This particular lazy Sunday I have a little more time than usual, so I thought I'd do a round of links. The Rox are finally starting to blip on the national radar, witness these three accounts from around the country in today's sports sections:
from Bruce Jenkins of the SF Gate
Still, there's not much consolation in "Hey, everybody else is awful, too," or "We're only 31/2 games out." If you're as shaky and vulnerable as the Giants have looked so far, there's no escaping the inevitability of a grim September and a Cheetos-on-the-sofa October.
From Jesse Spector of the New York Daily News
"We have the starting pitching working the way we believe it's capable of working," says Hurdle, whose team will leave Denver after today's game against the Astros to play 15 of its next 21 games on the road. "It'll all comes down to pitching, like it always does, like it always will. Maybe we're due to start pitching a little bit better."
HUMMEL'S TAKE: The Rockies have some young pitchers who aren't afraid to throw strikes in Coors Field, which translates to pitching more confidently on the road, too. They have a top closer in Brian Fuentes. And they have a trio of standout young hitters to go with Todd Helton in Matt Holliday, Brad Hawpe and Garrett Atkins. In an extremely weak NL West Division, the Rockies may even challenge for the title.
Okay, so maybe our own Western division paper hasn't quite caught on that we're for real, but that's okay, we've known the Giants and their followers to be in denial of reality for some time now. At least they're noticing us.