Wednesday Morning Rockpile:

It's interesting to read the different sides of a beanball war, this morning we have "reporter" Tom Krasovic writing the following for the San Diego Union Tribune:

The rest of the article sticks mostly to the facts as reported more neutrally at SI, among other places, but the writer's opinion clearly filters through. That's fine for blogs, but a general no-no for journalism.

Even other San Diego articles avoid mixing personal opinions into the work. Notice how in this one, the only assertion of "ill intent" from Francis' inside pitch to Evergreen High grad Kouzmanoff is a direct statement from the Padres manager, Bud Black, and not the writer. See, that's the way to do it: find somebody who's opinion mirrors your own, and then when they say it, you're only reporting. Honestly, I'm sure Doug Brocail (another guy with Colorado ties) didn't mean to throw hard pitches at the unshielded hands and arms of two of our most prominent young players, but something had to be said, that's for sure, and if the Padres want to interpret Francis' throw three feet behind Kouz as some sort of retaliation, then whatever, but let's just move on now.

Update [2007-3-14 16:28:17 by Rox Girl]:

Jbox at Gaslamp Ball sees some connection between Colorado's new not-take-it-anymore attitude and the "reefer madness" implicit with our new State song. I don't know where he gets that. Anybody got some Doritos or something, I could use some serious snacks right now...

After watching the Padres score twelve runs in the first inning alone off of two of our projected top starters in two games this past week, it becomes of great interest to me to find out how Lopez and Francis adjust for when they face the Padres next time. There's a chance that neither will face San Diego until the series at Coors Field starting April 20, as the series in Petco two weeks earlier will feature our #4 (Hirsh) and #5 and then our #1 starter. If the #1 pitcher is Cook -and at this point I think he's got the advantage for that role- then Jeff and Rodrigo miss the Pads.

Byung Hyun Kim is more likely to be traded than Josh Fogg, due to his more desirable age and delivery according to Patrick Saunders. Another outing like Sunday's will certainly help move things along for Kim, but as I've said before, the market for trading bottom of the rotation starters is very difficult during the Spring, and we shouldn't expect much in return here.

Todd Helton, the sensitive man beast, gets a little verklempt when he thinks about some Rockies fans wanting to trade him. Somebody needs to tell him that we all want to keep Todd, we like Todd. We just want to trade the $90 million he's owed somewhere else, and it's hard to do that without attaching a player also.

Dan at Up in the Rockies has his Willy Taveras profile up, as well as a stab at the final 25 man roster. I think his guess falls pretty much in line with everything I'm seeing. I personally like Spilborghs over Mabry too, and I like Gomez over Mabry, but the club seems to like Mabry. Or maybe it's just the Denver Post that likes Mabry (note the footnote in today's linked Saunders article) and I'm just attributing too much sock-puppetry from the club. And then when it comes to the pen, I think Herges, Keppel and Veres are in it in the same sense that the starting catcher or shortstop positions aren't decided, that is, they keep getting looks to keep the kids from getting complacent with their training.