A tale of two Ubaldos - SweetSpot Blog - ESPN
Dan Hennessey chronicles the dramatic home/road splits of Ubaldo Jimenez this season. Ubaldo has been utterly dominant away from Coors Field, posting ridiculous numbers such as a 0.88 WHIP, 8.6 K/9, and has allowed the opponents to post an OPS of .446. Just let that soak in for a moment.
However, he has been way worse than pedestrian at home. We all can point to the fact that his velocity is down, and his secondary pitches have never been as effective at altitude, which has turned into a nightmare in Denver. In his defense, he has also experienced some bad luck with flyballs; he has allowed a home run for every six innings pitched at home in 2011. In his career, that number is one homer for every 12 innings. Apply that to this year, and that's only (a little over) three home runs allowed at home. That may not make a huge difference, but it's a difference nonetheless.
Some of the bad luck that Ubaldo has experienced at home will normalize (as will some of the success he's enjoyed on the road). If it does, that will make him the pitcher he has been his entire career - not necessarily first-half-of-2010 Ubaldo, but not bad at any rate. The key here is, if he can regain his velocity, he will likely revert (or improve?) to an even better form.
Moss: Sky Sox's Cole says Stewart needs attitude adjustment - The Denver Post
Pretty interesting story here from Irv Moss, as Sky Sox manager Stu Cole thinks that Ian Stewart needs the same thing that Chris Nelson, who has finally started to make his mark in the big leagues after spending six-plus years toiling in the minors, needed - a change in attitude.
"At some point it has to be an eye opener," Cole said. "It becomes time to kick it in gear, get back to where I need to be."
Marc Gustafson is absolutely correct when he says at the end of the article that the Rockies are a better team when Ian Stewart is in the big league lineup and playing to (and I'll add, anywhere in the vicinity of) his capabilities.
Stewart and the Sky Sox will be here in Salt Lake City for four games, starting tonight. I'll be attending three of them, and I'll try to provide some perspective on guys such as Ian, as well as Dexter Fowler and others.
One more link (of great interest) after the jump...
Rockies' O'Dowd starts to window shop for pitching - The Denver Post
According to Troy E. Renck, Rockies GM Dan O'Dowd has officially began his search for pitching help - something that could come sooner if Aaron Cook and Juan Nicasio don't perform well this weekend in the Bronx. The names he mentions are Wandy Rodriguez, Brett Myers, Carlos Zambrano, and Anibal Sanchez. In addition to that, MLB Trade Rumors' Tim Dierkes compiled a list of potentially available starters at the beginning of June.
Today's game thread should be up within the half hour.