March 2009

Japan Wins

xfH7f2gD.jpgWell, its over.  Japan has won the World Baseball Classic. I actually thought that the US had a chance to win this time.  Boy was I wrong.  The Korean ad Japanese teams were just too good.  They really proved that Asian baseball is really at a top notch level.  Some of these games were just amazing.  The fact that the finals game went into extras was perfect.  Japan and Korea had played four games previously in the tournament and had gone 2-2.  You couldn’t have build up more drama then that.  The game was fantastic and the whole tournament was great.  Like I said that in an earlier blog, I am a huge fan of the WBC.  Apparently, I’m one of the few Americans that is.   Oh well.  I can’t wait for the next Classic.  Maybe this time the US can win.  As long as we don’t have to face Ichiro and Japan, we might have a chance.

Peace out,
Bleeding Purple

The Bloody Sock Leaves The Game

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Baseball lost one of the greatest pitchers ever yesterday.  Curt Schilling retired on his blog, 38pitches.com, with a grateful letter to his fans.  I was not always the biggest fan of Shilling’s.  Sometimes he opened his mouth and said things that he shouldn’t have.  Sometimes he was over arrogant.  But if there was anything that Schilling did was speak the truth and speak his mind.  You never knew what to expect when he opened his mouth.  But there were some great moments with him on the mound as well. The most memorable of them was the bloody sock.  Will he be a Hall of Famer?  I believe so.  That is up to the writers and maybe the veterans committee (but I don’t think it will take that long).  No matter what, I enjoyed watching Curt pitch and I wish him the best in his future endeavors.  

Fun Times to be a Fan

Good morning to everyone out there in the blogspere!  I was just checking the news from the Rockies website and just read a pretty good story.  Yesterday as the Rox were playing the Rangers, Chad Tracy hit his first home run of the spring.  It was a grand slam to broke the 4-4 tie and eventually ended up being the game winner for the Rangers.  Now why would I be feeling so good about someone hiting a grand slam to beat the Rox?  Because it was the first time that Chad had played at all at the Major League level and his dad, Rockies bench coach Jim Tracy, was there to watch.  The fact that the Rangers organization was willing to put in this young kid just so he could play in front of his father is a great thing.  Most young baseball players come from baseball families and it is hard for their families to see them play.  This is mostly because dad is probably coaching somewhere else.  This is just a good story and its good to se a young buck doing well.  

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Now on to the meat of what I would like to talk about.  Aaron Cook.  The Cookster.  Cookie.  Man is he dealing right now.  I know, I know.  It’s only spring training, but it is good to see Cook doing so well.  Cook has a 1.93 ERA with 15 strikeouts in 14 innings.  I think that Cook is finally showing what he can do (not that he hasn’t in the past).  Cook is showing some constancy that he has never shown in the past.  Last year he finally broke through and won more then ten games.  I think that was his watershed moment.  It finally proved to him that he could be an elite pitcher.  I can’t wait to see what he can do on opening day
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Now to the big man on campus right now.  Chris Iannetta is tearing it up in the World Baseball Classic.  Chris is hitting at a .462 average with 6 RBIs and 4 walks.  This is the best I have ever seen a Rockies catcher perform.  There is no way the Rockies should have Chris doing anything but starting behind the dish.  He has proven that he can handle our pitching staff and he has quite the stick.  Big power and can hit for average.  I haven’t been this excited about a young player in a while.  
Lets go Rockies and Team USA!

I Caught the Bug!

How good is David Wright? For one, so good that I have a Mets jersey with his name on it and was horse after screaming his name after a game at the old Shea stadium.  Some more proof came last night when he hit a walk off base hit against Puerto Rico.  Every single one of the Mets fans in the Big Apple have had major problems with him.  They say that he can’t come through in the big time situations with the big hits.  Well, he did it last night and he has done it in the past with his big league club.  And what bigger stage can there be then international competition with national pride at stake?

