Thread: The Official Colorado Rockies thread--Now with extra awesome!!

If anyone watches the game tonight, I'll be 3rd row behind homeplate--look for me on TV. Apparently you can see us pretty easily my friend tells me. They are his company's season tickets.

Originally Posted by Buff

If anyone watches the game tonight, I'll be 3rd row behind homeplate--look for me on TV. Apparently you can see us pretty easily my friend tells me. They are his company's season tickets.

Lucky bass turd.

Originally Posted by Buff

If anyone watches the game tonight, I'll be 3rd row behind homeplate--look for me on TV. Apparently you can see us pretty easily my friend tells me. They are his company's season tickets.

Have fun

Watching the replay of the game and you can see me most of the game--my head ends up being directly left of the scoreboard. Our seats were pretty awesome. Too bad the Rockies lost.

Originally Posted by Buff

Too bad the Rockies lost.

Yeah, wanted to talk to you about that - thunder/lightening/52 min. rain delay/and Embree breaks his leg, and the Rockies lose - was all of this your fault

ROCKIES 8 - ATLANTA 7

LARGEST COME FROM BEHIND WIN THIS SEASON

http://www.denverpost.com//ci_12852183

PHOENIX — The Colorado Rockies and Arizona Diamondbacks are NL West rivals. Now they're partners in a spring training facility planned for the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community near Phoenix.

Under an agreement announced Thursday, the tribe will build an 11,000-seat ballpark and a complex that includes 12 practice fields, training facilities and offices. The facility is expected to be ready for the 2011 exhibition season.

The 140-acre site is adjacent to Scottsdale. It is believed to be the first major league spring training facility on tribal land.

The Rockies have trained at Tucson's aging Hi Corbett Field since their inception in 1993.

"We know that this shared home will be one of the finest year-round training facilities in all of major league baseball and something that our organizations, fans and the community will be proud of for decades to come," Rockies President Keli McGregor said.

The deal is for 25 years with options to extend.

"We are certainly excited that we have come to an agreement on our future spring training home with a wonderful community," Diamondbacks President and CEO Derrick Hall said. "We have had several interested parties and sites but ultimately found this site to be superb."

The Diamondbacks have held spring training operations at Tucson Electric Park since the team's inception in 1998, sharing the facility with the Chicago White Sox until 2008.

The White Sox moved into a new facility with the Los Angeles Dodgers near the Phoenix-Glendale border last year, leaving only the Diamondbacks and Rockies in Tucson.

With most Cactus League teams in the Phoenix area, the Diamondbacks and Rockies said it was inconvenient to travel to road games. The Diamondbacks also wanted to be closer to their fan base.

The tribe and the clubs said they would make joint decisions on the design of the facility near Indian Bend Road and the Loop 101 freeway, a short distance from a casino operated by the tribe and an adjacent large hotel that is under construction. HKS Architects, which recently designed the Camelback Ranch-Glendale facility for the Dodgers and White Sox, is designing the new facility.

"Our ancestors built ball courts on this land and throughout the valley," said Diane Enos, president of the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community. "Now we are excited about bringing baseball home to our community."

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/column...rry&id=4331081

The National League wild-card race is looking more chaotic than an episode of "Jon & Kate Plus 8." Or a Brock Lesnar family picnic.

Combatants? We have a few. San Francisco and Atlanta both have strong pitching and questionable hitting. Florida always finds a way to hang around. The Mets could still be a threat if a few players get healthy, and the Central Division is one big dysfunctional jumble of flawed teams with serious aspirations.

All things considered, the Colorado Rockies are just happy to be in the conversation. Think back to the end of May, when bad fundamentals and worse execution added up to an 18-28 record, and the Rockies were poised for the obligatory June white sale.

The Rockies open the second half just two games behind the Giants in the NL wild-card race.The window for introspection is short when teams underachieve, and general managers respond in different ways. Cleveland's Mark Shapiro has been consistent in his support of Eric Wedge because he believes it would be a "cop-out" to blame the manager for front-office decisions that backfired. That's a noble sentiment, for sure, but Wedge's best efforts haven't pulled the Tribe out of a season-long death spiral.

In contrast, Colorado GM Dan O'Dowd acted boldly and ordered a shakeup when the Rockies were tanking seven weeks into the season. He fired Clint Hurdle, Colorado's manager since 2002, and promoted bench coach Jim Tracy to the position.

Judging from his comments at the time, O'Dowd made the move out of a sense of resignation more than a belief that changing managers would be some sort of magic elixir. To put it bluntly, he was sick of watching bad baseball.

"If I felt stability was going to get us through this, we would have stayed with Clint," O'Dowd told reporters at the news conference announcing the managerial switch. "But it was obvious that wasn't going to work."

