Purple Row Comment Awards (Spring Edition)

It probably seems like an odd idea to relive the Spring of 2011 in November, but it's time once again to vote on your favorite comment of the season - And in this case, Spring's the season we're going to explore.

If you're not familiar with what we're doing, here's a link to the first Purple Row Comment Awards (Summer Edition) - Or you can just take the crash course by reviewing the rules of the Purple Row Comment Awards below.

1) To be eligable for this set of awards (The 2011 Spring Edition), the comment has to have been made during the Spring of 2011 (Between March 20, 5:21pm (MT) and June 21st, 11:16am (MT).)

2) A comment MUST have AT LEAST 6 recs to be considered.  If 3 recs gets you green, you need to have at least double green to have a chance here.  (Note: Not all comments with at least 6 recs will be listed here.  I had to make some cuts as this post is already a monster in length.)

3) Comments that are just gifs of an awesome Rockies plays without something added by the poster will not qualify.  As awesome as it is to see Super Cargo fly in from right field or Tulo turn the front end of an absolutely sick double play, we are really giving the rec to the play, not the post itself.  For a gif to be included, there has to be some other edit made to it.

4) If there are any comments that you think should be included that I have missed, link them in the comments.  If they get enough recs in here, I'll add them to the list to be voted on.

5) I'll keep the list of all 20 comments to vote on up for a week.  After that, we'll take the top five and ties and have a runoff.  The winner of that will be crowned best comment of the Spring.

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As a reminder, our summer winner was was Junction Rox's Jim Tracy press conference.....

"Well, obviously the black hole is a very special astronomical phenomenon, and we felt like it had the chance to do some very good things at third base for us. So far, I think it's worked out very well for us defensively. It's been catching everything, it seems like. But offensively, it seems like we still have some work to do there. We're gonna keep working on it, and I have no doubt it's going to turn around one of these days. You know, black hole is very special and really wants to stay in the lineup, and is putting in some great effort that way. So I'm sure it's going to come. We've just got to give it a little time."

/"Jim, could you address the Tulowitzki situation?"

"Well Tracy, that's obviously a tough one for us. We had warned Troy that he couldn't go too far to his right with black hole over at third. But Troy, as you all know, is a 100% effort kind of guy, and, you know, sometimes you just react. At this time we're not completely sure how this situation is going to, you know, play out. But I can tell you that we've been in contact with some top notch astro-physicists, and they are working on some very special stuff that they hope might be able to get Troy back to us in time for tomorrow's game. One of them even said something about getting him back to us in time for the first game in franchise history, but that was something that went a bit over my head, I'll admit."

The winners of the Spring, Winter, and Fall editions of the Purple Row comment awards will join this comment in being nominated for comment of the year.  Those four winners will then face off at the end of December as we determine which comment made on Purple Row was the best of 2011.  The nominees for the Spring are listed below - Enjoy!

1) Since we're already working backwards in nominating Spring comments in November, it's actually rather appropriate that a post about a relief pitcher leads us off.  Near the end of Spring Training, Maria made this post about Rex Brothers...

2) After early season injuries to Ubaldo Jimenez and Evan Longoria, Muzia made this observation.....

Everyone realizes the following fun fact, right?

It's 2011.

Greg Reynolds will be pitching in the number one rotation spot for the Colorado Rockies.

Evan Longoria is on the DL for the last place Tampa Bay Rays.

WE WON!

 3) After one week of play, ESPN tried to make a case claiming that the Mets were really not that bad.  Realmenwearpurple then used their own front page to set them straight.  (You may need to right click and open the picture up in a new window to read the writing - Trust me, it's worth it.)

4) Early in the season, Mother Nature was not kind to the Rockies as several games were rained, or even snowed out.  This did however inspire a couple of outstanding posts.  First up, free7694's projected lineup for a game that looked like it would be postponed even 24 hours in advance.

My projected lineup tomorrow

1. Rain
2. Rain
3. Go
4. Away
5. Come
6. Again
7. Another
8. Day
9. Tulo (Not even rain can stop Tulo)

5) When the game actually was rained out the following night, Rosenort decided he would use it to his advantage.....

I'm not telling my girlfriend the game is rained out

that way she thinks I gave her control of the remote and missed a ball game without complaining.

6) Of course, great comments from April 2011 would not be complete without a couple of mentions of Alan Johnson.  (For those new to the site, there's a long running JOKE steming from a Denver Post article that the Rockies were going to trade Alan Johnson for Roy Halladay)

First from Muzia...

7) And now from Andrew T. Fisher...

The only downside the DFAing Alan Johnson

is that later on, you won't be able to DFA Alan Johnson

8) Old friend Mondogarage stops by to give us the lineups for the Rockies first game of the season against Tim Lincecum.

Tonight's lineup

1. Dexter Fowler (S) CF
2. Jonathan Herrera (S) 2B
3. Carlos Gonzalez (L) LF
4. Troy Tulowitzki® SS
5. Todd Helton (L) 1B
6. Ryan Spilborghs® RF
7. Jose Lopez® 3B
8. Chris Iannetta® C
9. Esmil Rogers® P 

No Gints lineup posted yet. Bochy had to rewrite it, because their starting pitcher used the first version to roll a blunt.

9) One of the big early season storylines was the success of Jonathan Herrera and whether or not it was sustainable.  Andrew Martin (correctly) didn't believe it was.....

I'm not mad about Herrera doing well, and I'm prepared to eat lots and lots of crow if he finishes the season at like an .850 OPS or something along those lines.

