Stat of the Week

Yesterday's Recap

Ughhh can it get any worse? With Tulo injured the wackiness of a short bench surfaced yesterday. With Tulo out, Hurdle shifted Atkins to 2B and brought Ianetta in to play 3B! That left Hurdle with 2 men on the bench (Spilborghs and Podsednik). Cook again pitched a masterful gem (he has become the Stopper having stopped the last losing streak and this one)! A balk scored the winning run. Unusual game! At least we got a win.

Stat of the Week

VORP - Value Over Replacement Player. The number of runs contributed beyond what a replacement-level player at the same position would contribute if given the same percentage of team plate appearances. Great article here. VORP also demonstrates how much a hitter contributes offensively or how much a pitcher contributes to his team in comparison to a fictitious "replacement player," who is an average fielder at his position and a below average hitter. So below is the NL leaders and Ramirez produced 89.5 more runs than the average SS.

National League Leaders

1. SS Hanley Ramirez, FLA 89.5
2. 3B David Wright, NYM 81.1
3. 3B Chipper Jones, ATL 76.0
4. LF Matt Holliday, COL 74.4
5. 1B Albert Pujols, STL 72.1
6. 3B Miguel Cabrera, FLA 71.4
7. 1B Prince Fielder, MIL 69.2
8. 2B Chase Utley, PHI 68.8
9. SS Jimmy Rollins, PHI 66.2
10. 3B Ryan Braun, MIL 57.2

2007 Rockies
1B Helton 51.9
2B Matsui 16.0
3B Atkins 34.8
SS Tulo 37.8
LF Holliday 74.4
CF Taveras 16.4
RF Hawpe 37.4
C Torrealba 4.6

He Was a Rockie?

Yesterday's Recap

Disappointing. At this point there is nothing left to say. Nine games out in late April spells trouble especially with a D-backs team that looks unstoppable right now. Things change, it is a long haul to October. But I don't think the Roxs can count on another 21 wins in September. Bottom line it would appear the D-backs youngsters are better prepared to win and deal with expectations and our older youngsters are too tight. I'd be pissed if I was the Monforts right now because I laid down some serious cash on this team!

He Was a Rockie?

Sun-Woo Kim pitched 2 seasons for the Roxs during the 2005 - 2006 seasons. Signed by the Red Sox back in 1997 he was a journeyman pitcher. He compiled a 5-1 record in 18 games (8 games started). He did have one complete game shutout for the Roxs. Reason I came across him is that he has a top 50 game score having done it Sept 24, 2005 at Coors Field against the Giants. His game score that day was 83.

Rox Talk

A 1-6 week against Philly, Chicago, and LA. Whew, brutal week on the diamond. There was nothing good to report this week except maybe Cook's performance. Corpas lost his job, Jimenez got notice that he his on a short string, and Nix got sent back to C. Springs. When is Hurdle going to be put on the hot seat? The Roxs currently stand at 10-15. Eight games back from division leading D-backs. Currently 4-6 at home and 6-9 on the road, the Roxs have been outscored by its opponents 109-135 (expected wins is 10 versus historical wins at 12). On pace for 65 wins with 706 runs scored and 875 runs against. Roxs graphical wins (home in Purple, away in grey).

Weekly WPA leaders (overall as well):

Well actually the offensive was pretty effective last week, but of course the pitching woes accounted for pretty much all the losses last week. Posednik putting some pressure on Taveras at center. One issue that WPA has is Barmes low number. He has obviously provided a spark to the overall offensive but he hasn't hit in key situations so it really doesn't show here.

Great story in Yesterday's post written by Troy Renck (by the way, the best team writer, I think) about Tulo pressing and Todd saying "Trust me, he's going to figure it out. We all do it, go looking for answers like there's some kind of secret to hitting. He will look a lot of places, and hope somebody says that magic word. In the end, he will find the answers in himself." You know that is just a plain good quote on life in general. We all are looking for that magic word and it is basically within us (but I digress). Another great Rench line "spinning like so many ice particles in a Slushee machine" describing Corpas slider right now.

