1) April 17 vs Padres, Won 2-1 in 22 innings
In the longest game in Major League history since 1993, the Rockies were able to outlast the Padres in a sloppy contest typified by missed opportunities, strikeouts, and a few 7th inning stretches. Here are just a few of the oddball stats to come out of this Citizen Kane of a baseball game:
-The game took 6 hours and 16 minutes to be played, ending about 4:30 in the morning eastern time, which is where I was watching the game out at Kenyon College in Ohio. Screaming obscenities at my computer while watching the game, I repeatedly woke up both my girlfriend and roommate. Needless to say, I slept on the couch the next night.
-The Rockies struck out a franchise-single-game-high 20 times, leading Willy Taveras to try and match that number single-handedly in every game that followed during the season. His apparent rationale: We struck out 20 times and won; why can't it happen more often?
-Taveras also had 10 at bats, another Rockies single-game record. If I had my way, he wouldn't have gotten 10 more at bats the rest of the season.
-Kip Wells got his only win of the season.
-Tulo ran his early season slump to 1-26 before singling in the 20th and then doubling home the winning run in the 22nd. The 2-8 day actually raised his average to .167.
-It was the only game in baseball this season with a 21st inning stretch.
2) May 23 vs Mets, 6-5 win, 13 innings
This game was all Matt Holliday's. Though he only finished the day 2-7, his two hits were the key knocks that led the Rox to this extra-inning victory. Trailing 5-4 in the 9th, the Mets brought in their flame-throwing lefty Billy Wagner to close out the game. Unfortunately for Billy, it wasn't meant to be and for Mets fans, it was a sneak peek at how your ballclub would once again perform a September unraveling. With one out, Big Daddy launched a fastball into the centerfield bleachers, tying the game. Then, in the 13th with two outs and the speedy Johnny Herrera on 2nd, Matt lasered an Aaron Heilman two-seamer into right field to send the Rockies to their first walk-off victory of the year.
3) July 3 vs. Marlins, 6-5 win, 11 innings
This was the first game of back to back fireworks night at Coors Field to celebrate America creeping one year closer to early retirement. The stands were packed with nearly 50,000 fans each night and boy, were they ever treated to some kind of show...and that was even before the skies lit up with the bombs bursting in air. In a back and forth contest that saw both teams hold the lead multiple times before all was said and done, the Rockies had the last at bat and the last laugh as Spilly smacked a bases loaded single with one out in the 11th inning to send the raucous Rockies faithful home happy. But this wasn't all the drama the Rockies would provide on this Fourth of July weekend as the next night would prove to be even more unbelievable.
4) July 4 vs. Marlins, 18-17 win
In this seesaw game that saw the Marlins jump out to a 13-4 lead in the 4th inning, many of the 50,000 red, white, and blue clad Rockies fans were resigned to drink their beer and wait for the fireworks spectacular. The Rockies, however, figured they would play out the last five innings and just see what happened. Fortunately for them, America was on their side and Uncle Sam chose to shoot off his fireworks in a celebratory setting. The comeback began with seven runs for the Rockies in the 5th and 6th innings to cut the lead to 13-12 including a concourse-pounding moonshot from Chris Iannetta. In the 7th, the Marlins seemed to regain control of the game with four runs to pad the lead to 17-12. The Rockies would storm right back in the bottom half the frame when Matt Holliday tattooed a 3-2 fastball from Logan Kensing into the left field bleachers for a grand slam to once again trim down the Marlins lead to one at 17-16. That set the stage for the bottom of the 9th. With the Marlins closer Kevin Gregg on the hill who had absorbed the loss the night before, once again struggled with his control and loaded the bases in a tie ballgame with Chris Iannetta stepping to the plate. With one out and a drawn-in infield, Chris singled through the hole on the left side to score Matt Holliday with the winning run to send the Rockies to their second straight walk-off victory in front of their two biggest crowds of the season. It was the biggest comeback in club history. Fireworks indeed.
