Rockies

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Last news: December 31, 1969 19:00:00

The Rockies knew going into the NLDS that they would need to win at least one game in Philadelphia.  Mission accomplished.

Aaron Cook wasn't great, but he was good enough on a day when the offense came out strong after a poor performance in Game 1.  Yorvit Torrealba was the hero, striking for a two-run homer in the fourth inning off Cole Hamels.  Aside from that, the Rockies got two sac flies from Dexter Fowler.  It wasn't a great performance by the offense -- the Rockies only had nine hits on the day -- but the Rockies did a great job of hitting in key spots, as the team didn't leave very many runners in scoring position.

Now the series heads back to Denver, and with the win in Game 2, the Rockies can now win the series with a couple of wins at Coors Fields, where they were 51-30 in the regular season.  Jason Hammel will start Saturday; the Rockies haven't officially announced a starter for Game 4, but odds are it will be Jason Marquis, who pitched in relief on Wednesday.  It's doubtful the Rockies would bring Ubaldo Jimenez back on short rest to pitch Game 4, instead holding him back in case he's needed to start a Game 5 in Philly.
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So, it's somewhat unexpected that today's game will not be the last Rockies game until spring training opens in March.

The preseason magazines were their usual bearish selves regarding the 2009 Rockies; after all, there was supposed to be no way that the Rockies could replace Matt Holliday's offensive production off a team that was only 74-88 in 2008.  Or that they could weather a season-long injury to Jeff Francis, the ace of the 2007 team.

Okay, so I'll be the first to admit that I wasn't that bullish on this year's Rockies team entering the season.  I thought this was a team that would finish around .500, maybe being an 85-win team with a few good breaks.  While a few things happened that we all really should have expected -- Troy Tulowitzki bouncing back to hit .297 with 32 homers after taking a step back in 2008, for one -- there were a few elements of this team that nobody could have foreseen back in March.  Jason Marquis, obtained in the offseason for Luis Vizcaino, being an All-Star and a 15-game winner?  That was pretty unexpected; Marquis won 15 in 2004, but that was on a team that won 105 games.  Todd Helton hitting .325 should be expected, but it was pretty unexpected that Helton played in 151 games and made over 600 plate appearances.  Carlos Gonzalez looked in 2008 like he would be a prospect bust; in 2009, he improved his plate discipline and had an .878 OPS.  Jorge de la Rosa finally had the season that the Rockies had long hoped he would, and that the Diamondbacks, Brewers, and Royals all had given up on him ever achieving.  Jason Giambi looked done in Oakland, then came to the Rockies in September and had a 1.219 OPS, largely in key at bats in the stretch run.  Ubaldo Jimenez improved his command to the point where he can reasonably be called an ace.  In the rest of the division, nobody could have predicted that Brandon Webb's Opening Day start would be his only one of the season; the Diamondbacks were widely expected to challenge for the division title.

Entering the season, I openly wondered whether the Rockies' 2008 season was a brief step back for an organization that was on the upswing, or whether 2007 was a one-year blip for an otherwise middling organization.  Well, we now have a pretty clear answer for that.  While the Monforts still don't seem too keen on spending money, Dan O'Dowd has proved himself to be a very capable GM over the last few years.  It's hard to think of a move he's made that has completely blown up; in fact, his track record over the last couple of years has been excellent.  O'Dowd got great value back in the Holliday trade, getting a lock-down closer and a young outfielder with tons of potential who's actually living up to that potential.  Going back a couple of years, the Jason Jennings trade netted the Rockies Jason Hirsh and Willy Taveras; though neither is with the Rockies any more, both played key roles on the 2007 team.  And he's really done well with the under-the-radar moves.  Picking up Marquis for Luis Vizcaino was a stroke of genius; the pickups of Jason Hammel and Rafael Betancourt also worked out well.  Back in 2006, O'Dowd picked up Kaz Matsui for chump change.  Initially, I thought O'Dowd was at best a middling GM, but given what he's had to work with, he's done an excellent job of putting a winning team on the field, and must be commended -- more than anybody else -- for the Rockies' two playoff appearances in the last three years.
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So, the Rockies are in the playoffs once again, and once again, they'll be the wild card team.  In seventeen years as a franchise, the Rockies have never won a division title, and that won't change this year after a 5-0 loss sealed the West for Los Angeles.

