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The average age of the Colorado Rockies pitching staff just took a significant increase. The Rockies signed 49-year old Jamie Moyer to a minor league deal with an invitation to spring training. That means that in just over 4 weeks, a man will take the field at Talking Stick who has nickels under the cushions of his couch that have been there longer than Rockies young pitching phenom Drew Pomeranz has been alive.

The Rockies have been overhauling their entire roster, a process that started with the pitching staff and the trade that sent ace Ubaldo Jimenez to Cleveland in exchange for pitchers Alex White and Drew Pomeranz. With the departure of Jimenez and longtime Rockie Aaron Cook, the rotation is anything but certain. Jhoulys Chacin figures to be in the rotation, and probably at the top, with the rest of the spots up for competition among Kevin Slowey, Pomeranz, White, Hammel, Josh Outman, Guillermo Moscoso, and now Moyer, with the hope of a full-strength return by hard-throwing Juan Nicasio.

So why Moyer? I think the real question is why not Moyer? Aside from Hammel and Slowey, these are all very young, inexperienced pitchers. Moyer, while no longer a top of the rotation guy, was once the number one starter for the Seattle Mariners, where I got to watch him in the prime of his career. He followed that up with a few solid seasons in Philadelphia before going down last season for Tommy John surgery. So while a 49 year old coming off of Tommy John surgery doesn’t sound terribly appealing, a de facto pitching coach with 26 years of major league experience sounds like just what this staff might need.

If you’re looking for Moyer to go out and post 200 innings and 15 wins, he’s probably not your guy. But there’s a role for him to fill, and that role is a vital one in such a young clubhouse.

Besides, he makes Todd Helton look like a spring chicken, and there’s no telling how much that will revitalize Todd for his 16th season.

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Unlike the unceremonious dumping of Ian Stewart to Chicago, this move has as much to do with roster building and economics. Smith hadn’t been quite the underperformer that Stewart was, nor the unpredictable hitter that Iannetta was. He figured to be penciled in as the fourth outfielder, his starting spot taken by the acquisition of Michael Cuddyer last month. With several guys available to jump into the fourth outfielder spot, the Rockies clearly wanted to unload Smith’s contract more than Smith himself ($2.4M, which avoided arbitration).

While this deal will not approach the Holliday to Oakland deal in terms of return, the Rockies got what they were after – unloaded a replaceable expense in exchange for pitching. At this point, it seems the Rockies are looking for any arm they can get. Both Moscoso and Outman were likely candidates for Oakland’s starting rotation, but that rotation was already weakened by the injuries, especially to Dallas Braden. At least one of these guys, probably Moscoso, will push Hammel for a rotation spot, and should be at the very least a good placeholder for Jorge de la Rosa, who will still be rehabbing from Tommy John surgery throughout the spring.

In the end, it’s probably a good deal for the Rockies, though Seth Smith is another one of the high character guys that just couldn’t make the case for a permanent roster spot. Time will tell if this all-out rebuild of the pitching staff, and the resulting shakeup that extends up and down the entire lineup, is successful. One thing is certain – just like every year, with San Francisco and Arizona sitting atop the division, and Los Angeles not far behind, solid pitching will be imperative for the Rockies to make a run at the NL West – slugging won’t win a title.

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The Colorado Rockies have proven this if nothing else: they like to build from within. So you know when they finally let go a hometown prospect, they’ve given up on the development and are looking for a change. Year in, year out, Chris Iannetta is the proclaimed “catcher in waiting”. O’Dowd and the Rockies have finally tired of waiting. We’ve watched Iannetta lose his job to Yorvit Torrealba, then to Miguel Olivo. Then as the Rockies faded into obscurity at the end of the 2011 season, minor league phenom Wilin Rosario stepped in and proved that for all intents and purposes, the Iannetta experiment is over in Denver, made official by the trade yesterday that sent Iannetta to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim of Orange County of California in exchange for Tyler Chatwood, a young hard throwing lefty that projects to compete for the back end of the rotation.

It’s not like the Rockies didn’t try with Chris. After Torrealba did the bulk of the catching leading up to the World Series run in 2007, and was willing to stay, the Rockies made the choice that the potential in Iannetta was greater than the exhibited skill of anyone else on the roster, and told Chris the job was his to lose. This happened in 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, and 2011. Five straight years, with a hefty contract in the middle of it all, and while he showed flashes of brilliance, he never solidified himself as THE catcher in Colorado. Even Dan O’Dowd and the Rockies management, with their almost blinding loyalty to homegrown talent, had to concede the move that needed to be made. Of all the Kid Rocks that graced the field in LoDo, now Holliday is gone, Hawpe is gone, Jimenez is gone, and Iannetta is gone. And for all the criticism, each of these moves could turn out for the best. Holliday brought us Gonzales, Jimenez brought us White and Pomeranz (effect remaining to be seen), and now Iannetta brings us Chatwood, and opens a spot to bring in a new veteran catcher to hold down the fort while Rosario gets ready for the big show.

