Knuckle Curve » rockies

Small Sample Hero, and Control Freak Meets Flamethrower

Geoff Young — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 14:24:02 +0000

Small Sample Hero? Control Freak? Flamethower? Sounds like a comic book convention gone horribly wrong…

Phillies at Reds, 9:35 a.m. PT — Fire up a pot of coffee and sidle on up to the Internet (really, I’d like to see that). Cole Hamels and Bronson Arroyo square off in Monday’s first game. Plus you get a chance to watch Jeff “Offensive Beast” Keppinger in action. Honestly, I always thought that guy could be useful if given the chance, but .435/.480/.826 through the first week? Man, I love small samples. They’ll show you just about anything you want to see.
Mariners at Orioles, 12:05 p.m. PT — I don’t know that this will be a good game to watch, but it could be interesting. First off, you’ve got Carlos Silva hooking up against Daniel Cabrera on the mound. Are there two more different pitchers in the game today? Bob Tewksbury and Steve Dalkowski have retired, right? The other story line, of course, is Adam Jones facing his former team. I still can’t believe Baltimore had the smarts to make that deal.
Braves at Rockies, 5:35 p.m. PT — Colorado has stumbled to a 1-5 start in ‘08. Maybe facing 42-year-old Tom Glavine in their home park will help. You know what else would help? Not hitting .209/.281/.333 as a team. You think?

Happy Monday, folks, and happy watching!

Post from: Knuckle Curve

Tigers Seek First Win, Pitchers Battle in NL West

Geoff Young — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 17:55:24 +0000

Not a lot of great pitching matchups today. Eh, that happens…

White Sox at Tigers, 12:55 p.m. PT — At 0-4, Detroit is the only team without a win so far this season. Baseball is a strange game. Dontrelle Willis makes his Tigers debut. For a guy who should be in his physical prime, Willis sure has fallen fast. Where’s Steve Avery when you need him?
Dodgers at Padres, 12:55 p.m. PT — This is by far the best matchup of the day: Brad Penny goes up against Cy Young Award winner Jake Peavy. Penny is 0-2 with a 6.67 ERA over his last five starts against San Diego.
Diamondbacks at Rockies, 5:05 p.m. PT — Last year’s NL West playoff participants square off this evening. Two good young pitchers — Brandon Webb and Jeff Francis — hook up in this one. It’s also a good excuse to watch Justin Upton play, which is always a treat.

Play ball!

Post from: Knuckle Curve

Rangers Sign Jennings

Geoff Young — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 20:28:32 +0000

The Texas Rangers have signed right-hander Jason Jennings to a 1-year deal worth $4 million. The story to date: Jennings was pretty good as a rookie with Colorado in 2002. Then he had three seasons of extreme blahness, followed by a terrific showing in 2006, after which the Rockies shipped him to Houston, where he pitched poorly and got hurt.

Jennings went 2-9 with a 6.45 ERA for the Astros in 2007. He underwent elbow surgery in August and is expected to be ready by Opening Day.

Jennings owns a career record of 60-65 with a 4.91 ERA; he spent much of his early career pitching at Coors Field, so his ERA+ is 99, or roughly average. Jennings’ list of similar pitchers through age 29 — Jeff Suppan, Matt Clement, Kyle Lohse, etc. — isn’t exciting, but if he can stay healthy, this could work out well for the Rangers. At his best, Jennings eats innings, and it’s not like his new home park will faze him.

The one drawback is that now we won’t get to watch Jennings bat. Jennings was an excellent hitter in college and owns a career .207/.252/.268 line in the big leagues.

Post from: Knuckle Curve

Melvin, Wedge Named Manager of the Year

Geoff Young — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 19:17:15 +0000

Man, I had way too much coffee this morning. You could get a contact high just reading this.

Enough about me, how about the Manager of the Year awards? The good news is, the voters got one of ‘em right. The other one? Eh, it’s defensible.

You liked Colorado’s Clint Hurdle and Cleveland’s Eric Wedge (as did I). Neither of those teams was expected to do as well as they did this season.

The Indians you could kind of see coming, but they play in MLB’s toughest division. Wedge was the clear choice here.

In the National League, things were a little trickier. Bob Melvin benefited from the fact that, for whatever reason, most folks didn’t see them as a threat coming into the 2007 season. I guess if you’re willing to accept that faulty premise, then his selection makes sense.

