Here we lobby for the contraction of the most useless team in baseball -- YES THE COLORADO ROCKIES

"-- The Colorado franchise should be eliminated. Think about it: The Rockies came into baseball on the same day as the Florida Marlins, who have won two world titles and many admirers since then. The Rockies might as well be an expansion team. Manager Clint Hurdle routinely has embarrassed himself, and the team quietly folded against all stretch-drive competition. Add the fact that the Rockies don't play authentic baseball in mile-high Denver, rather some comedy-act version where pop flies leave the park and the home team is powerless to develop a pitching staff, and it's bye-bye time."

There are a bunch of players that had similar kinds of careers.

The Marlins winning two titles is a fluke. Lightning struck twice in the same place, they haven't built a strong lasting franchise any more than the Rockies. Denver at least has a solid fan base, which you still can't say about the Marlins and they have two championships.

Pittsburgh has the same type of crutch b.s. that they use as a reason they don't win...it's a FOOTBALL town. Total crap. The Pirates were one of the best franchises in baseball for most of the history of the game and the Steelers were a laughing stock until the 70s. There are a bunch of ex-Pirates that are thriving on other peoples rosters like Jason Schmidt and Aramis Ramierez.

And, Earl, really, you seem to be missing the point that, unlike those other teams you mention, Colorado is in a situation that's never been dealt w/ before in the major leagues. Pitches act differently; fly ball hitters turn into minor deities; players (again, pitchers) are more prone to excessive fatigue because of the altitude. If Colorado's only problem were front office ineptitude (cf. Pittsburgh, post-Blockbuster Marlins, Expos) or what kind of sports town the team plays in, then your argument would have some legs. However, when you've got your climate stacking the odds against you, then it's a whole different ballgame, and it's one that probably can't be won thinking inside the box.

Exactly. Name a good pitcher developed out of the Rockies farm system on any team...there might be one, but I don't know who it might be.

If the climate is so harsh and the reason that the team isn't successful, why are the Broncos one of the most successful football franchises? If Terrell Owens can lead the NFL in rushing three years straight playing a mile in the air, I would imagine a starting pitcher should be able to go seven innings.

I realize that pitches break different, but that isn't the only reason they are a loser franchise.

1) Perhaps the Broncos are more equipped to deal w/ the climate than the Rockies? I don't watch Rockies baseball regularly, but I know football teams (in all stadia) have oxygen tanks & other amenities that allow footballers to recouperate; maybe that stuff's in the clubhouse, I dunno
2) The Broncos only play once a week v. the Rockies playing 3-4 days at a clip
3) The Rockies players don't know how to roll block
4) Rockies pitchers worth a damn from the organization = Jason Jennings? The thing is, the altitude thing affects folks psychologically as well as physically - if your butter pitchers don't do what they're supposed to, or you buy into the (valid) notion of the thin air messing w/ your stuff, it's bound to affect how approach pitching (at home & on the road) (cf. the performances of Mike Hampton & Darryl Kile as Rockies v. their non-Rockie work)

I don't know if it really is a notion, but given the problems they have w/ starters being affective & getting knackered after a Coors Field start (even if they pitch well & efficiently), why not A) limit pitch counts to keep starters fresher and B) stock their bullpen with other long-relief / starter types that can go just as long as the starter they're replacing? If any team needs to think outside the bandbox, it's the Rockies, and it's not like they're going to improve by just doing what everyone else is doing.

I also think (and this is ALSO probably a BP Exclusive) that they should construct a hitting lineup & espouse a hitting philosophy similar to the swing-first, K-later gap-lovin' Angels. No doubt making contact pays more dividends in Coors Field than in any other park, so why not turn that to the home team's advantage? Eff free-swinging K machines like Vinny & Dante (& possibly any Three True Outcomers); also eff a slappy stick like a Juan Pierre or an Alex "DIRTY" Sanchez; luv a Walker & a Helton (for obvious reasons) & a Johnny Damon & a Mark Kotsay. (Easy for me to say, obviously.)

I'm kidding, BUT I'M NOT.

They've scored more than four runs in just four of 18 road games. By contrast, they've scored five or more runs in 12 of 21 home games.

