradoRockies.com: News
Check out a quick and dirty glance at each game of the 11-game streak.
Rockstars
Troy Renck and Patrick Saunders took turns this morning profiling the three most likely choices for the All-Star game.
Saunders: Hawpe hidden gem of a hitter - The Denver Post
Saunders states that Hawpe is one of the most underrated hitters in the game today, using statistics and the eye test. He also quotes Bill James as being surprised by his quiet production two years ago. He doesn't mention what Bill James thinks of Hawpe's defense.
As season heats up, so DOEs closer street - The Denver Post
Huston Street has been able to add almost 5mph to his fastball since earlier in the year, reaching 94 mph in his last appearance. Jim Tracy said he just needed to get loosened up. Too bad that 6 week Spring Training didn't do it. Still he's averaging more velocity on his fastball than any year since 2006, when he had 37 saves.
Marquis becomes Rockies' marquee starter - The Denver Post
Jim Tracy once again calls Marquis a "winner" and that he "competes." But there was an interesting quote from an unnamed former teammate working out with Marquis in January:
"Your pitches have never had so much life and so much depth," - Renck
Renck goes on to say Marquis meshes perfectly" with Bob Apodaca and there are reasons not to witness the precipitous post-ASB decline Marquis is used to.
The Draft
Dust Devils have first workout | The News Tribune - Northwest
The Rockies have signed 1st-round pick Tim Wheeler. He'll be assigned to Tri-City and will report to the team this weekend. Ten draftees have been assigned to Tri-City.
Check out the updated 2009 Draft Pick Signings List.
Other Links:
Sports cartoonist Drew Litton
This is a bit late, but Drew Litton is still drawing, and he posted one last week about the Rockies fans who conveniently switch their fanhood on and off dependent on the standings. Litton also wrote that the two best sites for Rockies news are InsidetheRockies.com and Purple Row. Thanks for the shoutout Drew!
Pittsburgh Pirates news, fan forums, schedules and blogs - PiratesReport.com
John Perotto's latest column has more on an Ian Snell-Colorado trade, albeit very little. He ascertains that "Colorado is certainly interested in Snell and figures to make a play for him." In case you thought Snell's anger issues may have tempered, I'll highlight part of Perotto's column:
Snell punched the dugout wall after giving up rookie pitcher Rick Porcello’s second RBI single of the game in the sixth inning.
It was assumed Snell was upset about allowing two run-producing singles to someone who had never batted in a major-league game. Instead, Snell admitted he was angry that Russell had intentionally walked shortstop Ramon Santiago to get to Porcello.
As one Tigers player said the next day after reading Snell’s comments about the intentional walk, "Was he serious? Was he eating psychedelic mushrooms between innings?" - Perotto
The Rockies were prominently featured in FanGraphs' What We Learned In Week Ten and Game of the Week: 6/8-14 articles, stating the Rockies "must be frustrated" after winning 11 straight yet still being over 10 games out. I touched on that a bit last evening. Ubaldo Jimenez' gritty complete game Friday was good enough for the best game of the day.
BtB Power Rankings: Through Tuesday, June 9th, 2009 - Beyond the Box Score
I just found BtB's system of numeric power rankings that disregard human influence that placed Colorado 14th out of 30. JinAZ states: "Their pitching, after park corrections, now rates as the second-best in the league, so there's that. And they have the second-best Pythagorean record in the NL West." And that was a week ago. After six wins, it has only gotten better
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Street: "Too bad that 6 week Spring Training didn't do it."
Wasn’t his spring training interrupted by a minor injury? Given his slow start to the season, maybe he wasn’t all the way there as the camp broke.
He did have a minor quad injury very early in ST
but he also allowed just one hit in his last 8 innings of ST. Still, you’re right, that may be a factor
"I have no special talents. I am only passionately curious." - Albert Einstein
by Andrew T. Fisher on Jun 16, 2009 9:21 AM MDT up reply actions
I am loving
the consistent line-ups coming from Tracy. How many times could we have a game start and see not just 1 back up playing, but like 4? Hurdle shuffled around too much to start the season, and as I’ve heard Jeff + Jack say so many times, it’s nice for players to know that even if they are 0-3, they’ll be in the line-up the next day.
Also, watch this http://mlb.mlb.com/media/video.jsp?mid=200906135038157&c_id=col
That’s me at :16. Looks like a Rowbot made it on tv Saturday night, its too bad I wasn’t in the gang of them though…
Hey that's awesome
Where were your seats? There’s no way they ’d bring a video camera up where we were. Even the still photographer ignored us.
