Game #45: De la Rosa vs Misch

There are a lot of people who for some reason find it worth there while to spend time and thought on the Rockies. Obviously, some of us spend an amount that tips us well into the crazy column. But the type of people who I never clearly understood would give much time at all to the team, but for some reason will anyway, are those that see absolutely nothing good with the franchise, regardless of what happens.

These people will quickly write off success as a fluke, a one time deal, but then wholly buy into any and every negative narrative of the team and then seem most happy and boisterous when the Rockies are losing. I appreciate thoughtful criticism that actually explores how the team needs to get better, and I'm not talking about that, even if it leans negative, as there's usually a constructive element that goes along with it. Instead, I'm talking about people whose basic understanding of the game is so rudimentary that they should instinctively know their poseurs and should therefore keep quiet if they want to seem even half way intelligent. Instead, they still feel the need to just say something for the inflammatory effect. For instance, read the comments at Drew Litton's cartoon today.

One characteristic that will instantly alert me that an argument lacks the savvy I'm looking for is laying total blame for the first third of the season on the pitching staff, when it should mostly be shouldered by the offense. Any and every contemporary baseball fan should know about park effects by now, unless they're twelve years old.

Here's a current ranking of the NL teams by ERA+:

1. Arizona 127
2. Chicago 120
3. Atlanta 114
4. Philadelphia 108
5. New York 106
6. Los Angeles 105
7. St. Louis 104
8. Colorado 98
9. Cincinnati 97
10. Houston 96
11. San Francisco 95
12. Florida 94
13. Washington 94
14. San Diego 91
15. Milwaukee 91
16. Pittsburgh 84

Granted, we are a whole lot closer to the bottom than the top in this, and I'm not saying that more can't be done to fix the staff, but still the eighth place pitching staff in the NL isn't nearly as big a problem for us as the fourth to the worst offense in the league.

OPS+:

1. Chicago 116
2. Atlanta 115
3. Florida 113
4. St. Louis 112
5. Arizona 105
6. Houston 102
7. Philadelphia 102
8. New York 101
9. Cincinnati 101
10. Los Angeles 96
11. Pittsburgh 95
12. Milwaukee 92
13. Colorado 91
14. San Francisco 88
15. San Diego 83
16. Washington 79

Alright, sorry for the rant.

There are just three teams that rank below the Rockies in both ERA+ and OPS+ categories, the Padres, the Nationals, and tonight's opponent, the Giants. The Rockies better well keep it that way, at least in regards to our current opponent. Feel free to move up on the rest of the league anytime, boys.

Go Rockies!