Anyway tough week much like Week 1. April seems to be playing out as a microcosm of last season. Remember Fuentes blow out in June/July? The Roxs only won 10 games last April so let's not mail it in but some pitching consistency would go a long way in smoothing the ups and downs we are seeing this April. I think I read that the Roxs bullpen has the highest number of innings pitched so far. That spells trouble to me especially in July/August.

Yesterday's Recap

Well throw out the 45 pitch 1st inning and Redman would have had a great game. Unfortunately you don't get a do over first inning. Well Nix isn't the answer and he was sent down. Hurdle pushed Helton into the 2 hole to try and get some men on base. It wasn't a good day yesterday for Colorado sports!

Yesterday's Recap

Jimenez just didn't have it...the Roxs crawled back and tied it in the ninth but Holliday couldn't get a deep fly ball to score the runner on third and instead hit into an inning ending double play.  They played until the 13th and then lost.  Another dreary April lost.

Cook is the Stopper

Yesterday's Recap

A win at home to salvage at least one game on this odd and brutal homestand. 22 games into the campaign and it still seems the team is trying to hard, rather than let the game come to them. Trying to speed things up rather than taking the game at a slow steady pace. As spring turns to summer I think the offensive will settle down, pitching will tighten up and we will play .500 ball. Right now with Cook being the only dominant pitcher it is tough to see the Roxs making a real move (see below). The Fuentes/Corpas thing will ebb and flow and I think Barmes at 2B is the real surprise. It is nice to see him coming around. He was kind of the pre-Tulo. In fact a big supporter of his was the old 1B coach who had managed Barmes in the minor leagues claiming the team didn't gel until he came around. I think him in the two hole with Tulo back in the 7th will be huge.

Rox's Starting Pitching

Just how good as Cook been this early in the season? Well of the 7 wins by starting pitchers, Cook has 3 of them. Cook has pitched 34 innings while the average of the other 4 starters (Francis, U-ball, Frankie, and Redman) is 22. Cook has an average game score of 58 while the other 4 have an average of 45 (remember 50 is termed a "quality start"). Finally Cook has pitched either with the lead or tied for 4.4 innings while the average for the other four is 3.2. He has been the Rock for this pitching core early in the season!

If I Was Commissioner

Yesterday's Recap

No comment...why is it that in the Rox's short history it seems when the bullpen tanks it tanks it a stretch of consecutive games? I mean last year Fuentes blew four saves right before the All Star break and Corpas does the same. I mean I don't mind a blown save once in a while (heck the law of averages says it is going to happen) but to implode in 3 straight appearances. Ughhhh...oh and by the way the Cubs got their 10,000 win! And congrats to John Smoltz for getting his 3,000 strikeout. It is going to be a while before we see the 17th member...Mussina is the closest to 3,000 is like 600 K's away!

If I Was Commissioner

Updated standings (by the way I made one change moving Atlanta to the Eastern League Central and moving Toronto into the Atlantic):

Stat of the Week

Yesterday's Recap

Aghhhh that was a tough one. Third blown lead by the bullpen in as many days. Holliday's offensive was a wasted effort. Just when I though things were getting back to some normalcy. As mentioned the starter's have got to get going so we don't blow through the bullpen in April. When Fuentes blew the lead it was his 5th appearance in 6 days! That is cause for trouble!