Chatwood is a young, hard-throwing lefty. While he doesn’t remind anyone of Pomeranz, he can hit 95 on his fastball, and as long as Apodaca doesn’t screw him up, has lots of years left on his arm. He’ll struggle with control, and as such will either compete for the 5th spot in the rotation, or find himself throwing setup relief, perhaps to fill the 8th inning spot left by Betancourt’s move to closer. We won’t even get into the whole Huston Street thing today.

All in all — probably a good move for the Rockies. We hate to see the good guys go. We all loved Atkins, and Hawpe, and Iannetta. Colorado is the home of the true character guys in baseball… but even the character guys have to produce, and the Rockies are slipping ever further from the glory of 2007 into the mediocrity of their past, and management would do well to continue to make moves to avoid such an ungraceful fall. Speaking of moves, any takers for Ian Stewart? Eh, didn’t think so.

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More often than not, early and late season baseball in Colorado faces weather issues. The 2o11 campaign is no different. While weather issues are certainly not unique to Colorado, it’s not many places you can watch an evening game at 84 degrees, while the next day’s afternoon game gets scrubbed due to snow. The rubber match of the season opening 3-game set with the Diamondbacks suffered just such a fate, leaving the series deadlocked at one game a piece until a makeup is scheduled.

In the season opener, Ubaldo Jimenez fell short of expectations by allowing 6 runs in 6 innings. Later, Jimenez revealed a cut cuticle that kept him from being able to grip the ball properly, resulting in his inability to get the velocity on his fastball or the break on his curveball. And let’s face it – a Jimenez without his overpowering fastball is no Jimenez you want on the mound. Never was this more clear than when he served up a softball to Justin Upton, which Upton promptly deposited in the left centerfield bleachers for three runs. The Rockies took advantage of Arizona’s sloppy defense to tie the game and send it to extra innings, but a Lidstrom wild pitch scored what turned out to be the winning run in the top of the 11th.

Saturday, the Rockies bounced back with a solid defensive effort. The night was shaping up to be the Jorge de la Rosa show, who not only held the D-backs scoreless, but added an RBI single before leaving the game in the 5th inning with a blister. De la Rosa’s injury is not expected to cause him to miss his next start. Huston Street allowed a run in the 9th before finally shutting down the Arizona bats and earning the save in the 3-1 victory.

Observations

While it’s hard to identify any major trends with 160 games left to play, a few things stand out as the Rockies enter this highly anticipated season.

• Ubaldo needs to sit until his cuticle issue is resolved. Ubaldo is a Cy Young contender – for a cuticle to put his season in jeopardy is inexcusable. As Ubaldo goes, so will go the Rockies, and if that means he needs to sit back and heal, then fine. This same issue plagued him in the spring, and it came right back. It’s not like it’s a surprise that the air is dry in Colorado. Both he and De la Rosa need to take appropriate measures to make sure they are healthy.
• It’s early, but Iannetta looks to be taking his job seriously. His plate blocking play on Friday was a highlight-reel play – he stood his ground as Upton clobbered him with all the force of a fullback hitting the defensive line.
• Lopez looks as if he’ll play just well enough to keep Herrera on the bench – which is unfortunate, because Herrera could be the future at 2B, but instead we’ll stick with the veteran who will show flashes of brilliance, but ultimately be barely above average. Herrera’s potential far outweighs that of Lopez, especially on the basepaths.
• Hopefully, we’re not in for another year of 32-pitch 9th innings by Huston Street – no one in the ballpark was confident that he could keep the D-Backs down… and he made a game of it. Street is going to have to regain his ability to close the door decisively if the Rockies are going to contend for the division.

The Rockies resume Tuesday as they host the Dodgers for an abbreviated 2 game set. Chacin gets the start, with a stiff test facing Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw. Thursday, the Rocks hit the road to face former manager Clint Hurdle and the Pittsburgh Pirates for four games.

