FBG: Joura: Aaron Cook, Tim Lincecum and Edinson Volquez Take Aim at Steve Carlton’s 1972 Season

And a very nice touch by the Generals in having that charming Carltonian fatigue color scheme as a backdrop!

While Cook and the Rockies are both a surprise, Tim Lincecum and the San Francisco Giants are both more in line with what fans expected coming into the season.  The Giants lost 91 games last year and then subtracted Barry Bonds from the lineup.  If anything, the Giants are performing a bit better than expected in 2008.  Lincecum went 7-5 as a rookie last year.  Everyone expected he would be a good pitcher; his hot start just pushed forward the time when fans thought he would challenge for 20 wins.

Unlike Cook, Lincecum has a realistic .323 BABIP mark this season.  He also has 53 strikeouts in 50.1 innings.  Where Lincecum has really excelled this season is on the road, where he is 3-0 with a 0.39 ERA in four starts.  After a relatively hot start, the Giants are 3-6 in their last nine games.  San Francisco has found its expected talent level.  The question is: has Lincecum?

Denver Post: Paige: Too early to give up on Rockies

Direct from the Snooky Bellomo hair salon/art dicko store...the latest from Woody Paige.

Maybe there is hope. Jeff Francis will come around, and Jimenez may tonight against the Cardinals, and Josh Towers should get his chance to join the club and the rotation any day now, and Jason Hirsh was sitting prominently in the dugout Sunday. That’s a sign.

Podsednik, Iannetta and Ryan Spilborghs belong in the lineup more regularly, and the 3H — Holliday, Todd Helton and Brad Hawpe — will hit higher and farther.

The Rockies finally put together a winning streak in May last season and pulled to within two games of .500 on the 29th (against the Cardinals).

It has to start somewhere. The Rockies beat the Dodgers 7-2 on Sunday.

AP: Dodgers win seventh straight

Rafael Furcal had three hits, including a three-run homer in a seven-run sixth inning, and the Los Angeles Dodgers won their seventh straight game, beating Colorado 11-6 on Friday night.

Matt Kemp drove in four runs with two doubles and Russell Martin made his first career start at third base, turning in a couple of defensive gems.
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Martin was kept quite busy all night at third base, snagging a liner by Willy Taveras in the second and backhanding a grounder spinning away from him by Francis in the fifth. Martin moved back behind the plate in the sixth.
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Troy Tulowitzki said before the game that he doesn’t think he’ll need surgery after suffering a tear in his left quadriceps on Tuesday night. However, he’s not sure when he’ll be back.

Denver Post: Tulo could be out until midseason

Rockies shortstop Troy Tulowitzki told teammates today that he’s facing a 4-to-8 week absence after being diagnosed with a torn left quadriceps.

When reached today, Tulowitzki told The Denver Post he’s still unsure how long he will be sidelined. “I don’t know,” Tulowitzki said. “It’s obviously frustrating.”

Agent Paul Cohen confirmed to The Denver Post that Tulowitzki is facing a lengthy hiatus after injuring his leg charging a groundball on Tuesday night in San Francisco.

“It’s a complete tear, which obviously isn’t good news,” Cohen said. “They don’t believe surgery is necessary, that it will be self healing. But it’s not something where he can come back in two to three weeks.”
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With Tulowitzki out, Clint Barmes, the man he replaced in 2006, is expected to take over the starting job.

Franklin Morales: Where is the Velocity | Baseball-Intellect

A break down on the struggles of Franklin Morales using video comparing his 2007 and 2008 seasons.  An excerpt from the article:

My third observation is the most important in my view: the front leg kick.

At the Futures Game, we see a front leg that kicks out forcefully. You can see how the front leg “firms” or straightens up; look at the ripple in the fabric of Morales’ pants as his front leg becomes fully extended and view that as an indication of the kind of force Morales uses. This leg kick triggers an aggressive turning of Morales’ hips into foot plant.

AP: Tulowitzki leaves Colorado’s game with injury

Colorado Rockies shortstop Troy Tulowitzki left the game Tuesday night against San Francisco in the first inning with an injury.

Tulowitzki, a late lineup addition after Jeff Baker was scratched due to a broken blood vessel that happened during pregame warmups, left after bending over to try to stop Aaron Rowand’s single. Tulowitzki grimaced and grabbed his left hip and lower back area. He then walked gingerly off the field.

The Rockies’ athletic trainer first checked on Tulowitzki after he threw to first base on Eugenio Velez’s grounder that was dropped for an error, three batters earlier.

Manager Clint Hurdle had to get creative to have a healthy infield.

