Arms Race

by Alexander Tam

Editorial. Photos by AP News

It has finally come. The AL has taken the All-Star crown once again and we find ourselves at the second half of the baseball season. This year has shaped out to be one of the most interesting in baseball history. Nearly all divisions in both leagues are at a close race.

This story rings true across all divisions except for one; the wild, wild NL west. If you had told me that this season the Rockies would have one of the best pitching rotations in the majors, while pitching at Coors mind you, even I would have called you a little crazy. But guess what? It’s true ladies and gentlemen.

At first glance you may not be impressed or convinced, but take a closer look. The Rockies honestly and truly have one of the best rotations in baseball. To start it off Cook, Marquis, and Jimenez rank 2^nd, 3^rd, and 4^th ground-ball-to-fly-ball ratio in the NL, a perfect statistic to have when pitching in Coors. All three also have complete games and 2 have shut outs.

What about elite teams? What about the Yankees you may ask, a team with a better record and infinitely bigger payroll. Their ERA leader is at 3.81 and a paltry 102 K’s. Compare this to Marquis’s 3.65 ERA and Jimenez’s 111 K’s. The Phillies and the Mets rotation? We won’t even go there. Yes the Giants have better 1-2 pitchers, but past that, the rest of their starters have an ERA above 4.7. Only one Rockies starter has an era above 4.7, but Jorge De La Rosa has 99 K’s and his young strong arm gives promise for the future.

If you look closely, there are very few teams with better rotations than the Rockies. Here is what I rank the top 5 rotations in baseball, in no particular order: the Red Sox, the Braves, the Mariners, the Cardinals, and the Rockies. A case can be made for Tampa Bay and the Dodgers since they have somewhat similar numbers than the Rockies, but the Rockies do their pitching in Coors and it does make a difference when their team ERA away is more than one run fewer. The fact that the Rockies pitchers can perform so well in Coors puts them above the Rays.

Colorado is 3^rd in saves and 2^nd in quality starts (a quality start is defined has a pitcher who goes at least 6 innings and gives up no more than 3 runs). The Dodgers, while they are 1^st in nearly all NL pitching categories, are 15^th in quality starts. Since the Dodgers have a team ERA of 3.62 (2^nd in the NL, you can guess who is 1^st) that means that the Dodgers turn to their bullpen early and often. And no matter how good your bullpen is, it is always vulnerable to a bad day, and your bullpen is only as strong as your weakest pitcher.

The Rockies have been on a recent tear, and nobody seems to be able to figure out why. Here’s one reason: batters around the league better watch out for young man who has finally figured it out, Ubaldo Jimenez. He averages the fastest fastball in the majors at 95.7 mph, has one CG to his name and 111 strikeouts. On top of all that, he has only given up 5 home runs all year compared to King Felix’s 8, Dan Haren’s 12, and Lincicum’s 5 as well. It is difficult to say who is truly the Rockies ace, but compared to the Dodgers ace Billingsly, Ubaldo has fewer walks and only 9 less Ks, and is less than .10 points away from matching Billingsley’s ERA. Coming off a stellar performance in the WBC, its finally looking like this is Ubaldo’s year.

All-Star Jason Marquis has been the Rockies work horse and savior. He has a team leading ERA of 3.65. He’s no 2.27 ERA Tim Lincicum, sure. But manager Jim Tracy (the true Rockies savior) sees a change in his pitcher and has confidence in him. Marquis has 2 complete games and 1 shutout and has often gone 8 innings. His best start was against the Dodgers when he held them two hits with only 86 pitches in his complete game performance. He has made remarkable changes considering his past career stats and the fact that he is doing better in Coors field is even better. He has 11 wins to his name and simply put, he finds a way to get it done. He’s no strikeout king but he induces ground balls at will keeping an improving Rockies defense on their toes and in the game. He also helps out the bullpen tremendously by dealing 2 complete games, 1 shutout, and consistently going deep into games.

