The Baseball Bloggers Alliance sent a press release announcing their choices. The BBA Web site has the story.
]]>The mainstream postseason awards system essentially ignored the Rockies. Then-Rockies star Matt Holliday was pushed aside in the Baseball Writers Association of America for the Most Valuable Player Award, which went to the Phillies' Jimmy Rollins. By no means was Rollins a flimsy choice. He was heart and soul of a Phillies team that has become dominant. But some of the reasoning against Holliday -- mainly that Coors Field inflated his numbers -- ignored the fact the Phillies play a homer-friendly bandbox, Citizens Bank Park. That, and shortstop Troy Tulowitzki losing out to the Brewers' Ryan Braun for NL Rookie of the Year (Braun struggled so much defensively that he later changed positions, while Tulowitizki's glove made a huge difference), reinforced the feeling that among local fans that the writers who vote paid no attention to the Rockies until it was unavoidable. Holliday was the only player to earn a Louisville Slugger Silver Slgger Award. No one won a Rawlings Gold Glove Award despite an outstanding overall defensive performance.
At least Tulowitkzi was taken care of outside the traditional media voting. He earned a 2007 Fielding Bible Award from ACTA Sports, which bases the award on a scientific system, and fans voted him the NL's outstanding rookie via MLB.com in The Year in Baseball Awards.
Now, though, one major honor has come the Rockies' way. Sporting News has named Jim Tracy its NL Manager of the Year, and Tracy is a favorite for the BBWAA's manager award.
Now is a good time to look at a couple of other possible awards for the Rockies.
-- Tulowitzki is up for a Gold Glove again. Rollins, however, has won the award the last two years. It's hard to beat an incumbent, and Rollins had a slightly higher fielding percentage, .990 to .986. But it's hard to ignore Tulowitzki's overall role in the turnaround. And the baseball people who vote tend to let offense creep into the equation. Tulowitzki had a much bigger year offensively.
-- That's why Tulowitzki should win his first Silver Slugger Award for his complete offensive season -- .297 (including .344 after the All-Star break), 32 home runs, 92 RBIs and 20 steals.
-- How about first baseman Todd Helton for the various NL comeback player of the year awards? He finished fourth in the NL in batting. Who expected that after back surgery at the end of last season?
-- By the second half, Helton began showing his former range. He has a shot at his fourth Gold Glove. By the way, the Rockies haven't had a Gold Glove winner since Helton won his last, in 2004.
-- I doubt center fielder Dexter Fowler will win Rookie of the Year, but it'll be interesting to see where he finishes in the voting.
Any other thoughts on awards?
]]>That fact bothers Phillies Game 2 starter Cole Hamels. He said as a player he can't let it bother him, but starting games so early is a disruption, and a little disrespectful.
"In being the defending World Champs, I think it's kind of a little weird that we kind of get both games at 2 o'clock," Hamels said. "I don't think it's fair. I definitely don't think it's fair for the fans, because this ais all about the homefield advantage.
"I understand TV ratings, ut I think at the end of the day most players would rather play when they're both comfortable, and that's kind of what we've trained at, either 1 o'clock or 7 o'clock, and I think that's more fair for us."
Hamels has some points. But it's a discussion that Rockies manager Jim Tracy would rather not have.
"I don't get too overly involved in it because the schedule makers are not going to ask me my opinion," Tracy said. "I understand Cole's point. This is a very good team. They are the defending World Champions. They obviously have a right to an opinion.
"But as far as me weighing in and saying I'd rather done this, I'd rather done that, at 18-28 back on the 28th of May, I'm tickled to death to have a game to play. I really don't care what time it starts."
]]>"Left-handed pitchers agaisnt Colorado, to me, definitely comes into play," Manuel said. 'I think with lee and Hamels, I think that we've got two top-notch pitchers going into the first two games of the series."
This also gives Manuel lefty J.A. Happ and righty Joe Blanton to pitch in relief should one of the two aces struggle. That would mean Manuel can limit the use of a bullpen that has struggled during the latter part of the season.
]]>It's a great day for baseball. Too bad it's only the workout day. Wednesday's Game 1 forecast calls for a 60 percent chance of rain. The postcard-perfect day game is Thursday -- 69 with no chance of showers.
Speaking of the weather, be ready to bundle up for Saturday night's Game 3. The forecast says 44 degrees with a 40 percent chance of precipitation.
]]>Some thoughts on the play:
-- If you don't call it "the catch of the year," it's still the defensive play of the year. To hit the ground that hard and roll over, yet not have the ball squirt away is a feat in and of itself.
-- What's the big deal? The play isn't reviewable. And it's not like Barmes is going to stand up and say, "That ball landed." Even if he did, I don't think there's anything in the rule book to allow for that. (Please correct me if I'm wrong.)
-- It's good it wasn't a postseason game. The umpire down the right-field line would have been at roughly the same angle as the camera.
Barmes' quotes in an arranged media meeting on Tuesday weren't much different from when I talked to him on Sunday afternoon. I asked him then if the ball hit the ground, and he said he didn't know.
"I really don't know anything other than what I said on Sunday," Barmes said. "It all happened so fast and the ball ended up in my hand somehow and I wasn't sure if it was from off the ground or before it hit the ground. All I know is whenever I rolled and popped up, the ball was in my hand perfectly like I'd reached down and grabbed it."
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Tracy used Contreras on Friday and Saturday against the Cardinals. Other than a Ryan Ludwick home run during Friday's 2-1 Rockies victory, Contreras has been stellar. His fastball is traveling at around 95 mph -- faster than when he starts.
Tracy has no intention of using him on Sunday, and he must have him available for possible multiple innings Thursday when Aaron Cook makes his second start since returning from a shoulder injury.
