The Dexter Fowler Thread (w/ occasional Rockies 2009 action)

Dexter Fowler. Are people following his season? 5 stolen bases last night, 2-4, 2 walks, and he's easily the brightest spot in an underwhelming season so far (Ianetta batting about .100, Tulo benched, Hawpe taking a ball to the neck, Cookie 0-3, etc. etc).

Fowler was on base four times for the Rockies, lining two singles and drawing two walks. He stole second and third on twice and scored three runs. His five thefts for the game tied Willy Taveras for second-most in Rockies history. The team record is six by Eric Young on the same day the team mark was set. Fowler had no idea he was closing in on the team record until a fan screamed at him. "Heard a guy say, 'Almost got the record, one more,'" Fowler said.

Can't recall why I dropped him. (Probably would have "played" last night, had I kept him.)

For what it's worth, Chris Young is one of the worst pitchers in baseball at holding runners, and the Padres catcher (Hundley last night, I think) was fucking up like crazy. But that doesn't take away from the fact that Fowler is fast as hell.

like this guy

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.php/chris-youngs-fatal-flaw

I had no idea Chris Young was so awful (at holding runners). Why doesn't everyone run against him all the time?

http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f346/Triggerhappysrt/mysteryghost.gif

They do. Vin Scully always rambles about Youngs horrible numbers with the SB. I think in 06 or 07 runners were successful 100% against him.

"We find it's always better to fire people on a Friday."

17-1 over past 18 games = classic

still in 3rd place in one of the worst divisions in professional athletics = dud

not as classic as doing it in Sept and stealing a pennant

I didnt know the Rockies played int he NL East

ha hahaha!

no wai

world series champs are in the NL East, also Chipper Jones... who else?

Cody Ross

So is Jason Marquis going to end up starting the all star game for the NL or what?

thankfully matt cain also has 10 wins

the best pitcher in the league has been Haren, it's not real close, and he won't get it unless he wins his next 2 starts.

While Recovering, Rockies’ Francis Revels in Physics of Pitching

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/28/sports/baseball/28francis.html?_r=1&emc=eta1

“I think about this stuff a lot,” Francis, 28, said during his workout Wednesday. “Watching the way the sun moves and the stars move — people look up and see the moon, but I’ll see the phase it’s in and think what time of year it is, and the time since the last eclipse. You see it spinning around in a chair, the angular momentum of when you pull your legs in, you spin faster. The forces that when you’re riding a bike and lean, you don’t fall over because of the forces and vectors through the wheels. I can’t help it.”

that is not the sort of talk i expected from an athlete!

sounds more like:
http://ia.media-imdb.com/images/M/MV5BOTQzMTgzODYwN15BMl5BanBnXkFtZTYwNDAyNjk2._V1._SX475_SY271_.jpg

http://www.nzedge.com/heroes/images/aa-pimovie.jpg

oops

How's this for a line:

Troy Tulowitzki: 5-for-5, 1B, 2B, 3B, HR, 2 R, 7 RBI, .252 WPA

The triple in Tulo's cycle -- the most trivial of single-game "achievements" -- was a scoring joke.

When I saw Morbs had posted in my little thread I was so excited! What nugget of warm-hearted wisdom would I find?

lol

Great game, obviously, but that was no triple.

holy shit these guys

Going 14 wont help going into the series against the Doyers. Also Fogg is pitching on Wednesday and has a pitch count of 70.

Jingleberries OTM. We're going to need good old fashioned baseball luck to win either of the first two games. And we finally seem to be succumbing to the long overdue injuries we've somehow avoided.

I am expectin them to blow by LA

Rockies have been playing at a .700 clip since they were 15 games back. I really dont expect them to keep up that pace.

However Steve Phillips says dont worry about it so maybe the Dodgers are truly fucked

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/notebook?page=bbtn

DF to DL

EY Jr to MLB

EY Jr got picked off in the 5th but goddamn he's fast

Jim Tracy leads his squad into extra innings after going 14 last night with some awesome managerial boners in the 9th

Joe Torre does him one stupider by bringing in his walking-est pitcher in the bottom of the 10th when he had not ONE BUT TWO closers chillin in the pen

this team makes no sense. jason marquis will remember who he is by october.

He's a league average pitcher. Reverting to form will cost the Rox what, 1 game before the end of the season? The playoffs are a crapshoot (TM) so go Jason.

.500 ball from now to the end of the regular season would give us a 90-72 record.

ROCKTOBER 2: THE ROCKENING

someone on espn (Neyer I guess) wrote about them having a true ace at last in Ubaldo.

Before Cook went down they had arguably the best rotation in the west, stat nerd wise. They also shored up their bullpen pretty well after the beginning of the season. Their pen had something like 8 ERA in those 10 games they lost to the Dodgers, which is essentially the difference in the division (for now at least.. ugh).

national media covering the rockies the past 10 days is kinda hilarious. and great.

also great, ubaldo.

however, the teams they've won series against over the past month or so: cubs, nats, dbacks, padres, reds, pirates, giants. teams they've lost series against: marlins, phillies, mets.

not doing very well against better offensive teams. also, they can't seem to get a hit in the first 3 innings against any pitcher north of just okay.

it's starting to feel like they're winning games on luck alone (and good pitching). and while that's certainly better than losing, it's not exactly the best place to be as a team.

http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=9448

wish i could read that full article. in terms of the luck thing, i'm just talking about the past couple weeks - the team looks good winning games but somehow i haven't felt good about most of the wins since the pittsburgh series. excepting the Ubaldo/Lincecum game.