Aaron Cook had a great season and was magic during the 2008 All Star game (giving up only 4 hits and 0 runs in 3 innings against the AL’s finest bats) and the surrounding weeks. If we want to talk about a man who truly produces ground balls at will, it is Aaron the sinker-ball master Cook. His pitching style is ideal for a field like Coors. In the month of May, Cook let up 0 home runs. In July he walked only 7 and pitched 12 more innings resulting in an ERA of 2.36 compared to May’s 2.93.

My prayers have been answered. The Rockies finally having a pitching staff to match our offense. There’s a new sheriff in town, and Joe Torre better keep his eye on Jim Tracy.

Come September, mark my words, the Dodgers won’t have a comfortable lead over the Rockies, who are one of only eight major league teams with a winning record on the road.

And as for the wild card, its about to get a lot more wild. As Jason Marquis once said, "I'm not a guy who tries to prove the doubters wrong. I'm a guy who proves the believers right." And that's just what he and the rest of this Rockies rotation are doing.

Class of Distinction

By Alexander Tam

Editorial. Photos by AP News

There are some players that are more than just athletes.

Before you decide not to read this article about my man crush Todd Helton, and before you decide that the Rockies are just a streaky lucky team, this article is more than just about Todd Helton.

On a beautiful sunny day, a thought came to me. Earlier in the day I was logging footage for the Red Sox of their 1956 and 1957 teams. Later that night I saw that Shaq had been traded to the Cavs. I realized that sports were different back then. To quote the Red Sox great Fred Lynn, “The rookies had to earn the respect of the veterans, not the other way around.” Why are we so eager to brush off the “old” veterans? Countless times I’ve had people tell me that Todd Helton is over the hill, old, and was never even that great to begin with.

Here are the facts about Todd:

He’s 36 years old. He’s a career .328 hitter and has batted below .300 in a season only twice. And for one of those years, he was injured. He’s a three time gold glove winner, four time All-Star, four time silver slugger, and recipient of the Hank Aaron award. Alex Rodriguez and Barry Bonds have won multiple Hank Aaron awards *. And to top it all off, Helton is batting .317 with 9 homers and 49 RBIs. And if you even start to say he’s overrated because of Coors field, tell it to his Hank Aaron award, and his 2,000 hits. Also mention it to his 17 HR and 92 RBI since 2006 away from Coors, compared to his 22 HR and 109 RBI at home. They look fairly similar if you ask me.

But the real heart behind the article is not about stats. The real thing I want to point out is that he has spent all of his years, has hit all 2,000 of his hits, with the Colorado Rockies. That’s something you almost never see. The only other player that has stuck with his first team for that long that comes to mind is veteran John Smoltz, who’s tenure with Atlanta abruptly ended after the 2009 season. To explain to you what kind of connection happens when a player sticks through thick and thin with an organization for that long, I will refer to a story I heard.

As Last Call co-host Ian Tasso was working the Braves Red Sox game, he ran into a Braves fan and started making conversation. They got to talking about Derek Lowe and eventually arrived on the subject of John Smoltz He was suppose to make his pitching debut at Fenway against the Braves, but was pushed back a couple of days, most likely because Smoltz refused to play against his former Braves. Ian asked the Braves fan what he would do if Smoltz started against the Braves, and the guy said, “I think I would cry.” He then said that we could poke fun at him all we like, but he knows that most of his friends would do the same.

I myself tried to imagine Todd Helton on another team and nausea immediately set it accompanied with severe depression.

Baseball is a game of controlling one’s frustration, putting bad days behind you, doing whatever it takes to win, and day in day out dedication. When an individual goes through that roller coaster ride, shows that kind of commitment to a single team in his entire career, it’s something special. These days it’s all about money for players. One year they play for this team, the next they play for that team. It’s difficult to get attached to players because before you know it, they are off in different colors. Helton reminds me of the good old days of John Elway. He stuck with Denver from start to finish. Here is a man that went to the Super Bowl three times and lost. Not till the last 2 years of his career did he finally get the rings. John had to wait nearly 7 years to achieve his dream, and not once did he demand a trade just so he could win. The same goes for Todd.

I’ve done my best, but words can’t describe how much a man like Todd Helton and John Elway mean to Denver fans. They are two extraordinarily talented athletes that we can truly call our own.