Stat of the Week - Win Expectancy

In the history of trying to develop a way to measure player contributions there have been many attempts to quantify this contribution. There has been Win Shares, Value of Replacement Player (VORP), and finally Win Expectancy (aka Win Probability). Of these I find the win expectancy or probability to be the most fascinating. Hardball Times quotes "An average team, at any point in a game, has a certain likelihood of winning the game. For instance, if you're leading by two runs in the ninth inning, your chances of winning the game are much greater than if you're leading by three runs in the first inning. With each change in the score, inning, number of outs, base situation or even pitch, there is a change in the average team's probability of winning the game." At this site you can actually see a team's probability of winning based on a certain setup. This is based on data collected from 1979 - 1990, which is about 50,000 games (hmmm wonder why it hasn't been updated?). In this context then if a player comes up to bat in the top of the ninth and hits a double which gives his team the lead and ups the team's chance of winning from 40% to 87% then that player is credited with 0.47 (and conversely the pitcher who gave up the double loses -0.47! Anyway by tracking this during a game and season you can have a true win contribution for each player on your team. So for 2007 the Roxs Top 5:

Todd Helton 4.75
Matt Holiday 4.64
Brad Hawpe 4.26
Troy Tulowitzki 2.58
Manuel Corpas 2.57

2007 Roxs Bottom 5:
Jamey Carroll -1.17
Josh Fogg -1.24
Yorvit Torrealba -1.38
Jeremy Affeldt -1.41
Jason Hirsh -1.94

He Was a Rockie?

Yesterday's Recap

The paybacks continue as the Phillies pay us back. Bullpen couldn't hold a lead. Fall to one game under .500.

He Was a Rockie
Okay for this installment of he was a Rockie I decided to find a player that played the least amount of games for the Rockies. The winner is....Kevin Sefcik! He was signed in Jan 2001, played one game for the Rockies on June 1, got 1 at bat as a pitch hitter (three pitches and flied out at Coors), and then was released Jun 2001. Yikes!

Rox Talk

Yesterday's Recap

Matsui beats his up team and Fuentes can't hold the lead. Atkins is making himself good trade bait for when we get another pitcher in July. Hopefully Steward comes along in AAA. Back home for a goofy two game set against Philly and another 2 games against the Cubbies then back on the road!

Last Week in Review

A 4-2 week against San Diego (can that 22 inning victory count as an extra win?) and Houston. Good week, the bullpen was huge this week (see below). The Roxs are in second place (4.0 behind). The Roxs currently stand at 9-9. Currently 3-3 at home and 6-6 on the road, the Roxs have been outscored by its opponents 87-76 (expected wins is 8 versus historical wins at 8). On pace for 81 wins with 684 runs scored and 783 runs against. Roxs graphical wins (home in Purple, away in grey). Weekly WPA leaders (overall as well):

The offensive is still not getting timely hits but the Roxs are starting to score. Starting pitching has been weak except for Cook who has really given some good outings At this rate the bullpen will be dead by July. Starters are only averaging about 5 innings and pitching about 93 pitches! Fortunately the bullpen (22 inning bail out) was outstanding. Looks like Barmes has slotted himself into the 2B. Wonder why he isn't moved to the 2 hole and back Tulo into the 7th slot?

No comment on the D-bags start. Look closely at their schedule and they haven't really faced a great team yet (the Roxs played horribly and there is 5 of their wins!) . Giants and Dodgers both haven't played well and the Reds aren't the team to beat in the Central. I think the Roxs are doing just fine.

Yesterday's Recap

Tight game in Houston. Cook pitches a great game and Hawpe comes through with a single to score Holliday. Helton gets 3 hits. Corpas slams the door. 4 straight wins, 8 of 11, things are starting to tick.

Yesterday's Recap

An unusual lineup from Hurdle last night. Somewhat expected but interesting not to see a line up with either Helton or Holliday in it! Atkins got the clean up spot. Not a lot of expectations but Morales came out and pitched a decent game and the offensive found their sweet spot. Good win after the 22 inning marathon. Go Roxs!

Whew...That Was A Long One!

Yesterday's Recap
On the East Coast this week and went to bed last night with the game tied 0-0. Woke up this morning and realized the game had finished about two hours earlier at about 4:15 AM! A 22 inning affair with a win on a double by Tulo. The next longest game in Roxs history was August 15, 2006 when the Roxs lost to the D-bags 2-1 at Coors Field in 18 innings! Whew 6 hours and 16 minutes, 73 at bats, and 658 pitches later. Whew..

