There is no crying in Baseball... ok maybe

There may be no crying in baseball, but the Rockies are trying to make it almost impossible not to anymore. On a nice day at Wrigley Field, the Rockies managed to surrender an 8 run lead to end up losing 10-9. Jeff Baker's 4 doubles couldn't even stave off another total implosion by the pitching staff on a day when the bats finally started to warm up.

Considering the expectations after their near miraculous 21 of 22 run at the end of last season to get to the World Series, and the signing of nearly all of the core players to multi-year contracts, this year's Rockies are looking more like a AAA team than defending NL champions.

Someone hand me a hankie.. I feel like crying a bit.

Eight walks, 3 base running outs... OMG!

The Rockies season has turned into the season from hell. With half the starting lineup on the DL, and a rookie pitcher that walked eight.... that is right he walked eight batters, and three base running outs, the Rockies lost 6-1 to Philly last night.

During their historic 21 of 22 run at the end of last season, they couldn't do anything wrong. Now they can't seem to do anything right. They can't hit, they can't pitch, and who would have thought it, they can't run.

In probably the biggest understatement of the year, "We're not even worried about where we are now," manager Clint Hurdle said. "We need to play better. We need to focus in our own backyard. We've got improvement to be made in every area. Unfortunately, we've earned the position we're in."

All I can say is DUH?

End of April Rockies perspective... Ugggg

Ugggg. About the only phrase I can come up with to convey my view of the Rockies after the first month of the season.

After getting to the world series last year, and giving out some hefty contracts to most all of the regular players, the Rockies have pretty much come out of the gate and fallen flat on their collective faces. With a team BA of only .248, and a combined team ERA of 4.47, the Rockies have looked a whole lot more like the team at the start of last season (and in some cases worse), than the team during the playoffs.

Only two regular position players are batting over .300. The pitching hasn’t been much better with only Aaron Cook of the starting pitchers has a ERA under 4.0. And the team has managed through 28 games, to get 2… 2 Sacrifice Flys.

Now they have injuries and demotions going on that do not bode well for the next couple of months. One of the leaders of the team, SS Tulowitzky is now out for a couple of months with a hip injury. One of the starting rotation, Morales, has been demoted to AAA, to work out a myriad of problems, and the rest of the team looks to be in a permanent funk.

While you can’t win a division in April, you can sure dig yourself a pretty big hole to climb back out of in April. While the Rockies are floundering 9 games out of first place in the NL West, the Arizona Diamondbacks are scorching hot with the best record in MLB.

The Rockies need to figure out how to do the fundamentals soon, or Arizona could conceivably run away with the division before the all star break. The team will have to do with without their premier short stop, and a collection of utility infielders at second base.
I never give up rooting for the home team, but damn, a little encouragement from the team right now going into May would sure be helpful.

Thank God Baseball season is 162 games long

Six games into the season, and I'm already hearing folks starting to talk like the Rockies (1-5) season is over, and looking for Broncos tickets :)

If your favorite football team started out 1-5 I could see the dispair.
If your favorite Basketball team started out 1-5 there would be reason for concern.
If your favorite Hockey team started out 1-5 (well I'm having a hard time with this one because all hockey is, is boxing on skates :) )

But let's get real. Baseball season is a 162 game grind. It is meant to average out the slumps, and the streaks so that "on average" the best teams get to the playoffs.

Maybe the problem is with our penchant for instant gratification, that we groan so much at each loss, and get so euphoric at each win.

Baseball season is a long and winding road. Six games means little, if anything in the longer scope of the season. Now if the Rockies are still sub .500 at the end of April... I "might" start worrying a little bit :)

Finally, something other than Politics

Yesterday, one of my favorite passions got underway again, and it is not the political bickering between Obama, Clinton, and McCain. Even though I had to wait an extra day due to heavy rain in St Louis, the Rockies 2008 opening season game is now official.

Baseball, despite all the steroids scandals of last year, continues to take one back to their youth, and times when the world wasn't such a scary place to live in. There is something about watching your favorite team pitching, hitting, and catching, that if you squint just right, you can see yourself back when you were in your teens, doing the same thing in the vacant lot down the street.

You may not make as much money as those professional players you are watching on the big screen, but you can close your eyes, listen to the commentary, and almost see yourself standing at the plate in the top of the 9th with the bases loaded, 2 out, and the game tied 1-1. Watching baseball, for all it's player's faults, the mega money, the occasional scandals, still takes one back to their youth, where the world was safer, the air was a bit cleaner, the sun shone just a bit brighter, and your very first girl friend cheered you on from the stands.

There isn't anything complex about baseball. You pitch the ball, you hit the ball, you catch the ball. All the complexities of modern life fades away into the simplicity of the game, and you can forget the report due to the boss next week on the 3rd variable derivatives of the sub-prime mortgage lending practices.

Baseball is a game, a simple game, a game of our youth. A game that can keep us young in spirit, and heart, if we just close our eyes, and imagine.

Oh by the way... The Rockies beat the Cardinals 2-1. One game down 161 games to go. :)

Preparing for Superbowl

Well it is time for that time honored tradition of the Super Bowl party :)

Today it is out and about town to gather the necessary ingredients for a small get together of friends and family in preparation to gathering around the ole 65" big screen to watch the Patriots and Giants go at it tomorrow. And a little time to get out of the "political junkie" mindset :)

Time to gather the soda, the beer, the chips, the dips, the brats, the hot wings, the 1' samwiches, the meat plates, the cheese plates, and the extra chairs and tv trays.