"I have no special talents. I am only passionately curious." - Albert Einstein
by Andrew T. Fisher on Jun 16, 2009 9:41 AM MDT up reply actions
Right next to the right field foul pole.
2 seats away from the camera guy. Some people said they saw my girlfriend (the one right next to me) more than once.
yeah, he was all pissy
Chris Iannetta status: DOOM
Seth Smith status: Badass
Matt Murton status: Prisoner Exchanged for CarGon
Mike McCoy status: FREE MIKE MCCOY
by Andrew Martin on Jun 16, 2009 10:00 AM MDT up reply actions
I didn't realize this clip had me in it...
I was just watching clips and saw myself. I was quite confused.
I still disagree about lineup consistency.
But congrats on your video appearance. That must have been quite a shock.
by Greg Stanwood on Jun 16, 2009 10:43 AM MDT up reply actions
Snell
In today’s Busty Olney Column on ESPN, he states that the Rockies are NOT intersted in Ian Snell. That would be the first non-Pirate source on the topic.
Why it pays to be an ESPN insider I guess
"I have no special talents. I am only passionately curious." - Albert Einstein
by Andrew T. Fisher on Jun 16, 2009 9:50 AM MDT up reply actions
woo hoo
Chris Iannetta status: DOOM
Seth Smith status: Badass
Matt Murton status: Prisoner Exchanged for CarGon
Mike McCoy status: FREE MIKE MCCOY
by Andrew Martin on Jun 16, 2009 10:00 AM MDT up reply actions
we showed interest in the past
Chris Iannetta status: DOOM
Seth Smith status: Badass
Matt Murton status: Prisoner Exchanged for CarGon
Mike McCoy status: FREE MIKE MCCOY
by Andrew Martin on Jun 16, 2009 10:05 AM MDT up reply actions
Oh yes I forgot about this...
then I remembered we have a new manager. A new manager who Pirates folk hate, and unfairly at that.
Well, the obvious answer is that teams tend to usually hate former managers who didn't take them to the world series every year.
I’d consider that a pretty irrational reason. Plus, Tracy landed an incredibly untalented team in Pittsburgh, and actually managed to have some success with a Dodgers team that wasn’t expected to do as well as they did.
by Greg Stanwood on Jun 16, 2009 10:57 AM MDT up reply actions
Dodgers fans
hate Tracy at a Barry Bonds level. When he was here, the anger towards him made Rox fans rants about Hurdle look like Nebraska fans talking about Tom Osborn.
Dodger fans also are much angrier than Rockies fans in general.
When we swapped managers, many Dodgers fans on their board stood up and defended him. Just because many of them have strong hatred for him doesn’t mean they represent the entire fanbase. to Denver Post commenters represent Rockies fans?
by Greg Stanwood on Jun 16, 2009 11:10 AM MDT up reply actions
I'm talking about people I know
who are smart baseball fans and love the Dodgers. I don’t think Dodger fans are any more or less angry than Rockies fans, in fact I think in general they are awfully similar in character (some diehards, tons of bandwagoners) but there are just lots, lots more of them. In any event, there was not a single tear shed here when he was let go.
I beg to differ.
As someone who lives in both Denver and LA, their attitudes are entirely different.
by Greg Stanwood on Jun 16, 2009 3:07 PM MDT up reply actions
I guess its in the eye of the beholder
but why do you think so? I’ve never lived in Denver but I’ve lived in the area and been to Coors (and MH) countless times, and find that the fans are not really that different except Dodger stadium has a lot more “rowdy” (to be polite) fans, but that’s just an LA sports (non-UCLA) thing.
I'm not here to defend Dodgerfans
in general, they are not “good” fans in my opinion, mostly casual/homer fans. The “leave early” bit is mostly a bad rap, but the “arrive late” thing is true.
In any event, let’s not start acting like Jim Tracy was some diamond in the rough that we were so very smart to discover. If he really is as good as this start suggests, than kudos to him and to DOD for putting him in charge. But I’m not certain he should be entirely credited for the pitching staff suddenly becoming awesome. Maybe.
I read Pirates fans on the net with specific complaints
Such as odd/chaotic/seemingly random lineup choices and a strong tendency to publicly blame others for problems and not take responsibility himself. I don’t know how fair these criticisms are, but at least they point to something specific.
As more and more news comes out
It sounds like Hanley Ramirez really doesn’t like it in Florida
I would still do terrible, terrible things to acquire said talent.
Chris Iannetta status: DOOM
Seth Smith status: Badass
Matt Murton status: Prisoner Exchanged for CarGon
Mike McCoy status: FREE MIKE MCCOY
We all would.