5) Aug 24 vs Reds, 4-3 win, 12 innings
This game wasn't one of the best of the year because it was the longest or most exciting. I've already dissected those games already. This extra-inning walk-off win was for the little guy. You know the guy. He comes into work every day, does his business without much fanfare, never complains about contracts or playing time, and is always ready when his number is called. Jamey Carroll fulfilled this role for the Rockies last season and this year, the light-hitting, slick-fielding, utility infielder role was held by Omar Quintanilla. Omar will never set the world on fire with his bat but he can make the routine play as well as the spectacular one in the field. In this game, the Rockies clawed their way back with two runs in the 9th to tie it up. The game went to 11 and Omar, the last man on Clint Hurdle's bench, stepped to the plate facing righty Brad Lincoln. He got a low fastball on the inner half of the plate and the little lefty crushed it over the scoreboard in right for his first career walk-off homer and only the second of his career.
So while this season wasn't all pretty, there were definitely some moments to remember.
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
The Diamonds in a Season of Cubic Zirconias
Monday, October 13, 2008
The 5 Games That Truly Defined Our Season
1. April 4 vs. D-Backs, 8-1 Loss
- This was supposed to be the Rockies coronation as a major player in not only the Denver sports scene, but for the national stage as well. This was the home opener of the National League Champions following our first very successful season. The city was abuzz with Rockies fever and the only prescription was to see their beloved boys in purple take the field and receive their championship rings. The stands were packed, the players were pumped, and an unprecedented air of confidence covered Coors Field. Unfortunately, it was the last time we were to be hopeful the rest of the season. In a game that was supposed to be a thank you letter to the dedicated fans who have stuck by this team when they yearned to even be knocking on mediocrity's door, we sent.......Mark Redman to the hill. That's right. Mark Redman. A journeyman pitcher who had a couple decent starts in our 21 day run to the NL pennant in 2007. He of the 66-80 career win-loss record. Well, he pitched every bit of his career stigma by going 5.2 innings and giving up 5 runs on 9 hits on route to an 8-1 Rockies loss. Micah Owings, who went on to pitch so poorly during the season for the D-Backs that he was traded to the Reds, gave up 2 hits in 6.2 innings and struck out 9 in an unfortunate bit of foreshadowing for the rest of the season for the Rockies. Nobody hit, every Rockies pitcher gave up at least one run, Holliday struck out four times, and we lost to the D-Backs....what would become a trend as we did it 15 more times throughout the course of the year. It was a sad start to a sorry season.
2) May 26 vs Phillies, 20-5 Loss
- It's not that this loss was as devastating as it was spirit-crushing. We were already well into our early season free-fall when Jorge de la Rosa took the hill with one goal in mind.....to be as bad as he wanted to be. Apparently, he wouldn't stop until he reached the suck quotient of High School Musical, Creed, and the American economy combined (too soon?) Staked to a 3-0 lead in the first inning, Jorge proceeded to cough it right back and then some. His final line of 3.1 inn, 7 runs, and 3 walks wasn't the worst line from a starting pitcher this season (see Redman, Mark and Wells, Kip), but it was what followed from the 5 pitchers out of our bullpen that really lit the fuse on the stinkbomb that was our 2008. Those 5 pitchers gave up a combined 13 more runs (and that was with Alberto Arias and Corpas throwing scoreless frames.) There's nothing like praying for the 10 run rule in a Major League baseball game to demoralize an already down and out ballclub.
3) May 30 vs Cubs, 10-9 Loss
- After this game, I immediately turned on my computer and posted a scathing, strictly emotional response to the Rockies heartless defeat. I called this the lowest point of the season and frankly, with the luxury of 4 months of hindsight, I'm not sure I was too wrong. With our ace Aaron Cook on the mound staked to an 8-0 lead which then eventually turned into a 9-1 lead, we blew it. Cook blew it by giving up 7 runs in 6.1, Corpas then proceeded to screw things up royally by surrendering the last 3 runs and the go ahead 2 run jack to Mark DeRosa. That ballooned Manuel's ERA to 6.59 and completely took the bloom off the rose that Corpas laid so beautifully at the foot of the heart-shaped bed we called the 2007 season (was that a bit too eloquent?) My sticking point of why this was the lowest point of the year was this: we did everything possible to lose that ballgame. We hit three home runs, had our ace on the hill, had an 8 run lead and still found a way to lose the contest. How could we go anywhere but up after a defeat like that?
