I'm not sure if I'm supposed to use a Fanpost for this, but I couldn't think of a better way.  I have two seats to the matinee finale of the Diamondbacks series but am too busy at work and can't go.  I'd like to have those seats occupied by a Rowbot who would really appreciate them, and am willing to give them to said deserving person and their guest.  They are great seats, section 135, row 25 just to the left of home plate behind the screen.

I'm not sure how much demand there will be with this late notice, but in the case there is a lot of interest I'll have to figure out who is the most "deserving".  If you are interested and can go that day, post here why you think you deserve to go.  You might include evidence of how big a Rockies fan you are or how desperate you are to go to the game, etc.  All entries must be comments to this fanpost. 

I'll evaluate the entries right after the game ends tomorrow night (7/21) and will declare a winner.

Quoting from a Rosenthal article:

"Randy instructed us not to file for free agency until we made every effort to reach an agreement," Johnson's agents, Barry Meister and Alan Nero, said in a statement. "The Diamondbacks have a budget based on their club's financial situation and obviously viewed Randy's contract in that context. Randy considered every reasonable compromise including offering to take a 50% pay cut, all to remain a Diamondback. However, the economic situation did not lend itself to an agreement."

Johnson's two-year contract with the Diamondbacks averaged $13 million per season. His actual salary last season was $10 million.

The Diamondbacks' offer, then, did not exceed $5 million. It was believed to be in the $2 million to $3 million range.

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First of all, Josh Byrnes must have been terribly embarassed to be make a $2-3M offer to RJ.  That is a sad state of affairs down in AZ. 

What it means is that RJ was willing to take $5M top pitch for the D'backs.  Why don't we lob him that contract?  Last year we spent similar money on Kip Wells and Luis Vizcaino, right? 

The guy has the upside of a D. Lowe or B. Sheets for 2009, but without the long contract baggage.  And if his arm falls off we've still got lots of 5th starter candidates honing their craft in AAA.

The fact that we are six games back on August 27th got me thinking about all the failure we saw from the team in the first half of the year, and how different this season would feel now if we could have turned those losses into wins.  I spent lunch perusing through baseball-reference.com, trying to pinpoint the six games that we should have won during the first half that would put us in a tie with Arizona.

I didn't even get through April and I had already found the six - - - all played within the span of 8 days.

Game #18 4/20/08 - HOU 6, COL 4

The Rockies are on a four game winning streak (which included the 22 inning win in San Diego) and actually have a winning record at 9-8, bouncing back after a rough start to the season. The Rockies lead by 1 going to the bottom of the eighth. While the Rockies are still laboring through the Jason Nix experiment, Kaz Matsui singles two home against Brian Fuentes, increasing the Astros win probability by a whopping 52%. The Rockies manage to get the tying runners on base in the top of the ninth against Valverde, but Atkins flies out to deep center to end the game.

Game #19 4/21/08 - PHI 9, COL 5

So how can a game won by 4 runs be so bad? When the winning team scores 5 runs in the last two innings. With Fuentes having blown a lead just the day before, Taylor Buchholz is the culprit this time, giving up a 2 run double to Carlos Ruiz (who?) with two outs in the eighth. Micah Bowie proceeds to come in and add some gasoline, giving up three more in the ninth.

Game #20 4/22/08 - PHI 8, COL 6

When you thought it couldn't get any worse, the Rockies light up Brett Myers for 6 runs, and Francis goes 7 innings. Holliday and Atkins hit homers to give the Rockies a 1 run lead going to the ninth. In comes Corpas, who goes single, K, single, IBB, 3 run double to Pat Burrell, increasing the Phillies win probability by 48%. If you are counting that is now 3 blown leads in a row.

Game #21 4/23/08 - CHC 7, COL 6 (10)

In roll the Cubs having won 15 of their first 21 games and 6 straight. The Rockies put up a 5 spot in the 6th to take the lead against Rich Hill, et al, while Morales holds down the fort giving up 3 runs in 6 innings. Again, top of the ninth with a one run lead, Aramis Ramirez hits a two run bomb off Corpas to take the lead. Spilborghs triples home Podsednik in the bottom of the ninth against Kerry Wood to tie it, but enter Kip Wells in the 10th. The Cubs manufacture a run, and Marmol sets the Rockies down in order in the 10th. 4 blown leads in a row.

Game #23 4/25/08 - COL 7, LAD 8 (13)

The Rockies are still 10-12 at this point in the season, and are coming off a nice win against the Cubs behind 4 hits in 8 innings from emerging ace Aaron Cook. Ubaldo goes nuclear early, giving up six runs in 2 and 1/3 innings. The bully keeps it together, allowing only one more earned run the rest of the game and the Rockies claw back to within one run by the ninth inning. With Saito pitching, the spirit of 2007 must have still been lingering. Spilborghs and Podsednik promptly get on base with a walk and a double respectively. A passed ball ties the game and Helton is intentionally walked to set up the double play with one out. In steps Big Daddy himself with a chance to stop this nonsense. With Podsednik at third, even a medium-depth fly ball scores a run. Instead, of course, the Dodgers strategy works perfectly and a 4-3 double play ends the inning. The Dodgers finally score in the 13th when Kemp reaches on a Garrett Atkins error and scores on a Russell Martin sacrifice fly.

Game #24 4/27/08 - COL 2, LAD 3 (10)

On the surface nothing too much to complain about, good pitching from both Francis, Loaiza and both bullpens keep the game close. Closer inspection reveals the deep flaw that would plague the Rockies all year: Hitting with RISP. With the game tied the Rockies put 2 men on in the 8th, 9th and 10th only to score no runs. In the bottom of the 10th Corpas walks the first two batters and game over thanks to a James Loney single.

