Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Baylor Lands in Phoenix with a Thud

Don Baylor, former manager and 5-time hitting coach, has landed again, not in the managerial position he craved, but as the hitting coach for the hapless Arizona Diamondbacks. Apparently Arizona intends to build on their accomplishment of striking out more than any other team in the Major Leagues. Diamondback executives must have felt they had gone as far as they could go with their old coach and needed someone who could impart new whiffing techniques to the team's batters. Baylor is the only remaining proponent of the "Use Your Head" school of hitting, which teaches actually hitting the ball with the head or helmet, rather than using it to think. This approach has been so popular that Mr. Baylor has been asked to teach it to 5 different teams in his eight years as a batting instructor. He used approximately the same approach in his years as the manager in Colorado and Chicago, where he holds the record for the most losses in a single season by a Cubs team.
Good luck, Arizona! Maybe Don and the D'backs will rise from their own ashes like the mythical Phoenix. At least we know the Arizona hitters will be replacing some of those K's with HBP's.

Monday, October 25, 2010

Ex-Rockies Factor Has Already Decided the World Series

Once again, the dreaded XR (ex-Rockies) factor has reared its ugly head and thrown its mystical net of compulsion over the Major League Baseball playoffs, confounding the odds makers and fans alike by causing teams to win, even when they are the weakest teams on paper and don't play particularly well.
Such was not the case for the Texas Rangers, whose decisive XR edge made them an overwhelming favorite over the XR-less Yankees. It was not as clear for the triumphant Giants of San Francisco, a tremendous underdog who barely squeaked by the confused Phillies, who seemed to be hit periodically by dumbness rays, causing players and coaches to make dozens of inexplicable decisions while stumbling to a lost series, 4 games to 2 in the NLCS. Strangely enough, the Phillies also trailed the Giants in XRs, 4 to 2 (see below).
Using the pattern established above, and in many previous series since the Rockies were spawned in 1993, the Giants will obviously beat the Rangers, 4 games to 1, unless you count coaches, then the tally goes to 4 games to 2, adding the presence of former Rockies manager Clint Hurdle to Texas.

Ex-Rockies in the Playoffs:
Darren Oliver, Relief Pitcher, Texas Rangers, 2003
Juan Uribe, Starting Shortstop, San Francisco Giants, 2001-3
Jeremy Affeldt, Relief Pitcher, San Francisco Giants, 2007
Javier Lopez, Relief Pitcher, San Francisco Giants, 2003-4
Ramon Ramirez, Relief Pitcher, San Francisco Giants, 2006-7
Jose Contreras, Relief Pitcher, Philadelphia Phillies, 2009
Ross Gload, Outfielder, Philadelphia Phillies, 2002

Ex-Rockies Factor Has Already Decided the World Series

Once again, the dreaded XR (ex-Rockies) factor has reared its ugly head and thrown its mystical net of compulsion over the Major League Baseball playoffs, confounding the odds makers and fans alike by causing teams to win, even when they are the weakest teams on paper and don't play particularly well.
Such was not the case for the Texas Rangers, whose decisive XR edge made them an overwhelming favorite over the XR-less Yankees. It was not as clear for the triumphant Giants of San Francisco, a tremendous underdog who barely squeaked by the confused Phillies, who seemed to be hit periodically by dumbness rays, causing players and coaches to make dozens of inexplicable decisions while stumbling to a lost series, 4 games to 2 in the NLCS. Strangely enough, the Phillies also trailed the Giants in XRs, 4 to 2 (see below).
Using the pattern established above, and in many previous series since the Rockies were spawned in 1993, the Giants will obviously beat the Rangers, 4 games to 2, unless you count coaches, then the tally goes to 4 games to 3, adding the presence of former Rockies manager Clint Hurdle to Texas.