Here is what it looked like WPA

Stat of the Week

Yesterday's Recap
Hurdle continues to mess with a lineup that actually scores run. Last night showed some promise. I believe Spilborghs and Barmes deserve to be in the everyday lineup. Bat Barmes second and drop Tulo to 7th until he finds his stroke. Good run scoring event last night at the Litter Box. Let's try to get one more, good matchup with Peavy and Francis going at it.

Stat of the Week
Game Score is a metric devised by Bill James to determine the strength of a pitcher in any particular baseball game. To determine a starting pitcher's game score:

Start with 50 points.
Add 1 point for each out recorded, so 3 points for every complete inning pitched.
Add 2 points for each inning completed after the 4th.
Add 1 point for each strikeout.
Subtract 2 points for each hit allowed.
Subtract 4 points for each earned run allowed.
Subtract 2 points for each unearned run allowed.
Subtract 1 point for each walk.

The highest game score for a nine inning game in the history of baseball was Kerry Wood's one-hit, no walk, 20-strikeout shutout performance for the Chicago Cubs against the Houston Astros on May 6, 1998. His game score was 105 (50 + 27 + 10 + 20 - 2). I have developed an alternative called EqGS+ which takes into account a pitcher's pitch count. The top 10 Rox Game Scores are below:

In the Top 50 game scores by Rox pitchers, Astacio has 17 of them followed by 7 for Jennings and 6 for Thomson. Just a thought but the Roxs need a flame thrower. We don't have a real stopper i.e. a K producer. Look at the World Series with Beckett...I mean we don't have pitcher who can hold his jock strap! Finesse is great but power stops hitters and wins games when they need winning!

Cents to a Dollar?

Yesterday's Recap

OK so what is it with this year's schedule that we have to face all the team we ran over to get to the World Series. First it was 6 games against the D-bags, then a series with the Padres, and then later this month we get 2 with Philly. I believe all these teams have circled these dates for retribution! Last night was another pathetic night at the plate...12 K's for the offensive. Bad enough that we had to play in the litter box that is Safeco Field but to help them with 12 whiffs is pathetic. Really I wasn't looking for a replay of last September...it's a long season but come on lets not bury ourselves this early!

Cents to a Dollar?

Last week Colin Cowherd, ESPN radio host, was rambling about how the government in their annual tax assessment lays it out on how our tax dollars are spent (the military gets like 45 cents!). Anyway he used this analogy for baseball teams (of course commenting on the fact that A-Fraud makes more than the entire Marlins team). So what about our Roxs? See below:

:

Yikes Helton makes about a fourth of the payroll...probably not a good thing. Other disparities, Viscaino (bad contract), Towers (#%&^) oops he didn't he make the team, and the bargain at six cents is Corpas, Baker, Barmes, Buchholz, Spilborghs, Nix, Jimenez, Iannetta, and Hirsch. Guess that shows the importance of a minor league...bringing up role players who can get the league minimum.

He Was a Rockie?

Yesterday's Recap


Off day, next game in San Diego..Hopefully not another team that holds a grudge (?)





He Was a Rockie?

Okay now that we are done with the D-bags for about 3 months I thought I would remind our readers out there that Eric Byrnes was a Rockie for a very brief stint of 15 games. Talking about a cup of coffee type stop this is it. A whooping 53 at bats before being traded to Baltimore for the remaining 2005 season. He collected 10 hits with no homeruns. Not for sure what the O'Dowd was thinking on this one. He gave up Joe Kennedy to the A's then received Bigbie from Baltimore who played a whooping 23 games for the Roxs. Never know what is going through the mind of O'Dowd!

Rox Talk

Yesterday's Recap

Whew no brooms for us. Even with the lead I never felt secure in that win. It always seemed they were just trying to get us where they wanted us. One final smack in the face...give us hope then slam the door. But we survived. No more D-bags until August 12! Hopefully by then we are both battling for the division lead.