Watching Clayton Kershaw (or Tim Lincecum, for that matter) pitch will always be continually frustrating for me, not because Kershaw is a bad pitcher or anything, but because the Rockies could have had him in the 2006 draft.  It wasn't really the case where Kershaw was presumed to be headed to college, or had an astronomical price tag, or had Scott Boras as his agent; the Rockies evidently thought Greg Reynolds would be a better pitcher.  Great decision there.  Kershaw shut down the Rockies for six innings.  For a while, it looked like Jorge was going to match him inning for inning (Jorge pitched three perfect innings), but Jorge got hurt in the fourth inning and had to leave the game.  Supposedly, the injury's nothing serious, but it's not exactly the kind of thing you want to have happen to the guy who's at least been your second-best starting pitcher down the stretch.  The Rockies have the depth to weather it if Jorge winds up having to miss the NLDS; they'll plug in Hammel or Marquis, whichever one they had penciled in as the long man in the playoffs, and they'll be fine.  Still, though, neither Marquis nor Hammel has been shutting people down lately the way Jorge has.

In any case, the loss likely cements the Phillies as the Rockies' NLDS opponent.  It's something of a crime that the wild card team is automatically the fourth seed in the playoffs, as the Rockies could finish with the second-best record in the NL and still be considered the fourth-best team in the playoffs (nothing on the level of thinking that the Twins or Tigers are better than Boston, but still.)  I think the Rockies match up better with the Phillies than they do with the Cardinals, despite the Rockies' 6-1 record against the Redbirds in the regular season.  Facing Carpenter and Wainwright three times in a five-game series is not something I want to do right now; Cliff Lee has been good for the Phillies since coming over in a midseason trade, but the Phils don't have anyone else in the rotation that really scares me with Hamels having an off year.
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The Rockies finished off a three-game sweep of the Brewers at Coors Field today and, in the process, put the finishing touches on a surprising playoff berth.  Garrett Atkins was the star of the day, notching three hits and three RBI, but it was an all-around superb effort by the offense that led to a 9-2 win.  Seven different players had hits, and the two that didn't -- including starting pitcher Aaron Cook -- drove in runs on bases-loaded walks.

As important as the offensive output, though, was the excellent performance by Cook on the mound.  Cook was his old self today, pitching eight innings of one-run ball on just 85 pitches.  Were Cook not coming back from injury, he probably could have pitched a complete game.  On a day when the Rockies got such a complete effort from the offense, the Rockies didn't really need that kind of an outing from Cook to win.  But heading into the playoffs, the team clearly needs Cook to be a rock: Jason Marquis has struggled in September, while Ubaldo Jimenez has had rough outings here and there this month.  And it's never a good idea to rely too much on Jorge de la Rosa, no matter how good he's looked in the second half.

So now, the Rockies head to Los Angeles for the weekend playing with house money.  With the playoff spot wrapped up already, the Rockies can try to win the division with a three-game sweep.  Or they can concentrate on getting the stars rested up for the playoffs, and let the kids get some playing time. - [Read more]

Thanks to a great defensive play by Clint Barmes in the ninth inning, the Rockies picked up a win in the rubber match of the series with the Cardinals.  Given the fact that the Rockies faced off against Chris Carpenter and Adam Wainwright in the first two games of the series, taking two of three was probably the best the Rockies could have hoped for, so the result's a good one.

Of course, the Braves don't plan on going away, and the Nationals are apparently perfectly happy to lie down (the Nats sat Adam Dunn for the final two games of the weekend series with the Braves.)  While it's probably a reach to say that the Nationals are intentionally tanking to ensure themselves the first pick of the 2010 draft (they've been terrible all year, so it's kind of difficult to say they're tanking now), they're not going to do the Rockies any favors.  With a three-game series at home against the Marlins, followed by a four-game closer against the Nats, the Braves could easily go 5-2 or 6-1 over the final week of the regular season.  7-0 isn't completely out of the question, but the Marlins are 8-7 against the Braves this year and it's hard to think they won't take at least one of three.

Thus the title of this post.  Four wins.  Four wins by the Rockies, and the Braves would have to run the table the rest of the way to force a playoff.  If the Braves lose even one game, four wins will give the Rockies a playoff spot.

Starting pitching decisions over the final week of the season are obviously difficult.  The Rockies have to balance the goals of setting up the playoff rotation, not overworking the starters, and making the playoffs; clearly, number three is the most important.  Tuesday will be Jason Marquis's turn in the rotation; he's struggled a lot in September and might not be in the playoff rotation.  The Rockies could start Jason Hammel instead, though they may plan on having him work long relief in the playoffs.  Theoretically, Tuesday's starter would be the starting pitcher on Sunday, and would be pitching on regular rest in Game 2 of the NLDS.