If you haven’t guess, I have got the World Baseball Classic bug.  I loved the series the first time three years ago.  This time, the teams are better and the play has been fantastic.  The Dutch beating the Dominican was amazing.  What better underdog story can there be and baseball guys love the underdog!  With all that being said, there are a few things that I would like to see be done better.  Running the Classic during spring training seems to give some of the other countries an advantage.  The Latin American teams play their leagues in the winter, the Asian teams play year round.  The US guys don’t play much during their off season, as well they shouldn’t.  Seven to eight months of baseball ball can be rough on the body. I’m sure with all of the big brains out there, I’m sure we could figure out a time that would be advantageous to everyone.  
The next major issues is the time off between the games.  If you want the tournament to last as long as it is, put some more games in there.  Three game series, more games in pool play.  So much time off in neither good for the players or the teams.  Plus, more games mean more TV and more chance for the fans to watch. 
 I truly love watching international baseball.  Since there is no longer baseball in the Olympic games, this is the best international tournament left.  Let make this a great experience for all who participate.  Fans, countries and the players themselves.  These things are just a few things that can make the tournament better.  Go USA!

Positions

My position on  life is different then yours.  The only thing that we have in common is baseball.  Even then we are going to have are differences.  Take the position battle.  Everyone is going to have a different opinion on who should start the season. We have a couple big ones that I would like to talk about.

Catcher – This is probably the easiest one so I’ll start there.  While Yorvit Torreabla is a decent backstop, he just doesn’t really have what it takes to play as an everyday starter.  I know that you will automaticly point out the great season of ’07.  That is just an example of someone playing above himself.  Now Chris Iannetta is playing well in the World Baseball Classic.  He had a heck of a year last year and I think that we are just seeing the tip of the iceberg.  
Left Field – This is a very interesting battle here.  Both of the top canidates are fantastic young players.  As I had stated in my previous blog, Ian Stewart is my main man for anything on the left side of the field.  If Atkins goes down (heaven forbid) or has to move to first, stick him at third but put him in left.  Seth Smith is a good young player, I just don’t think he is complete enough yet.  
Fourth Outfielder – This is the hardest one for me because I’m not entirely sure who is up for it.  There are the three big names, Matt Murton, Dan Ortmeier (who can also play a little bit of first), and Scott Podsednik.  All three of these guys could make a great fourth outfielder and pinch hitter.  However, and some of you may agree, I think we should give our young prospects a chance.  Isn’t that what the worst manager in baseball (Hurdle) and Mr. O’Dowd tell us they want to do.  If that is the case, then lets give Dexter Fowler a chance to play.  He as been doing ok in his time in spring training.  Give him a little time and he can become the best outfield we’ve had since we lost a certain dude with a name that starts with an H and ends with an olliday.
Well that is my “position”.  I’m sure that quite a few of you out there in Rockpile will wholeheartedly disagree.  Good.  Let me know what you think, and maybe, just maybe, someone within the organization could read this and think it is a good idea.  And maybe Julia Stiles will walk through my door in the next three and a half minutes.

Welcome to Bleeding Purple

I grew up a huge baseball fan. It all started playing baseball as a kid and growing up watching the game. In Denver as a kid, there was no pro baseball team so I started rooting for the Indians after watching “Major League” at age seven. Once the Rockies came to town i was hooked. Now I just cant get enough. While I am still and Indians fan, I bleed purple now days.

This year feels a little rough for me. It all started with that Holliday trade. While I am now over it, I couldn’t believe that we let such a superstar get a way for so cheap. The only good thing that has come of it is that my boy Dexter Fowler has a chance to play in the bigs this year. (Of course that is also because Willy T is no longer with us, not sorry about that at all.) Dex has such a huge upside that the Rox would be stupid not to give him a chance this year. Maybe not at the beginning of the season but a little later into the year he could help and we could have a new set of Kid Rox.


The left field situations is probably the toughest for the team to figure out. How do you replace someone like Holliday? Do you do it with a big stick? Stellar d? Or should we go out and try a grab a true five tool player? None of these seem to be the case. The Rox seem to be trying to stay within the orginzation. The two names that are coming up are Ian Stewart and Seth Smith. My personal favorite is Ian Stewart. Ian is just the man. Big stick and he proved his athleticism last year when the Rox gave him a second. Now we just have to see how it works out.

I know that this is just a bunch of rambling but this is how I work. I look forward to ya’ll’s comments and to letting you know my opinion on how the season is going.

Peace out
Bleeding Purple
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