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Right here.

Seriously, y'all want more? Y'all people are vultures.

I'll do my best. The Rockies are steamrolling anything in their path. This series should be a three-day slugathon. Halladay, Marcum, Jeff Francis and Rodrigo Lopez are going to sit this one out. The guys who do pitch will have their hands full.


Colorado is destroying AL teams left, right and center. Led by their still-potent power hitters and resurgent table setters, the Rockies just swept the theretofore untouchable Yankees, after beating every single other AL East team in a series. The Rockies are a very ALish team themselves; this is not going to be easy.

There are a lot of high OBPs in the chart this week. Some of those are inflated by Coors Field BABIPs, but some are more than legitimate. Todd Helton's K and BB numbers are not a misprint. That man is a hitting machine.

Here are the pitchers:

Jason Hirsh:
6'8" trashballing righty. I hate these guys every bit as much as the Jays' bats appear to. Get ready for popups on high-80s fastballs, weak grounders off foot-outside changeups, waves at bouncing curveballs... the works. Hirsh is a massive flyball pitcher, so if it's any consolation, Frank Thomas is a pretty good bet to hit #498 tonight.

Aaron Cook: Sinkers. This guy was built for Coors Field. He hasn't posted an ERA above 5 since 2003 despite pitching in hitters' heaven. Strangely, he's been much better on the road than at home this year - 2.90 ERA vs 6.43 - even though he's still putting up his standard high-50s groundball rate. Thomas Harding says Cook wants to step up and solidify himself as a good #1 starter. With those K numbers? Ha. Cook's sinker hangs around 90 mph, and the slurvish breaking ball that gets him what strikeouts he does get is around 80. That story mentions that the Rockies require players to wear suits on travel days. Radical.

Josh Fogg: What most baseball annuals swore Shaun Marcum would turn into before this year. I guess it could still happen. Fogg, who's in his second year in Colorado, doesn't throw hard at all. He probably throws a little harder than Tomo Ohka when you take him away from altitude. He has a curve, slider and change. He has easily outperformed all expectations - Roxhead, for one example, would've been satisfied with 160 innings of 6ish ERA - despite unimpressive K/BB and below-average groundball numbers.

Brian Fuentes: Still the same guy - the Rockies' answer to B.J. Ryan, essentially - except he's put more balls in play than usual this year. So why are his numbers so great? Probably because a Vernon Wellsian 26.2% of his flyballs stay in the infield. That's absolutely nuts.

Manny Corpas: If Fuentes is moved anytime, the Panamanian Corpas is next in line to close for the Rockies. He's got a vile slider that causes trouble for righties and lefties alike.

The Credit Section: All offensive stats, pitches per PA for pitchers and league average stats are from the Hardball Times. Pitchers' stats and leverage indices are from Fangraphs. Minor-league stats are from Minor League Splits. K% and BB% are strikeouts and walks as a percentage of plate appearances; GB% + LD% + FB% = 100.


Advance Scout: Rockies, June 22-24 | 25 comments | Create New Account
The following comments are owned by whomever posted them. This site is not responsible for what they say.
Mike Green - Friday, June 22 2007 @ 04:30 PM EDT (#170393) #
It's Manny "Habeas" Corpas to you, young man. Nicely done, Alex.

John Northey - Friday, June 22 2007 @ 04:36 PM EDT (#170397) #
Big start for Towers. A good game and he might keep his slot in the rotation, a bad one followed by a good outing by Ty tomorrow and he might be back to the 12 man status he had before. This is where we'll see if Frank Thomas' talk has any long term effect, against a team that should light Towers up big time. 6+ IP with 3 or fewer runs and I'll be very happy, 7 IP with almost any run total would also be impressive (doubt he'd be allowed to let in more than 5).
Mick Doherty - Friday, June 22 2007 @ 04:59 PM EDT (#170402) #

Genius, Mike! Could we come up with an All-Latin-Phrase Hall of Names team?

Manny "Habeas" Corpas is great.

What else can we do? These are all real players, though some of the names work better than others. Who else?

  • Gus "Pro" Bono
  • Mark "Bona" Fidrych (wrong pronunciation)
  • Tony "Sub" Pena (-poena)
  • Mark "Persona Non" Grater
  • Andy "Nota" Bene(s)
  • Wally Post "Mortem"
  • Andy "Anno" Domini(que)
  • Buddy "Ante" Bell(um)
  • Vicente "Versa" Padilla (Vice)
  • Jhonny Peralta "Capita" (Per)
  • Frank Carpin "Diem" (Carpe)
  • Bobby "Veni Vidi" Veach(i)
  • Lee May(a) Culpa (Mea)
  • Julio "Lingua" Franco (Franca)
  • Ed Hock (Ad Hoc)
Alex Obal - Friday, June 22 2007 @ 05:05 PM EDT (#170403) #
Wow. That team is awesome.