Wednesday's starter could come back and pitch on short rest on Sunday.  That's important, because Aaron Cook would be available on regular rest on Wednesday, and Ubaldo Jimenez would be available on short rest.  Given Cook's recent DL stint, they probably won't want him taxing himself too much over the final week, so going with Jimenez twice on short rest is a real possibility.  Can Ubaldo handle that kind of workload?  Cook could then pitch on Thursday, on extra rest.

The biggest question mark is Friday's starter.  Jorge de la Rosa can go on regular rest on Friday; alternatively, the Rockies could hold him back until Saturday and then have him pitch Game 1 of the NLDS on regular rest.  Either Marquis or Hammel will be moved to the bullpen for the playoffs, and the one who isn't will start on Tuesday.  The Rockies could go with Jose Contreras here, or they could go with one of the kids (Jhoulys Chacin?  Esmil Rogers?) for a spot start.  This would leave de la Rosa for Saturday, and presumably Jimenez for Sunday.

As for the opposing starters: the Rockies will likely face Chris Narveson, Jeff Suppan, and Manny Parra in the series against the Brewers; Narveson is inexperienced, while Suppan and Parra have been pretty bad this year.  It's hard to see the Rockies not taking two of three, minimum, but they've struggled with worse teams than the Brewers over the last month.  A sweep would be even better; that would leave the Rockies needing only one win in L.A. over the weekend.  The Dodgers, with a playoff spot wrapped up, will be setting up their playoff rotation, and it's tough to tell who they'll throw out there in that series. - [Read more]

Over the past few weeks, we've been operating under the assumption that the Rockies would need to hold off the Giants for the wild card.  That's happening.  The Giants, who have lost five of eight since Jorge shut them down on the 18th, are fading, and they're no longer a real threat to overtake the Rockies.

But the Braves, on the other hand... Excuse me for thinking the Braves were dead.  On September 6, the Braves lost a 12-inning game to drop their season record to 70-67, and they sat seven games behind the Rockies in the wild card race.  There was certainly time to make up the deficit, but it didn't look particularly likely.  Fast forward 20 days, and the Rockies are in solid shape at 87-67.  The Braves have caught fire and now sit three games back, after a 14-3 stretch that's pulled them within shouting distance of the wild card lead.

So, it's certainly helped the Braves that they haven't had a difficult schedule.  They've played six games against the Mets, who have pretty much packed it in already (the Braves won all six), and three against the Astros (they won two of those.)  They've played two against the Nationals, and will play them five more times before the season ends.  The Nationals appear mostly intent on winning the Bryce Harper Sweepstakes and probably would be happy to give the Braves a few more wins.  But the Braves also swept the Cardinals in three games in St. Louis.  Aside from losing two of three to the Phillies, the Braves have been the hottest team in baseball over the last couple of weeks.  It would be a pretty cruel twist of irony to see the Rockies lose the wild card to another team that got really hot over the last few weeks of the season.

Of course, the Rockies have nothing to worry about if they take care of business themselves over the eight-game finishing kick.  The good news is that the Rockies play five more at Coors: two more against the Cardinals, and three against the Brewers.  The bad news is that those teams (and the Dodgers, who the Rockies will visit on the final weekend of the season) will put up much more of a fight than the Nationals are likely to.  While it seems like the Rockies have struggled over the last week and a half, they've actually gone 5-3 over the last eight games.  Duplicate that record over the finishing stretch, and the worst thing that can happen is that they'll be in a tie for the wild card -- and for that to happen, the Braves would have to win all eight of their remaining games. - [Read more]

Aaron Cook will be starting for the Colorado Rockies tonight, making his first appearance in over a month.  But that isn't the biggest story of tonight's game.

No, the return of Matt Holliday is an even bigger story.  I shouldn't have to recap how much Holliday meant to the Rockies during his five years with the club.  Holliday hit 128 homers in a Rockies uniform, sixth on the franchise's all-time list (after the Blake Street Bombers and some guy named Helton), finished second in MVP voting in 2007, and was the key player on the Rockies' 2007 World Series team.