So it is off to the stores to seek those ingredients that make just the right kind of group party :)

A good weekend of Pro Football

The weekend provided some prime pro football viewing for just about everyone. While I'm not an avid pro football fan, I have to admit to a facination with New England's run on a totally perfect season, and the rejuvination of Farve this year.

New England:
The Patriots just looked machine like in thier win. Jacksonville forced the Pats to stay short, and Brady simply took what was there and marched. Overall the Pats put together another strong and complete game to go to 17-0.

Green Bay:
Is it just me or is Farve having the best season of his career this year? He looked like a kid out there in the snow playing school ground football, and having a blast in the snow. It seemed that the harder it snowed the better Green Bay played, and pretty much ran away with the game in the second half. It was nice to see grown men having fun playing a game for a change.

San Diego:
Even without their top running back and their starting quarterback, they were able to knock off the Colts. The two teams seariously beat each other up during the game, and you have to think this does not bode well for SD going into New England next weekend. The Colts looked sluggish, and uninspired, and the Chargers took advantage of them both defensively and offensively.

NY Giants:
The Giants didn't look any sharper than the Cowboys until it counted in the second half, where the Cowbowys offensive line became a sieve. A lot of people were pointing the finger at Romo having another "big" game collapse, but the blame if anyone deserves it is the Cowboys offensive line. The Giants on the other hand took what the Cowboys gave them and squeeked out a win to keep at least one Manning in the playoff hunt.

My picks for this weekend? New England over San Diego and Green Bay over the Giants.

So is LSU really #1?

Well the BCS bowl season is over and LSU pretty handily beat OSU in the "BCS Championship" game played in the Sugar bowl on Monday 38 to 24. In the final AP poll, LSU was 1st with 60 first place votes with Georgia, USC, Missouri, OSU, WVU, and Kansas rounding out the top 7 spots, so there will be no "split" championship this year.

However, what we ended up with was 6 teams with 2 losses, and a one loss team in the top 7 spots and only two of those teams had played another team in the group. So how can anyone rightfully say that LSU is the "real" #1?

According to some reports the BCS will evaluate a plus one format when they meet in April ( ESPN report ). But either of the currently discussed methods of plus one plans would have left out USC and Georga from the proposed seeded 4 team playoffs.

The biggest sticking point in all of this is as usual the Rose Bowl folks. Unless somehow they are convinced to move to support some type of playoff format, any plan is probably still born. The Rose bowl folks are determined to keep what they consider the preeminent position and ties with the Pac-10 and Big 10 conferences, and anything that they view as undermining that position will just not fly. What they fail to realize is that to the majority of college football fans, the Rose Bowl isn't the "Grandaddy" of the bowls anymore, and hasn't been for some time.

Opponents to a "real" playoff system in Div-I typically use the "too many games" argument to argue against additional games in the season. I prefer to look at "too long between games" for teams like OSU who last played on NOVEMBER 17th, as a perfect reason to go to a playoff format. Teams sitting around for nearly 2 months between their final regular season game and a "championship" game is simply foolish. The rhythm, the routine, the normalcy that regular game playing gives a team is totally lost with that kind of a break in routine.

Congratulations to LSU, but I'm pretty sure fans and players from Kansas, USC, and Georga have a just as equal and legitimate reason to say "We're #1".

So what have the two BCS bowls so far told us?

That USC is a very good team and just as deserving as LSU or OSU to be in the Championship game. That Georga is probably playing the best football in the country at the end of the season and is just as equally deserving to be in the Championship game. However, it did point out that all undefeated records (Hawaii) are not created equal.

Can we just institute a championship playoff for the top tier NCAA division like all the others and get this silly BCS experiment over with?

Pro athletes don't play for pride.. or do they?

I will admit that I am not a pro sports fan (ok I admit to being an avid Rockies fan), but as a general rule I typically don't watch pro football. Last night was a change, and an abnormally interesting one at that. I turned on the Patriots vs Giants game fully expecting to see both teams rest the majority of their starters in a game that had absolutely no playoff implications, and instead was provided a game that showed in some unique instances, pro football is played for pride and pride alone.

While there were three NFL records set (most TD passes, most TD receptions, most regular season points scored), the game was really about pride in a "team" accomplishment instead of the usual "me. me. me" pro athlete attitude.

Both teams played their starters, and from the beginning you could sense that both sides were playing with an emotion that is typically reserved for college sports where million dollar pay days are not the norm. The game was entertaining, and hard fought from the beginning to the end. And although the Patriots maintained their perfect regular season record and finished with at 38 to 35 win and a 16-0 regular season record, what impressed me was the way the game was played by both sides.

It was a joy to watch, and even more enjoyable to see for one of the few times that pro athletes and organizations can put forth their absolute best performance for just a game of no "real" significance. The fans in the stands in NY got their tickets worth, the fans watching the game on the networks got to see history made in a well played and energetic game.

The biggest thing that will be remembered about this game was that the multi-million dollar athletes that have been bashed for only playing for the money, and concerned about their own personal performance, played for pride, and it showed.

A game that had no significance at all in the playoff situation, was probably one of most entertaining games of the season. Congratulations to the players of the Giants and Patriots alike, you have given hope to a typically apathetic pro sports fan.