SB Nation User Blog: Rox Girl

Game #88: De La Rosa vs Tucker

Rox Girl — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 23:06:36 -0000

Lineup

07/05/08 6:05 PM MDT

Florida Marlins	Colorado Rockies
Hanley Ramirez - SS	Ryan Spilborghs - CF
Jeremy Hermida - RF	Jeff Baker - 2B
Jorge Cantu - 3B	Matt Holliday - LF
Josh Willingham - LF	Garrett Atkins - 3B
Mike Jacobs - 1B	Brad Hawpe - RF
Cody Ross - CF	Chris Iannetta - C
Matt Treanor - C	Joe Koshansky - 1B
Robert Andino - 2B	Omar Quintanilla - SS
Ryan Tucker - P	Jorge De La Rosa - P

Whooboy, while the debate over which side of Dan O'Dowd one must butter to be an acceptable member of society continues on the Purple Row senatorial floor, there is a game to be played tonight at which I think we can all agree on what outcome we want to see.

Go Rockies.

Saturday Pebble Report:

Rox Girl — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 16:43:07 -0000

Colorado Springs: L 6-10

Josh Newman and Alberto Arias each allowed four runs to score in relief of Josh Towers, as the Dodgers AAA affilliate took a liking to the Sky Sox bullpen. Three of Newman's runs were "unearned" which is a distinction I hate anyway, but it's particularly invalid when the pitcher himself errs to allow the runs to score, as was the case here. Defensive miscues weren't solely confined to the pitchers, Jayson Nix doubled his error count for the season with two in the game. Nix also doubled at the plate, as did Sean Barker and Seth Smith.

Tulsa: W 9-8

In a topsy turvy game half as good as the Rockies last night (well, at least with half the scoring) the Drillers came back with two runs in the ninth to win in walk-off fashion after giving up a 6-1 lead earlier in the contest. Singles by Jeff Kindel, Daniel Carte, Brian Esposito and Eduardo Cornejo completed the rally. Early in the contest Kindel and Tony blanco hit back to back homeruns and Dexter Fowler got aboard four out of five times by going two for three with two walks. Fowler has a nine game hit streak. Minus the zero for one he had in a pinch hit appearance June 20, Fowler's hit in 21 straight games as a starter.

Modesto: W 4-3

Consecutive doubles by Victor Ferrante and Jay Cox in the second plus Michael McKenry's two run homer in the sixth gave the Nuts all their scoring in front of the second largest crowd in Modesto's minor league history. Simon ferrer allowed three runs early but after leaving in the fourth, the bullpen held the Oaks at bay before and after McKenry's blast.

Asheville: W 9-6

Cory Riordan allowed all six opposition runs in five innings of work, giving up twelve hits, six of them for extra bases. He struck out eight and walked none for a little good news in an otherwise bleak line. Kevin Clark, The other good news is that the Tourists actually won, taking advantage of a weaker Rome bullpen. David Christensen, Kevin Clark and Darin Holcomb all homered against the Braves starter, to keep things even, but a three run rally, all with two outs in the bottom of the seventh, provided the mortal blow. Clark walked and advanced to second on a wild pitch, Holcomb singled him in, Jeff Cunningham then tripled in Holcomb and a Brian Rike finished things off with his third single of the night. Joey Williamson, Craig Rodriguez and Craig Baker held the Braves scoreless for the last four innings to complete the win.

Tri-City: W 3-1

Kenny Durst pitched five scoreless innings and a ninth inning, two-run homerun by Patrick Rose provided the winning margin. Josh Banda also homered for the Dust Devils for their other score.

Casper: W 12-2

Congratulations to Jeff Fischer for finally getting his first professional victory yesterday. After a rough 2007 and some anemic run support at the beginning of 2008, the Ghosts offense finally came through for Fischer in a big way yesterday. Orlando Sandoval had four hits, and Mike Zuanich and Alex Feinberg each had three. Carlos Martinez, James Sims and Eliezer Mesa each had a pair, as the offense was fairly evenly distributed.

Fischer pitched well, allowing two runs on five hits in six innings, he struck out six and had an 8/4 GO/AO rate. Chad Rose and Eric Schuler bounced back from their last appearances by throwing scoreless frames in the blowout, as did Ronny Lopez to finish the game.

