Sunday, July 31, 2011

Box Score Bytes - Game 108

1)  Belisle had one of his meltdowns...in three seasons as a Rox he has 48 shutdowns and 23 meltdowns (as described by fangraphs.com)

2)  Ruins a nice day by Nicasio, who struck out 10 in seven innings

3)  Rox still have not swept a 3 game series this year

Saturday, July 30, 2011

Box Score Bytes - Game 107

1) Most dreadful one inning pitched in Rox history...U-Ball goes out and then promptly gets traded!

2) Rox first grand slam of the season by journeyman catcher Eliezer Alfonzo.

3) Rox now 11-3 in the last 14 at Petco...go figure yin and yang in ballparks, Coors vs Petco, yet Rox love it...to bad small can't be done in other parks.


Friday, July 29, 2011

Box Score Bytes - Game 106

1) Nothing like your winning run being a balk, of course it wasn't a walk off balk but still!

2)  Street got his 28 of 30th save...as much as we doubt his ability, in the end he does get the jobs done.

3) If Hammel doesn't work in Colorado he is 3-0 in four starts at Petco...just saying

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Box Score Bytes - Game 105

1) Cook wins and had 13 of his 21 outs being groundouts. Last year his percentage of groundouts was 74.2%. Yes he is a groundout pitcher but winning percentage and percentage of groundouts thrown doesn't really seem to matter

2)  The Adventures of Street did his usual bit to make us cringe.  31 pitch save including a home run.  Ughhh



Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Box Score Bytes - Game 104

1) Dodgers Kershaw has 173 strikeouts, four more than Detroit's Verlander

2) Third time this season a Rox pitcher has gone the distance and lost, on the road

3) Errors lead to unearned runs which lead to losses...that is baseball

Monday, July 25, 2011

Box Score Bytes - Game 103

1) So close so far away. Rox storm back with a 4 run ninth only to fall short with bases loaded and down by three

2) Tulo goes after the first pitch and pops up for the final out with bases loaded. Come on you have to work the count in that situation with the bases loaded and the pitcher under the gun. Sometimes one has to wonder the maturity of Tulo in situations like this. You have to wonder if he tries too hard..

Rox Talk - Week 17

The Week That Was
A 3-4 week against the Braves and D-Backs. The Rox currently stand at 48-54. Eleven games behind the Giants for the division lead in third place. Currently 26-26 at home and 22-28 on the road, the Rox have been outscored by its opponents 466-457 (expected wins is 50 versus historical wins at 48). On pace for 76 wins with 726 runs scored and 740 runs against. Playoff indicator (Runs scored/Runs Against ratio) is 0.98 (1.16 indicates high playoff potential).

The Real World
Dave Cameron of Fangraphs has been diagnosed with leukemia.  I don't know Dave but his work has been a bedrock of the baseball stat world (Mt Rushmore maybe?).  As baseball nerds, we certainly can get buried in the minutia of the game.  I found this to be an interesting quote from someone who does play the numbers game,
"History has given my doctors all kinds of data about cure rates and life expectancy, and statistical analysis is helping them decide just what kind of chemotherapy I’ll be taking..."
I think it is helpful for us all to remember that while baseball stats do tend to show tendencies and likely outcomes, the human element can make a difference even if it doesn't show up in the box score.  That is why I think Dave will beat this because he is a baseball fan and understands the numbers don't always decide who wins or loses.  Does Dave Roberts steal of second base in Game 4 of the 2004 ALCS a statistic blip or does it show what the human element can do to influence a win or to live life?
Of course looking at the Rox it has been an incredibly disappointing season.  Once again expectations were so great and 100 games into the season all we have to show for it is a close to .500 season.  Numbers would seem to have been in our favor but somewhere that human element showed up and no matter what the numbers say in the end we sometimes just shrug our shoulders and hope maybe it will be better next year...Cubs fans sure hope so ;)

Sunday, July 24, 2011

Box Score Bytes - Game 102

1) Gee think U-Ball has things on his mind...he gets shelled

2) Another loss on Sunday

3) Rox are now 3-10 in finales of three game series

Saturday, July 23, 2011

Box Score Bytes - Game 101

1) Gee another bad start for Hammel...4-0 before recorded his first out. Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde!