Question is, would he like it here any more?
by Greg Stanwood on Jun 16, 2009 11:12 AM MDT up reply actions
I would still do terrible, terrible things to acquire said talent.
Eat Taco Bell for a month?
"DAMMIT! No, calm down. Learn to enjoy losing." --Hunter S. Thompson
by PioneerSkies on Jun 16, 2009 11:14 AM MDT up reply actions
Haha
I would eat Taco Bell for three months to get Hanley in purple. After how I felt in 2007, I can’t believe I’m saying that. But he’d be a marked upgrade over anything.
"I have no special talents. I am only passionately curious." - Albert Einstein
by Andrew T. Fisher on Jun 16, 2009 11:45 AM MDT up reply actions
This morning
I heard on the radio that the Rockies will be playing the Tampa Bay Buccaneers tonight. How’s that for interleague play!
"DAMMIT! No, calm down. Learn to enjoy losing." --Hunter S. Thompson
Heh.
They can’t swing the bat, but if one gets on, look out. They come in hard to 2nd base and seek contact.
We should definitely
go with a full-court press the whole match. Their defensemen are terrible against the backhand.
"Don't tell me about the world. Not today. It's springtime and they're knocking baseballs around fields where the grass is damp and green in the morning and the kids are trying to hit the curve ball." -Pete Hamill
I hope there's an Onion article entitled
“Rockies unaware of 11-game streak” coming out soon, that would be awesome.
The Rockies need some oldschool purple/white striped high socks. The team’s problem is it’s lack of swagger. I feel strongly that these socks will provide the swagger necessary to tap the potential that are the Rockies.
Jim Tracy
will be on Jim Rome in a few minutes…
Summary:
- Bittersweet taking over for Hurdle, who got him the job, dear friend, etc. Most important change from Hurdle: very passive team. Too many strikeouts, not enough balls in play. Pitchers not attacking. Make it easy on other team. “Not the way to play winning baseball.”
-
- Defensively, the team was good, but pitchers made too many mistakes so worked on that. Make sure we don’t give away outs. SPs finally pitching deep enough into games.
-
- Ballclub “feeding off one another” leading to team belief that “we’re gonna win.” Deeply hurt by criticism that he wasn’t “passionate” enough in Pittsburgh. Believes that Pitt teams improved over course of his tenure. Takes responsibility for failures in Pitt, but no support from above, “felt like I was steering a ship with no rudder.”
-
- Conversation with DOD that this is a “day to day” job and not an “audition.” Rox should be proud of ability of young players, but mostly proud of “pro’s pros” like TH, BH and GA. Mix of “character” is very special. Clubhouse resembles the 2004 LA clubhouse, “impenetrable” and each player buys in and trying to be the best team possible. “Reeks of winning.”
-
Hyphens preceding and following text are code for strike-thru
in this case, it took you hyphens of bullet points into that context to alternate strike thru
"I have no special talents. I am only passionately curious." - Albert Einstein
by Andrew T. Fisher on Jun 16, 2009 12:28 PM MDT up reply actions
It would be nice
if he would stop corroborating reports of his love of creating teams in LA’s image. It’s weird, and possibly detrimental. Not so far, but still a leetle crazy.
"Don't tell me about the world. Not today. It's springtime and they're knocking baseballs around fields where the grass is damp and green in the morning and the kids are trying to hit the curve ball." -Pete Hamill
Tracy is proud of his 2004 team...
which is fine…but probably annoys us because he’s comparing the Rox to the Dogears. :)
Anyone who’s had one of those “at my last job we did this” and “you remind me of so and so from my previous job” type of manager probably feels some chill of recognition as well.
/bitter? I’m not bitter…
watch out for the potted plants...
My mom just sent me an e-mail asking this:
“I have a question that you might be able to answer. How many players are there that are not American citizens? I would like an answer even if you don’t know the answer. I am asking the expert now which is you. Thanks for your help.”
I may know a lot about baseball but this is not one that I know or know where to find. Could someone help me out? She’s specifically referring to MLB players. Thanks.
"We made too many wrong mistakes." ~Yogi Berra
"The ballplayer who loses his head, who can't keep his cool, is worse than no ballplayer at all." ~Lou Gehrig
JFK
the "not American Ciitzens" part is tough
also the “I want an answer, even if you don’t know the answer”, part is um…I’m not sure th word….impossible? unrealistic? setting you up to fail and letting you know she will be disappointed when you eventually fail?…..ahhhhh…moms
Ok…not US Born…should be easy to find out, on opening day rosters. I’ll look some other time.
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