4) August 7 vs Nationals, 6-3 Loss, 6-3 Loss
- No, I'm not repeating myself. Those identical losses to the worst team in the National League in a doubleheader matchup were the cherry on top of the shit sundae that was 2008. The Rockies had somehow found a way to hang around in the National League West race. Yes, it was mostly because everybody else in the division was too busy downloading copies of Metallica albums off Napster, but still. We had just finished a pivotal 10 game road trip with a relatively successful record of 6-4. With 7 games coming up against the lowly Nats and Padres, the two worst teams in the NL, I was thinking to myself that maybe, just maybe, there was a chance for this 2008 club to duplicate the late season run of our beloved National League champs. Alas, it was not meant to be....and how. Cook lost the first game, the second game was only saved by an Ian Stewart pinch hit 2 run dinger in the 8th, but then came games 3 and 4. Jeff Francis made his first start in over a month and lost, then Ubaldo trying to unsuccessfully pitch like it was July lost another 6-3 decision. When the Rockies, who had come home with some much needed momentum, couldn't best the immortal Jason Bergmann and Odalis Perez with their three best pitchers on the hill, I knew it was over. I posted the Rockies obituary on this day.
5) September 28 vs D-Backs, 2-1 Loss
- The Rockies had been eliminated for about two weeks at this point, so this wasn't one of those losses that effectively ended our season or anything......except that it was the loss that officially ended our season. I hate losing on the last day of the season. Well, I hate losing in general, but especially when I know I won't be seeing a final score for another 6 months. With as much as I read about sports (obviously the Rockies) it hurts to have to see them with that L in the box score until hope springs eternal. This game wasn't very significant in the grand scheme of things. Ubaldo and Randy Johnson challenged each other to fisticuffs, Marquise de Queensberry Rules, and each held their own for the majority of the ballgame. U-Ball threw 7 scoreless innings with 10 strikeouts and RJ used his power mullet to go the distance, giving up a run and striking out 9. These were not the reasons why this game is on this list. No, we must venture to the 9th to see how this one makes the cut. First, in the 8th, Manny Corpas does his best Manny Corpas impression by giving up a solo homer to Chris Young. Sweet. Then, in the 9th, in the last ballgame of the season, in a tie game, who does Clint send out to the hill but Luis Vizcaino....the biggest disappointment in a season chock full of 'em. Given the largest contract ever given to a relief pitcher in Rockies franchise history, Vizcaino had an ERA over 5 and was never counted on by Hurdle to get any significant outs the entire year until this game. He only subsequently loaded the bases on two walks and a hit then with the count 3-2 to Chris Young, the end of the season hanging on the pitch against a team in which we had a record of 3-16 against, he throws it up and in allowing the winning run to score. There was no more fitting ending to the 2008 season than this one.
Yeah, that wasn't fun to do, but I at least hope it was fun to read.
Next up, the 5 best games of 2008.
Thursday, October 9, 2008
...and 5 to grow on!
Well, I already outlined the 5 main reasons the Colorado Rockies sucked in 2008, I would be remiss if I didn't come up with a tidy little list of a few things the Rockies actually did well this year. No, really, there were 5 things. I promise you there will be no repeats.......probably.
1) Tulo's 2nd Half
- Tulo's 1st half was at the top of the Things-That-Sucked-List, so it's only fitting that Tulo's second half be at the top of this one. Tulo's second half basically begins when he returned from the disabled list for second time (after getting into a bar brawl with one of his bats and losing...badly) on July 21. At the time he was hitting .166 with 3 home runs and 15 rbis. Not quite MVP worthy if you ask me. In that July 21 game against the Dodgers, Tulo announced his prescence with authority with a 5-5 game, raising his average 34 points in only one game. From that point on, Tulo had himself a hell of a season hitting .335 the rest of the way and picking up his power pace a bit by clubbing 6 homers and knocking in 32 runs. His final stat line of .263, 8, 46 nears David Eckstein territory for uselessness (unless you count "being a gamer" as usefulness) compared to his monster 2007 numbers (.299, 24, 97), but to see how abysmal Tulo was at the beginning of the season, dealing with his injuries (some self inflicted), and bouncing back to have a second half that we came to expect in the short time we've known Tulo was a huge relief to Rockies fans and front office alike. Now that he knows how to handle adversity for the first time in his career, he's going to be better for it when 2009 rolls around.