Clint Barmes moved from second to shortstop. Garrett Atkins moved from third to make his major league debut at second base, while Chris Iannetta entered the game to play third for the first time in his big league career.

MLB.com: Redman + Dodgers = 10-run inning

The Rockies gave Mark Redman a two-run lead going into the bottom of the first inning Saturday. But Redman endured one of the worst innings imaginable, giving up 10 runs to the Dodgers.

Redman gave up six hits, the last a grand slam to Matt Kemp, the 12th of 13 batters he faced in the 45-pitch frame. He also walked three, including Andruw Jones with the bases loaded. Blake DeWitt added a two-run single. Dodgers pitcher Brad Penny, who had given up a two-run homer to Garrett Atkins in the top of the first, singled in a run and Rafael Furcal added an RBI double.

Redman also threw a wild pitch and hit Juan Pierre just before Kemp’s slam.
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Redman allowed the most runs ever in one inning for the Rockies. It’s also the 15th time a Rockies pitcher has given up 10 or more runs in a game.

AP: Umpire hit by pitch, taken off field in ambulance

Plate umpire Kerwin Danley was taken off the field in an ambulance after he was struck on the jaw by Brad Penny’s fastball that Dodgers catcher Russell Martin missed in the fourth inning Saturday night.

The game was delayed for 18 minutes, with Danley laying nearly motionless behind home plate before being put on a stretcher and loaded into the ambulance.

Dodgers spokesman Josh Rawitch said Danley lost consciousness briefly, but was conscious and coherent when he was placed into the ambulance.

Top 7 :: Best Long Term Baseball Contracts

Chan Ho Park is still upset he didn’t make the list of Worst Long Term Baseball Contracts

This week, showing that we’re not all about negativity, here are the best long-term contracts ever signed in terms of the value that they returned.  For the purposes of the list, it does not count when a guy is just coming into the league, they would have to sign a contract afterwards, so Prince Fielder’s rookie contract can’t be on here even though it’s about as good of a deal as you can have.  The same goes for fliers taken on a guy - Chris Carpenter’s deal with the Cardinals would top that list.  These are long-term deals that actually ended up working out well, and they are kind of hard to find.....

5. Manny Ramirez
When he turned down Cleveland’s deal and signed with Boston for 8 years and $160 million, it seemed like an insane amount of money, until two things happened—A-Rod signing for almost $100 million more, and Manny being…a guy who was worth it.  He has finished in the top 20 of MVP every year including the top 10 each year but one (plus he would be the MVP so far this season), has two titles, and a World Series MVP.  He also has 260 homers and a batting average well over .300.  It’s amazing that even in the last year of such a massive deal that he is still giving them value.

MiLB: Rockies acquire Smith from Cleveland

Bobby Jones, meet the Smith Brothers:

The Colorado Rockies announced prior to today’s game that the club has acquired right-handed pitcher Sean Smith from the Indians as the player to be named later in the deal that sent infielder Jamey Carroll to Cleveland on December 8, 2007.

Breaking Out and the Overrated: Dexter Fowler vs. Tyler Colvin

Two highly rated center field prospects with uninspiring numbers entering year and one is breaking out and the other remains overrated:

The list of players with poor plate discipline and average contact skills that become successful major leaguers is a short one. Ask yourself how many players we have seen that have gone on to have successful major league careers with K:BB ratios of 10:1, especially ones that don’t have any one particular plus skill.

However, we see breakout performances from athletes that come out of nowhere because they finally “put it together”. The same could be said about Colvin, but for now he looks like a potential fourth OF with the upside of a possible left handed side of a platoon.

AP: Tulowitzki’s double gives Rockies 22-inning win

Troy Tulowitzki’s RBI double with two outs in the 22nd inning scored Willy Taveras and the Colorado Rockies beat the San Diego Padres 2-1 in the longest game in the majors in nearly 15 years, a 6-hour, 16-minute marathon that ended at 1:21 a.m. Friday.

A scoreless game until the 14th inning. Jeff Francis threw 7 scoreless innings; Jake Peavy 8… but the game kept going… and going…

The last game that went this long was the 22-inning Indians/Twins game of August 31, 1993.

The Most Overrated Pitching Prospects in Baseball | Baseball-Intellect

Video scouting reports of the most overrated pitching prospects in baseball.  An excerpt follows:

Lofgren is liked by many because of his mental make-up. He is intelligent and has a great “feel” for pitching and many think his stuff plays up because of this. I completely appreciate the need for a pitcher to have a strong make-up and a great feel for pitching, but when it becomes the central argument for putting Lofgren among the better pitching prospects in the game, you lose me.