It will be a bit odd to see Holliday in Coors Field wearing a St. Louis Cardinals uniform, wearing number 15, but Holliday deserves a standing ovation from the crowd during his first at bat.  While some may be bitter about the way the contract extension negotiations were handled -- those negotiations ultimately leading to a trade, as the Rockies realized they had almost no shot at retaining Holliday beyond 2009 -- I can't really blame Holliday for wanting to be paid in line with what his talent demands.  Holliday's departure had more to do with the Rockies being unwilling to pay fair market value for him rather than any unreasonable demands that he was making.

I know that the questions are inevitable: as good as the Rockies have turned out to be this season, how good would they be if they still had Holliday?  My honest answer is that I think the impact on the team's record would be negligible.  At the time of the trade, I thought the Rockies were getting fair value for Holliday, and that view has been vindicated over the season.  As good as Holliday is, Carlos Gonzalez has been pretty good this year.  While the Rockies' offense would be better with Holliday in left field, and Gonzalez's superior defensive value doesn't make up for that loss, where would the Rockies be without Huston Street?  The rest of the Rockies' bullpen has been pretty shaky; without Street around to nail things down in the ninth, the Rockies might have a couple more losses in there -- in fact, potentially the difference between making the playoffs and missing the playoffs.  And beyond 2009, Carlos Gonzalez will be roaming the outfield at Coors for a few more years; the same can't be said for Holliday, who likely would have left as a free agent.

As for the game tonight -- Cook really needs to show something.  For a few weeks following the All-Star break, up until he was injured in August, Cook just wasn't very good.  That needs to change; the Rockies have gotten too many bad pitching performances over the last week to be able to weather another one from Cook. - [Read more]

Why did the Rockies begin playing better once Clint Hurdle was fired and Jim Tracy took over?  That's a difficult question to answer.  Several Rockies started playing better after slumping for much of April and May, and that just happened to coincide with Tracy's elevation to manager.  But one thing that Tracy did was to start using a consistent starting lineup.

Okay, Tracy didn't exactly send the same eight guys (plus pitcher) out there every single day.  But he did start being more consistent with the team's daily lineups.  Ian Stewart was allowed to stick at third base, rather than shifting between second and third.  That meant that Clint Barmes was allowed to play every day.  In the outfield, Tracy began playing Gonzalez, Fowler, and Hawpe most of the time, giving Spilborghs a few starts against lefties and giving Seth Smith the occasional start as well.

And now?  While injuries have had something to do with it, Tracy's been shuffling his lineups around a lot over the last couple of weeks.  Tracy is falling into the same trap that Hurdle was: we have four outfielders who should be starting, so let's try to give all of them some starts instead of just sticking with the same guys every day.  On paper, it seems like a decent idea; after all, everybody gets some rest along the way, and we can bench or play guys based on who's hitting well.  Yet paradoxically, it seems to have the opposite effect.  If a guy knows that he might wind up on the bench after a bad game or two, he's going to press... and he's not going to play as well.  And somewhat strangely, the one outfielder who seems to be the most entrenched, Brad Hawpe, is having an awful month. - [Read more]

The Rockies have gotten a lot of help from the Los Angeles Dodgers this weekend.  As the Rockies stormed back late to take the rubber match from Dan Haren and the Diamondbacks, the Dodgers were busy shutting down the Giants in the rubber match of their series.

It means that the Rockies now have a 4.5-game lead in the wild card race, and with just two weeks left in the regular season, it's not quite insurmountable, but it's going to take a tank job by the Rockies or an incredible hot streak by the Giants for the Rockies to miss the playoffs.

Consider that, if the Rockies go 8-4 the rest of the way, the Giants would have to win all of their remaining games just to force a playoff.  If the Rockies play .500 ball over the last two weeks, the Giants would need to go 11-2.  Okay, so it's probably not smart for me to say all this, considering that the 2007 Padres did go .500 over the last two weeks, but the Rockies caught them that year by going 11-1.  Of course, there's a reason why the end of September 2007 was so special: That kind of thing just doesn't happen very often.

And even if the Rockies don't do that well, the Giants still have to win: if the Rockies go 4-8, the Giants would still need to go 9-4 to catch them.   In other words, the Giants have almost no margin for error, while the Rockies have a ton.

The best part of this for the Rockies is that they're headed back to Coors Field for a nine-game homestand starting Tuesday.  The team's gone 45-27 at Coors this year.

So it's not over yet.  But it's getting close.
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In the sixth inning last night, Jorge de la Rosa showed why he's improved so much.