Upcoming Schedule:

Tuesday 4/5 vs Dodgers (6:40pm –  Kershaw vs. Chacin)
Wednesday 4/6 vs Dodgers (1:10pm – Billingsley vs Hammel )

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It was a roller coaster of a game, to be sure. In the first couple innings, Ubaldo was his normal self – mowing down opposing batters, and looking like a dominant force that is careening toward Cy Young glory. Even after giving up a couple runs, he didn’t appear fazed. Then, suddenly, Ubaldo showed something we haven’t seen all season: his humanity. Ubaldo’s first loss against the Dodgers really wasn’t his fault. He pitched a stellar game, only to be let down by his offense. It appeared we were on the same track last night, as the Rockies put up 5 quick runs on Lackey, only to go cold from the 5th inning on. They had exactly one baserunner in the 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th innings combined. The offense that seemed to be stepping up the pace suddenly disappeared, replaced by the soft grounders and numerous strikeouts and general inefficiency we’ve come to expect from this Rockies team thus far this season.

Then came the ninth inning. Jonathan Papelbon steps to the mound, facing the bottom end of a Rockies lineup that had become rather anemic. To be honest, the only thing that kept me from clicking off the TV was the remaining euphoria from the last minute goal scored by Landon Donovan in the morning’s USA World Cup soccer match against Algeria. Could the Rockies possibly put together a closing rally of their own, to cap off a sports day unlike any I have experienced in recent memory?

Ian Stewart, through many struggles this season, has remained optimistic that his swing will return, and return it did. In his first round-tripper at Coors Field this season, Stewart sent a fastball towering into the Colorado night sky, finally coming to rest on the second deck in right-center field, tying the game and guaranteeing at least an extra inning for the Rockies to try to take the interleague series. Improbable as one homerun against Papelbon seemed, we could hardly dare to dream for more heroics. Barmes singled on a soft hit, and was advanced by an almost accidental sacrifice bunt by Ryan Spilborghs. Ready to take his shot or go home trying, Jim Tracy sent Giambi to the plate, in a bold move that indicated he had no intention of playing extra innings. Giambi, with the runner on second, only needed a solid line drive to the outfield. Instead, he took a split finger fastball and launched it almost as far as Stewarts bomb minutes earlier, depositing it in the stands and leaving the crowd in a frenzy. While the ratio of Red Sox fans to Rockies fans might have been embarrassing for the home squad, the Rockies faithful got the last word in a raucous celebration that left the Red Sox Nation wondering what had just happened. They got to the Rockies ace, set him down earlier than any game this year, and then watched helplessly as their star closer got taken deep, not once, but twice, culminating in Giambi’s walk off shot.

I’m not ready to declare this the turnaround point of the Rockies season just yet, it’s an indication that this team really is as good as we thought it was. When summer comes, so do the Rockies bats. Also lost in the Giambi heroics was the quiet late innings return of Huston Street. Street was effective in his first appearance of the season, giving hope that the back end of the bullpen will finally get the consistency it needs. When De La Rosa returns in a couple weeks, the rotation will be back in shape, leaving Tulowitzki as the only major glaring injury blemish.

Tonight, the Rockies close the series out by sending the recently stellar Jason Hammel to the mound against the once sensational Japanese starter Daisuke Matsuzaka. The Angels loom next, so a series sweep against one of the beastly AL East teams would be a quite the confidence builder to take into the rest of this year’s interleague play and the homestretch into the All-Star Break.

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I’ll say this – it was a nice afternoon to be at the ballpark. 65 degrees, a light breeze, and the smell of peanuts almost made me forget how horrific the Rockies performance was. After an emotional game that went extra innings last night, to say the Rockies game out flat would be giving them too much credit. From the first inning, it was clear that De la Rosa, the new darling of the Rockies staff, was not hitting his spots. Every time Olivo would set up low and in, he’d have to reach high and away. If he set up outside, he was reaching in. There was not one death blow that won this game for the Mets – it was slow, consistent baseball. Much like National League baseball used to be known for… small ball. Put a runner on. Move him over, knock him in. In the end, they put five runs across and Pelfrey silenced the Rockies bats in a 5-0 shutout.

I think what we saw was a bit of experimentation in process from Jim Tracy, leaving De la Rosa out until he hit 100 pitches no matter what. He wanted Jorge to stretch as far as he could. I have no doubt that a later season game would have seen the bullpen in action much earlier. When Tracy finally made the call to the pen, it was the young and inexperienced Esmil Rogers that took the hill, picking up right where De la Rosa left off with a lead off walk. From there they settled down, but the game was lost at that point.