Game #86: Redman vs Miller

Rox Girl — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 22:52:07 -0000

Next Game

Florida Marlins
@ Colorado Rockies

Thursday, Jul 3, 2008, 6:05 PM MDT
Coors Field

Andrew Miller vs Mark Redman

Partly cloudy with a 30-percent chance of rain. Winds blowing out to left field at 5-10 m.p.h. Game Time temperature: Around 80.

Complete Coverage >

Let's hope that Redman's return from exile in the land of AAA goes as smoothly in 2008 as it did in 2007, and that there aren't any reminders of why he was exiled in the first place.

Go Rockies!

Thursday Morning Rockpile:

Rox Girl — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 14:43:23 -0000

Yesterday's win over the Padres was an audition in front of opposing team's scouts for several players, not just the Rockies. So the beatdown of Randy Wolf winds up as a double win for the Rox, as those scouts couldn't have come away impressed by what they saw. We humiliate the Padres now, and weaken them in the future. How great is that?

Of course, we had our own showroom of luxurious players on display for only the most discerning of buyers. Dave Krieger gives some odds that we find such discernment for players like Brian Fuentes, Garrett Atkins and of course, the masterpiece of our collection, Matt Holliday.

Speaking of whom, according to Ken Rosenthal, the Angels would want us to give them our best player, but also would want us to take a big mistake off their hands. Yes, that makes perfect sense. Gary Matthews Junior is just what we want to replace Matt Holliday. Obviously La Anaheim would need to considerably juice such a deal with wheelbarrels full of cash, wheelbarrels full of prospects and probably wheelbarrels full of In'N'Out burgers to make it work and a case of beer. I don't think those kinds of trades ever come to fruition.

Not mentioned by Krieger, but suddenly available is one Yorvit Torrealba, who has become disaffected by the Rockies decision to start a catcher that produces more than once or twice a week. Since there were scouts in the stands last night, it's probably good that yesterday was one of those times. The Marlins have been looking at the Nationals Paul Lo Duca, but apparently are no longer interested in Yorvit. Otherwise, the buyers in the catching market look absent right now, but I wouldn't expect it remain that way. At the very least, the Rockies should be able to move him this winter. Renck also responds to the Rosenthal report on the Angels interest in Holliday by adding the fact that Matthews has a no trade clause. Matthews would likely waive the clause for a deal to get into a situation where he plays more, but the fact that it would carry over with him to his new club severely limits his value.

St Louis should be added to the list of clubs interested in Brian Fuentes, and suddenly while reading the report I got all hot and bothered:

"Certainly the Rockies are fishing for prospects and names such as (OF Colby) Rasmus, (C Bryan) Anderson and (LHP Jaime) Garcia will be thrown around. John Mozeliak insists he is not going to trade Rasmus. I believe it, but no GM would publicly make available his top prospect since it would only erode leverage.

Nice as it is to think, very nice in fact, that Rasmus for Fuentes may be possible (and this from a St. Louis source, no less) I wouldn't bet the ranch on it. Those other two names he mentions are considerable themselves. The Fuentes derby is looking very likely to net the Rockies something crazy good.

Thursday Pebble Report:

Rox Girl — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 13:21:39 -0000

Colorado Springs: W 9-2

Ian Stewart, Seth Smith and Jayson Nix all homered and had a pair of hits for the Sky Sox to help drive some uncharacteristic high scoring at Tacoma. Sean Smith pitched six and two thirds, allowing two runs to pick up the win. Would he be a better option than Mark Redman? I'd say probably not, while Smith has an advantage in run prevention, he's done it by avoiding good hitters, which won't be as effective a strategy with the quality of the MLB. While this is exactly the strategy that Redman depoys, Mark's got the added advantages of experience and his left arm. Still the differences between the two might not amount to much. Since Redman isn't likely to factor into the team's 2009 plans, but Smith most likely is, the decision to call up Redman to replace Francis might be lacking foresight. Since 2008 is pretty much a total wash out, I'd rather the team spend its efforts on prepping for 2009, including giving guys like Smith some needed big league experience when the opportunity arises.

Instead, the Rockies moves seem to have a lot to do with replacing one defective part with the part that's most similar to that part. Never mind that because of the similarities the parts may well be defective in exactly the same way. Of course, going to a Cook, Jimenez, JDLR, Reynolds, Smith rotation for a few weeks would be a PR hit (Cook and the uncooked?) but let's face it, replacing Smith with Redman in that five doesn't make it look any prettier.

