Monday, April 28, 2008

Holy crap, Hurdle just got tossed!

So it's right now 8:40 pm mtn and Hurdle has just got tossed in the first inning due to the homeplate ump calling a balk throw to first on Morales and Hurdle was questioning how he had the angle on it.
This would totally fulfill the 'externalizing' element that the Rox need to do (albeit a game or 2 too late) but I would bet money that the Rox now go on a winning streak due to these young'uns being motivated now.
The Giants scored 2 in the first so we'll see if I know what I'm talking about or not.

-Mendoza's 5280 (reasons to bet on the Rox perhaps?)

Sunday, April 27, 2008

Lameball

-Tulo can't seem to find that middle part of the ball with the sweet part of his bat.
-Holliday is consistently going from consistent to inconsistent.
-Fuentes and Corpas can't seem to remember what their jobs are.
-Nix is gone (thank God?).
-Why are Barmes and Spilly not getting started in every game?
-Hawpe is asleep.
-Redman. (here comes a long rant). He is a piece of shit. He sucks, plain and simple. I watched Hurdle put him into a Padres game late last year for the first time and the man couldn't find the strikezone and then couldn't through non-BP pitches. He has 'survived' all this time on sheer luck that the opposing teams have had bad days collectively, but the Dodgers proved yesterday that he sucks and he has no right to be a starter for a professional baseball team. Besides being a lefty with a handful of 'tricky' pitches, Redman has no skill and Hurdle is being a damn fool for using him. My guess is that Redman will go down before Jiminez. I'm just glad Hurdle has shown the cajones to send down non-performers (Nix) which hopefully kicks the rest of them into gear.
-The Rockies should absolutely consider trading Ian Stewart (who's 3rd baseman skills and 6 homers are being wasted in Colorado Springs right now) for either a proven YOUNG starting pitcher or a truly consistent saver.
-Thank God for Atkins and Helton.
-Lastly, I hate the D-Bags with a passion but there's no doubting that they are really f'ing good. Usually world series teams have 1 or 2 'superstar' pitchers but they right now have 3 (well I guess 2.5 since Johnson is sort of a falling star) and their offense is disgusting. Their main weakpoints though are the relievers. I also really f'ing hate the Cubs (mainly due to their clueless dumbass dipshit fans). Their fans are the most retarded pieces of crap you have ever seen because they are the first one's to stand up for any kind of Cubs contact up to bat (popfly, grounder, foulball, doesn't matter) and if you have a couple of them in your field of vision at a game it really starts to piss you off. Anyhow the Cubs team is alright. They have the hitting and definitely the relieving (Kerry Wood as 'Reliever' is the definition of unfair) but not so much the starting pitching since Lilly pretty much counteracts any good that Zambrano and Dempster do.
-Yankees will suck until they realize that Joba Chamberlain could be a killer starter.
-BoSox are evil but they will pretty easily make the playoffs; they are definitely not the same team as last year though. Very different overall vibe there that perhaps Schilling brought.

-And lastly, obviously, by the look of things now the Rockies will be lucky to end up above .500; you won't be a good team when your pitcher has an awesome day but your hitters are acting like the opposing pitcher is Nolan Freakin Ryan meets Greg Maddux, OR when your hitters are awesome but your pitcher is acting like the opposing batters are all Ted Williams meets Barry Bonds. And the worst scenario of all which seems to be recurring is the one where your hitters are hitting and your pitcher is kicking the ass of the opposing team but suddenly it's late in the game and your relievers are nowhere near being on the same page as everyone else on your team and they go and blow the game (not once, not twice but about 6 times now). Very very pathetic. Here's the sad part though, the Rockies are making their run late last year out to be a fluke that the entire East Coast media had portrayed it to be. They all said that the Rockies were just 'hot at the right time' while every bandwagoner in Denver said 'BS! Damn East Coast bias!' Let's get something straight, though, last year they really were as good (ie Godly) as they were showing themselves to be and it really wasn't a fluke. They were simply all playing up to their potential (something that Nix never did) and they had good timing, yes, but it was still skill that was indeed better than the Dodgers, Padres, D-Bags, Phillies and D-Bags again. In the end it was a pretty cruel ending for them that they should lose all that momentum they had going due simply because they beat their playoff teams faster than the BoSux did.
I can guarantee you that this season will not end with the Rockies getting a sudden jolt of 'hotness' all throughout the lineup at the end that puts them into the playoffs. Nope, late last season was a 6-sigma event that was super-rare and therefore super unlikely to happen again for a long time to any team (in any sport). What the Rockies players, coaches and management have to do now is continue doing some 'shaking of the proverbial tree' to find a lineup that works with a starting rotation that works (not one which 'will do') and relievers who won't psych themselves out of the game by walking the leadoff batter and then giving up textbook linedrives to right and then losing their heads in the dugout (good job Corpas, Baseball Tonight had fun making your crying/pouting a 'highlight of the week', very lame).