As a Dodgers fan I feel the same way. We beat up on shitty teams but when a good team comes to town we get our asses kicked. See: St. Louis. But both teams have relatively easy schedules going into September so it will be interesting to see who takes the division and who (if anyone) makes it to the NLCS.

EY Jr not so good with the dive

Probably not the way he meant to make the highlight reel.

Why won't this team lose? Truly, they are God's Chosen Team.

he's a better player

positional value + D + walks + better home/road splits...maybe he will win it if votto fades a little and the rox make the playoffs?

i think he'll prob finish fourth -- personally i don't see how votto can't win it

altho i think if tulo hadn't gotten hurt a few times this year his raw numbers would be up there w/ cargo & votto and he'd have a really, really good shot

true...but people love september performances and tulo just hit his 12th HR of the month

jesus.

AGAIN

JESUS

TULO

http://i55.tinypic.com/x0uwqh.png

^__^

holy shit

tulo in september in 16 3/4 games:

26 for 69 (.377)
23 runs scored
4 doubles
14 HR
33 RBI
1.130 SLG
.463 OBP
1.593 OPS

fwiw votto is hitting .276 w/2 HR and 7 RBI this month. pujols: .250 w/4 HR and 12 RBI. cargo IS hitting .467, but the 3 HR and 15 RBI is a little shy of tulo.

i wonder if my fantasy teams are back in contention, i've got him on both and haven't checked in a while

That was so so horrible. Oh god, Rockies. How many ways can a team throw away a game gifted to them? From the Rockie's forum I post on:

There are plenty of blame to go around here. Jason Hammel is not proving to be the #3 starter the Rockies need him to be. After being walked intentionally in the first, Troy Tulowitzki started pressing, striking out three times and chasing bad pitches, made one official error and one costly unofficial error. Carlos Gonzalez stranded six base-runners, none more painful than the three in the 11th. Huston Street continues to struggle with location as he blew a save. Manny Delcarmen couldn't get three outs. Jim Tracy continues to push Matt Belisle too far and wouldn't bunt Young in the 11th. The offense was shut out for nine innings after the second inning. The staff threw four wild pitches, and [back-up catcher] Paul Phillips didn't do much to stop it.

Misery. There you go, Giants, it's yours to lose now!

God, I was so upset there I used a rogue apostrophe. I was up till almost 2am following the game, my heart sinking from the 6th inning on. And this morning I just feel depressed. Stupid game.

Whoever plays the dodgers the most in the last two weeks will win the division. My team is not so much spoiler but springboard.

I reckon they'll play like gods against one team and like the 2010 Dodgers against the others. I also know you guys own us, so I'm a bit nervous tbh.

are the Rockies cheating? probably:

Rockies' humidor system has a few skeptics from the SF Chronicle

In 75 games at Coors Field, the Rockies have hit .304 with 102 homers and 790 hits. Opponents have hit .258 with 67 homers and 698 hits. The Rockies have outscored visitors 452-345.

that was a knee jerk reaction, i don't know if they are cheating. i find the numbers fascinating however.

game on, going to be a great three game series this weekend.

dont shit ya draws now sf lol

Bee OK, you'd srsly better retract that or our cosy NL West bonhomie may disappear. For a start I'll just post "Barry Bonds LOL" 200 times on the SF thread :)

a team that spends most of its time at high altitude performs better at high altitude than teams that spend most of their time at low altitude? probably not cheating.

You mean a team that specifically targets and develops players whose skillsets work well at altitude? Yeah, I'm with you on that.

Go Padres!!!!

Tenacity...

i have never seen so many walks.

http://www.uncutproducts.com/music/rocktober.jpg

truth^^^. 4 walks in the 9th is just garbage. When your bullpen is Mets castoffs, you know you're in for some wild rides.

xpost to BeeOK.

happy happy joy joy

are the Rockies now done?

well they went on the road = automatic swoon, 4 game losing streak

but i believe they are coming back to the "friendly confines" of Coors Field so they will probably go on another win streak.

yeah, i wouldn't say that they are done

they have a six game set coming up vs the giants & the dodgers -- it's not a stretch to say that they could win 5/6 or even 6/6

so if the Giants take two, which i believe they will, then that should be it.

well i guess that's settled then!

haha, don't mean it that way. just my two cents.

i'm just really shocked that they got sweep by the D-backs.

giants are 2-5 in coors this year

idk -- dbacks have been playing well, rockies don't play well away from home

pads got swept in zona too & they're still hanging around okay

if the rockies play the humidor their cards right, they might slip in

Rox' playoff odds < 5% per BP

the follow up story:

MLB suddenly steps up monitoring of Rockies' humidor

40 RBI for Tulo this month (3 short of Ruth's September record) -- an MVP candidate? Home/road splits not quite as severe as CarGo's.

wow, that interfering ballboy wasnt vetted real well, huh?

geez, it's 2000 Mets Day.

is like some chuck norris shit -- tulo catches pop up on 1st base side, punches out his own catcher

remember when ubaldo had like 16 wins with 2 months left to go and was considered a lock for 20?

remember the whispers about 30?