San Francisco, from shortly after the season started (when it became obvious that the Dodgers weren't the same team they were in 2008-2009,) became the team that most worried me in the NL West crystal ball, and unfortunately those worries are playing out faster than I anticipated. The bright side is that after their 2010 run reaches an end, they will have some work to do to maintain the squad, and even then maintaining the same cast of characters would have no guarantee of reproducing similar results in 2011. Still, I think it's clear that the Giants have to be held as the divisional standard which the Rockies need to measure themselves against, and right now Colorado is lacking. This makes the stuff that comes out of Brian Wilson's mouth even more nauseating than usual.
Carney Lansford hopes Rockies hitters can remember September of 2007. The Rockies new again hitting coach has been reaching out to hitters that struggled this past season to try and figure out what went wrong, and what changed from when they were more effective.
I don't know if this was linked already, but Red Sox fans remain somewhat fixated on Chris Iannetta after their team showed interest in the catcher in the past, and Over the Monster provides an outside perspective on CDI's pros and cons. Giving this story even more of a Purple Row friendly feel, the comments include a Victor Martinez vs. Iannetta catcher war. Iannetta seems destined to be a polarizing figure no matter where he goes.
After Troy Renck reported (as linked in yesterday's Rockpile) that Martinez was a longshot to sign with the Rockies with Detroit going hard after him, Tigers beat reporter James Schmehl looked into what the Tigers motives might be in that case, and made a guess what they might offer. I bring this up because I would hope that 3 years, $30 million isn't out of the Rockies range for the catcher/first baseman either. It seems this is where the market for Martinez is comfortable. What would make the Rockies longshots, however, is that history has shown that the Monforts/O'Dowd are far less likely to extend beyond that comfort zone than the Ilitch/Dombrowski decision making team in Detroit.
Heather Dinich at ESPN.com points out how bad ACC quarterbacks have looked thus far in the college football season. If there were any doubters left, it would seem that Rockies fans no longer have to worry about losing either Kyle Parker or Russell Wilson to the NFL. For Parker in particular there's been a lot of chatter about how foolish he was toward his pocketbook in turning down the Rockies early, richer baseball only contract.