2) The emergence of the Young Guns
- Yeah, that's right, I'm talking about Chris Iannetta, Ian Stewart, and Ubaldo Jimenez (What? You thought I meant Charlie Sheen, Emilio, and Kiefer? Pssshhh). Those three guys were big question marks coming into the 2008 season. Chris was the Opening Day starter last year, but ineffectiveness and lofty expectations ultimately led to his demotion to the Springs for a brief period to get his confidence back. Though he showed some pop at the end of last season in his return, he was still stuck behind Yorvit "Mr. "Clutch"" (yeah, quotations in quotations) Torrealba in the depth chart. Everyone here at Frost Brewed Baseball realized early on in the year that Iannetta was ready to be a productive member of the ballclub when he was outhitting Torrealba in half the at bats. Once Hurdle finally realized it too, Iannetta took off. He finished the year 5th in home runs among catchers (18), 8th in RBIs (65), 2nd in on base percentage (.390), and didn't commit an error the entire season behind the plate. The upper echelon of catchers in the big leagues (Mauer, McCann, Martin) might have a new member.
King Stew had always had pounds of potential but had never turned that promise into production at the Major League level. Some in the organization were wondering whether or not he would ever be the player they thought he'd be. Those worries were allieved this year as soon as Ian saw consistent at bats when Helton went down for the season. Garrett moved to first to make way for Stew Daddy and Stewart responded with power and defense. A late season slide masked the outstanding season this kid had in the 2nd half. His final numbers of (.259, 10, 41) don't show just how impressive Stewart was this year. On top of his highlight reel defense, Stew slugged huge home runs and hit lefties at a ridiculous .370 clip. He should be a cornerstone of our infield for years to come (and will probably necessitate the need to move Atkins to another team.)
No one knew what to expect from Ubaldo this year. He'd had success near the end of the season and in the playoffs, but he was still only 24. When he started out 1-7, the critics were ready to write off Jimenez as a flash in the pan. A million dollar arm and a 5 cent head to quote Bull Durham. Then the calendar turned to July and all of a sudden Jimenez was nearly flawless. His fastball was hard and biting, his slider made hitters flail helplessly, and his command was spotless. He went 5-1 in the month with a 1.74 ERA and cemented his spot at number 2 in our rotation. Though his August was a bit of a setback, he finished the season strong with a 2.90 ERA in the month of September ending the season with a hard-fought 12-12 record and 3.99 ERA. Though it was a bit up and down, this kid is going to be fun to watch for years to come with that 100 mph heat.
3) Cookie's career year
- For a while Aaron Cook's season looked destined to be the best in the entire history of the Rockies franchise. He had 16 wins by the time they calendar turned to September, one short of the Rockies record, but a high volume of innings pitched eventually caught up to the red-headed right hander and he was forced to miss a few starts down the stretch. The ones he did start however, Cook looked like a shell of the pitcher we'd seen at the start of the year. Nevertheless, Cook had one of the finest years of any pitcher in the history of the ballclub. Signed to a contract extension in the offseason, he was one of the only players that the front office invested in that actually earned his paycheck in 2008. He finished the year at 16-9 with a 3.96 ERA but those numbers don't tell the story of how dominant Cook was for the majority of the season. He played the roll of stopper early on in the year rolling off 6 straight wins, most of them after Rockies losses. He was even the second Rockies starting pitcher to be selected to the National League All Star Team (the other being everybody's favorite $121 million man, Mike Hampton in 2001), and responded by throwing 3 shutout innings in said All Star game (including a magic act after the AL loaded the bases with nobody out thanks to Dan "My Fielding Is" Uggla's 2 consecutive errors.) Though his performance was historic, he ultimately paid the price by not responding well after the break and having to sit out with lower back pain. Cook finally pitched like the ace he was supposed to be and we'll look for that sinker to dominate next season as well.