Last Week for the Roxs

A 4-2 week against Atlanta and our division rival, D-Backs. Good bounce back with the offensive starting to get on track. The Roxs are sharing third place with the Dodgers (4.0 behind). The Roxs currently stand at 5-7. Currently 3-3 at home and 2-4 on the road, the Roxs have been outscored by its opponents 65-46 (expected wins is 4 versus historical wins at 6). On pace for 68 wins with 621 runs scored and 878 runs against. Roxs graphical wins (home in Purple, away in grey).
Weekly WPA leaders:

A much better week than last week. Holliday had another monster week and leads the NL with a 1.17 WPA. Cook pitched really well this week with both Fuentes and Buckholz holding down the pen.

Yesterday's Recap

That makes 5. Really I don't want to be swept twice by the D-bags. I've got nothing to say.

Yesterday's Recap

Will the Roxs ever beat the D-backs this year?  Have the D-backs made a deal with devil to never let the Roxs win?  Somebody's been highly motivated to erase last year memories and it ain't the Roxs.  Another drumming by the Snakes.  It looks like their kids have grown up and are hitting (doesn't look like they will be outscored this year...).  So why aren't the Roxs hitting?  Of course I'd rather be hot in September then April so we shall see.

Rockies and Geography

Yesterday's Recap
Snow!

Geography Lesson
Okay so some things catch my eye and bug me. Nike's new (or old?) ad features baseball nations on the US map. The Rockies map looks like this

What is up with that? I mean it doesn't even fill the entire state of Colorado. You would think a team named Colorado would at least be in a large part(?) of that region. Below is a little map I did showing all the radio stations that broadcast Rockies games. I assume that if you hear the Rockies you must be close to being a fan (?). From this map, we have fans ranging from New Mexico all the way to Northern Montana. The next question would be to figure out radio transmitter distances and figure out an area. I imagine the flagship station, KOA, probably reaches pretty far. Also interesting is that Salt Lake doesn't have a Rockies station...I wonder why?

If I Was Commissioner...

Yesterday's Recap

A rainy night but that didn't dampen the Roxs offensive. Redman got some redemption and pitched a decent 5 innings for the win. Torrealba and Spilborghs were on fire getting 4 and 5 RBIs, respectively. Good win!

If I Was Commissioner

Okay last year sometime I had the ideal of what it would be like if I could redo the leagues and make it more regional.  I think it was when I was in Boston and how baseball is just regarded a bit differently then out here in the West.  Partly it has to do with population and just how much baseball is present up there.  Then of course there is the East Coast bias about all teams on the East Coast (i.e. how in the heck did Holliday not win the MVP last year?).  So in my world I have two leagues....The Eastern League (14 teams) and the Western League (16 teams).  So here is my league with the current standings....

The Atlantic and Pacific divisions were fairly easy but the Central and Midwest were a bit tough.  I was hoping to put the Roxs in the midwest but the Chicago teams kind of killed that. Guess this is sort of like the old PCL before the Dodgers and Giants moved West.  This set up would allow the East to out spend each other.  This plan would promote regional rivalries...cut down on travel and should make the world series more interesting as you wouldn't end up teams just on the East coast thus alienating us westerns.  Playoff picture is each division winner followed by the next two best records.  So 4 teams from each league.  I like it so I am going to follow it throughout the season.

Stat of the Week

Yesterday's Recap

An ominous start but a key double play and Jimenez got into the groove.  The offensive banged out 10 hits and started looking like the team we expect to see at the plate.  Holliday had some key hits and knocked in two.  Things got tight after Jimenez allowed a 2-run homerun to allow the Braves to get within a run but the bullpen came in and shut the door (ok Fuentes made it look interesting).  Good win...and is anyone as annoyed and confused by the the Beef radio commercial on the Rockies broadcast?  What the heck is Matthew McConaughey saying?Protein Pills and Loins?  Can we just get back to good baseball talk?

Stat of the Week

Last we talked about ERA and ERA+ and how ERA+ uses a stat that takes into account park factor.  What is a park factor?

Park Factor compares the rate of stats at home vs. the rate of stats on the road.