So within the space of one week in April, the Rockies lost 6 games that they had every right to win.  Now that they are 6 games back, it just makes you wonder what if...

Take a look at the following list of players and their OPS

David Wright .912

Ian Kinsler. 912

Jason Giambi .916

????????? .918

Conor Jackson .918

Hanley Ramirez .921

Grady Sizemore .921

So if you were a manager you'd probably want our mystery man above to be in the lineup as much as possible, right?  That is if your goal is to score as many runs as possible.

So who is our mystery man?  None other than Chris Iannetta, riding the bench tonight with Torrealba ( .693 OPS) getting the start.

Torrealba has had 9 starts already in July, to Iannetta's 14. 

I can only help but wonder what our record would have been with Iannetta and his .900 OPS in our lineup more frequently the entire year.

How is this possibly justifiable?  Is catcher so demanding a position for a 25-year old that he can only play in 60% of the games?  Russell Martin (another 25-year old catcher) doesn't seem to have a problem.  Are we playing Torrealba to showcase him for a trade? 

I wonder sometimes if Hurdle really wants to win or not. 

I was going through some old emails today and came across one I wrote to Mark Kizla on July 13, 2007.  Why I am wasting time writing to Kizla in the first place is a very good question, but a question for my therapy sessions and not this blog.  I think I was responding to a piece he wrote about the Rockies ownership not stepping up to the plate as the trade deadline approached.  

Anyway, it struck me first of all how prophetic my statements were, and also how wrong Kizla ended up being.  Anyway, I thought I would share.

My email and Kizla's response after the jump.

Continue reading this post »

I was trolling around the internet this afternoon (slow day), and found this quote on mlbtraderumors.com

"The Orioles' #1 priority for the offseason is to sign ace Erik Bedard to a long-term contract extension.  But if the two parties aren't in the same ballpark, they could exact a king's ransom in a trade.  As I said before, Bedard could be a $20MM+ pitcher if he stays on course through the 2009 season."

I know this is just a pipe dream, but a rotation of Bedard, Francis, Cook, Ubaldo, and Morales in 2008 has me drooling.  Which got me to thinking, what player wouldn't we trade for Bedard?  That rotation looks so much better with Bedard pushing everyone down a notch.

Anyway, I'm curious to hear what people would be willing to trade for Bedard if the Orioles put him on the market.

My first offer is Atkins + Fuentes + Hirsh.  Would the Orioles do that?  Probably not without a budget-friendly contract for Atkins, and even then...

Anyway, it is fun to dream.

Attending the comeback victory last night, I couldn't help to notice a very different feeling at Coors Field last night.  This was the first game I attended after the 20-7 stretch and the Yankee sweep, and I have to wonder if the notoriety of the winning streak and the high-profile sweeps over the Yankees and Mets have energized the Rockies fan base.

First of all, the stadium was as full last night as I have seen it in a non-novelty game for years.  The entire field level was full, the Rockpile and club level were packed, and the upper deck was well populated.  The upper level out in right field was still barren, but those will be the last seats to fill up.

I was impressed with the fans' familiarity with the players.  Chants of tu-lo tu-lo, lots of Kaz Matsui jerseys (strange choice if you ask me) and a general acknowlegement of everyone in the lineup, including Torrealba, was impresssive.

Finally, the crowd seemed to follow the game play a lot more closely than usual.  People went NUTS when the ump called Helms' swinging bunt fair in the 1st.  Everyone was on the edge of their seats during scoring opportunities.  In short, the atmosphere was pretty electric.  Kind of like old times.

The best part of the victory for me is that a large crowd was rewarded with such an exciting and fun game.  Hopefully they will be back for more, and bring a few friends.

Now for a couple of game notes:

Helton looks lost at the plate - can't seem to make good contact.

Outfield defense was relatively poor, each starting outfielder had a catchable ball that they let drop after a long run.  Willy and Matt didn't communicate well on one.

Willy's legs are still bothering him.  His double in the first should have been a triple, but he was limping out of the box.

The Phillies have an incredible top half of their lineup.  May be the best in baseball.  Rollins in on pace for 30-30, with 100 RBI and 140 Runs.  I was coveting them for fantasy purposes.

Ok, I know that spring brings with it renewed hopes and high expectations, but you've got to be kidding me with this one.  SFGate's NL West preview (http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/03/29/SPGMLORI9Q1.DTL&feed=rss.giants) includes the following quote about San Francisco's team this year:

"Zito, Matt Cain and Russ Ortiz having the makings of a solid top three in the rotation, even if they are not slotted that way."

Russ Ortiz of the 8.14 ERA in 2006 and the 6.89 ERA in 2005.  I'm fine with the first two, but Russ Ortiz?!?!?!  Solid?!?!?  Top?!?!?  Rotation?!?!?  I don't think I would use any of those words to describe Russ Ortiz, unless it is followed by a pejorative term, like "top crappy pitcher", or "solidly awful".  Now I don't have anything against Russ Ortiz, I'm sure he is a nice person and tries hard, not to mention probably helps old ladies across the street when he can.  But how can this writer (who I assume gets paid to write) actually float this garbage out there as truth.

I guess Ortiz is fine as a fifth starter, (especially considering what we are rolling out there every fifth day) but to mention him as being an asset to a rotation is just lunacy.

I guess my flawed premise is that baseball writers have to know something about baseball in order to write about it.

I am considering subscribing to MLB.TV this year.  We don't have cable and I'd prefer not to get it since the only thing I would watch are the Rockies.

I'm interested in others' experiences.  For example.

1. How is the video quality through a DSL connection?
   
2. Are there ways around the blackout restrictions?  Can I give them a fake zip code so I can watch the games?