Including Chuck Lofgren (Indians), the other pitchers include Luke Hochevar (Royals), Greg Reynolds (Rockies), Matt Harrison (Rangers), and Kevin Mulvey (Twins)

Don’t worry, Rockies will hit again soon

Man, those Arizona Diamondbacks are sure easy to please.

They show up at Coors Field for the Rockies home opening series, sweep the three games, and, well, it seems like they should have been popping champagne.

All of a sudden they are puffing their chests, talking about how sweet revenge is, and proclaiming that the weekend in April was a payback for last October.

Yeah, right, winning three games in April alleviates the sting from the Rockies sweeping Arizona in the NLCS. Just exactly how much beachfront property did the Diamondbacks buy in Arizona?

Arizona deserves credit. It showed up, got to watch the unveiling of the NL pennant — that the Rockies won thanks to their sweep of Arizona in the NLCS. They witnessed the distribution of the NL champion rings — that the Rockies earned thanks to their sweep of Arizona in the NLCS. Then they put a damper on the Rockies celebration by sweeping the three-game series.

But to read and listen to chatter about revenge for last October?

Sorry. It doesn’t compute.

“It kind of sets the tone for the year for us,” said third baseman Mark Reynolds. “To come in and win three games in a row at their place — especially after what they did to us last year — feels good.”

How to you go from Reynolds quote to the strawman argument and bitter pill that this entire article represents?

Tulowitzki goes back to work on defense - The Denver Post

To be great you must want to be great.

Before the National League championship pennant was unveiled, before Eric Byrnes heard his first boo, Troy Tulowitzki was taking groundballs.

In his mind, there was no defense of his defense. The Rockies shortstop had two errors in the first four games — he had 11 all of last season.

“I am not going to make any excuses. I put myself in a bad position to field the ball. I took extra groundballs to get my timing down,” Tulowitzki said. “When I don’t feel good about my defense, I am never happy.”

Hardball Made Easy! with Ron Stilonovich (Video)

Pretty funny to watch Carlos Zambrano hit guys with 90 mph fastballs. Brad Hawpe, Andre Ethier and Matt Kemp also make appearances.

Learn from career minor leaguer Ron Stilanovich on how to be a smarter, tougher, and ultimately, better ball player, all-around.

“Let’s take the FUN outta FUNDAMENTALS!”
- Ron Stilanovich

KC Star: [Jorge] De La Rosa clears waivers, could be headed to Colorado

Left-hander Jorge De La Rosa cleared waivers Wednesday afternoon and accepted an outright assignment to Class AAA Omaha in a move that could be a precursor to a trade to Colorado.

The Royals designated De La Rosa for assignment March 26 to clear roster space in order to acquire reliever Ramon Ramirez from the Rockies for a player to be named later. All signs point to De La Rosa, 26, being that player.

The Rockies indicated a preference for De La Rosa when they surrendered Ramirez but not as a member of their 40-man roster. Colorado wanted to wait to see if De La Rosa cleared waivers and would accept an assignment to the minors.

De La Rosa had the option of becoming a free agent, but doing so would have forced him to forfeit his guaranteed salary of $1.025 million.
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The two sides have until June 15 to determine compensation for Ramirez. The Rockies could delay the deal until that time and save about $430,000 in salary.

Rocky Mountain News: Rockies get another shot at Lohse

After the started-but-postponed Monday game, the Rockies and Cards try again Tuesday with a stellar Opening Day matchup of, umm, Kip Wells versus Kyle Lohse.

Rain forced postponement of the Rockies’ scheduled opener against St. Louis on Monday afternoon at Busch Stadium. The game was rescheduled for tonight, forcing the clubs to scramble for starting pitchers.

The Cardinals picked Lohse, who had been scheduled to pitch a simulated game today against St. Louis’ affiliate in the Double-A Texas League.

Lohse is behind the other Cardinals pitchers because he was unemployed three weeks ago.
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Lohse said he “is ready to go” and said it is “weird” for him to get the start. Lohse cut off further questions, citing a policy of not talking to reporters on the day before starts.

Roger Clemens followed a similar policy during his career, which included 354 wins and seven Cy Young Awards. Lohse is 63-74 with a 4.82 ERA lifetime and had a monumental collapse against the Rockies in last season’s National League Division Series.

SI.com: Heyman: Back with the D-Backs

Heyman in Da Winehouse, with Back to D’Blacks…

NL picks: Pennant: D-Backs
AL picks: Pennant: Indians

AP: Rockies give Scott Podsednik reserve outfield job, send Cory Sullivan to minors

Cory Sullivan, the Colorado Rockies’ best defensive outfielder, was optioned to Triple-A Colorado Springs on Saturday after he was beaten out for the fifth outfielder job by free agent Scott Podsednik.