A rate higher than 1.000 favors the hitter. Below 1.000 favors the pitcher  (generally these numbers are rounded to 100).

PF = ((homeRS + homeRA)/(homeG)) / ((roadRS + roadRA)/(roadG))

That of course is the simple definition but get too many baseball guys in a room and they have to adjust so if you care to see refinements and such, check the website here.  So what does the history of the Rockies show?

Year	PF	Year	PF	Year	PF
1993	117/118	1994	117/118	1995	129/129
1996	123/124	1997	122/123	1998	121/122
1999	127/127	2000	125/125	2001	122/122
2002	116/116	2003	115/116	2004	113/114
2005	112/113	2006	109/109	2007	108/108

In 1995 Coors Field was about 29% or 29% more friendlier to hitters than other parks.  Yikes, obviously since the advent of the humidor the park factor has become a bit more respectable but still favors the hitters.

He Was a Rockie?

Yesterday's Recap

Whew...the Roxs were finally on the winning end of a tight game. The Roxs trailed until the bottom 8th when Tulo got on and Holliday hit a go ahead homer to put them on top. Cook pitched a great 7 innings but ended up with a no decision. He certainly deserved a win and if April turns out to be an ok month they will point to this performance as the turning point. He earned his new salary for this one!

He was a Rockie?

Week 2 of the he was a Rockie is Dale Murphy who was Mr Brave for much of the late 70s and most of the 80s. An All-Star and MVP winner for the Braves he hit a career 398 homeruns. Picked up by the Roxs early in their first season in 1993 (I am sure for veteran leadership and stability) he played in a brief 26 games, scoring one run and getting 6 hits and striking out 15 times. Obviously the game had moved on but he did wear the purple.

Week in Review

A 1-5 week against St Louis and our division rival, D-Backs. Not a real positive way to start the season. The Roxs had 51 strikeouts to go along with 47 runners left on base with .100 hitting percentage with runners in scoring position. Starting pitching wasn't that much better going an average of 5 2/3 innings and only pitching with the lead an average of 2 innings. The Roxs are sharing the cellar with the Giants in 5th place (3.0 behind). The Roxs currently stand at 1-5. Currently 0-3 at home and 1-2 on the road, the Roxs have been outscored by its opponents 32-10 (expected wins is 1 versus historical wins at 3). On pace for 27 wins with 270 runs scored and 864 runs against. Roxs graphical wins (home in Purple, away in grey).

Weekly WPA leaders:

Obviously only having 8 players in the positive is not a good thing! Holliday only leads the team because of his game tying homerun on Sunday (what about his 4 K game on Opening Day!). Morales leads the pitchers with both Fuentes and Buckholz are holding downt the pen. Nix is a surprise and the Rox Star that is Todd Helton continues to be the anchor of the team. Let's hope things fair better this week when the Braves come into town for four (can the NL Champion festivities please go away...when the team is 1-5 it gets old hearing about "our 2007 NL Champions"). And next weekend we close out the week in Phoenix...maybe we can return the favor!

Yesterday's Recap

You know I am already tired of hearing about "your National League Champions" and you know I think the D-backs are tired of seeing the pomp and circumstances.  What a way to just rub it in your opponents face.  Not a good weekend to do your NL championship stuff.  Should have done it all on Friday and moved on.  Anyway another miserable lost yesterday.  Again they had their chances late but just couldn't connect.  Hopefully we can savage at least one tomorrow?

Yesterday's Recap

The bats didn't wake up and in fact added 11 more K's to the mix bringing the season total to 38...I wonder what the most strikeouts to start the season is? I bet we are in the mix. The frightening thing is we haven't faced any good pitching yet. I do think the team is playing a bit tight. Eventually it will pop and I feel sorry for the pitching staff that day! Anyway I am going to officially start the Hurdle Watch. How long is management going to put up with his sorry managing. He gets a free pass because of last year but yesterday was a prime example of terrible managing. Two things I had a problem with: 1) not pinch hitting for Herges in the bottom of the 6th. Granted he came in and threw two pitches but the Roxs were down 5-0 and needed base runners. Herges got to the plate, flailed at 2 pitches and watched another one. What was up with that? 2) Bringing in Corpas without a save situation...come on you don't bring a guy in to mop up in the 9th...you don't want your opponent to see more of his stuff and hell throw out someone you could use the work.