Ex-Rockies in the Playoffs:
Darren Oliver, Relief Pitcher, Texas Rangers, 2003
Juan Uribe, Starting Shortstop, San Francisco Giants, 2001-3
Jeremy Affeldt, Relief Pitcher, San Francisco Giants, 2007
Javier Lopez, Relief Pitcher, San Francisco Giants, 2003-4
Ramon Ramirez, Relief Pitcher, San Francisco Giants, 2006-7
Jose Contreras, Relief Pitcher, Philadelphia Phillies, 2009
Ross Gload, Outfielder, Philadelphia Phillies, 2002

Monday, October 18, 2010

Rockies Fire Baylor - Again

The Rockies finally figured out what was causing them to fall short of their goals the past three years, and it was the same thing that held them back the first 9 years of their existence - Don Baylor!
They fired ex-Angel Baylor and replaced him with another ex-Angel, Carney Lansford. The big difference between the two is that Carney really could hit, and can teach others.

Ex-Rockies in the 2010 Playoffs

Darren Oliver, Relief Pitcher, Texas Rangers, 2003
Juan Uribe, Starting Shortstop, San Francisco Giants, 2001-3
Jeremy Affeldt, Relief Pitcher, San Francisco Giants, 2007
Javier Lopez, Relief Pitcher, San Francisco Giants, 2003-4
Ramon Ramirez, Relief Pitcher, San Francisco Giants, 2006-7
Jose Contreras, Relief Pitcher, Philadelphia Phillies, 2009
Ross Gload, Outfielder, Philadelphia Phillies, 2002

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Rockies stick to poor fundamentals while being swept in Philadelphia

It would have been a comedy of errors if it wasn't a tragedy. They weren't going to win the first two games, anyway, falling to Roy Halladay 6-0 on Friday, and falling victims to a rare Phillies slugfest 10-2 on Saturday. Sunday and Monday were different stories, though, turning into losing efforts by one run each: 4-3 and 5-4.
On Sunday, the goat horns should have been shared between Carlos "CarGo" Gonzalez, who's error allowed Jimmy "J-Roll" Rollins to advance to second on his RBI single, catcher Miguel Olivo who let Rollins steal third without a throw, and pitcher Rafael Betancourt who threw a wild pitch and failed to cover home, allowing Rollins to score the winning run. Honorary goat awards go to Stewart, Spilborghs, and Gonzalez, who between them left 14 runners on base, 6 in scoring position.
Monday's antiheroes were Jason Giambi who made 2 errors on consecutive plays to allow an unearned run, and Ryan Spilborghs again, who rolled out to the pitcher in the bottom of the ninth with the bases loaded and the Rockies down by a run, 5-4.

Sunday, April 11, 2010

Troy Tulowitzki Costs Rockies the Game in the 14th Inning

The fans and the media have jumped on the Rockies 2010 bandwagon, because, on paper they look like a shoe-in to go all the way to the World Series. Everyone is also assuming that emotional maturity would eliminate some of the thoughtless mistakes that cost them games in the past. Not on the night of April 10, at least, because "Tulo" showed that he doesn't have what it takes when the chips are down. The scene: bottom of the 14th inning with Colorado trailing 5 to 4, and Todd Helton standing on first base after drawing a hard-fought walk. Troy has one purpose, and one purpose only; that being to move Helton over to second base. How he does it is his own business, it can be via a walk, a hit, a bunt, or just a ground ball hit behind Helton so he can get to second. Even if Tulo strikes out trying, it would only be one out and there would still be a runner at first. The one thing Tulo cannot do is hit a double play grounder to the left side of the diamond, which would leave the Rockies with two out and nobody on. What does he do? You guessed it, he hit a grounder to the left side, specifically to the third baseman, who started a 5-4-3 double play. The next batter, Brad Hawpe, hit a double that would probably have scored even old slow-footed Helton with the tying run.
The Rockies may not be good enough to overcome these kinds of lapses. There is hope, however, because the Phillies got frequent poor quality at bats from Jason Werth last year, and they still won the pennant and made it to the World Series. As a Baseball Observer, you really want to know the answers to questions that reporters never ask. They are, among others: Did the coaches talk to Tulowitzki before he went to bat to remind him how critical it was to move Helton over? Did he ignore them? Or did they trust he would do the right thing because he should have known what it was? Does Tulowitzki even realize what he did? We will never know.