Right-handed pitcher Ryan Speier and catcher Edwin Bellorin also were optioned to Colorado Springs, and the team said right-handers Jose Capellan and John Towers cleared outright waivers and will report to the Sky Sox.

Sullivan, in his eighth season with the Rockies organization, hit .286 in 140 at-bats for the Rockies last year and went 2-for-6 in the playoffs. He was beaten out by Podsednik, who showed speed on the basepaths and in the outfield while proving he’s gotten past a series of injuries that bogged him down the last two years with the Chicago White Sox.

Times Call: Helton passing the torch

Todd Helton and those annoying home runs…

Helton’s lack of power in recent years can be attributed to a variety of things.

He spent some time on the disabled list in 2005 with a calf strain, and again in 2006 with acute terminal ileitis, an illness that sent him to the hospital and seemed to sap some of his strength that season.

Aside from injuries, Helton said a simple flaw in mechanics at the plate can affect the numbers. He has worked on regaining his power but isn’t concerned with it.

“(Home runs) are a little overrated, but everybody loves the home run,” Helton said. “It’s always been that way, and it’s always going to be that way. As long as you’re driving in runs and helping your team win, playing good defense and showing up every day, that’s the game of baseball. It’s not how many home runs you hit.

“I’m not sitting here saying I don’t want to hit more home runs, because I do. But will I? Who knows? I’m not going out there trying to hit 40 home runs, and I wasn’t trying to do it then (in 2000 and 2001), either. I’ve never considered myself a home run hitter; I’ve always been a gap-to-gap guy. Sometimes they go over the fence, and sometimes they don’t. The only reason I want them to go over the fence is so I don’t have to run as hard.”

EV Tribune: Cactus League sets attendance record

Not much of a Bonds effect in Scottsdale, but I can’t imagine attendance will hold up well in SF.

The just-concluded Cactus League season set records for total attendance and per-game turnout.

“Not too bad,” league president J.P. de la Montaigne deadpanned Thursday.

Attendance this year was 1,316,160 for 177 games, which comes out to about 7,436 fans per game.
Once again, the top turnstile count was recorded at Mesa’s HoHoKam Park, home of the Chicago Cubs. The defending champions of the National League’s Central Division drew 181,280 fans in 15 games, and their average attendance of 12,085 was almost 22 percent higher than the runner-up San Francisco Giants.
The Scottsdale-based Giants suffered a slight drop in attendance from 2007, perhaps due to the absence of all-time home run leader Barry Bonds. Still, their per-game count of 9,929 was 10 percent better than the third-place Seattle Mariners, who train in Peoria.

“They did almost 10,000,” de la Montaigne said. “I think anybody would be happy with that.”

Pearlman: Remember Joe Kennedy

The days crawl by. Jami Dawn Kennedy tries to will her way through them, hour by hour, minute by minute, second by second. What other option is there? Smile a fake smile. Grin a fake grin. Put on a strong front for anyone outside of her tight circle of family members and friends.

“How are you holding up?” they ask.

“Oh, fine,” the widow says.

“Is there anything we can do for you?” they ask.

“No, thank you,” the widow says.

Actually, there is something they can do for her—a small gesture, in lieu of flowers or whatever it is one sends a 26-year-old pregnant widow who lost her husband a mere four months ago. “They,” she says, “can try and remember Joe.”

Rocky Mountain News: Roster all but set for opener

Left-handers [Mark] Redman and Franklin Morales officially were named by manager Clint Hurdle to fill out a rotation that also will include left-hander Jeff Francis and right-handers Aaron Cook and Ubaldo Jimenez.

The Rockies, meanwhile, traded right-handed reliever Ramon Ramirez to Kansas City for a player to be determined, opening a bullpen and roster spot for left-hander Micah Bowie, and decided the budget would allow them to option outfielder Cory Sullivan, who has a $1 million salary, to Triple-A Colorado Springs. That created a fit for Scott Podsednik as the fifth outfielder.
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Hurdle said if Josh Towers, who was battling with Redman and Morales, and Jose Capellan clear waivers Friday, they will be sent to Colorado Springs and used in the rotation to create depth in case a need arises.

Towers has a $1.2 million major league salary, which could scare away teams, and Capellan had been out with a sprained ankle this spring training until Monday, limiting the amount of time scouts had to evaluate him.
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The Rockies have until June 15 to decide on the player they will receive from the Royals, but the target is left-hander Jorge De La Rosa, who is out of options and will have to clear waivers before the Rockies can acquire him and send him to Colorado Springs.

