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

I know you guys are probably mad at my Dodgers but I still think it can be like last year with the Rox and Dodgers in it. The Pads will fall apart with no offense.

The Giants are scary with good pitching though.

Rockies 4 - SF - 0 - Ubaldo 10 - 1 - ERA .078

http://www.denverpost.com/sports/ci_15198393

SAN FRANCISCO — If we didn't have a clear frontrunner for the National League Cy Young award before Monday afternoon, we do now.

Hint: It isn't Tim Lincecum.

Lincecum hooked up with Ubaldo Jimenez at AT&T Park in the most hyped pitching matchup of the season in Major League Baseball. In the end, it wasn't even close.

U the Man, Ubaldo.

Jimenez pitched a complete game four-hitter as the Rockies beat the San Francisco Giants 4-0 on a sun-splashed Memorial Day on the Bay. One Giants runner reached third base and only three reached second.

Any more questions?

Where do we begin in describing Jimenez's dominance in 2010? He has thrown 26 consecutive scoreless innings, a franchise record for a starting pitcher. And who held the old record? Jimenez, who had a streak of 25 1/3 earlier in the season.

Jimenez is 10-1 with a 0.78 ERA. One more win and he would tie the franchise record of 11 wins by the all-star break.

Lincecum? He didn't pitch like a back-to-back Cy Young winner. He allowed four runs, three earned, in 5 2/3 innings. Now for the numbers that told the story of the day: Lincecum threw 121 pitches. Jimenez by the time he reached the 5 2/3-inning mark had thrown 82.

"How many runs do you actually need to win today?" Rockies manager Jim Tracy wondered aloud before the game. "If both guys live up to who they are, we're talking just a knock 'em down, drag 'em out Who knows? Is it 3-2, 2-1, 1-0?

"I know full well walking in here today that I'm surrounding our starting pitcher with the best defense I can surround him with and let him do his thing. If we get a point or two, there have been a lot of games I've watched this man pitch already this year where that's all he needed."

Add another to the list. For Jimenez, the game marked the fifth time in 11 starts in which he had allowed three hits or fewer.

The Rockies got him the only runs he needed on Clint Barmes" two-out, two-run single up the middle in the second inning. Todd Helton followed with a two-run double in the fifth before a wild pickoff throw by reliever Dan Runzler completed the scoring in sixth.

Dexter Fowler went 4-4 today in AAA Colorado Springs. He walked twice, hit a home run and got 3 RBIs. If he can keep this up, he'll be back with the Rox as another hot bat. There are still about 110 games left. I'm not worried too much about the teams we are looking up at.

Originally Posted by Denver Native (Carol)

http://www.denverpost.com/sports/ci_15198393

SAN FRANCISCO — If we didn't have a clear frontrunner for the National League Cy Young award before Monday afternoon, we do now.

Hint: It isn't Tim Lincecum.

Lincecum hooked up with Ubaldo Jimenez at AT&T Park in the most hyped pitching matchup of the season in Major League Baseball. In the end, it wasn't even close.

U the Man, Ubaldo.

Jimenez pitched a complete game four-hitter as the Rockies beat the San Francisco Giants 4-0 on a sun-splashed Memorial Day on the Bay. One Giants runner reached third base and only three reached second.

Any more questions?

Where do we begin in describing Jimenez's dominance in 2010? He has thrown 26 consecutive scoreless innings, a franchise record for a starting pitcher. And who held the old record? Jimenez, who had a streak of 25 1/3 earlier in the season.

Jimenez is 10-1 with a 0.78 ERA. One more win and he would tie the franchise record of 11 wins by the all-star break.

Lincecum? He didn't pitch like a back-to-back Cy Young winner. He allowed four runs, three earned, in 5 2/3 innings. Now for the numbers that told the story of the day: Lincecum threw 121 pitches. Jimenez by the time he reached the 5 2/3-inning mark had thrown 82.

"How many runs do you actually need to win today?" Rockies manager Jim Tracy wondered aloud before the game. "If both guys live up to who they are, we're talking just a knock 'em down, drag 'em out Who knows? Is it 3-2, 2-1, 1-0?