I think Hurdle is more deserving, but I don’t have a huge problem with Melvin. It’s not like they gave it to Willie Randolph or something.

I also think it’s kind of funny that a guy named Melvin won the award in the same year that a guy named Wedge did. Maybe Fruit of the Loom can do a commercial with them.

Like what you just read? Subscribe to Knuckle Curve and you’ll never miss another article…

Post from: Knuckle Curve

Three Haiku

Geoff Young — Sun, 28 Oct 2007 05:43:37 +0000

I
Seventeen base hits
weren’t all that doomed the Rockies –
too much Josh Beckett

II
Schilling kept things close
before bullpen sealed the deal
despite Matt’s four hits

III
No DH, no prob –
surge in the sixth and seventh
couldn’t beat Red Sox

Like what you just read? Subscribe to Knuckle Curve and you’ll never miss another article…

Post from: Knuckle Curve

Competition or Destruction?

Geoff Young — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 16:06:54 +0000

So much for invincibility. Now that the Rockies can’t rely on that anymore, they’ll have to pick themselves back up and start playing good baseball.

The bad news is that Colorado got spanked in Game 1. The good news is that a 12-run loss counts exactly the same as a 1-run loss, so there’s plenty of time to regroup. Seriously, ask the 1960 Pirates.

Unfortunately, if the Rockies are going to make a stand, they’ll have to do it behind a kid making his 19th big-league start (Ubaldo Jimenez). Oh, and they’re facing a guy with 216 regular-season wins under his belt and a 9-2 career postseason record (Curt Schilling).

This could be a problem, especially given how well the Red Sox are playing. They’ve won their last four games by scores of 7-1, 12-2, 11-2, and 13-1. That’s not competition, it’s destruction…

Like what you just read? Subscribe to Knuckle Curve and you’ll never miss another article…

Post from: Knuckle Curve

Red Sox Take the Opener

Geoff Young — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 04:52:11 +0000

Well, that certainly was exciting. Boston beat the Rockies, 13-1, in the first game of the World Series at Fenway on Wednesday night. Colorado left-hander Franklin Morales, working in relief of starter Jeff Francis, had a particularly rough outing:

Like what you just read? Subscribe to Knuckle Curve and you’ll never miss another article…

Post from: Knuckle Curve

World Series Starts Now

Geoff Young — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 13:38:21 +0000

Half a million of my neighbors have been forced from their homes by wildfires that surround San Diego, so you’ll forgive me if I don’t really give a damn about baseball just now. That said, the World Series starts on Wednesday night (first pitch, 5 p.m. PT), and I expect you’ll be wanting some cogent analysis.

Might I recommend Purple Row for Rockies coverage and, er, pretty much anywhere on the Internet for Red Sox coverage. Oh, I have to pick just one? Okay, give Fire Brand of the American League a shot.

Good luck to your team. Good luck to my city…

Like what you just read? Subscribe to Knuckle Curve and you’ll never miss another article…

Post from: Knuckle Curve

Will the Rockies Win the World Series?

Geoff Young — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 05:55:00 +0000

I think they’ve got a pretty good chance. I support that statement with actual facts in my latest offering at Hardball Times.

Like what you just read? Subscribe to Knuckle Curve and you’ll never miss another article…

Post from: Knuckle Curve

Fausto Faces Curt, Coco Sits

Geoff Young — Sat, 20 Oct 2007 16:41:41 +0000

The ALCS heads back to Boston. While the Rockies do whatever it is teams do while they’re waiting for their opponent to be determined, the Indians and Red Sox hook up for Game 6 on Saturday night (first pitch: 5 p.m. PT).

This is a rematch of last week’s Fausto Carmona/Curt Schilling showdown. The Indians won the earlier contest on the strength of a seven-run 11th inning. (Hey, if the Rockies are trying to trademark “Rocktober”, maybe the Indians could trademark “7-11″; you think?)

Where there are Red Sox, there is drama. This time it comes in the form of rookie Jacoby Ellsbury starting in center field over Coco Crisp. As a Padres fan, I love this move because maybe it will help drive Crisp’s price down this off-season.

Oh wait, we’re talking about the playoffs. Sorry ’bout that.

Well, then, I don’t really care who plays center. What I do find interesting is that apparently Boston considered replacing Dustin Pedroia at second base with Alex Cora. Then someone remembered that the Red Sox actually need to win this game, so that idea was shelved.

What was my point here? I dunno; you tell me…

Post from: Knuckle Curve