Fear the Rockies, bitches! Fear them like you would a federal prosecutor set to grill you about the unnaturally rapid growth of your head, neck, buttocks, and arms!
And yeah, I’m looking at you, Barry.
****
update: Rockies win 3-2 in 11 innings. At Coors. The bullpen? 4 innings, 1 unearned run.
FEAR THEM! FOR THEY SHALL SHOCK THE WORLD!
So, you’ve been supplying the Rockies with steroids? They’re gonna need it. Go Astros!
Yes, fear the wrath of the Rockies- the major league equivalent of getting whipped with a wet noodle.
Will this be the year that teams finally let their triple a teams fill in on Rockies game days? Stay tuned sportsfans.
GO SAWX!!!
Er…they’re still playing at Coors Field aren’t they? You know, the home of 7+ ERA. I just don’t know how many 10-9 games those boys can win.
Sorry for you.
I’m with Jeff on this one, fear the Rockies slightly more than last year!
My prediction: 76 wins.
Good enough for: 3rd place in the NL West.
wOOt! We’re #3! We’re #3!
A’s vs. Yankees today.
Too bad we don’t have Charlie O to kick around anymore…
Hey, who’s that in first place? Oh, it’s the Boston Red Sox! Not only that, but we’re undefeated! Woo Hoo!
So I spent the summer of ‘98 doing eyebrow lifts to sculpt my scalpoids and now whitey thinks I’m on the juice.
Ain’t that some sheeit!!
—- B. Bonds
Methinks there could be a McKinney/Bonds convergence of racial victimhood whining in the near future. And, on the sports tip, am I the only one who thinks McKinney kinda looks like Donovan McNabb with her new doo?
You got a problem with the Pistons?
If last year is any indication, I’m pretty sure that 76 wins will win the NL West.
Go Reds! (as in “Go far, far away, please.” Stop subjecting me to your suckitude day in and day out.)
Fear the Rockies!?! San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Diego (Aztlan conspiracy?) will make the Rockies their group bitch.
We’re stuck in the division with the best team in the NL (St. Louis) with no Rocket and no 90 RBI hitter (again). Still, GO ASTROS!
TW: slowly. It’s OK to start slowly in the spring so long as you are playing in October.
CUBS WIN! CUBS WIN!
Cubs 16 Reds 7
And Zambrano…. well… thats pronounced Onarbmaz backwards Steve. Hey a Budweiser!!!
Jeff… I envy you. You could go to Old Cs anytime, and all I get are 947 different varietis of cheese and not one Cheddar among them.
These aren’t the Rockies of year’s past. Not only did they have the second best record in the west after the all-star break, but this year they have a bullpen.
They’ll start off a bit slow, maybe (7 on the DL to start the season), but, well, you’ll see.
FEAR THEM! FEAR THEM LIKE YOU FEAR A BUSTED CONDOM!
You know Steve… This Kerry Woods pitcher… i mean… Dusty Baker is a great manger, but wouldn’y he have known that…Lee goes down on a pitch… this Dusty Baker thinking that he would get some girl… who is always hurt…. I, HEY HEY…!!!
Well the Rockies may be OK, but the Topes will beat your sorry ass AAA in the Springs or Duke City.
Ugh. Pretty much everybody except for the Red Sox and Mets looked terrible today. Nice appearance by one Jonathan Papelbon, too….
Re: the Rox… a bullpen, that’s cute, but, you know, don’t forget to keep your eye on the Nuggets, just in case.
Shorter Jeff: “Extra innings, baby!!”
When you say federal prosecutor, is that one in California or outside the state where no high profile defendant is found guilty?
And as a Dodger fan, let me assure you that the “race” in the NL West will come down to who stays healthy. So, I guess that means the Bums are done.
The Rockies? The Rockies? Are you freakin’ kidding me? Other than Helton, name one real major league talent on the entire roster! The pitching staff, always a Rockies weakness, has 7+ ERA written all over them. Clint Barmes had a reasonably decent rookie campaign before suffering one of the strangest season-ending injuries in MLB history. I’m betting their 10 games back of the Gint’s & Pad’s at the All Star break and fighting it out for the 3rd in the weakest division in all of baseball with the second best team in LA. If not for the D-Backs,
a AAA team masquerading as a big-league club, they’d be probably be looking at dead last. Sorry Jeff, but it’s quite a wait ‘til the Bronco’s suit up again and the Av’s ain’t going anywhere this year either. Go wax your skis again.