4) T Rex's Total Domination
- Though he came into the season as the set up man due to Manny Corpas' unreal 2nd half last season, Brian Fuentes had the kind of year that guys can go their whole careers without having. Thrust back into the closer's role after Corpas had his Fuentes-esque meltdown to start the year, Brian responded by saving 30 games, his 4th consecutive season with at least 20. At one point, he saved 17 consecutive games including a stretch between August 15-September 17 where in 13 innings, he gave up 3 hits, walked 2, and struck out 24. He was so unbelievably unhittable that he made Rockies fans forget his, ahem, "hiccup" on last year's disastrous 1-9 road trip at the end of June. Most everyone agrees that it's a foregone conclusion that Fuentes will be a goner this offseason, that he will command too big of a contract for the penny-pinching Rockies to afford. Plus, they say they already have a bona-fide Major League closer in Manny Corpas. Or are they only saying that because they're set to pay Manny $5.5 million this year and don't want to be paying that kind of money to a set up man? In my opinion, we need Fuentes. He's the franchise's all time leader in saves and has the makeup and stuff to still dominate the 9th inning for years to come. He's much more important to me than Atkins, who is easily expendable and a good piece of trade bait if we can land a quality starting pitcher. He's replaceable. Fuentes is not and it will be a shame if the Rockies front office doesn't at least make a decent attempt to re-sign T-Rex.
5)..................
- I got this. I know there has to be a 5th positive from this season. Hawpe had a pretty sweet year and finally started to hit lefties (.282 average, 6 hrs.) Barmes proved himself to be a quality option at second base (at least until EY, Jr or Corey Wimberley are ready to make an impact.) Taylor Buchholz was nearly unhittable in the setup role (6-6, 2.17 ERA), and Jason Grilli stepped up to provide some solid innings late in the game. There, there's a few things that went well. Livan Hernandez won't be on the team next year! That's another one. That's all I have right now. Be grateful I found 4.
Coming up, the worst 5 games of 2008.
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
The 5 (Main) Reasons We Sucked in 2008
So here goes the start of what should be an epic season recap of your 2008 Colorado Rockies here at Frost Brewed Baseball. Epic only in the sense that I might use big words occasionally, hell, I might even write in another language (Italian, anyone?) because this year was far from memorable for the Rox. To give due credit to both sides of the coin (the positive and the negative) I'm going to highlight both because even in a 74-88 season that followed the franchise's first World Series appearance, it couldn't have been all bad. The following however, could be construed as the baseball equivalent of listening to the Jonas Brothers music, or watching the new Indiana Jones, or getting nut-punched by a blind midget wearing a Raiders jersey, or.....well, you get the idea.
1) Tulo's first half
- I've heard of the sophomore slump but Tulo's first half of play gave new meaning to the term. I'm not sure if God was trying to humble our fair Tulo after signing his huge contract in the offseason, or if Tulo's acting skills pained God personally (he did, of course, create such geniuses as Paul Newman in his own image), or perhaps Tulo was just getting too smug for the man upstairs because there was almost no earthly explanation for Tulo's early season struggles. He was hitting about .150 in April before tearing a tendon near his groin (a pain I wouldn't even wish upon Al Davis.......ok, I totally would.) After his 2007 season, the greatest for any rookie shortstop in National League history (.291, 24, 99, 11 errors, 989 fielding percentage) he did not rush out of the gate in 2008. He was committing errors, struggling mightily with runners in scoring position, not hitting for power, and looked like his supreme confidence might have been shaken. Perhaps he was putting too much pressure on himself to play well after becoming one of the cornerstones of our franchise and forgot that he, in fact, was more talented than most people on the field. He became susceptible to the high fastball and would swing at anything that even grazed the dirt. Though it wasn't his fault by any means for the team's faceplant to start the season, he was one of the easy scapegoats. He then came off the DL only to go back on a few weeks later after throwing a temper tantrum and shattering his bat after being pulled from a game, slicing his palm. When he returned he was hitting .166. To paraphrase Paul Harvey, soon, you'll get the rest of the story...
2) The complete and utter failure of our offseason signings
Yes, I'm talking to you Kip Wells, Mark Redman, Josh Towers, Micah Bowie, Livan Hernandez (though that was technically a trade), and last but not least.....Ladies and Gentlemen, here he is, the WORST free agent signing of the season....he's number 51 in your programs, number 2,635, 455 in your hearts....LUIS VIZCAINO!!! That's right folks, Dealin' Dan O'Dowd stayed put for the most part last offseason, resting on the laurels of a World Series appearance and not wanting to rock the boat when it came to our clubhouse chemistry. So to strengthen what he believed to be a weak link on our team (though it was one of our strongest points last year) he went out and got an aging right-hander whose last even decent season was 2006 with Arizona. Not only did he sign this waste of hard-earned oxygen for 2 years (oh yeah, we still have him for another one), but he also decided he wanted to pay him $7 million to do so. And what was his return? A 1-2 record with a 5.28 ERA. This human pinata was sent by Skip Hurdle to the mound in the last inning of our last game of the year in a tied contest and what did he do? Load the bases on two walks and a hit then walked in the winning run that ended our season. Can't wait for more of the same next year!