2) From the obvious department, “It is somewhat of an insurmountable task when you spot the opposition seven runs in the first two innings of the game,” said Rockies manager Jim Tracy. “Actually, it’s somewhat unacceptable.”

3) From the you gotta be joking department,“It’s almost comical to me because tonight was the best I felt all year,” Hammel said.

4) Helton gets his 547th double tying him for 24th all time with Manny!

Friday, July 22, 2011

Box Score Bytes - Game 100

1) Cookie's first win of the season and franchise leading 70th win!

2) Fowler a home run short of the cycle

3) CarGo goes on 15 day disabled list

Thursday, July 21, 2011

Box Score Bytes - Game 99

1) Nothing like the inability to win a game after leading 4-0...

2) Tough to see the team battle, take back leads, and yet still lose. This is the story of the year!

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Box Score Bytes - Game 98

1) Walk Off!

2) Good defense win games

3) Nicasio loves pitching at home...UPDATED 4-1 at home, 0-3 away. 1.98 ERA at home, 7.04 away. Funny thing is he has more strikeouts away (2 more) but tends to walk more away. Interesting he he has given up 3 more hits on the road and yet allowed 15 less runs to score at home.

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Box Score Bytes - Game 97

1) U-Ball's last home start? Hope not...

2) Rox first win this year against the Braves...again our long time nemises 57 - 92 all time, worst winning percentage against any team in NL.

3) Games like this just continue to mask the overall poor performance of this team. Outscoring the opponent by 9 runs bumps up the runs score versus runs against and just continues to make us think this team should be better than it is...

Monday, July 18, 2011

Box Score Bytes - Game 96

1) Amazing that management hasn't fixed the sun issue at Coors...Helton losing the ball in the second inning sealed the Rox fate

2) Who is Freeman and why does he hate the Rox so much? UPDATE: After the series he finished 14/32 with 6 home runs in 8 games!



Rox Talk - Week 16

The Week That Was
A 2-2 week against the Brewers. The Rox currently stand at 45-50. Nine and half games behind the Giants for the division lead in third place. Currently 24-24 at home and 21-26 on the road, the Rox have been outscored by its opponents 422-421 (expected wins is 47 versus historical wins at 44). On pace for 77 wins with 718 runs scored and 720 runs against. Playoff indicator (Runs scored/Runs Against ratio) is 1.00 (1.16 indicates high playoff potential).

Double Plays
In a tweet by @schoolofrox he she (my apologies!) wondered if Rox double play machine was that good or our defense is just given too many opportunities or chances to excel? Data from Baseball Reference kindly tabulates (see below) the number of opportunities (Opp) in which the opposing team has a runner on first with less than two outs and the number of double plays. Data shows Rox are below average in opportunities and extremely good at getting the opposing team to hit into a double play.

All Star Game
Another exciting (note the sarcasm) All Star game in the books.  For the second year in a row, the NL wins thus ensuring home field advantage in the World Series.  Unlike other games this one seemed lopsided from the start.  The NL pitching roster was just filthy while most of the AL star pitchers were watching this one on TV.  Not for sure if the players felt that way too but it seemed the NL was in it to win it while the AL just simply went through the motions.  Not a lot of excitement from the AL.  Kind of disheartening...
U-Ball Trade Rumors
Popping up in some twitter feeds and blog postings is the thought that the Rox are listening to possible trade propositions for U-Ball's services.  Funny how rumors like this start.  Suddenly we hear that U-Ball is disgruntled because of the money shelled out to CarGo and Tulo this past fall.  We hear management has been frustrated with undisclosed injuries and what not.  Certainly a situation ripe for conspiracy baseball theorist but I have to think a lot of this is just not true. 

I don't know U-Ball personally but he seems like a nice kid.  Doesn't need his ego fed.  As far as his lackluster finish last year and struggles this year it would seem that maybe we don't know the whole picture.  I give credit at least for the Rox listening.  Some teams might get desperate and with our salary impairments being able to rake in a treasure trove of players might just be the way to get things done (i.e. Texas Rangers?). 