-Here's what needs to be done now: Get rid of Redman (he sucks and will always suck, if an opposing team doesn't 10-run him in the first inning it is a fluke) and bring up Greg Reynolds now. Fuentes is on thin ice, Corpas might already be in the lake; consider moving Bucholtz to your main save man if Fuentes sucks more. Trade Ian Stewart for a real starter or kick Ian Stewart into the 2nd base spot. Hurdle brought up Capellan and he looked 'okay' but still he is not a decent replacement to a Fuentes/Corpas. Changes need to be done now before the D-Bags get so far out of reach that suddenly the season's over and they're left holding a very nice looking trophy.
By the way, by posting all this I can almost guarantee that Corpas/Fuentes will breakout of their funk, as will Tulo; Helton/Atkins unfortunately will probably come upon harder times. Why? Because if a fan (ie me) is this disgusted/starry-eyed about the player then the player will either now be thinking he is God (Atkins) or think he has just about hit rock bottom (Corpas) and they will probably reverse course (so goes life).

Mendoza's 5280 (reasons to be disgusted that the D-Bags will likely win it all, which by the way will likely mean that Webb/Haren will come upon harder times and the D-Bags will forget how to hold their bats).

Friday, April 11, 2008

Time for an update...

We've been to 5 of the 6 home games so far and are still pumped up. Here's some pics so far...


View from Rockies employees' seats.


Mrs. Mendoza oh-so-happy.


Mrs. Mendoza's first paycheck from the Rockies. Sweet? Oh ya!




Sometime Rockies employees are lucky enough to sit here, we got lucky.


This last one here showed up during the 'blooper reel' and they're might be more than 1 blooper in view. :)

-Mendoza's 5280 (games to watch and go to)

Sunday, April 6, 2008

What Hurdle needs to do...

Get himself kicked out in a crazy yelling match with an ump. Why? Because the team is young and completely over-thinking/over-trying and are totally in their own dome-pieces right now. Doing this would 'externalize' their problems while hopefully distracting themselves enough to get some real clutch hits.
Don't believe me or want some proof?
Lou Piniella of the Cubs on 6/2/07 got into an awesome yelling match with an ump, made a fool of himself (hilariously) and then got kicked out of the game and susepended for a couple more games. Leading into that game when he was tossed, the Cubs were on a 5-game losing streak and were 22-31 overall but if you look at the win/loss stats (halfway down) you'll see that this marked a complete turning point for the Cubs. One month later from this they were 41-40 and one more month later they were 57-50 and they eventually finished 85-77.
So Clint, if you're reading this (which you're not), pick what looks to be a bad call (there were 2 big ones today) and make a big stinkin deal about it and rile up your young-uns. Helton, being a vet who's soon heading to the HoF, probably won't improve since he's showing how he's Mr. Consistency but the rest of the young squad definitely will.