"I know full well walking in here today that I'm surrounding our starting pitcher with the best defense I can surround him with and let him do his thing. If we get a point or two, there have been a lot of games I've watched this man pitch already this year where that's all he needed."

Add another to the list. For Jimenez, the game marked the fifth time in 11 starts in which he had allowed three hits or fewer.

The Rockies got him the only runs he needed on Clint Barmes" two-out, two-run single up the middle in the second inning. Todd Helton followed with a two-run double in the fifth before a wild pickoff throw by reliever Dan Runzler completed the scoring in sixth.

He is having a great year...

...I'd like to see some sustained 'goodness' from the Rox's other hurlers.

I don't know...

...I recon the Rox will just wait for the Fall and turn it on like they seem to do for the past few years...

"That'd do, pig..."

Shit, Cryers just scored!

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/recap?gameId=300531126

SAN FRANCISCO -- Ubaldo Jimenez felt the hype from Denver to the Dominican Republic. From his Facebook friends near and far, and even over the e-mail channels.

The soft-spoken Rockies ace keeps living up to every bit of the positive attention he's receiving.

Jimenez pitched a four-hitter to become the majors' first 10-game winner this year, outpitching Tim Lincecum to lead Colorado past the San Francisco Giants 4-0 in Monday's highly anticipated Memorial Day matchup.

"My Adrenalin was really high," Jimenez said. "Everyone was expecting that game -- my parents, neighbors, everyone back in my country, and in Denver, too. ... Everyone was expecting that game and waiting to get in front of the TV."

The 26-year-old pitcher didn't disappoint. He's making an early push for this year's Cy Young Award, though insists, "I don't even think about that."

Clint Barmes hit a two-run single in the second inning that held up for Jimenez (10-1), who struck out nine, lowered his big league-best ERA to 0.78 and extended his career-best scoreless innings streak to 26. He pitched his fourth career complete game, second career shutout and second this year.

Lincecum (5-2), making his 100th start and matched up with Jimenez for the fourth time, walked five for the fourth straight start and the Giants had their four-game winning streak snapped.

In a game featuring two of baseball's top right-handers, Jimenez improved to 3-1 head-to-head against Lincecum, the reigning two-time NL Cy Young winner. Jimenez retired nine straight before a two-out double to Pablo Sandoval in the ninth and a walk to Aubrey Huff that brought manager Jim Tracy to the mound for a visit. Jimenez got Juan Uribe on a liner to left to end the 128-pitch gem in 2 hours, 38 minutes.

Tracy looked Jimenez in the eyes and twice asked him how he felt. The skipper received an emphatic reply of "I'm fine."

"I'm actually beginning to run out of words really to describe not only the excellence but the dominance in which this guy is pitching up to this point -- 10-1, 0.78 ERA and tomorrow is the first of June. Enough said," Tracy said. "He's as good as it gets for two months. We're going to play for four more months and we'll see."

Jimenez became the 15th pitcher since 1952 to win 10 or more games by June 1, with Brandon Webb the last to do it in 2008.

Todd Helton doubled in a run in the fifth as the Rockies kicked off a six-game road trip against the division in impressive fashion. Colorado added another run in the sixth on reliever Dan Runzler's throwing error trying for a pickoff at first.

The Rockies know they only need to give Jimenez a couple of runs and he will take care of the rest.

"It's pretty hard to describe how he does throw the ball every time he goes out and pitches -- he's unbelievable," Helton said. "It's dominating stuff as usual."

Barmes recorded his first career hit off Lincecum with the single. Barmes was 0 for 11 with four strikeouts against Lincecum coming into the game. Lincecum gave up consecutive walks to start the inning to Troy Tulowitzki on five pitches and then Brad Hawpe.

Both righties had to throw plenty of pitches early -- Lincecum 43 and Jimenez 40 through two innings. Lincecum's 32-pitch second inning followed a 1-2-3 first on 11 pitches.

Sandoval singled up the middle on the seventh pitch he saw from Jimenez and added another base hit in the fourth before the double in the ninth. Freddy Sanchez's sixth-inning single was the Giants' lone other hit.

"I'm just proud for what I've been able to accomplish this year," Jimenez said. "I'm feeling really confident."