It is obvious to me that 2011 is done and like it or not this current make up isn't going to get it done.  Too many holes to fill and certain players haven't developed as planned.  Rox threw the dice and came up empty.  Rox aren't going into the free agent market to remake this team so really the only way to get better on paper is to trade a high value pitcher and hope prospects get us to the next level.

Sure hate to see a fireballer get sent away but baseball takes 25 guys and right now the three O's aren't enough to even win the NL Wild West...how are we going to beat the likes of Philadelphia or Atlanta?  That is why I don't buy jersey with a player's name on it because in the Colorado market who know what Dealin' Dan might just do...


Sunday, July 17, 2011

Box Score Bytes - Game 95

1)  Rox fail to win the series after going up 2-0...can't seem to close the door and get on a roll...

2)  Glorious Giambi homer into the right field upper deck...simply magical...love to see it when a ball and bat meet up just right and it goes and goes...especially a Giambi homer

3)  So close in the ninth, yet so far away...got to like your chances with Tulo at the plate and then see him strike out on three pitches...ughhh

Saturday, July 16, 2011

Box Score Bytes - Game 94

1)  Really bad call at the plate and dual ejections of Tracy and Iannetta

2)  Another blown save by Street and is now 0-3 for the season...we won't call him Street we will call him Break the Streak

3)  You think  “It just wasn’t my best pitch,” Street said. “I was trying to throw a slider down and I threw a slider that was belt high. Sometimes, they foul it back. He didn’t foul it back.”

Friday, July 15, 2011

Box Score Bytes - Game 93

1)  A shutout!  Number six on the year...

2)  Brewer's have the Rox disease...can't win on the road, have a NL worst percentage of 0.340.

3)  I like the symmetry of the Rox scoring pattern

Thursday, July 14, 2011

Box Score Bytes - Game 92

1)  Spilly a triple shy of the cycle...

2)  In U-Ball's previous 4 starts, Rox scored a whooping seven runs!

Monday, July 11, 2011

Rox Talk - Week 15

The Week That Was
A 2-5 week against the Braves and Nationals. The Rox currently stand at 43-48. Eight and half games behind the Giants for the division lead in third place. Currently 22-22 at home and 21-26 on the road, the Rox have been outscored by its opponents 407-395 (expected wins is 44 versus historical wins at 43). On pace for 77 wins with 703 runs scored and 725 runs against. Playoff indicator (Runs scored/Runs Against ratio) is 0.97 (1.16 indicates high playoff potential).

First half - Done.  First divisional championship - Unlikely.  Playoff hopes - Doubtful.  No matter how you package the first half, once again the Rox have been disappointing and expectations have not been met.  Over the last two years, coming into the season, the management, team, media, and fans have all come to a conclusion that this would be the year.  The year to finally compete with the big boy teams and make another run to the World Series.  Throw in the fact that this year, the Rox signed Tulo and CarGo to long term deals, re-signed de la Rosa, and signed some nice components off the scrap heap, the Rox had hoped to compete.  Unfortunately after a 17-9 April start, things have gone down hill quickly.  Middle of the road teams like our Rox really need to have all things work.  They don't have the resiliency to have players not play to their perceived capabilities.  Rox are currently on pace to score 703 runs.  Preseason projections expected this team to score close to 800 runs.  Where did all the runs go?  Lowest total in Rox history before this year? 740 in 2005. 

My in season analysis - small payroll team's like the Rox get killed when the run expectancy changes so quickly.  How many teams out there forgot what small ball was?  You build teams 5 years ago at least with an eye on how to win in your league, division, and ball park.  What if the rug gets pulled out from under you and suddenly low scoring, one run games become the norm and yet you build a team on big home run hitters with pedestrian speed?  I think it becomes tough to pull a switcheroo mid season.  You can't just go out and find speed.  Sad thing is our Rox do have some speed and yet he finds himself playing AAA ball. 