3) The rotation? More like the blow-tation (Dane Cook could've written that)
- Aaron Cook's first half combined with Ubaldo Jimenez' second half gave our 5 starters on this season a grand total of 1 decent year. Cook and Ubaldo were the only two starters whose ERAs ended up under 4.00 on the season though Cook tried his damnedest to get up there in the last two months of the year. Our rotation started out 2008 thusly:
Jeff Francis
Aaron Cook
Ubaldo Jimenez
Jason Hirsh/Mark Redman
Franklin Morales
Well, Francis was completely and totally ineffective for nearly the entire season. He started the season throwing far across his body which led to his inability to throw his fastball on the inner half of the plate, leaving his changeup down and away to right handers a very hittable pitch. This mechanical flaw most likely directly led to his shoulder problems which cropped up early on in the year, but he only told anybody in June when his record stood at a ghastly 3-7. Considering he hadn't won less than 14 games in any of his previous 3 seasons in the big leagues, I'm almost certain this was just an aberration and he'll bounce back. He'd won 45 games in three seasons. You don't do that by accident (see Lee, Cliff.)
Cook and Ubaldo had decent seasons. Ubaldo turned his potential into production and though he finished only .500 (12-12), considering he started out 1-7, that's pretty damn good.
Hirsh was supposed to be our 4th starter but was hurt in spring training and didn't make his season debut until September 3rd. In the Springs he and Franklin Morales had a contest to see who could lose their potential in the organization the fastest and to be honest, it was really hard to see who won......or lost.
Hirsh: 4-4, 5.80 ERA, 51/52 K/BB ratio.
Morales: 10-5, 5.47 ERA, 83/82 K/BB ratio.
Redman would've been better used as a hat rack.
4) Hitting with runners in scoring position
-Long thought of as a completely subjective statistic (meaning can someone really be "clutch" or not), clutch hitting was a severely sore subject for Rockies' hitters this year. After hitting .276 last year with RISP (and having the best offense in the NL), they fell to a paltry .256 this season scoring a franchise low number of runs (747.) One of our starters who fell victim to a confounding season in this category was Garrett Atkins. One of the best hitters in the National League in general the last few years, much less with runners in scoring position, his average this season plummeted 82 points with runners on base from .307 to .225......and he still led the team in RBIs with 99. That number is more of a testament to our failures at the plate rather than Atkins' prowess with the bat this season. All in all, we started off the year in a pitiful state with runners on base and finished in about the same position. Hell, we didn't even have a sacrifice fly until the last week in April. If we don't improve in this area, we can look forward to more of the same next season.
5) Lack of roster movement in the offseason
Yeah, this may be like number 2 in this list, but come on. It was more like blind faith that guys like Mark Redman (who had a few good starts down the stretch in 2007), Franklin Morales (who, at 21, was a key cog in the rotation and bullpen in September), Willy Taveras (who somehow hit .320 last season......who knows how that happened), Tulo (a rookie who had experienced nothing but success from the time he was 2 years old), and Torrealba (who didn't suck....mostly), would continue their individual success in 2008. That's a lot to ask of a few career backups, an unproven rookie, and a guy in his second season in the big leagues. Instead of scouring the free agent market for a top of the line (or even middle of the road) starter, Dealin Dan went all out for Josh Towers, Mark Redman, and Kip Wells....the Three Musketeers worthy of a song by Bryan Adams. Here's hoping that Dealin Dan will be more dealin' than Dan this winter.
6) Shhhhhhhhhh
- Yes, I said 5, but I had to say something about this. We were 3-16 against the Diamondbacks. 3-16!!!!! All I have to say about that is.........for real? I mean, seriously, bro?
Stay tuned for the top 5 things that actually went right this season......trust me, it'll be hard to find 5, but I'll do it for Todd Helton goddammit.