Tulsa: Off

Modesto: W 5-3

Andrew Johnston had such a horrendous year in 2007 that I've probably been subconciously avoiding talking about his 2008, but it's hard not to notice the 0.83 ERA and the seventeen saves and the 65% GB rate which has allowed him to post one of the lowest H/9 rates in the California League despite a defense that doesn't have the best range behind him. I think I'm okay allowing him back into my prospect radar right now.

Keith Weiser started the game that Johnston saved, and started it well, pitching seven innings while allowing just five hits and a walk. Matt Repec hit a three run homer as part of a four run fourth, and a Victor Ferrante triple in the ninth plated the last run for the Nuts.

Asheville: Off

Tri-City: W 13-0

Despite a .226 average, 24th round pick Thomas Field had the second best OBP on the team heading into yesterday's game, but perhaps somewhat surprisingly he also was the team's second best RBI producer. That meant that either he had been remarkable clutch or was really good at drawing the bases loaded walk. If you've been watching the box scores you'll know it's more of that first category, and as if to emphasize the point he came through with six more RBI yesterday, including two off a first inning, two out double and three more off a bases loaded double in the fourth. With 14 RBI on the season now, he's no longer the Dust Devils second best in that category.

In his two prior appearances in relief, Brad McAtee was probably not as good as his sparkilng ERA would have you believe, but he was just as good yesterday as the five scoreless innings, four hits (all singles), one walk, three strikeout appearance looks. Jeffrey Murphy, on the other hand, has probably been better than his 4.26 ERA, yesterday he pitched three scoreless in relief, also struck out three and allowed just one hit. In all, opposing batters are hitting just .095 off of him this season.

Casper: L 4-12

Matt Baugh handed Casper's bullpen a 4-2 lead, and Chad Rose and Eric Schaler took a hammer to it. Rose had his initiation to what sort of pain can be inflicted on pitchers in the Pioneer League if they make too many mistakes, giving up six in the seventh inning. Schaler, who's no virgin to that pain, gave up four more in the eighth. The shell shocked Ghosts offense didn't recover. Nick Valdez hit his second homerun as part of a two hit day.

Game #85: Jimenez vs Wolf

Rox Girl — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 23:34:52 -0000

Despite being inconsistent -he had another rough outing against Detroit after being sensational vs. the Mets in his last two start- Jimenez has done a pretty decent job of avoiding disasters this season. Only three of his starts have resulted in him allowing more than four runs, compared to ten that have seen him give up four or less. Part of this early in the season was due to Hurdle handling him with kid gloves and pulling him at the first sign of trouble, but lately it's been more a result of him running into too many deep counts every other game.

I don't know why it seems that the Rockies run support for pitchers sometimes seems so disproportionately skewed according to their abilities at the plate, after all Aaron Cook, no matter how good of a hitter he is, isn't two runs per game better than Jimenez, yet a look at the Run Support for our starters shows that's exactly what he's getting in his starts:

De La Rosa 5.42
Cook 5.02
Reynolds 4.07
Francis 3.46
Jimenez 2.97

Well, okay, maybe the pitcher's hitting isn't it, since JDLR still has .000 in his batting average column for this year. At any rate, it would be nice if the Rockies came up with a few runs off of Wolf tonight for a little more support than Jimenez is used to getting.

Go Rockies!

Lineup

San Diego Padres @ Colorado Rockies

07/02/08 7:05 PM MDT

San Diego Padres	Colorado Rockies
Jody Gerut - CF	Ryan Spilborghs - CF
Edgar Gonzalez - 2B	Todd Helton - 1B
Brian Giles - RF	Matt Holliday - LF
Adrian Gonzalez - 1B	Garrett Atkins - 3B
Kevin Kouzmanoff - 3B	Jeff Baker - 2B
Chase Headley - LF	Brad Hawpe - RF
Khalil Greene - SS	Yorvit Torrealba - C
Michael Barrett - C	Troy Tulowitzki - SS
Randy Wolf - P	Ubaldo Jimenez - P

Wednesday Morning Rockpile: Rockies Like Lions...

Rox Girl — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 17:24:39 -0000

Well, according to our fearless leader, at least, who sees a lot of similarities between the Lions of aught seven and the Rockies of aught six. A key difference that Hurdle somehow left out was that the Lions -according to a Google search, since I really don't know much about it- had cleaned house in their coaching ranks before what had been a sorry franchise was able to turn around. I mean, just a minor detail

As good as Aaron Cook has been for us in the past, I was somewhat surprised to find out that yesterday was his first career shutout. If he continues to pitch like he has for us this season, it shouldn't be his last. Hurdle indicated that Cookie will be going to Yankees Stadium for the Rox, which was probably a no-brainer even if somebody else was the All-Star manager.