The use of Contreras must make sense. For example, Tracy is using him to start innings rather than having him jump into tight situations. But having an arm like that in the bullpen could be a boon to the Rockies in the postseason, provided they hold off the charging Braves.
Tracy said relief pitching could be a part of Contreras' future, if he is interested.
"He was throwing the ball as hard, maybe harder, last night as the night before," Tracy said. "This is a strong man. Can he handle doing something like that [beyond this season]? That's a conversation for down the road.
"But we're at a point of the season where you use your resources, whatever makes sense. What we've seen the last couple of nights makes sense. If that makes us as good as we can possibly be in the postseason, we'll entertain it.
"The next conversation is over the long haul, is he comfortable with something like that? Would he entertain an idea like that? Would he dismiss it and say, 'I want to start. I'm a starting pitcher.' You have to have a respect factor for a man of his stature. This is not his first or second year in professional baseball."
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Not putting him in the lineup on Wednesday was yet another precaution. It rained much of the day in Denver, and the temperature is likely not to be much higher than Tuesday's gametime temp of 48.
Seth Smith, who replaced Gonzalez on Tuesday, was in the lineup in left field and in the leadoff spot.
Tracy also announced that Rafael Betancourt, who suffered soreness in his right calf after pitching Saturday at Arizona, was to throw a touch-and-feel bullpen session, in hopes that he'll be available to return to game action soon.
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Tracy doesn't want Street's first action to be in a close game. But with the Rockies starting righty Ubaldo Jimenez and the D-backs going with Dan Haren, it's likely to be a cloe, low-scoring game.
"I'd like to see the game be somewhat one-sided, one way or the other to try this out," Tracy said.
Tracy added that Street didn't look bad in Friday afternoon's simulated game, but he was not as sharp as he would need to be in a close game. How long will it take for him to regain the sharpness? Tracy said it may take as litle as one game.
But once Street is determined ready, expect him to be moved back into the closer role, with lefty Franklin Morales becoming a key setup man.
One question for Sunday was the availability of righty setup man Rafael Betancourt, who was dealing with soreness in his right calf. Tracy said he was relieved the problem wasn't with hit right groin. While with the Indians, before being traded to the Rockies in July, Betancourt missed six weeks with a groin strain.
]]>Helton was in the dugout when Carlos Gonzalez's line drive smashed into his left shin during the ninth inning of Friday night's 7-5 loss to the D-backs. Amazingly, Helton ws feeling no ill effects on Saturday and was back in the lineup. The pain had numbed his leg from his calf to his foot.
When Helton showed up at Chase Field on Saturday, Rockies manager Jim Tracy did a double-take, and not just because Helton was pain-free.
"He came into my office today and said he was my new first baseman," Tracy said, joking about the new look. "I said, 'Welcome to the team.'"
Tracy said the foul ball was frightening for everyone in the dugout.
"Somebody was looking out for us, I'll tell you that right now," Tracy said. "If that ball had hit him in the chest or in the face, there would have been serious, serious problems. We don't have our first baseman here. He's done."
Helton is batting third in a left-handed lineup against D-backs right-hander Max Scherzer. five of the first seven hitters swing from the left.
Saturday is a big game for the Rockies. The Dodgers blasted the Giants, 12-1, earlier Saturday, which means the Rockies have a chance to pump their lead in the National League Wild Card race to 3 1/2 games.
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"I threw betweern 25 and 27 pitches, plus another 22 in the bullpen before -- it was like a game, but a really long inning," Street said. "It was basically the longest inning I've thrown in a long time, which was good. My stuff was there. The ball was coming out nicely. It was definitely a good thing."
The Rockies are expected to return Street to the closer role but not until letting him re-acclimate himself to game action. Expect left-hander Franklin Morales to handle save situations until that time.
]]>No. 34 was Matt Herges. But Matt Herges was never actually No. 34.
These days, Herges, a right-handed reliever for the
Before getting into his feelings about 77, how did he end up wearing numbers he didn't care about for so long?
Herges spent much of his career wearing No. 49, but he's also worn 48, 52, 31 and, earlier this year with the Indians, 40. He was issued 34, which he wore with the
"That was fine," Herges said. "I said, 'I get to choose my own number now.' I'd never had the opportunity. No one has ever said, 'What number do you want?' Every time I've either been traded or signed, I go to my locker and there it is."
It's a good number in
But it turns out Herges wasn't seeking fame in
"Seven is a Biblical number, and I was telling some guys from Adam to Jesus, in that lineage, 77 generations," Herges said. "I think that's cool. And just the fact that the No. 7 gets mentioned a lot in the Bible. I remember Tony Batista wearing it, and I asked. I heard he was a man of faith. I'm like, OK.
"I looked into the number. You can just Google 77 and a bunch of stuff comes up and you learn about it. I was like, I'm going for it."
]]>"I'm not going to even begin to get excited until I begin to get off the mound," said Street, who has been playing catch on flat ground. "Really, the only thing keeping me happy is we keep winning."
Right-hander Aaron Cook is set to throw a bullpen on Friday. Manager Jim Tracy said Cook, who is hoping to return to the rotation before the regular season ends, could either throw a simulated game against his teammates or pitch in the fall instructional program before returning to action.
Left-hander Jeff Francis, who had shoulder surgery during Spring Training, also threw on Wednesday. Tracy said his goal is to have Francis pitch in the instructional program to have some comeptition under his belt, then he can prepare for 2010.
Tracy also said shortstop Troy Tulowitzki, who missed the last two games with back tightness, was going to hit in the cage and could be available to pinch-hit. But third baseman Ian Stewart, who also has missed two games with back issues, was not well enogh to be considered to participate.
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