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The Colorado Rockies
54-44, .546
2nd place in NL West, 8 games behind the Dodgers
leading the wildcard race by two games over the Giants -- more to the point, they're 7.5 games ahead of the Mets
most interesting stat:
Before Jim Tracy took over for Clint Hurdle, they were 18-28. Under Tracy, they're now 36-16. I don't know if it was fair to fire somebody who had piloted the team to the World Series in 2007, especially given the number of young players and the absence of Matt Holliday, but it's hard to argue with the results.
probable lineup:
....................................AB HR RBI SB AVG OBP SLG
Dexter Fowler............CF 302 4 27 23 .252 .359 .381
Clint Barmes.............2B 342 12 48 9 .263 .307 .456
Todd Helton..............1B 334 11 60 0 .320 .404 .518
Brad Hawpe..............RF 314 15 62 1 .322 .404 .573
Troy Tulowitzki..........SS 317 18 46 13 .256 .344 .495
Ian Stewart..............3B 263 17 48 6 .232 .325 .498
Seth Smith, or...........LF 181 8 28 4 .293 .398 .486
Ryan Spilborghs.............230 6 35 8 .257 .329 .435
Chris Ianetta..............C 202 11 38 0 .228 .335 .450
Fowler is a rookie who skipped AAA. Barmes and Stewart started the year platooning at second base, but Garrett Atkins hit his way out of the lineup. Todd Helton, in case you were wondering, is owed $16.6M this year and next, $19.1M in 2011, and $23M or a $4.6M buyout in 2012, when his seemingly endless contract finally runs out. At least he's producing this year. Troy Tulowitzki has been sort of like Delgado was last year; he came off a really bad season and then struggled again until the manager changed. Hawpe has very quietly filled in the void left by Matt Holliday. There's a lot of youth here, and I think this lineup will get steadily more dangerous over the next couple of years.
bench:
..................................AB HR RBI SB AVG OBP SLG
Yorvit Torrealba..........C 79 2 10 0 .241 .311 .354
Garrett Atkins......3B/1B 250 6 30 0 .228 .304 .336
Omar Quintanilla......INF 33 0 0 0 .182 .289 .212
Carlos Gonzalez........OF 102 1 5 7 .225 .288 .373
You still might see Atkins in the lineup against a lefty. You may also see him traded before the series ends. Gonzalez was the centerpiece when Oakland traded Dan Haren to the Diamondbacks, and again when the Rockies traded Holliday to Oakland. He has nothing left to prove in the minors, but he's struggled up here and lately Seth Smith has gotten most of his at-bats.
the rotation:
......................................IP W L ERA K WHIP SV
tonight vs. Ollie:
Ubaldo Jimenez R..........128.2 7 9 3.85 116 1.30 0
Tuesday vs. Pelfrey:
Jason Marquis R............131.1 12 6 3.49 61 1.26 0
Wednesday vs. Johan:
Jason Hammel R...........101.0 5 5 4.28 70 1.45 0
Thursday vs. Niese:
Jorge de la Rosa L.........111.0 8 7 4.78 112 1.37 0
we'll miss:
Aaron Cook R...............128.0 10 3 3.87 69 1.41 0
the pen:
Huston Street R.............42.1 3 1 2.55 48 0.92 25
Rafael Betancourt R........32.1 1 2 3.34 33 1.24 1
Matt Daley R..................27.0 0 1 3.67 25 1.11 0
Juan Rincon R................22.1 3 1 5.24 23 1.48 0
Franklin Morales L...........15.1 1 0 1.76 15 1.04 0
Jhoulys Chacin R..............1.0 0 0 0.00 2 1.00 0
Josh Fogg R...................20.1 0 1 1.77 9 0.79 0
Jimenez has very quietly had a solid season. The Cubs and Mets were rumored to be considering a deal involving Jason Marquis and Scot Schoeneweis over the winter, but Marquis wound up in Colorado instead. I was mostly indifferent at the time, but in hindsight... De la Rosa has a bit of an Ollie streak in him, sometimes looking brilliant and sometimes getting clobbered. The Rockies couldn't ask for more from Street than they've gotten. They just got Rafael Betancourt from the Indians last week, to replace the injured Manny Corpas. Betancourt was the best set-up guy in baseball in 2007 and just terrible last year; this year he's been decent when healthy.
X-factors: None on their end, unless Torrealba counts. Glendon Rusch was part of their opening day roster, but a 6.75 ERA and a 2.04 WHIP bought him a one way ticket out of town. At this point, we're more likely to see Rusch pitch for the Ducks than another major-league team. Livan pitched for the Rockies last year and didn't help them any. And until last week, the only major league team Cory Sullivan had played for was the Rockies.
Park differences:
....................W L ERA OPS oppOPS
home:..........27 21 4.79 .831 .771
away:...........27 23 3.63 .734 .691
As usual, the Rockies' offensive numbers are skewed, and as usual that also means their pitchers are much better than they look at face value. Not that the Mets have a right to underestimate any team's pitching staff, but the Rockies' arms are the real reason they currently look like a playoff team.
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