SportsTicker: Rockies release 2B [Marcus] Giles

The Colorado Rockies on Wednesday released second baseman Marcus Giles. Giles, who will turn 30 in May, signed a minor league contract with Colorado on January 8. He batted .333 (7-for-21) this spring.

The seven-year veteran was waived by San Diego last season after hitting just .229 in 116 games with the Padres. An All-Star with the Atlanta Braves in 2003, Giles has hit .277 with 76 home runs and 333 RBI in 792 career games with Atlanta and San Diego.

With Giles gone, Colorado figures to begin the season with Jayson Nix as its starting second baseman.

Denver Post: Paige: Around Rockies’ horn of plenty

Done fritzing his hair in a delightful early Gerard Malangaesque twist-o-twirl look...Woody Paige rocks on.

The manager rattled off each position, too quickly for me to take notes. But, to paraphrase Clint Hurdle and to add my own comments:

Given Todd Helton’s history, the veteran first baseman will hit over .300 again. Helton has to produce more than 17 home runs. He has lost weight— “fat,"he told me — because bulking up last year didn’t help his home run total. He has been moved into the third spot ahead of Matt Holliday, which should give Helton (who has intentionally walked in recent years second only to Barry Bonds) better pitches to examine.

A Matt Holliday carbon copy would delight the manager — and interest more MVP voters. Can Holliday do .340, 36 and 137? Hard to believe, but anything close would be Mantle-like.

“I think we’ve scratched the surface with Willy (Taveras) and get more out of him,” Hurdle said. The center fielder did hit .320, but played in only 97 games. He must strike out fewer than 55 times and occasionally get a hit that goes more than 20 feet.

FOX: Rosenthal - Rockies, Hawpe ‘very close’ to $17.5M deal

The National League champion Rockies, locking up another of their homegrown players, are on the verge of signing right fielder Brad Hawpe to a three-year contract worth approximately $17.5 million.

The two sides are “very close,” according to Hawpe’s agent, Dan Horwits. The deal will cover Hawpe’s arbitration years and include a club option for his first free-agent year that could raise the total value of the package to approximately $28 million.

Hawpe, 28, reached agreement last month on a one-year, $3.925 million contract. That salary either will be adjusted in his multi-year deal or folded into the overall package.

Rockies shame Country, lose to Mexico

The bottom of the MLB.com scoreboard during spring training is always fun. Teams playing (and walloping) colleges, national Amateur teams… and.. WTF?
Colorado lost to Mexico?

I mean, at least WBC team USA had the excuse that the Mexican team had Major League players. But the best player that this Mexican team had was Geronimo Gil.

There are few times when you should be ashamed to lose a meaningless Spring Training game. When last year’s World Series team, a team that has both Todd Helton and Matt Holliday in the line-up, manages only 1 run against a non-Major League team, you should be ashamed.

NY Times: Hoping to Become the Next Hot Baseball Export From Japan (RR)

Masato Yoshii, hired to be the new pitching coach for the Nippon Ham Fighters, has the Bobby Valentine seal of approval.

[Yoshii] is the first of the 31 Japanese players who have played in the major leagues since Hideo Nomo made his debut in 1995 with the Los Angeles Dodgers to return to Japan and become a coach.

Now that Japanese players have appeared at every position in Major League Baseball, the intrigue over whether Japanese players can make the transition is over. The six Japanese players in their first major league training camps this season represent the new status quo.

But Yoshii, 42, would not mind beginning a new trend.

“I’d like to think coaching in Japan is an important learning experience that could lead to a coaching opportunity in M.L.B.,” he said recently in an interview that was conducted in Japanese and took place after a coaches’ meeting at the Fighters’ Okinawa camp. “My English still stinks, so that’s something I need to work on, but as I improve that, it would be great to take my experiences as a coach here and apply it to coaching in America. That’s my plan.”

Call Girl Confesses: Sex At Exclusive Denver Club

New member of the Don Dennis HOF?

The call girl, who spoke exclusively to KCNC-TV, said that on numerous occasions, women from the prostitution agencies were called to attend late-night parties at The Denver Club, a plush squash and social club located on the top two floors of a downtown skyscraper.

She said the women were paid around $2,000 to have sex with numerous men. Asked who the men were, she said they were “business guys, rich businessmen.” She said participants in the parties snorted cocaine and had sex throughout the club.

...But the woman said downtown lawyers, money managers and businessmen were just part of the clientele. She said “doctors … general contractors … professional athletes” also patronized the prostitution service, which usually charged about $300 for an hour of sex. “Nuggets basketball players … Arizona Diamondbacks … Rockies baseball players” and some Denver Broncos were customers she said.