I just see it as me having a 100-sided die, and telling someone to call their shot:

them "46"
/rolls 46
me: "bullshit. Do it again"
them "81"
/rolls 81
me: "bullshit. Do it again"
them "18"

In Play, Run(s)

 

10) Rock Oax pokes fun at divsion rivals after Atlana sweeps San Francisco.

I'm happy the Braves totally owned the Giants

Too bad nobody seems to be able to own the Dodgers

11) Many Colorado fans were not pleased with the coverage Root Sports provided of the Rockies this season.  SDcat was so angry however that she darfted a letter to voice her displeasure.

Okay, so I'm grinding my axe against ROOT Sports. I will not complain as much after today.

I’m drafting an email to tell them exactly how I feel about their shoddy broadcasts. What do you guys think of this letter?

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Dear ROOT,

I cannot imagine what kind of marketing results or production decision since changing from FSNRM has led you to think that baseball fans want to see drunkards in the bar, people doing the wave, and Dinger acting like an idiot in a box during a Rockies broadcast. It’s embarrassing. The Rockies have had enough of a struggle to be accepted as more than a bush league franchise that many outside of Colorado view as a joke.

Your broadcasts show far too much fan behavior during the game. I can understand the occasional fan catching a foul ball, or a cute kid with an ice cream cone. Not to mention the rapt fan during a critical time in the game. But you continue to go back time and again to the fans at the expense of the action. I’d much rather see the players reactions during a game than a drunken fan doing the wave and partying with a Flying Elvis.

And don’t even get me started on the Toyota Text feed. It’s one thing to have it scroll across the screen, but to have the broadcast team READ them is just redundant. You’ve reduced the wonderful Alanna Rizzo to being the typical "gal about town" when she used have some insights into the team and relevant stories from fans. I get that you are wanting to show what great fans there are ROOTing for the local teams but you are making the Rockies and Colorado fans look ridiculous.

I live in San Diego and subscribe to the MLB.TV package so I can watch my favorite Colorado team. What you are doing is driving me to switch over to the competitions broadcast. I doubt that’s what you are hoping is the outcome of this new "fan-friendly" driven broadcast style.

Regards
Number One Rockies fan in San Diego

12) Muzia gives us his thoughts on potentially acquiring Milton Bradley...

13) After a two game sweep of the Giants on May 17th, the Rockies moved into first place for the final time all season.  This event produces two comments that only seem more interesting six months later.  First from pacifed...

Hello first place in the division

I missed ya.

14) And then the reply from frightened inmate #2...

We really have an unhealthy relationship with first place.

we take it for granted. we slap it around a little bit. we talk to other places in the standings when 1st isn’t around.

but then we lose first place. and we’re like "come back! it’ll be different this time! we’ve changed! we work counts now! we pick up base coaches!"

But now she’s back. We have to treat her better, or she’ll be gone for good.

15) It was put to great use throughout the season, but May was when Charlie77's Matt Pen photo gained the most recs.

16) Following Buster Posey's season ending injury, Brian Sabean decided that MLB needed to make a rule change.  That sparked a couple of very interesting comments targeted towards the Giants. 

First from Franchise26...

You only get to be World Champions for a year. But ‘classless crybabies' is a label that lasts forever.

 17) And then this from BrandonHawpe after the Pujols injury only a few weeks later.

AN IMPORTANT PLAYER GOT HURT, THAT MEANS A RULE CHANGE IS NEEDED

BATTERS MUST STAY AT LEAST 10 FEET IN FOUL TERRITORY WHEN RUNNING FROM HOME TO FIRST. ONCE THEY ARE PAST FIRST THEN THEY CAN CIRCLE BACK AND TOUCH IT, BUT ONLY BY SLIDING IN SO AS TO STAY BELOW THE LEVEL OF THE FIRST BASEMAN'S ARM AT ALL TIMES.

/Giants fans

18) Prettyinpurple reviews this game with this comment.

Pip's guide to this afternoon's game thread:

The lineup
Cereal
Granola
Granolas
Wiggy makes a nice play
Tulo's baserunning sucks
Cargo robs Ludwick. Bahaha.
People don't like Joe Torre's voice
#Rockiesluck
Catchers are tough
It ain't over when it's 1-0...especially when Magic 8 ball says so.
Exercising is silly
Charlie Blackmon
Chacin, the pitcher, gets a hit
TIE GAME!
Latos is a tool
Herrera gets HBP, blue says no, Tracy argues, blues say no, Jonny gets mad and BASEHIT.
ROCKIES GET A BLOOP HIT! : O
Various ways to stop people who start waves
Singles are nice
Trade for Greg Smith
OH GAWD NOT ANOTHER DH ARGUMENT
Matt's in the pen- Abbott & Costello
Charlie Blackmon is awesome
NO DON'T EVER LEAVE US SETH!

19) For the most part, I will try to keep nominating myself to a minimum - However, I am going to throw my hat into the ring for this exchange (hat tip to BittenAnkles for placing this one on a tee)

Given how baseballs are handled during the game, I don't see how the Rockies could have been cheating.

Am I missing something? Timmeh said after the "juiced ball" game that the ball he rejected was soft and mushy. That my friends is not a juiced ball from a hitters point of view, but rather one from a pitchers stand point. He should have been on the lookout for extra dry and hard balls.

Unfortunately for him, Barry Bonds has not been in that locker room since 2007.

20) And finally, hjrrockies brings us The Most Interesting Man In The World's thoughts on AL vs. NL baseball.