Jimenez, who pitched the first no-hitter in Rockies history at Atlanta on April 17, was clocked at 99 mph several times. Tracy committed his top defensive lineup to back the team's ace.

"It's 10-1, that's a tremendous start," Tracy said in continuing his praise of the pitcher. "And we know we're a couple of base hits away from 11-0. He has not pitched a bad game and he has the mental focus that he's not interested in pitching a bad game. He may not."

Lincecum lost back-to-back starts for just the fourth time in his career and first since Sept. 20 and 25 last year. He was tagged for six runs and six hits in 4 2/3 innings of a 7-3 loss to Washington on Wednesday.

"I'm continuing to struggle here and it's hard to find my way out of it," Lincecum said. "I'm trying to take something out of every game and not dwell on the negative stuff too much. I went through a struggle like this my first year but this is still longer than I was hoping it would be."

Giants rookie sensation Buster Posey, called up Saturday and was 6 for 9 with four RBIs in his first two games of 2010, was 0 for 3.

Game notes
Jimenez, who walked two, threw 80 strikes. The 128 pitches matched his season high also done in the no-hitter. ... Lincecum joins 37 others to make their first 100 starts with the Giants. Lincecum's .714 winning percentage heading into Monday's outing ranked him second among that group behind Sal Maglie at 60-19 (.759). ... Rockies closer Huston Street will throw batting practice Tuesday at Triple-A Colorado Springs, a session pushed back a day based on availability of the field. Street is on the disabled list with right shoulder inflammation.

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?...=.jsp&c_id=mlb

Hurler drawing comparisons with Gibson in 1968

Ubaldo Jimenez is not merely having a great season. He is having a season for the ages.

No Cy Young Awards are handed out on the basis of two months' worth of work, but to date, the Rockies' right-hander is having a season that can fairly be mentioned with the individual gold standard for pitchers, Bob Gibson of the St. Louis Cardinals in 1968.

Gibson and his pitching colleagues were so dominant in that season that baseball subsequently lowered the mound in an effort to put more offense into the game. This is just one more piece of evidence that makes Jimenez's work even more impressive.

We've been to the other end of the pitcher-vs.-hitter struggle since 1968. We've seen wildly inflated offensive numbers, particularly power numbers. Some of the reasons for those numbers turned out to be less than legitimate. In any case, Jimenez is not exactly pitching in the dead-ball era. This is all the more reason to fully appreciate his current stretch of excellence.

Jimenez continues to put some distance between himself and his peers in 2010. Maybe he really doesn't have any peers in 2010. On Memorial Day, the featured pitching matchup was between Jimenez and the Giants' Tim Lincecum, the two-time and defending National League Cy Young Award winner.

It was really sort of one-sided. Lincecum was removed in the sixth, Jimenez pitched a complete-game shutout and the Rockies won, 4-0. Lincecum has been as impressive as any pitcher in the Majors over the past two seasons, but this season, when it comes to the overall body of work, Jimenez takes second place to no one.

Again, one game does not make a season, up or down, but if you wanted to see this game as a passing of the torch, the door was open for that interpretation.

Monday's victory made Jimenez 10-1 in 11 starts with an ERA of 0.78. By now, the reciting of Jimenez's ERA is generally modified with the adjective "microscopic." That conveys the general sense of its extreme smallness reasonably well, and although its use has become somewhat repetitive, it is probably better than "itsy-bitsy."

Gibson finished 1968 with a 22-9 record and his own microscopic ERA, 1.12. Jimenez had a 1.12 ERA also, but that was on May 15, and in three starts since then he has not given up an earned run, or any other kind of run, for that matter. He was already at astounding and has moved up to incredible.

Gibson's WHIP in 1968 was 0.85, and opponents hit .184 against him. Jimenez is in the same neighborhood, with a 0.90 WHIP and an opponents' average of .172.

There are a few categories in which Jimenez cannot match Gibson, simply because the nature of being a starting pitcher has been modified, or, more bluntly, reduced. In 1968, the immortal Gibby had 28 complete games in 34 starts and compiled 13 shutouts. He finished the season with 304 1/3 innings.

Jimenez threw a no-hitter against Atlanta on April 17, but that and Monday's outing were his only complete games. This is not his fault. The game's handling of pitching is now characterized by the protection of starting pitchers rather than the pushing of them.