So..all those teams not named the White Sox decided to show up for the season this year?
How…quaint.
Well, I guess Thome and Konerko need somebodies to toss up garbage for their planned 162 game long home run derby.
TW: complete: as in, four straight complete games in the ALCS?! WTF, D00D!
Re: Rox bullpen. They added Ray King (Cardinals and Brewers fans will know his work) and Jose Mesa as (situational) setup men to go along with Mike Dejean (who, if he can get the ball over the plate, is NASTY). Plus they have an all-star closer, and a few very good young arms.
And the starting 8? Going from memory, their averages looked like this last year:
Sullivan: .294
Barmes: .288 (missed 3-4 months)
Helton: .320
Holliday: .305 (missed a month, let majors in RBI in Sept – will be a superstar)
Atkins: .285 (missed a month, still drove in around 90 runs)
Hawpe: .265 (missed a couple months; before that, he was in the .280s. LOTS of power)
Gonzales: .292 (we let go the Cards new starting 2B to give this guy a chance to play every day)
Ardoin: .240 (but a GREAT catcher; threw out about half of all base stealers; and he is improving as a hitter).
The bench is solid (Shealy, who’ll split time in right when healthy, hit over .300 with lots of power; Piedro hit .380 as a pinch hitter; and their talent at AAA is pretty impressive).
A young and exciting team.
The Bad News Bears were a young and exciting team.
The Green Fields of the Mind
by A. Bartlett Giamatti
It breaks your heart. It is designed to break your heart. The game begins in the spring, when everything else begins again, and it blossoms in the summer, filling the afternoons and evenings, and then as soon as the chill rains come, it stops and leaves you to face the fall alone. You count on it, rely on it to buffer the passage of time, to keep the memory of sunshine and high skies alive, and then just when the days are all twilight, when you need it most, it stops. Today, October 2, a Sunday of rain and broken branches and leaf-clogged drains and slick streets, it stopped, and summer was gone.
More at:
http://mason.gmu.edu/~rmatz/giamatti.html
Oh, and GO BRAVES!!!
Give Bobby Cox a second World Series win so he can die happy.
sw: Is that too much to ask?
…Who got hosed on that call at the plate to end the game.
KELLY LEAK WAS SAFE!
Maybe the Rox can get Chico’s Bail Bonds as a sponsor. Love your optimism Jeff, you shoulda been born a Cubs fan.
Jeff,
re: batting lineup averages for the Rockies last year- um, Coors field. ‘Nuff said.
Ray King? Seriously?
It is to laugh. And, since it’s day one of the regular season, it is to poke fun at with a giant stick.
Ho ho! The Fear is truly set in the minds of fellow NL West contenders, of this there is little doubt!
Ahem….
GO SAWX!!!! Big PAPI!! COCO With the big grab and two ribbies!!! Johnny who?
(we now return you to your Colorado Rockies fantasy dream)…
How those Bronco’s looking for next year anyways?
Um…
Go Tigers?
3 runs in 11 innings? At Coors Field? Eeeeeeewwww. I’d brag on the Fightin’ Phils, but they were dog meat. Meh, at least Rollins’s hit streak is still alive.
“And, on the sports tip, am I the only one who thinks McKinney kinda looks like Donovan McNabb with her new doo?”
Don’t make me smack you with a post-game pretzel.
TW: I will always come to Big 5’s defense.
Last year, lefties hit around .208 off of Ray King, who has been a premier set up man for the last few years (he had 16 holds last year, I believe).
As for the batting averages and Coors Field, sure, you have a larger outfield. But home runs were way down at Coors. And the Rox played decent ball on the road. People who don’t follow the Rockies have no idea. The game, as it’s covered nationally, has become all about marketing particular marquee players. So nobody hears about the Rox (whose farm system was ranked #1 last year).