As could usually be expected this time of season, despite Brian Fuentes' fiasco Monday night, the Rockies reliever is actually getting more interest from teams wanting to make a trade. The Cedrick Bowers call-up from yesterday should be a sign that the Rockies are seriously considering divesting themselves of their current closer, as if Bowers is successful the Rockies would have that security blanket of a lefty in the pen that every manager seems to demand.

Wednesday Pebble Report: Happy International Signing Day!

Rox Girl — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 13:42:04 -0000

Happy International Signing Day! A couple things to note about the Rockies that we've learned in years past:

Don't expect the team to be in on the biggest fish or perhaps even mentioned at all in important signings today. While the buscones have been busy playing relative newcomers to the market -such as the A's, Padres and Pirates- for some huge dollars this year, if we know anything about our team, huge dollars and Rockies don't usually mix that well.
Don't expect the team to be considered by big media outlets like Baseball America or ESPN Deportes as having one one of the better classes.
Do expect the Rockies to have one of the better classes anyway. The Rockies make their talent fortune by building strong scout/family realtions, hiding some jewels that not a lot of other teams are in on, and just having an overall top notch player evaluation team down there.
Do expect us to be writing about the players the Rockies sign in this class a couple of seasons from now. While Carlos Martinez was one of those big fish, others in the system were not. Jhoulys Chacin came out of nowhere and look where he's at right now. Juan Nicasio leads the Northwest League in strikeouts. Wilin Castillo is the leading catching prospect in the Pioneer League as a 19 year old. Eliezer Mesa has an MLB pedigree but wasn't heavily recruited and while slumping lately, has shown promise in Casper. Our DSL team is showing more potential as well, for instance, 18 year old Juan Croussett, one of the league leaders with a .403 wOBA while playing half his games in a relatively pitcher friendly environment.

Colorado Springs: L 2-12, W 4-1

In the first game, Cory Sullivan, Jayson Nix and Ian Stewart were the only Sky Sox to get hits, Sullivan's a two run homer. Kip Wells allowed all twelve runs in two and a third innings. In the second game, Seth Smith and Joe Koshansky each had two hits, Koshansky also had two more RBI to bring him up to 78 for the season. Jason Hirsh had his best start of his short season to date, a six inning, five hit, one walk effort to pick up the win.

Tulsa: L 2-10

Dexter Fowler had two hits on a night they were hard to come by, including his sixth triple of the season, and scored one of Tulsa's runs. Tony Blanco scored the other on a solo homerun. Alan Johnson and Adam Bright were both considerably less effective than they've been of late, Johnson gave up six of the opposition's runs, Bright four.

Modesto: L 3-0

Chacin the Machine made his California League debut in style, shutting out Stockton for eight innings, and maintaining the 2-1 GB-FB rate he had in Asheville. He allowed five hits and a walk and struck out eight retiring sixteen straight hitters at one point. Andrew Johnston pitched a perfect ninth for his 16th save of the season.

Nick Haley tripled home Mike McKenry and Victor Ferrante in the seventh and then scored himself on a double play a couple of batters later for the three runs. McKenry finished with three walks, My Farm Report this week at the Rocky Mountain News discusses McKenry, who had a sensational (and somewhat unsustainable) month of June at the plate and has been doing it all season on defense.

Brian VanderBeek blogs that Cole Garner is nearing readiness to return to the lineup finally. Speaking of VanderBeek, while doing the research for the McKenry post, the one past Modesto catcher I found him to be most comparable to at the plate offensively was John Suomi, who had a breakout season for the Nuts when they were an A's affiliate in 2004 (Omar Quintanilla played on that team) but had his career derailed by a mostrous collision at the plate with Reggie Abercrombie in the California League playoffs. He missed all of 2005, and hasn't been the same hitter since, although he's still playing in the Phillies system. A good story by Batter's Box Interactive details the collision, gets VanderBeek's thoughts on Suomi, and points to what might have been. Since McKenry has his health and a better defensive profile, the comparisons Thomas makes with Suomi apply just as well to Mike. It looks like McKenry on a trajectory to be at least an above average backup in the big leagues, and could be a starter for teams that can afford a little less offense behind the plate. Right now, the Rockies aren't in that latter category, but his defensive value plus pop still makes him a much better prospect than a lot of fans probably realize.