All in all, to finish with 90 wins they need to go 48 - 23.  Of course Giants are on pace for 92 wins.  Wild card? Yeah right, Braves are chasing the Phillies (on pace for 101 wins) who are on pace for 95 wins.  So unless the Braves have an epic fail in their final 70 games I think the only chance Rox have to get to the playoffs would be winning the division.  Could Rox win 48 - 50 games in their final 71 games?  In 2007 they went 45 - 26, 2008 36 - 35, 2009 43-28, and 2010 33 - 38.  Don't think lightning is going to strike twice but Giants need to go 38 - 32 to win 90 games.  Sure they could go through a rough spot and Rox could get hot again but it is a pretty steep road to get there!

Sunday, July 10, 2011

Box Score Bytes - Game 91

1) All Star Break...whoopee

Split 1st Half 2nd Half
2011 43-48
2010 49-39 34-40
2009 47-41 45-29
2008 39-57 35-31
2007 44-44 46-29
2006 44-43 32-43
2005 31-56 36-39
2004 36-51 32-43
2003 50-47 24-41
2002 42-46 31-43
2001 39-48 34-41
2000 45-40 37-40
1999 40-46 32-44
1998 37-52 40-33
1997 43-45 40-34
1996 42-44 41-35
1993 33-54 34-41

2) Chacin loves his offensive...NOT...gives up 1 run and four hits in seven innings and gets nothing to show for it

Saturday, July 9, 2011

Box Score Bytes - Game 90

1) Return of U-Ball?

2) Who replaced Helton with this machine of yesteryear?

3) Will Tulo get healthy?

4) Tracy gets win number 200 as a Rox

Friday, July 8, 2011

Box Score Bytes - Game 89

1) Welcome to Mr Hyde/Dr Jekyll Hammel.  Guy gets shelled last outing then pitches a decent game...I think it was the socks...he wore them high like U-Ball...

2)  CarGo got back into the groove although it would appear his wrists are giving him discomfort.

3)  Compare and contrast...Rox can't beat the Braves but are 85 - 59 against Nats/Expos in their history.  Best average against any NL opponent...

Thursday, July 7, 2011

Box Score Haiku - Game 88

1) Swept...not exactly what the Rox needed right before the all star break...realize Rox have played in 171 four game series from 1993-2010 and have only been swept 16 times?

2) And now Blackmon is hurt?  Good golly we are a walking MASH unit.

3)  Hey at least Aaron Cook can be our designated pinch runner!

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Box Score Bytes - Game 87

1) Leave it to the Rox to make a guy batting under 0.200 a star...

2)  Thanks for the memories but frankly Cook no longer belongs on a major league mound.  No sinker no chance

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Box Score Bytes - Game 86

1) No CarGo and No Tulo - 'nuff said

2) Morale victory?  We out hit Braves and still lost by two runs

3) 5 games in and Mark Ellis is batting 11 for 22...go figure

Rox Talk - Week 14

The Week That Was
A 3-4 week against the Cubs (make up game), White Sox and Royals. The Rox currently stand at 41-43. Six and half games behind the Giants for the division lead in third place. Currently 22-22 at home and 19-21 on the road, the Rox have outscored its opponents 382-378 (expected wins is 42 versus historical wins at 39). On pace for 79 wins with 737 runs scored and 729 runs against. Playoff indicator (Runs scored/Runs Against ratio) is 1.01 (1.16 indicates high playoff potential).

Rox finish the 2011 interleague schedule 8-7 (DET 45-41, NYY 50-33, CLE 45-38, CHW 43-43 , KCR 34-51).  Giants went 10-5 (CLE 45-38, DET 45-41, MIN 36-46, OAK 38-48), Dodgers went 6-9 (CHW 43-43, DET 45-41, LAA 45-41, MIN 37-46), D-Backs went 10-8 (MIN 37-46, KCR 34-51, DET 45-41, CLE 45-38, OAK 38-48), and Padres went 6-9 (BOS 49-35, KCR 34-51, MIN 36-46, SEA 42-43).  As of today's records, Rox teams faced winning percentage of 0.513, Giants 0.487, Dodgers 0.504, D-Backs 0.470, and Padres 0.479.  What does it all mean?  Probably nothing but Rox still finish well against the interleague rivalries and still find themselves 6.5 games out in the division.  Rox are now 111-112 all time against the AL.