HOME .407
AWAY .278

I don't know if Colorado will be able to keep it up all year, but their odds are better than the Reds as they play in such a weak division.

At first I thought that was weighed by the weakness of the NL West but after looking at the formulae it's not.

Steinbrenner: "Satan is the cause of our 32-20 record."

DENVER -- Illegal, waterlogged baseballs are the real reason runs are harder to come by at Coors Field nowadays, Milwaukee infielder Jeff Cirillo suggested Tuesday.

Cirillo said that on Monday he compared a baseball from Milwaukee that Brewers first base coach Dave Nelson used to hit fly balls to the outfielders with one from that night's game. The one from Denver was spongy, puffy and heavy, he said.

"One looked like a round ball and the other looked like an oblong ball," Cirillo said. "And even some of the infielders said when they were throwing across the diamond, the ball felt a little heavy."

Cirillo did not offer the baseballs as evidence when he spoke to reporters before the Brewers-Rockies game on Tuesday night.

The baseball from Milwaukee might simply have dried out and shrunk in Denver's thin air, the very reason the humidor was introduced at Coors Field five years ago. Balls are now stored in a humidor before they are used in Colorado's home park.

Milwaukee's 1-0 win at Coors Field on Tuesday night was the major league-leading 11th shutout at Coors Field this year. Six have been thrown by Rockies pitchers. Also, it was the third 1-0 game at Coors this season after just one such game in the stadium's first 11 seasons.

Cirillo, who played two seasons in Colorado pre-humidor, agreed the Rockies have better pitching now, "but at the same time, does that mean the rest of the league has better pitching, also?"

Cirillo suggested shenanigans with the humidor could account for the dip in scoring and the decline in home runs at the ballpark that used to be known as "Coors Canaveral" for all the baseballs that were launched into the seats.

"The other thing, too, is what if the Rockies get behind by a lot of runs in a game? Say they break out the non-humidor balls, you know what I'm saying?" Cirillo said.

Hogwash, said his manager, Ned Yost.

"That's nuts, man. That's just a waste of time discussing it. The same balls are used by both teams," Yost said. "I don't care if they are dry or wet."

Rockies manager Clint Hurdle, who was Cirillo's hitting instructor in Colorado from 2000-01, got a good chuckle out of Cirillo's comments.

"I think as long as people are talking in that vein and that avenue, it can do nothing but work for us," Hurdle said. "We're not allowed to cheat. And the balls that we send in are tested. And the humidor's regulated. You know, Jeff's always been a very creative thinker. ... He's always been able to think outside the box."

Cirillo said he's serious and that baseball should investigate his claims.

"It's pretty dramatic, wouldn't you say? Most shutouts in Coors Field, in the National League, when you take into account Petco, Dodger Stadium, where Washington plays. Those are huge parks," Cirillo said.

"Hey, I'm not the first one to complain about it."

Runs have never been harder to score at Coors Field since the stadium opened in 1995. The average game now features a combined nine runs -- down from 15 runs that were scored a decade ago. Of course, the Rockies don't have the Blake Street Bombers hitting home runs all over the place as they did back then.

What I do know is that Jeff Cirillo is right. The baseballs in use at Coors Field have been modified in a way that completely changes the game played there. Where batted balls used to go for hits, extra-base hits and home runs, they now become outs. If you want to give some credit to the Rockies’ pitchers, you can, but the primary reason is the humidor.

The Rockies started DE-humidoring the balls once they were eliminated from the postseason. Seriously, look at the jump in their home scores by month:

April: 48-71 in 12 games (avg. 4-6 = 10 runs/game)
May: 50-30 in 11 games (avg. 5-3 = 8 runs/game)
June: 80-74 in 15 games (avg. 5-5 = 10 runs/game)
July: 61-56 in 14 games (avg. 4-4 = 8 runs/game)
August: 90-73 in 15 games (avg. 6-5 = 11 runs/game)
September: 126-113 in 14 games (avg. 9-8 = 17 runs/game)

Welcome to the thread with the lowest number of posts on the board. Sit back and enjoy the Rockies scrapping to 80 wins with a creaking offence and several starting pictures so young they won't actually be born until after the ASB.

Haha oops. Nothing to see here.