Rockies Review: June boom continues as Todd Helton advances up career home run list

by Russ Oates on Jun 21, 2009 8:28 PM MDT in Rockies Rewind

Scenario A: Having won 11 straight games, the Rockies start the week out with a loss to the (Devil) Rays, win the next game, and drop the final game on Thursday. The Pirates then come to town, take two of three, and have a repeat of this.

Scenario B: On the heels of winning 11 consecutive games, the Rockies start the week with a 4-12 loss to the (Devil) Rays. However, the loss doesn't discourage the team and the guys take the next two games to win the series. The Pirates make their trip out to Denver and don't have a repeat of this. Instead, the Pirates are on the receiving end of this and lose three games.

Obviously, if you follow the Rockies, you know that scenario B is fact and scenario A is fiction. A few weeks ago scenario A would have been true (well, except for the having won 11 straight games). But these guys aren't your father's Rockies. Hmmm, that doesn't work quite so well, even on Father's Day. These guys aren't your Rockies from 2008 and the first two months of the season? Yeah, that's better. They aren't your Rockies from 2008 and the first two months of this season.

Last night's game is one of those events you look back on at the end of the season and recall it as if it just happened. The excitement, the joy--they're almost palbable. It's also a great example of what these Rockies need to have for the rest of the season: resiliency. After Andrew McCutchen's three-run triple and Nyjer Morgan's RBI single in the seventh and Brandon Moss's RBI double in the eighth to put the Pirates up 7-4, the old Rockies would have gone out with a whimper and done nothing. But the new Rockies battled back. With two outs in the eighth, Chris Iannetta tied the game with a three-run homer, and then there was Todd Helton. The Grizzly Man hit the game-wining, two-run homer to cap an incredible comeback.

That's right. No "Oh, damn, Garrett Outkins is up." We had the guy who hit a walkoff home run two years ago that sparked an epic run. Helton is now tied for 99th on the career home run list. Here's a list of those he may surpass this year:

Rank	Player	Career HR
92	Shawn Green	328
	Mo Vaughn	328
94	Willie Horton	325
95	Gary Carter	324
	Lance Parrish	324
97	Ron Gant	321
98	Vinny Castilla	320
99	Cecil Fielder	319
	Todd Helton	319

I figure Helton will hit around 20 home runs total this year, putting him alone at 92 and one behind Hank Greenberg.

Todd Helton is great.

As for the week ahead, the Rockies continue their interleague journey by visiting the Angels for three games and then Oakland starting Friday. We'll get a look at some guy called Matt Holliday. We remember that guy, but have we moved beyond him?

GO ROCKIES!

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Holliday...

Not that I’m following closely, but I have tried to keep up with Holliday’s performance with the A’s. And so far, well—let’s just say that a bunch of our guys (especially Hawpe) are having much better seasons than Holliday. The few times that I’ve tuned in to A’s games on MLB.tv, it’s obvious that he just doesn’t come through for the A’s the way he used to do for us. I’m sure he’ll recover, but so far it seems he’s having trouble adjusting to the move.

I don’t really have a point, except to say that, as one of the non-stats-y followers of this blog, I enjoy these moments where the human side of the game comes into play. I like to follow the narratives of individual players’ careers. Holliday’s been taken out of his element and hasn’t been performing as expected. Long story short, I’m looking forward to the Oakland series. We should probably give Atkins at least one start in that series for the sentimental value of having the two old friends play against each other. Actually, that may be going a little too far…

And then there’s Fuentes, whom I think we’d rather not have to see at all.

by dogs on Jun 21, 2009 9:07 PM MDT reply actions

Holliday's numbers

have been moving around. He had been building steam and his OPS+ was up to 131 at one point last month (not sure where it peaked) though another slump has brought it back down to 116. In addition to the pitchers’ park being an issue, the team as a whole is really having a lot of trouble hitting. They’ve scored more runs than Seattle, but it looks like their base numbers (OBP, slugging) are actually a little worse than Seattle’s.

Yikes! What’s in the water?

Free Seth Smith!

by FooMan on Jun 22, 2009 9:04 AM MDT up reply actions

Speaking of Oakland...

Has anyone ever been to a game in Oakland? I’m considering going on Friday, but I’ll be going alone and I’ve never been to a game there before. I’ve been to a few Giants/Rockies games alone, and I have a section I like to sit in (and know that it’s usually free of any rowdy fans). I have no such knowledge for A’s games and don’t really know what to expect of their fans (other than that I don’t expect it to be like going to a Raiders game, somewhere I would never in a million years go).

by holly96 on Jun 21, 2009 10:49 PM MDT reply actions