I’m telling you: these kids can play. More than that, they are fun to watch. If you get a chance to catch a Rox game, do it. Look at the size of Hawpe, Holliday, Sheily, Atkins. They have a fast centerfielder with a strong arm, and a right fielder who missed almost 2 months and had 10 outfield assists.
Their second baseman has now played 100 consecutive errorless games (the record is 123, held by Ryne Sandberg). Helton and Atkins are very good in the field. Barmes is error-prone, but he has great range and can make sensational plays.
Starting pitching is the only real question. I have faith in Jason Jennings (also injured last year, but a former Rookie of the Year) and Aaron Cooke (7-2 after coming back from having lung clots removed, and the bullpen blew 4 wins); Jeff Francis is still raw, despite 14 wins last year as a rookie—too many pitches in the middle of the plate; but I think if the Rockies allow Zach Day to mature, he’s got the perfect stuff for Coors (like Jennings and Cook, he throws a good hard sinker); and as a starter last year, Kim pitched very well—much better than his record suggests.
Sonny Kim and Josh Fogg round out the other starters, a couple of whom will pitch in long relief.
I do fear the Rockies…but when you’re a Royals fan, you fear everyone, including the bulk of the membership of the Pacific Coast and International Leagues.
Oh, and Rich is right; the Topes will crush that abortion that the Sky Sox like to call a pitching staff. Doesn’t matter if it’s at U.S. Security or at Isotopes Park; they’re both launching pads.
After watching the Reds game today and subsequently throwing up for the last few hours, I have to ask: is it Sports Bigamy for me to start rooting for the Rockies (since I just moved to Colorado) unless they’re playing my Rojos? It would be nice to find a team to follow regularly without paying either mlb.com or the cable company.
Someone needs to clear this up for me, and the Sports Guy only cares about the Red Sox – who are no longer cute after finally winning in 2004 – and the Yankees – who have never been cute.
Didn’t the Rockies move to New Jersey and change their name to “Devils”?
I tried watching baseball one time.
As a formerly long suffering White Sox fan, I am already well content. I have enough to live on for the rest of my days – as long as the Cubs don’t win one that is…
Alright Jeff, I’ll give em a chance. No one believed me when I said the Yankees were going down in 2004, even after game three.
And living in Nashville I know what it’s like to watch teams that play out of the national spotlight. Good luck to your Rox..
BoSox-vs-Rox 2006?
That’ll be fine.
As a guy who watches a lot of baseball…some of it from the pressbox. I think Jeff is onto something. The Rockies won their opener last year and promptly had Brad Hawpe go on the DL hopping the dugout fence. They also had Helton on his worst drought of his career having to face idiotic steroid allegations from former Rockies and St Louis play-by-play man Wayne Hagin (Hagin promptly apologized and got suspended). Helton’s back carrying a 12 game hit streak from Spring Training. Barmes is back after getting hurt either hiking stairs or crashing an ATV depending on who’s telling the story. Matt Holliday can hit with the best of them and is very patient, having learned the game at his Daddy’s knee while he coached Oklahoma State and he made the US team in the World Baseball Classic…not that that means much. Luis Gonzalez was among the leaders in RBI with men in scoring position last year and didn’t have an error. Pitching could be a problem, it always is, but the Rox have a great closer in Brian Fuentes. They also have Jason Jennings, and Jeff Francis who both proved they can pitch at Coors.
Jeff’s also right that this team was the best in Triple A for the years Barmes, Hawpe, Atkins, Holliday, and Francis were all part of that team. It must be noted that they also won in single and double A.
Does all this mean a certain NL West crown at the end? No cause it’s baseball, BUT, it means that all those folks counting the Rox out before the season begins might be in for some “Rocky” times playing Colorado.
Just Sayin’
I think a greatly overlooked change this year – one that surprisingly escaped Jeff’s attention – was the decision by the Rockies’ pitching coach to instruct his pitchers to actually try and pitch overhand this year. The underhand approach just wasn’t working anymore.
Might even see the team ERA get under five runs this year.
Can’t tell you how great it is to read REAL bfans with knowledge of stats, the rosters and insight “talkin’ baseball” at PW. It would be a great story if the Rox were a contender this year, particularly since the Gint’s, Pad’s and Bum’s are all getting old, but I think it’ll be a couple years before the Rockies actually
jell into a team that can win day to day.