Rick "Sic Transit Gloria" Monday can probably give the lineup a bit of pop.
Alex Obal - Friday, June 22 2007 @ 05:14 PM EDT (#170404) #
... and Hong-Chih "Quid Pro" Kuo.
Mike Green - Friday, June 22 2007 @ 05:14 PM EDT (#170405) #
Jose Reyes Ipsa Loquitur at short.  The funny thing is that the Latin phrase is almost appropriate (it's the person not the thing that speaks for itself...)

How about Ed Mensor Rea? (Mens rea means a "state of mind" or "intent")



Mike Green - Friday, June 22 2007 @ 05:20 PM EDT (#170406) #
You could add Wally Post Mortem's distant relative Sam Post Hoc Ergo Propter Hoc.
Mick Doherty - Friday, June 22 2007 @ 05:25 PM EDT (#170407) #
Yeah, we should use both Post phrases -- after all, the Post men always swing twice!
Magpie - Friday, June 22 2007 @ 06:04 PM EDT (#170408) #
I sing of  arms and the man, or as it reads in the original Ozzie Virgil:

Robinson "arma virumque" Cano

Mike Green - Friday, June 22 2007 @ 06:07 PM EDT (#170409) #
Mark "A" Prior(i) looked like he was going to be an All-time great for a while there. Manny Acta non verba might yet earn his "nickname". If you can go with real names, Altar "Ego" Greene works. Oddibe "alteram partem" McDowell might be a stretch. Pug Cavet Emptor is close. Cum "Laude" Posey would make a good owner.   Do you remember Mike "De" Jurewicz?  I didn't think so.  You've got to make room for Rowland "Ex" Office-io.

Is "In flagrante" Delino DeShields too much? If so, how about Jose "In" Vidro (vitro)? Mike Magnante Cum Laude might be useful in the pen. Nemo "dat que non habet" Leibold was one of the three Black Sox players who avoided the heaven of the Hall of Fame or the hell of sanction.
BigTimeRoyalsFan - Friday, June 22 2007 @ 06:10 PM EDT (#170411) #
Gibbons continues to mystify me. Wells is batting #1 tonight. Why are
you giving the (current) worst hitter on the team the most important spot,
especially since he is NEVER a good OBP guy, even when he is rolling
along?! Move the struggling hitters DOWN
not UP!
tstaddon - Friday, June 22 2007 @ 06:13 PM EDT (#170412) #
ESPN is reporting that Vernon Wells will be leading off for the Jays tonight, with Rios sliding into the 3-hole. What are everyone's reactions?

Regarding Rios, I'm excited. This is clearly the spot of the lineup he ought to be occupying. As for Vernon, let's hope it gets him rolling. And if he does get on, let's have some steals. But I'm still keeping my fingers crossed that a month from now we're looking at this against every RHP:
1. Johnson
2. Overbay
3. Rios
4. Glaus
5. Wells
6. Thomas
7. Zaun
8. Hill
9. McDonald/Clayton/Santos (come September)

and this against the LHPs:
1. Johnson
2. Hill
3. Rios
4. Glaus
5. Wells
6. Overbay
7. Thomas
8. Thigpen
9/ McDonald/Clayton/Santos (come September)
tstaddon - Friday, June 22 2007 @ 06:47 PM EDT (#170416) #
It's a good question. Before the season, I thought Hill would hit around. 300/.360 with about 10-12 home runs. Clearly, the average is down but the power's up. Personally, I'm comfortable with Hill batting 2nd against lefties. He should handle himself well enough in spot duty; plus it's a useful audition for 2008.

With Wells, his modest walk numbers have always made him a better five-hitter than anything in my eyes -- we've just never had the depth to accomodate that. But if Glaus continues more or less as he has and Thomas warms to a powerful .250, there should be both RBI opportunities and adequate protection for Vernon. Not to mention 6-8 hitters who'll really work counts and wear pitchers down. Plus, the thought of Rios batting with protection behind him is a happy one. Remember when Overbay started warming up in the 2-spot? Rios' walks went through the roof for about 10 days. Get him on the pond more and Glaus will have plenty to smile about.
Magpie - Friday, June 22 2007 @ 06:50 PM EDT (#170417) #
I would assume that the reason Wells is leading off is to try to fix Wells. A player who hits in the middle of the order, and sees his role on the team as someone who drives in runs,  often falls into a rut of going outside his strike zone and hacking at pitches he can't actually hit. (Unless it's someone like Frank Thomas or Fred McGriff, who will always happily take their base on balls and turn it over to the next guy.) So one way to address this problem is to take away that burden and give the player a new role, one that specifically calls on him to show some patiience up there.