Jorge walked the leadoff batter in the sixth, then allowed Rich Aurilia to reach on a flare into center field.  That brought up the top of the Giants' order, and, on a 1-2 pitch, Jorge threw one in the dirt that allowed both runners to move into scoring position.  Rockies fans had seen this before.  The Jorge of previous years, confidence shaken, would have blown up, allowing the Giants to come back from a 4-0 deficit and killing the Rockies' chances to win.

Not this year's Jorge, though.  Chris Berman and Rick Sutcliffe felt the need to mention roughly a thousand times during last night's game that Jorge was 0-6 through the end of May and has been 14-3 since.  Well, make that 15-3.  The Jorge of 2009 promptly struck out the next three batters, ending the only real threat the Giants mounted against him as he pitched eight scoreless innings and struck out nine.  There was some drama in the ninth as the Giants came back, but the Rockies wound up with a 4-3 win.

With that out of the way and with a three-and-a-half-game cushion, the Rockies just need to win a few more the rest of the season.  The Rockies are now finished playing the Giants for the season; with the last-place Diamondbacks on the schedule this weekend, the Rockies have a shot at putting even more distance between themselves and the other wild card contenders.
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Baseball isn't college football.  You don't need to go 162-0, and it's hard to point to an individual game over a 162-game schedule that your team absolutely must win.  When you have a 2.5-game lead with 16 games remaining, you really just need to keep pace: just don't lose too many games, and you have a spot in the playoffs.

That said, the Rockies need to win tonight, and it goes beyond the impact that one game will have on the final standings.

Even with a loss tonight, which would complete a sweep at the hands of the San Francisco Giants, the Rockies will still have a one-and-a-half game lead in the wild card.  The Rockies could weather a loss and still be able to come back and win a few down the stretch to take the wild card -- merely playing .500 ball the rest of the way would give the Rockies 90 wins.  But the impact of a loss tonight would go well beyond the standings.  Aside from the obvious fact that the Giants are the Rockies' closest competition in the wild card race, the Rockies need a win over the Giants to stop the four-game skid that has recently engulfed the team.  It's a particularly ugly skid that has seen the team score just eight runs over four games, while giving up 26 runs over the last three.  And those last three include starts by the purported ace of the staff, Ubaldo Jimenez, and a 15-game winner in Jason Marquis.  Jorge de la Rosa isn't a stopper, but he needs to be tonight.

And the offense needs to come up in a big way as well.  Did I mention that the Rockies have scored just eight runs in the last four?  That only partly underscores the recent offensive slump; only once in the last nine games have the Rockies even scored five runs.  The fact that the Rockies won the first five of those is rather amazing.

Simply put, the Rockies don't just need a win for the standings; they need a win for their confidence.  Over the last week and a half, this is not a team that has inspired much confidence: the Rockies were struggling to scratch out wins against mediocre competition before getting waxed in two straight against their main competition for the playoffs right now.  Injuries have played a role, but right now, this doesn't look like a playoff team.  Not that the Rockies aren't a playoff team: in June and July, they certainly looked like a playoff team.  In September, though, they haven't been; and frankly, I'd much rather be playing a playoff team in September than in June.
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I hesitate to say that the Padres were responsible for quieting the Rockies offense over the weekend.  After all, Clayton Richard, Sunday's starter, has a 2.48 ERA at Petco and a 5.40 ERA overall since coming over to the Padres.

Still, it was frustrating to see the Rockies to struggle to push runs across the plate this weekend, even in San Diego.  The Rockies dropped two of three and only scored nine runs for the series, putting a halt to the team's momentum that had built up over an eight-game winning streak.  The good news, though, is that the Giants weren't able to make up any ground on the Rockies; the Rockies are 20 games over .500 and lead the Giants by 4.5 games.  And, with a three-game series coming up in San Francisco, the Rockies have an opportunity to put a dagger in the Giants -- a sweep would give the Rockies a virtually insurmountable lead in the wild card race, though the team should still be on the lookout for the Marlins and Braves, who aren't that far back.

Given the pitching matchups in this series, a sweep isn't really that likely: even as a Rockies diehard, I admit that tonight's matchup between Hammel and Lincecum favors the Giants, and despite Jorge's strength in the second half the Giants are probably favored in Wednesday's matchup between him and Cain.  The Tuesday matchup between Ubaldo and Barry Zito would seem to favor the Rockies, but Ubaldo was held back Saturday because of a balky hamstring (which led to Esmil Rogers making his MLB debut) and may not be sharp.