There’s also the habitual problem of Coor’s Field, home of the 12-9 final score that burns out pitching staffs faster than Bob Marley torched a spleef.
As a flyer, I’d buy a long-term call on the Rox at this point, but they’re not gonna contend in ‘06 and probably not in ‘07.
Last year saw the first ever 1-0 game played at Coors. Today, the Rox gave up 2 runs in 11 innings.
Since we started storing game balls in a humidor, homeruns are way down. And now that we have a good bullpen, I expect you’ll see a lot fewer of those 12-9 games.
If the Rox survive April and May with 7 on the DL, they could very well contend for division champs this year.
And they’re going to sneak up on a lot of people, I think.
The Astros seemed promissing for years, but it wasn’t until they got world class pitching (Lidge, Pettitte and Clemems) that they went somewhere in the playoffs. 8 talented fielders don’t make a contender. It’s the pitching and I think the Rox’s pitching staff has much to prove before I think they deserve fear.
I was just happy to see my Los Angeles Angels of Stupid Marketing Gimmick pull off the win against the Mariners this afternoon. And Tim Salmon is back! He’s only ten homers shy of 300 for his career!
Fear the Rockies?
Damn,is that global warming thinning out the air up there even worse, Jeff?
So I guess you found a vendor that serves Guiness at the games?
Yes, the Rockies will shock the world. If they don’t lose 100 games.
How ‘bout them Phils, huh? Nice opener. I love it when your supposed #1 starter goes 3 1/3 and gives up eight earned. Hey, I didn’t notice Thome in the lineup. Did he go somewhere?
I’m with the previous commenters:
Go Stros! No stoppin’ til we take the trophy home this time!
BEHOLD THE POWER OF DARTH BOSS GEORGE’S
MERCENERIESSTORMTROOPERS.Totally mystifying baseball nuts. Used to be a fan when Dizzy Dean was calling the “Game of the Week” but now that I have ignored the game for 4 decades, it would probably take 2 years of concentrated attention to trivia in order to even have an opinion.
Obviously this is just a distraction designed to cover-up the fact that the NIT champs beat the NCAA champs 2 out of 3 meetings this year.
/conspiracy
TW: left. As in, am I the only Philly fan left?
Forgive off topic post.
I live in Boston. I read the Epoch Times, which has been doing a series on the harvesting of live body parts from Falun Gong practioners. There is also an op-ed about the sale of cadavers of political enemies of the Communist party and a suggestion that maybe they are being used in the “BODIES” exhibit, which uses bodies obtained “legally” from Chinese authorities. I am no expert, but I am not confident the rule of law protects the human rights of political and religious minorities in Chinda.
One question the author asked was why all the bodies look so young.
Then I clicked here:
http://www.bodiestheexhibition.com/contact.html
I got chills down my spine. I’m not anthropologist, but it appears the body on the page belongs to a young, healthy, Chinese man.
I know this makes me sound like a lunatic conspiracy theorist, but I feel obligated to ask a few questions:
1. Where do they get those bodies?
2. How do we know they didn’t belong to political prisoners or prisoners of conscience?
Sorry to be an off-topic moron, but these are not questions that the MSM would ask and I’m counting on the blogosphere to raise them.
More questions about the bodies:
3. Which body has the fastest 1st to 3rd time?
4. Can any of the bodies bat from both sides?
5. Are any of these bodies related to Ichiro?
And thusly the train has been put back on the topic rails. Carry on.
Expect the Rocket back on the bump for Houston in May. With Berkman back at 100%, and Preston Wilson protecting Ensberg, we will be in the hunt. I mean, Oswalt, Petite, and Clemens? Best bullpen in the bigs? But the freaking Cards are pretty tough.
Is it too soon to give Roy Oswalt his 2006 Cy Young award? Holy freaking cow-hide…
As I have no analysis to add, I’ll simply toss in a bit of cheerleading.
GO ‘STROS!!!
So much for Pettitte…13.5 era after 1 game.
GO STROS! (anyway)
Andy will be fine.