Worth a try, anyway. The next step is to bat him sixth, of course. Which is also worth thinking about.

Magpie - Friday, June 22 2007 @ 07:06 PM EDT (#170418) #
The Rockies have won 9 of their last 11 road games - they're actually above .500 (17-16) in road games this season (and they're just 3.5 games out of first place in what could be a truly epic pennant race in the NL West.)

Anyway -  as I documented a couple of months ago at somewhat excessive length, the Rockies have the biggest home-road split in  major league history. By quite a bit. And they have never come close to having a winning season on the road - the most road games they've ever won in a season was 36.

So this is a new and interesting phenomenon, descending from altitude upon us...

AWeb - Friday, June 22 2007 @ 07:28 PM EDT (#170419) #
My favourite random stat of the season continues: Todd Helton has scored 26 runs in the 129 times he has reached base (6 homers, not including fielder's choices, if any). He's on pace to reach base 300 times (assuming no injuries, a few missed games), and score 72 runs. The point? I have none, actually, although apparently the Rockies lineup is a little top heavy.
Mike Green - Friday, June 22 2007 @ 10:58 PM EDT (#170422) #
 The subject of Mark "Sub" daRosa came up at the dinner table tonight.
Matthew E - Friday, June 22 2007 @ 11:05 PM EDT (#170423) #
On the subject of John McDonald being allowed to hit in the key situation in extra innings tonight, and singling to win the game:

C'est magnifique, mais ce n'est pas la guerre.

Mike Green - Friday, June 22 2007 @ 11:11 PM EDT (#170424) #
Modifying a Vince Lombardi idea, winning works in any language. Phew.
ayjackson - Friday, June 22 2007 @ 11:29 PM EDT (#170425) #
I liked the batting line-up today.  Rios third, Zaun second and yes Wells first.  Wells came out of the LA series hacking at everything.  I think Gibby was trying to get him to change his approach and work the count a bit to get on base.  I'm not sure he did, since I missed six innings, but I liked the idea.
ahitisahit - Saturday, June 23 2007 @ 04:22 AM EDT (#170430) #

Apparently Wells nose is a bit out of joint about batting first (no pun intended). I don't understand why he can't be more disciplined at the plate.

Towers is absolutely abhorrent as a starter. 11H in 4 IP? You can't send him out there every 5th day, it's pretty much as simple as that.

scottt - Saturday, June 23 2007 @ 06:54 PM EDT (#170452) #
Another good game for Frank. (Why not use a pinch runner in the 8th?)

Ty didn't impress me. You can't walk the leadoff hitters like that. 

I don't understand why he came back to pitch in the 6th. It's like Gibbons didn't want him to get the win.  I hope that had nothing to do with quality starts.

Is Wolfe the new favorite? Another cheap win for him in any case.

I think Wells was the only guy not get a hit but does it matter if you score 11 runs? I'm starting to like him in the lead off role.


ahitisahit - Sunday, June 24 2007 @ 12:24 AM EDT (#170461) #

What did people think of Hughson/Mulliniks/Barfield in the booth. I find Hughson to be a bit more professional than Jamie Campbell. I found Barfield hard to hear/understand, and as far as he's concerned, every Jays' batter has a huge hole in their swing (despite smacking 17 hits.) I really like Darrin Fletcher, if someone could mention that to the powers that be. Bigshots in Ontario rarely listen to anyone from PEI.

How about Matt Stairs? What a great signing he is turning out to be. His offensive numbers are on par with Vernon Wells' in half the at bats.

As for Jeff Blair's comments about AJ Burnett, I have been happy with his pitching this season. If he was on the Red Sox, he could have 10 wins by now. Did Blair make a big deal about Halladay going on the DL? Joe Carter used to fool around all the time, and I don't remember him getting any bad press about it.

Spifficus - Sunday, June 24 2007 @ 01:21 AM EDT (#170463) #
I'm actually pleasantly amused whenever Fletcher and Campbell team up. There's something charmingly goofy and fun about it. Reminds me of Kuiper and Kukow - it just feels like they're having a good time, in a completely zany, off-the-wall kind of way.
Advance Scout: Rockies, June 22-24 | 25 comments | Create New Account
The following comments are owned by whomever posted them. This site is not responsible for what they say.