There isn't a whole ton of Rockies news today, so I hope that you'll allow me a brief digression.
If only the Rockies would stop losing for a while like they did last year. Gee, that would be swell. The fact is, though, that Colorado has done quite well considering the circumstances. As I've written before, the Rockies are winning a lot of blowouts and losing close games, which helps their run differential and Pythagorean record, but not so much their actual record.
The main positive so far is that the Rockies are trailing the Padres--not as much of a long-term threat as the Dodgers. Sure, the Giants and their strange, one would think unsustainable propensity for hitting are worrisome, but it's the boys in blue that worry me the most even now. A Dodgers loss is more important in the long run than a loss by any of our other NL West rivals.
As long as Ubaldo Jimenez leads the Cy Young race (while pacing MLB with six wins and a 0.87 ERA), the Rockies should be just fine -- and they'll only get better as they get healthier. When they do, Jimenez will get the benefit of the victory bonus in ESPN's formula.
On a lighter note, I've found out whose fault our poor start is: namely, Russ and Rox Girl.
I've taken the liberty this year to make a spreadsheet detailing the Rockies' performance against the people that wrote the game wrap for that game. And, well, Russ and RG both are lagging. I know, it's a small sample size, but the trend is disturbing. Meanwhile, Bryan and ATF should be doing every game wrap.
| Writer | W | L | Run Diff. |
| ATF | 3 | 1 | 8 |
| Bryan | 3 | 2 | 22 |
| Jeff | 3 | 3 | 5 |
| RG | 2 | 3 | (3) |
| Russ | 2 | 5 | (6) |
Also of interest is that the Rockies are +28 at home (7-5) and -2 on the road (6-9).
In actual Rockies news, Thomas Harding has details on the rehab assignments of Brad Hawpe and Jason Hammel. From the looks of it, both will be back with the team next week when they are able to come off of the DL.
Harding also writes within the linked article briefly about Joe Beimel's performance so far and the passing at the age of 92 of legendary Tigers broadcaster Ernie Harwell. You may better know Harwell as the voice of "21 Days", the story of the 2007 Rockies. He will most certainly be missed.
RJ Anderson at Fangraphs writes a brief storyon the Rockies' selection of Greg Reynolds and Casey Weathers. This is something of a dead horse on this site, but one could imagine a what-if scenario in which these men weren't seemingly made of glass and were somewhat helpful to the Rockies in a pitching capacity.
For those of you are power rankings junkies, here are the SB Nation (Rockies 10th) and CBS(9th) rankings. The CBS rankings in particular are very well done. In addition, the stats-based BtB rankings should be out later this morning.