-Mendoza's 5280 (ways to get tossed from an MLB game)

Friday, April 4, 2008

Over-thinking Over-thinking Over-thinking Over-thinking

-Holliday has A hit (singular) so far.
-Tulo has 2 errors and is going crazy at the plate.
-With 4 games played the Rox hitters lead all of MLB with 38 SO's.
-The Rox have a combined .185 b. avg. so far (2nd worst in MLB; worst in NL).
-They have the worst OBP in MLB
-With only 6 runs scored in 4 games, they are BY FAR dead-last in runs all MLB.
-Their first 3 games, against the Card's, have made the Cardinals bullpen have an ERA of 1.00 which leads MLB.
-And, here's a surprising stat, the Rox's bullpen leads MLB with the most BB's (21).
-If their first game against the Card's hadn't been rained out they likely would have the worst ERA in MLB (thanks to Francis) but luckily Wells helped keep it low (although still one of the worst in MLB).

What does all this MEAN?
Simply stated, the Rox are 1) trying to slug the hell out of the ball at the plate (instead of just getting hits) and not being defensive enough on 2 strikes, which leads to the high strike out numbers, and they're 2) pitching their way into worse and worse trouble by missing the plate and/or not getting ahead in the counts.

FYI, this isn't the first time Holliday has struck out 4 times in a game, the last time he did was 7/13/07 against the Brewers (of course in that game he also hit a homer); before that he did it against the Cubs on 10/10/06. So ya, these games are rare, very rare.

Anyhow with only 4 games played so far all these stats can still all change just from 1 really really good all-around game (pitching and hitting); but who knows if maybe they'll follow in 2005's footsteps and start off 6-21, or maybe the 2003 Detroit Tigers' 3-25 start (which led to the Tigers losing 49-119 season).

Of course we know they will get it together soon here to become the mighty offensive Hoss that they know they can be, it's just a matter of time and a matter of turning off their brains and just playing the game. Perhaps we fans should do the same and just watch and make them earn our praise all over again.

Here's what I know: Holliday has rarely been a sub-.200 (MENDOZAAA!!!) hitter in his career, Tulo only had 11 errors last season, the Rox had a .280 b avg. last year (best in NL) and the best OBP in the NL and the 2nd most runs scored in the NL. The MAIN thing that has changed is Matsui was replaced by Nix and the Rox overall now have more dollars in their own pockets.

So overall I think my point is that the Rox have to stop over-thinking/over-trying and realize that though these games are now 'real' they are nowhere near playoff time yet and so should relax and have some fun because looking in the dugout they all look waaaay too tense for it being so damn early.

Mrs. Mendoza and I would like to continue our amazing win/loss % we have in going to games (I believe we watched 20 wins and 2 losses at home last year) and so would like to see a couple W's tomorrow, the next day, the next day and the next day.

-Mendoza's 5280 (ways to stop over-thinking).

Wednesday, April 2, 2008

Vizcaino is the new Julio Lugo

He is past his prime and seems to only be able to throw meatballs (that is when he can actually find the plate). He was meat in spring-training and he is meat now. Hurdle would be wise to skip over Vizcaino as much as possible here on out and use Bowie or Buchholtz asap.
By the way, the LOB numbers for the Rox are insane right now and the Card's got hella-lucky by having Hawpe's homer be a solo. Look at the LOB stats yourself. 11 in the first game, 9 this game. That spells lotsa wasted potential.
-Mendoza's 5280 (end of year ERA of Vizcaino if he keeps this up.)

1 for 1 is right

They look darned good, and who woulda thunk it that Kip Wells could be such a stud? It's just a bummer that he didn't get the win (Buchholz, aka "other stud", did) and it was nice to see Corpas get his first save. Overall Rox mighta got lucky on this one (thanks for the walk-in game-winning run Flores) but a win's-a-win.
I'm starting to think that Tulo will either break some major record this year or win NL MVP; he's somehow twice as good as he was last year which means he should be a super-star this year.
Anyhow, Mrs. Mendoza and I are excited to be going to this Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday game. And I'm especially excited about Monday's game since they're giving away replica NLCS rings.
-Mendoza's 5280 (games seemingly left to go).