Call it coincidence, luck or a short-term bump that's destined to fade, but Colorado baseball is suddenly relevant again. When the Rockies play San Diego on Thursday night in the opener of a four-game series at Petco Park, it will be with a renewed sense of purpose.

The Rockies are 29-13 since Tracy took over for Hurdle. The last time Denver was this fired up about baseball, Matt Holliday was wiping the blood off his chin after Game No. 163 of the 2007 season.

It's been a professional revival of sorts for Tracy, who appeared to be running out of chances in October 2007 when the Pirates fired him and ate the $1 million left on his contract. Tracy's critics in Pittsburgh said the move was necessary because he never showed emotion, got mad or held players accountable for their poor performances.

That version of Jim Tracy is nowhere to be found in Colorado. He's been straightforward, decisive and quick to let the players know where they stand. After being characterized as a doormat in Pittsburgh, Tracy made a point of establishing who was in charge in Colorado.

"He came in with an attitude of 'You guys are going to be held accountable for the way you play and the way you act on and off the field, and if you're not doing your job, you're not going to play,'" said pitcher Jason Marquis. "There were a lot of guys who had a lot of security with Clint being around. Now with Tracy, it's about winning. It's not about developing."

Hurdle was charismatic in a Tommy Lee Jones sort of way, with his big personality, booming voice and assortment of inspirational homilies. The Colorado players liked him personally, and several admitted to a sense of guilt over costing him his job. But when Hurdle's message stopped resonating and the atmosphere grew stale, a change was inevitable.

"Clint was the only manager I ever had in the big leagues," said All-Star outfielder Brad Hawpe. "I wouldn't be in the situation I'm in if he hadn't given me so many opportunities. But after a certain amount of time, things happen. That's the tough part about this job: When you're not winning, people have to go. It could have been the players just as easily as the manager."


“
[Manager Jim] Tracy handles the bullpen differently and he lets the starters go longer than I've ever seen here. I think that instills some confidence in the starters.

”
-- Rockies RF Brad Hawpe
Several players with roots in the Colorado farm system are playing inspired ball under the new regime. Ian Stewart, who hit .141 in May, has nine homers and 24 RBIs in 128 at-bats since taking over for Garrett Atkins as the Rockies' primary third baseman. Clint Barmes, Colorado's former shortstop of the future, has settled in nicely as the second baseman of the present. He hit .314 with 19 RBIs in June.

Troy Tulowitzki, so self-assured as a rookie and confused the second time around the league, is tied for the club lead with 16 homers and playing his usual terrific defense at short. And rookie center fielder Dexter Fowler is getting more comfortable by the day in the leadoff spot.

The Rockies' revival is spanning generational lines. Todd Helton, finally healthy again, has been a rock in the middle of the batting order at age 35.

Colorado is one of only eight big league clubs with a winning record on the road, so these aren't your father's Blake Street Bombers. The pitching staff has posted a 3.73 ERA in June and July compared to 4.85 in April and May.

Tracy has provided a stabilizing influence by showing enough faith in his starters to let them work out of jams. Colorado's rotation is going deeper in games, and that has alleviated some of the pressure on the bullpen.

With 52 quality starts, the Rockies rank third among NL staffs behind the Cubs and Diamondbacks. Colorado's relievers have logged only 245 innings, the second-lightest bullpen workload in the majors.

"Tracy handles the bullpen differently and he lets the starters go longer than I've ever seen here," Hawpe said. "I think that instills some confidence in the starters. And he kind of lit a fire underneath the tails of the bullpen."

Marquis, the National League leader with 11 victories, is the staff's resident workhorse. Although his 58-to-40 strikeout-to-walk ratio is nothing special, Marquis has made some subtle changes to his delivery that allow him to pitch more effectively down in the strike zone on a consistent basis.

According to FanGraphs, Colorado starters Aaron Cook, Marquis and Ubaldo Jimenez rank second, third and fifth in the National League in ground-ball-to-fly-ball ratio -- always a good thing at Coors Field. They've turned into the Mountain Time Zone's answer to the St. Louis Cardinals.

The big question now is whether Marquis can maintain it. He's a career 60-39 with a 4.16 ERA before the All-Star break and 30-37, 4.93 after the break, so August and September could be a challenge for him.

As the trade deadline approaches, O'Dowd is going to have to do something to fortify the bullpen. Veteran reliever Alan Embree suffered a broken leg when he was hit by a Martin Prado line drive last week, and it's asking a lot for the Rockies to keep relying on Matt Daley, Joel Peralta, Juan Rincon and converted starters Josh Fogg and Franklin Morales.

The Rockies are 17-7 under Tracy in games decided by one or two runs, and closer Huston Street has converted 22 of 23 save opportunities. So the Colorado players have faith that if they can keep it close, the master strategist in Tracy will find a way to win it.

"He doesn't go by instincts," Hawpe said. "To me, it feels like he has a formula in his mind to win a ballgame, and he sticks with it. It's very impressive to watch."