The defense had its share of boots, including a ridiculous play at home. The Mets baserunner was caught in a rundown, completely caught sleeping halfway between third and home. The pickle ensued, and Stewart simply waited to long to throw the ball to Olivo, and when the runner made contact the ball came out, costing the Rockies a run. Add to that a couple infield boots, and you have the recipe for a bad day for the Rockies.

The crowd, though a rather peaceful mid-week afternoon bunch, finally started to grumble like real baseball fans when Tulowitzki and Stewart went down in order to close the 9th, both looking at a called third strike. In little league, we learned that anything close on two strikes means the bat comes off your shoulder. Add to that a team that was struggling to put runners on, and the 5-run deficit with nothing more to lose, and staring at a called third strike is just plain ridiculous.

Though I got the order of games wrong, I predicted a 2-1 series. I sure would have liked to have seen a better effort from the Rockies, though. The Mets are not that much better of a team, but today they were. It’s up to the Rockies to prove it was just a tough afternoon for baseball in the Mile High City as they now pack up their bags and head to Atlanta for a three-game weekend set.

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Aaron Cook pitched 6 solid innings, and added a couple hits, but the night belonged to Chris Iannetta. After the Rockies bullpen let a 5-3 lead slip away, Iannetta, who went 3 for 5 on the night, stepped up and slammed the first pitch he saw from Jennry Mejia over the center field wall.

Cook’s night had a couple rough spots, as he allowed two home runs – but to be fair, the homerun pitch he delivered to Wright was a mistake, but the pitch that Francouer hit out was a good pitch, a sinkerball tailing in low. Francouer simply powered the ball over the fence. Cook helped out at the plate, adding two hits of his own, contributing to the 12 hits the Rockies managed throughout the game. Colorado first got on the board with a Spilborghs 3-run blast in the second inning.

It was Iannetta’s breakthrough night that must make Jim Tracy happy – he’s struggled to get started at the plate, and with Olivo hitting well, the Rockies now have a tandem at catcher that has the potential to put up some serious numbers. Iannetta’s homer was the first walk-off for the Rockies this season, coming in their second extra-innings game of the season.

The Rockies go for the sweep with the hard-throwing Jorge De la Rosa taking the mound at 1:10 tomorrow afternoon.

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It was the third inning that saw the Rockies offense open up for 6 runs, and they never looked back. Led by Seth Smith’s three-run homer, the Rockies offense came alive after struggling to put runs across early in the season, downing the Mets in the series opener 11-3. The real encouraging piece of the night, however, was starting pitcher Greg Smith shaking off a precarious start to go 7 innings, allowing six hits (most of them after the game was already blown open), and striking out 8. This was the game that I predicted the Rockies to be vulnerable thanks to Smith – and not only did the offense come alive, but Smith pitched a solid outing, also managed to put up a couple RBIs to help his own cause before giving way to a bullpen that could use the extra rest.

The Mets traditionally give the Rockies trouble, so it was good for the Rockies to come out and assert their dominance early. Look for this to be the series that sets the tone for the early part of the season. The Rockies have had some rust to shake off, and some bullpen issues to contend with. In fact, the biggest price for tonight’s dominance may have come in the shape of a quad injury to Brad Hawpe. Hawpe left the game early, which was easy to deal with thanks to the big lead. The injury was described as “quad tightness”, which in the end is probably nothing to be concerned about. However, on the heels of some hammy tightness from Gonzales last night, the Rockies could be staring down some disaster in the outfield if they’re not careful. It points to a couple things – first, the importance of depth. If Hawpe and Gonzales were both to go down, it’s not that disappointing to see Seth Smith and Ryan Spillborghs step in and pick up the slack. Second, the importance of conditioning. Tightness in the hamstring, tightness in the quad… those are injuries that often speak to less than ideal conditioning.

The Rockies will attempt to take the series with a win tomorrow night as Aaron Cook takes the mound- and believe me, they’d much rather the De la Rosa start on Thursday afternoon be the gravy in the series as opposed to the rubber match.

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Hallelujah!  Baseball Season has begun once again.  It truly is the most wonderful time of the year (I don’t care what Christmas thinks).

To celebrate the return of our national pastime, I gave myself a little treat this year.  I flew out to Milwaukee for Opening Day 2010 to watch the Rockies open up (in my opinion) their most promising season ever.

Initially I was going to write a recap of the game as seen live from the stands of Miller Park, but the differences in Opening Day celebration styles between Milwaukee & Denver were so interesting (and since the average Rockies fan wasn’t able to go to Opening Day in Milwaukee themselves), I decided to compare the two instead.