Gibson also had 268 strikeouts against only 62 walks in 1968. Jimenez's current totals -- 70 strikeouts to 26 walks -- seem a bit more mortal.

One more amazing aspect of Gibson's 1968 performance, especially given his workload, was that his best months were the hottest summer months. So if you compare Gibson with Jimenez after 11 starts, there is a fairly sizable edge to Jimenez.

At this point in 1968, Gibson had a 4-5 record and a 1.67 ERA. He was pitching for a team that would win the NL pennant, but even here there are gaps in run support.

No one is saying that Ubaldo Jimenez is Bob Gibson. Bob Gibson is the only Bob Gibson. It is just that Jimenez's performance has been so remarkable over the first two months of the season that his performance deserves to be mentioned with the very best.

And given the circumstances -- a lower mound than in 1968, contemporary baseball emerging from an era of extreme offensive production -- Jimenez's feats become even more impressive. The measurement of single-season greatness, of course, requires six months at the highest level, not just two months. But Ubaldo Jimenez has already attained a level that for most pitchers is basically the stuff of dreams.

Mike Bauman is a national columnist for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

http://www.denverpost.com/sports/ci_15212790

He out-raced National League pitchers to 10 wins and he has an historically low ERA. For the effort, Major League Baseball tabbed Colorado ace Ubaldo Jimenez its pitcher of the month for a second consecutive month.

Jimenez is the first pitcher to win back-to-back NL pitcher of the month awards since CC Sabathia did it with Milwaukee in 2008. He's the first big-league pitcher to win in April and May in the same season since Pedro Martinez won the AL awards in 1999. And he's the first NL pitcher to win in April and May since John Smoltz in 1996.

Jimenez's 0.78 ERA and 10-1 record are tops the major-leagues among starters.

Jimenez's month was capped with a complete-game shutout of the Giants on Monday.

He is iding a streak of 26 consecutive scoreless innings, over four starts. It's the second time this season Jimenez has put together a streak of 25 or more scoreless innings — and he's the first to reach that mark since Jack Morris in 1986.

Also, Atlanta first baseman Troy Glaus won NL player of the month.

http://blogs.denverpost.com/rockies/...e-month-again/

SAN FRANCISCO — What’s this? Ubaldo Jimenez won the National League pitcher of the month award again? Shocking, simply shocking.

What was Jimenez supposed to say? That he expected some guy with a lousy 2.00 ERA to win it?

Actually, if you know Jimenez, you figured he would spin things humbly upon hearing of the award, making him the first pitcher since C.C. Sabathia in 2008 to win the award in back-to-back months.

“It caught me by surprise because (Roy) Halladay threw a perfect game,” Jimenez said. “I thought they were goiong to give it to him.”

The problem with winning the pitcher of the month award in back-to-back months is, of course, that he’ll be expected to do it again in June.

“We’ll see,” said Jimenez. “Why not?”

Jimenez threw 128 pitches in his latest masterpiece, a four-hit shutout against the Giants on Memorial Day. Any concerns about his pitch counts inching higher than at any previous point in his career?

Not a bit, says Jimenez.

“I’m getting better and better every start,” he said. “I work hard between starts. Why not throw a lot of pitches?”

Dear Corpas,

Please hang yourself. TIA.

Sincerely,

Rockies fans worldwide.

P.S. Get well soon Street!!!!!

Well we all hate closer that blow leads. I hate most RP, but I am not on the suicide band wagon.

Maybe we should just start cutting off fingers on his glove hand and work towards the pitching hand with each blown save.

By the way that sucked major ass last night. WAY to many runners but on base by the pen.

Last night's game was a nail biter for sure. Sucks that Ubaldo's streak was broken but he's still the Ace of the league. ESPN had a pretty cool clip of him last night.

With the 26th pick in the 2010 MLB draft the Colorado Rockies select OF Kyle Parker, Clemson.

http://mlb.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?to...ent_id=7733635

At 47th overall the Rockies select HS pitcher Peter Tago.

http://mlb.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?to...ent_id=7222481

They switched over from the game for both of these. Selig announced the first pick, and Dante Bichette announced the second pick.