Asheville: W 12-6

Apparently the Classic Country that Joe Mikulik has been playing before Tourists games to motivate the team is finally working, as the T's busted out for five homeruns last night. Jeff Cinningham had a pair of them, walked twice and drove in four. Brian Rike, Kevin Clark and Lars Davis each had one HR. Clark also added a double, single and walk and Helder Velzquez added two doubles as the offense romped. Bruce Billings was one out away from a quality start, pitching five and two-thirds innings and allowing three runs with seven strikeouts. Two of the runs came just before he was pulled in the sixth, otherwise his line would have looked a lot better. Craig Rodriguez, Craig Baker and Randall Taylor finished the game just to get some work in, Taylor allowed a two run homer in the ninth to make the game look closer than it really was.

Tri-City: L 3-5

Josh Sullivan struggled some more in his rehab effort, lasting just three and two thirds innings and giving up four runs. The bullpen did a good job of holding from there, but the deficit was just too much to overcome in a locale that can be cruel to hitters. Johnny Bowden finished a homerun short of the cycle and Charlie Blackmon hit his fourth double of the season, but there were no other standout performances for the Dust Devils.

Casper: L 3-5

"You can't walk off the island."

Casper's not surrounded by water as the Dominican is, but as conversation in last night's game thread alluded to, the Wyoming countryside that surrounds it is so desolate it might as well be, so the axiom* may well still apply. We have a good test case: Alex Feinberg has played just seven games this season, and he's drawn a walk in six of them and has a very backwards looking (for Rockies prospects, certainly) 7/1 BB/K ratio. Unfortunately for the test, he's been hitting well also, going two for two yesterday, and he sports a robust .467 average thus far. Speaking of hitting oneself off the island, Angelys Nina did precisely that last year, and yesterday he took a step toward staying stateside by connecting for his first HR with the Ghosts.

Ethan Hollingsworth had an okay start for the Pioneer League, allowing four runs on eight hits in five innings. He struck out six and walked just one and yielded only two doubles on mistake pitches, but obviously the runs he did allow were too much in the loss.

Game #83: De La Rosa vs Maddux

Rox Girl — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 23:42:50 -0000

Next Game

San Diego Padres
@ Colorado Rockies

Monday, Jun 30, 2008, 7:05 PM MDT
Coors Field

Greg Maddux vs Jorge De La Rosa

Clear. Winds blowing out to left field at 5-10 m.p.h. Game Time temperature: Around 75.

Complete Coverage >

Nothing like feasting on a cupcake to get your mind off of being a cupcake. I never realized how cannibalistic the world of cupcakes was until just now. No wonder they have to be separated when you bake them. It all makes so much sense.

Go Rockies!

Monday Morning Rockpile:

Rox Girl — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 15:44:58 -0000

Tim Dierkes at MLB TradeRumors has a run-down on all the Brian Fuentes whispers. To his list of teams supposedly interested (Yankees, Mets, Red Sox, Phillies and A's) you can add the Tampa Bay Rays, as this report indicates (it also mentions their interest in Holliday). Dierkes also notices something many Rockies fans have about our current relief situation. That is to say, Taylor Buchholz's performance to date should make it that much easier for the Rockies to deal Fuentes without remorse.

The three AL East teams and two NL East teams on the list make it likely that the Rockies will be able to extract a fairly sizable premium for Brian -at least two quality prospects/young players, I'd say- as you have a situation where teams will have added interest in not only getting his arm for themselves, but also in keeping him from going to a divisional rival. Despite his struggles Saturday night, the interest doesn't seem to be abating, and the added leverage of the compensation picks the Rockies would receive if they held onto him just make this an almost ideal sell situation. It's pretty clear that Brian will be significantly overvalued by this market.

The Holliday situation isn't so transparent, as the impact player the Rockies are after in return for him has yet to be offered, and that more than anything else is what led Dan O'Dowd to pull him off the market. I think the odds of us trading him before the end of July are signinficantly lower than those that say he stays until the offseason but a recent spate of injuries to corners among the contenders and the Rockies ugly road trip opens up the possibility more than it seemed to be a week ago.

If there is one measure of solace to be taken in this lost season, it's that San Diego seems to be in an even faster sinking boat, but with less of a core to build around going forward. I mean, say what you will about being swept on the road by the Royals and Tigers, but the Padres got clocked at home by the Mariners. Apparently, they are now ready to purge.