Colorado and San Francisco, the current wild-card leader, will meet 13 times in the second half, so life is going to be interesting in the NL West even if the Rockies can't make a run at the first-place Dodgers.

Are the Rockies merely a fun midseason diversion, or a legitimate contender with staying power? That remains to be seen. But they have a pulse, and that's a heck of a lot better than the alternative.

Damn Carl for taking away Hawpes All-Star HR.

Jason gets number 12 with 8 strong innings, Stewart and Hawpe go yard as the Rockies 4 of 4 from the Pads.

D-Backs head to Denver for a 3 game set starting Monday night.

Originally Posted by BroncoAV06

Jason gets number 12 with 8 strong innings, Stewart and Hawpe go yard as the Rockies 4 of 4 from the Pads.

D-Backs head to Denver for a 3 game set starting Monday night.

Can you believe Jason has the most wins in MLB, and did not even pitch in the All-Star game

Originally Posted by BroncoAV06

Jason gets number 12 with 8 strong innings, Stewart and Hawpe go yard as the Rockies 4 of 4 from the Pads.

D-Backs head to Denver for a 3 game set starting Monday night.

3 of 4. We lost Saturday. If we would have won, we would be leading the Wild Card race by .5 games over SF.

Originally Posted by Thnikkaman

3 of 4. We lost Saturday. If we would have won, we would be leading the Wild Card race by .5 games over SF.

Meant 3 of 4. Nothing to be down about at all, good way to kick off the 2nd half. Lots on NL West games on the slate for the 2nd half, .750 win% in any of them is money, with a few sweeps in there and who knows what could happen!?

As of right now, we lead the wild card. Woot.

http://www.denverpost.com/sports/ci_12880548

How have the Rockies become nearly unbeatable? Here's the secret. It's not so much what new manager Jim Tracy has given the team, but what he has taken away.

Fear of failure.

In a game fraught with failure, the Rockies never crumble.

Tracy has removed the fear of failure.

And nowhere is this unshakable confidence more evident than on the face of the franchise.

Shortstop Troy Tulowitzki again has the look of a man who cannot be beaten. On Monday night, he ignited Colorado's 10-6 victory against Arizona with a double to the gap in the first inning. And nothing in Denver sports sounds better than when more than 40,000 fans rock LoDo by chanting "Tu-lo!"

"Anytime you take the field, you can't be afraid to fail," Tulowitzki said. "Anytime you're on defense, anytime you're on offense or anytime you're not going good, you've got to believe the team is going to turn it around, and if you play the game the right way, you're going to get rewarded."

All seemed lost this season when the Rockies were 20-32. Six games earlier, Clint Hurdle was fired as manager. All his preaching of playing the game the right way had begun to sound like nagging. He tried to make Tulowitzki both a leader and a scapegoat. It didn't work.

When Hurdle benched Tulo- witzki for the sin of swinging at the first pitch during a road trip to Atlanta, it was for all intents and purposes the end of the line for the skipper who had guided the Rockies to the 2007 World Series.

With his job on the line, Hurdle anxiously pulled too many strings and nervously yanked too many chains, from his no- rhyme, no-reason handling of the bullpen to a lineup card that often appeared as if the manager had pulled names out of a hat.

Tulowitzki plays with an intensity that doesn't need poking or prodding. Tracy provided the steady hand and calm voice that the Rockies required.

In the throes of an April slump at the plate, the conventional wisdom from the cheap seats was Tulowitzki needed to shorten his swing and hit more like a shortstop than a slugger.

"It seems like when things are going wrong, everybody else has the answer. But that's when you have to believe in your ability. And that's what I did," Tulowitzki said. "It's definitely frustrating, and you question yourself sometimes, but if you believe in your ability, things will work out in the end."

Since Tracy took over as manager, Tulowitzki has slowly and steadily raised his batting average to .252. But the statistic that jumps off the page is the 11 home runs he has belted in his last 148 at-bats.

"I will never deter aggression . . . because the mind-set in this clubhouse is we're going to make the other team make plays," Tracy said.

What the Rockies are free to do again is be aggressive, without fear of being punished for failure.

"I think that's probably the biggest difference in this clubhouse. It has been the same guys on the team from the beginning of the season, for the most part. So why were we so bad early? I think guys were just doing too much, and there was that extra pressure we didn't need," second baseman Clint Barmes said.

The Rockies moved to the front of the National League wild-card race with their defeat of Arizona. Hey, nobody has authorized a victory parade, because 12 long weeks remain in the regular season. Sure, there are bullpen issues and a batting order that sometimes struggles to scratch out runs.

But this is a Colorado team that has climbed out of the abyss by going 31-10 when the season appeared to be a goner.

In the process, Tracy has established what might be the most critical personality trait in any pennant contender.

No fear.

Knock on wood...