Rox Talk - Week 6

The Week That Was

A 1-5 week against the Padres and Dodgers. The Rox currently stand at 13-20.  Nine and half games behind the Dodgers for the division lead in fourth place. Currently 8-10 at home and 5-10 on the road, the Rox have been outscored by its opponents 181-164 (expected wins is 15 versus historical wins at 15). On pace for 64 wins with 805 runs scored and 889 runs against. Playoff indicator (Runs scored/Runs Against ratio) is 0.91 (1.16 indicates high playoff potential).

Things look pretty dismal 33 games into the 2012 campaign.  Based on what we have seen, I don't have high hopes that this won't be a lost season for our Rox but I do want to try and stay positive because the thought of Bronco talk starting up and having to listen all summer to the Manning Era would make me sick.  Come on, summer is for baseball talk, Rox still have a slim chance to stay in the conversation?  Here are my points for them being relevant:

1)  Their combined record through 33 games in their 19 years has been 289-338 or a 0.460 percentage which is about an average of 15 wins.  Rox currently only have 13 wins but they do have 15 wins if you consider their runs scored/runs against expectation.  So for whatever reason Rox have had some bad luck this year and might not be as bad as their current record shows...

2)  Since 2000 they have had only 3 winning records through 33 games.  In those three years ('01, '06, and '11 they finished the season with 73, 76, and 73 wins).  In the years they finished with a winning record ('00, '07, '09. '10) they had won 15, 14, 13, and 16 wins respectively through 33 games.  In 2009 we fired Hurdle and the team went on a rampage.  Is this a desirable way to go?  No but maybe the team should be put on notice and a management firing of some sort might send that message.  This isn't Tracy's fault so would firing O'Dowd be enough to send a message?  Please we can only hope...

3) Clubhouse character has been the defining issue for this team.  These guys understand the ups and downs of a 162 game schedule.  If we are to believe age matters than this team might be able to pull themselves out of this funk and make a Summer run.  The question is ultimately the pitching staff.  Right now the mood is bad but these are young guys that, I assume, will want to pitch into their free agent years and make some coin.  Therefore in some process, the cream will rise to the top and at some point we should find 5 guys who want to be there.  Tracy's job is to find these guys sooner than later.

After a quick two games in San Fran, Rox get two against Arizona and then Seattle comes into town.  These are winnable series and then Rox leave for Florida and Cincinnati. They finish May with a home stand against the Astros.  No dominant teams and therefore really if Rox don't want to be back page news all summer the end of this month has to be corrected otherwise, yes how about them Broncos!

April in a Nutshell

Random Stuff
- Old news but just for fun the longest official home run in baseball history is Denver Zephyrs Joey Meyer's 582 feet blast at old Mile High Stadium

- The Western League: A Baseball History 1885-1999

- Every once in a while a player finds some magic.  Last week was Josh Hamilton's week.

- Maybe baseball is getting too complicated?

- Season's wackiest game...

- Beastie Boy baseball references