Rox finally realized the second base situation was hopeless and traded for 8 year veteran Mark Ellis.  I give credit to O'Dowd for still trying to make gold out of lead but I think relatively soon our Rox will be sellers.  Face it, a week before the All Star break our Rox stand 41-43 and 6.5 games out.  Can we realistically believe, like everyone else in baseball, the Rox are going to do their late season run?  Throw in the fact that we are in third behind a resurgent D-Backs team that doesn't appear to coming back to the pack and well face it fans this ain't the Rox year (oh yeah CarGo ran into a wall on Sunday).  Although to try and stay positive the graphic below would seem to indicate we're not dead yet or at least 5 teams were division winners after being behind in June!

http://www.beyondtheboxscore.com/2011/5/18/2172700/when-is-a-team-out-of-it




Monday, July 4, 2011

Box Score Bytes - Game 85

1)  How bad are the Rox against the Braves -Let me count thy ways 23 - 49 all time in Atlanta (only worse winning percentage is New York), against the Braves in general 57 - 92 (worse all time record against any NL team), and 5-17-2 record in series in Atlanta.

2) I hate the holiday hats

3) U-Ball throws 117 pitches in 5.1 innings...yikes not very efficient

4)  Rox get 4 hits...whoopee

Sunday, July 3, 2011

Box Score Bytes - Game 84

1) No sweep for you...Royals bust out the big bats.  Rox now 0-16 when allowing 16 runs.  Rox have allowed 17 runs five times and have won one of those!

2) Not a good day for Mr Hammel.  Mr Consistent Inconsistent.  What I mean by that is you are going to get about 10 wins a year from him but you'll also get about 8 - 10 losses too and when he loses it can be ugly.

3) Rox had a chance to get back into it in the 5th but then Belisle decided to have a meltdown and gave up 6 runs after the Rox scored 5...

4) Rox finish the interleague schedule with a 8-7 record.

5)  Cross our collective fingers and hope CarGo is OK!

Saturday, July 2, 2011

Box Score Bytes - Game 83

1) Fill in pitcher extraordinaire, Greg Reynolds, is now 3-0 for the season.

2) Rox score early and often which is always a good thing!  Of course it wouldn't be worth it if the Rox didn't let Royals get back into it...

3) Ellis' hot start continues with 3 doubles!

4) Helton got his 920th extra base hit tying him for 55th all time

Friday, July 1, 2011

Box Score Bytes - Game 82

1) And so here comes July. Three months in the book and Rox find themselves 40-41. If only we could erase May

2) After a couple of close losses to the White Sox I am sure Rox enjoyed teeing off on the Royals tonight.

3) New look at second base with the arrival of Mark Ellis. Triple short of the cycle.

4)Nicasio goes 8 strong with a game score of 78 marking the fourth highest total this year.

Box Score Bytes - Game 81

Rox are at the half way point.  How does it stack up?  Graphs below shows runs scored or allowed last year, versus preseason, versus first quarter, and now half way point.

Guess the first thing that jumps out his the fact that of the 13 players coming out spring training only 9 remain.  Nelson, Blackmon, EY Jr, Pagnozzi have all moved in and well since today Nelson has been sent back down and Mark Ellis has joined the team.  Team is still struggling to find Stewart and Lopez's missing runs which amounted to about 130 runs.  On the bright side both Helton, Smith, and Iannetta have all been quietly putting together great seasons.  CarGo and Tulo have been meh and Giambi has been a nice surprise.  Right now Rox are on pace to score about 40 runs less than what the preseason projected.

While pitching has been keeping us in the mix the starters have struggled with giving up runs.  Three of the starters have given more runs then expected.  Cook has struggled in his first few starts and of course de la Rosa is on the shelf.  Nicasio is in, while the bullpen has shelved Daley and released Paulino. 

Interesting thing I guess is although we think the pitching as been our savior they are allowing a lot more runs then what was projected +51 while the offense is down -42.  All in all that is why we are sitting 2 game under 0.500 :(