Given all that, I'd be happy with the Rockies taking two of three in this series, but even taking one would only allow the Giants to pick up a game in the standings.  A 3.5-game lead with a couple of weeks left obviously isn't insurmountable, but the Rockies should have other chances to wrap up the playoffs.

For some good news, the Rockies' 82nd win on Friday clinched a winning season -- the club's second in three years after six straight losing seasons.
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Eric Young Jr. has always been known for his speed, not his power.  But with Troy Tulowitzki and Ian Stewart both missing last night's game, Young picked up the slack.

In six seasons in the minors, Young only hit 26 homers, with seven coming this season at Colorado Springs.  Young's first career homer came in the bottom of the sixth inning and gave the Rockies a 2-0 lead.  That was after Young doubled and later scored on a Todd Helton sac fly in the first inning.

As has been the case all season, though, the Rockies' pitching was the key.  Jason Marquis pitched seven and a third, giving up one run and striking out seven to pick up his fifteenth win.  With likely four starts remaining this season, Marquis has a shot at setting the Rockies' record for wins in a season, currently 17 set by Kevin Ritz in 1996, and later tied by Pedro Astacio in 1999 and Jeff Francis in 2007.  And Franklin Morales pitched a scoreless ninth to pick up his fifth save.  Morales has done an excellent job filling in for the injured Huston Street.

Morales presents an interesting question for the Rockies heading into 2010.  Will the Rockies attempt to move him back to the rotation, or will they leave him in the bullpen?  He has been highly effective out of the bullpen and could help nail down the late innings for the Rockies.  Huston Street should be back, and Rafael Betancourt has an option for 2010 that the Rockies would be well-advised to pick up, meaning that Morales could be part of a strong late-inning relief corps.  But with Marquis a free agent, the Rockies will have an opening in the rotation that Morales could easily fill (though that's dependent on the health of Francis; if Francis is healthy and effective, he will claim a spot in the rotation.)

It also could provide a blueprint for other young pitchers like Jhoulys Chacin.  The Rockies could put him in the bullpen in 2010 to get work in the majors, with designs on moving him into the rotation in 2011.  If Chacin is ready in 2010, but the Rockies don't have a spot in the rotation, he could be better off pitching out of the bullpen than back in Colorado Springs.  Look back a couple of years to the Cardinals and Adam Wainwright; he moved seamlessly back to the rotation after a year in the bullpen.
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The Rockies were winners in dramatic fashion over the Kansas City Royals this afternoon in Tuscon. A walk-off three-run homer by Seth Smith provided the winning margin in Colorado’s 5-4 victory. Smith’s heroics were necessitated by yet another Danny Graves disaster – Graves gave up a two-run bomb to Kansas City’s Billy Butler in the [...] - [Read more]

A three-run homer by Jeff Baker propelled the Colorado Rockies to a 7-4 win in Cactus League play this afternoon against the Chicago White Sox. At this point in the spring, it’s tempting to just choose the star of the day and write a ‘Meet The ’07 Rox’ profile of them, but as you can [...] - [Read more]

Josh Fogg and BK Kim were both bombed in an 8-2 Cactus League loss for the Rox today at the hands of the Milwaukee Brewers. There isn’t much in the way of positive development to come out of this one (except for Ryan Spilborghs getting two hits… come on, Spilly, have a big spring, this [...] - [Read more]

The Rockies fell to 3-2 in Spring Training play with an 8-2 loss to the Texas Rangers today at Hi Corbett Field. We’ll get to that in a bit. First, it’s time to continue the ‘Meet The ’07 Rox’ series as we take a look at the newest member of the Rockies starting rotation. — #31 RODRIGO [...] - [Read more]

If you need a reason to be optimistic about the future of the Rockies franchise, look no further than the contents of this column.  Baseball America, the undisputed experts on MLB prospects, recently released their 2007 Top 100 Prospects rankings.  The Rockies placed a total of eight players on the list, from Troy Tulowitzki at #15 [...] - [Read more]

The Rockies moved to 2-0 on the Cactus League season by beating the White Sox 4-3 at Hi Corbett Field this afternoon. Since the game was broadcast on Fox Sports Rocky Mountain, I was able to watch the entire game (Hi, my name is Dan L., and I’m addicted to baseball) and I’ll have some [...] - [Read more]