Anyway terrible opener...certainly didn't make any new fans. It was a very poor effort and a waste. Hopefully today they can pick up...unfortunately it is against Webb.

Home Opener

Yesterday's Recap

The inabiliy to score runs...Decent pitching. Ughhh and strkeouts everywhere.

Home Opener

The home opener at Coors Field was today. Nothing like a fresh new baseball season to make your day a little brighter. It is like Christmas morning for the Spring or for guys like me. The outfield grass was as green as a crayon fresh out of the box. It snowed and rained all yesterday but today the sun was bright and hot. It was like Mother Nature wanted to get the last bit of winter out of her system to prepare the day. Fantastic day to be alive...

...And then of course the game started. As I told my friend a bad day at the ballpark is better than a good day at the office!

Stat of the Week

Yesterday's Recap

Pitching just wasn't there. The $30 million dollar man couldn't get past the 6th and this year's Hawkins (i.e. Vizcaino) made a come back awfully tough. Offensive is still trying to find its stroke. Hawpe looked good.

Stat of the Week

I will go easy with the first one...ERA

Earned Run Average: Number of earned runs allowed divided by innings pitched multiplied by nine.

So who is the single season and career Rox leaders for ERA?

Season	ERA	Year	Career	ERA	IP
Kennedy	3.66	2004	Cook	4.47	719
Jennings	3.78	2006	Reynoso	4.65	503
Reynoso	4.00	1993	Francis	4.68	636
Cook	4.12	2007	Jennings	4.74	941
Francis	4.16	2006	Thomson	5.01	611

And to extend the ERA there is such a thing as ERA+ which compares a pitcher to the league average and then normalizes things based on pitching park factors (i.e. Coors Field versus Dodger Stadium). The formula is:

ERA+ = 100*((leagueERA*(Park Factors/100))/ERA)

Basically if you are above 100 you were better than average and below 100 then you weren't so good. Best Rox ERA+ for a single season? That would be 2004 Kennedy campaign which was at 134. That means he was 34% better than the league. Best career would go to Reynoso and Cook who have a career ERA+ of 109. So maybe Cook was worth this summer's pay check?

He Was a Rockie?

Yesterday's Recap

The Roxs made the best of their do-over and won 2-1. Great start by Kip and Tulo showed some offensive prowess.

For a weekly column I want to reach back into the vast history of the Roxs and preview a player that we hardly knew...for Week 1 of the season I put forth the following player

Howard Johnson

Best known as HoJo and a Met, he joined the Roxs in 1994. Played Left Field for the Roxs in their last season at Mile High Stadium. Played in 93 games and batted an anemic 0.211 with 10 home runs. Not quite like his two All Star years in NY. I remember sitting behind him at Mile High on a week night game. I loved his gritty get dirty mentality. He was a gamer unfortunately he was out of gas by the time he got to Denver.

False Start

Well baseball in March wasn't meant to be.  With the Roxs starting the way they did (down 5-1 in the 3rd) perhaps it was an early April Fool's joke on us fans?  Certainly one for Francis as he gets a do over next week (Saturday at home against the D-backs?).  

Do you ever wonder what happens to all those stats in which a game that ends in a postponement don't count?  Do they end up in some alternative universe.  I bet someone has even bothered to collect these stats and has the best of line up of stats that never were.  We can call them non-stats or even better anti-stats!  If they were ever added up they would obliterate all record of that player's achievement.  

Well thank goodness for do-overs and lets hope that yesterday's performance isn't a look into the future of our starting pitching.  Keep your fingers cross because the web has Kip Wells going for the Roxs today!