Luckily, I made it back just in time to attend Opening day at Coors Field too.  In Denver, the Rockies opened up against the visiting San Diego Padres.

So, without further ado, I give you Opening Day Comparisons between Miller Park and Coors Field…

The first striking difference that must be understood is the locations of the ball parks.

Coors Field, as any good Rockies fan would know, is right downtown, planted amidst working business and residential lofts.  Miller Park, on the other hand, is removed from the heart of the city and placed in a more isolated area.

This affects much of the difference in the pregame traditions of the two fan bases.  For instance, there is very little parking directly adjacent to Coors Field, so people will park many blocks away and walk in.  The Miller Park parking facilities on the other hand are massive and nearly encircle the ballpark.  Such vast parking lots so close lead to a great sports tradition: Tailgating.

The tailgating at Miller Park was not unlike a tailgate at Invesco Field @ Mile High Stadium, except that at Invesco people will trickle in all day so the lots gradually fill up.  At Miller Park everyone arrived at the same time causing long lines of traffic.  Once we were able to get in to the parking area however, it was remarkably efficient.  Cars were parked in the thousands within one hour and after parking there was a short period of hurried setup and jockeying for grill and game space.  But after 15-30 minutes of setup, people would know lock in and the tailgate would continue smoothly.  Conversely, at Mile High Stadium, the early arrivals grab large spaces that contract slowly as time passed and people arrived.

Invesco is useful to convey the differences in tailgating styles between Denver & Milwaukee (whose NFL fan base is split between Green Bay & Chicago), but the pre-baseball tradition between the cities couldn’t be more different.

At Rockies games we don’t tailgate, we barhop.

It’s up to you whether you prefer pregame tailgating or barhopping; they both have their pros and cons.

With barhopping you will be faced with lines to get into the best bars, and end up in close quarters once you get in.  With tailgating you can spread out a bit.   But barhoppers don’t have to clean up after themselves and sometimes get live music as a bonus.  For my money, live music beats the meshing of four idiots blaring competing car stereos any day.

(The big thing Miller Park’s parking lot got wrong was the restroom facilities.  Our section had to have between 300-400 cars each with 3-5 people and there were 3 port-o-potties.  It was terrible.)

The pregame at both ballparks was fantastic.

I commend both teams this year for exceptional fan unity.

At Miller Park I saw exactly 9 Colorado Rockies fans (myself include) in a full day of walking around.  I was more or less alone in a sea of blue pinstripes.  But four days later I didn’t see a single San Diego Padres fan (not that I was looking) in or around Coors Field.  Mad props to both teams’ fans.

When it comes time for the game, if you are outside Coors Field you all leave your respective bar simultaneously.  This results in long lines at the gate.   At Miller Park you get a nice mile to a mile and a half walk to the entrance, which produced surprisingly short lines at the gate to get in.  Once you are in, moving around in both parks is very easy.  Thank God we have finally arrived at an age in mankind’s troubled history where we consistently design ballparks to handle human traffic efficiently.

Aesthetically speaking, both parks are beautiful.

That said, the edge has got to go to Coors Field for two reasons: the setting right next to the mountains, and the wide open roof.

Technically the top was open for each game, but the Miller Park roof slides along a conveyor track on top of a wall around the park.  The wall has large windows in it to let the wind blow through, but even with those it’s difficult to see anything but sky.  Also, there are no centerfield seats, just a giant scoreboard behind the center field wall.  That just seem like a waste to me.

The playing field at Miller was similar to all major league fields except that the outfield is jagged.  I have never liked ballparks that have a bunch of weird angles along the outfield wall.  I suppose it gets very exciting when the home team hits a long fly to certain parts of the park, but it just isn’t my style.

When the Milwaukee opener began I got my biggest surprise.

The nice people at Miller Park play music every time a player comes to bat regardless of the team.  I thought that was very classy of them.  I cannot continue to endorse Coors Field’s policy of dead air during visiting teams’ at bats.  Miller’s approach is better for the fans, and that’s better for the game.

The one area Miller Park absolutely has Coors Field beat is the between-inning entertainment.

They play the same game that Coors does, where a cutie from the Park Staff will find a fan, put them on the jumbotron, and ask them trivia for prizes.  But at Miller Park when the fan gets it wrong, they are mocked by the overhead announcer and booed by the crowd.  It was awesome.  And you simply can’t go wrong with 5 people dressed up in top-heavy sausage costumes racing from 3^rd base to 1^st.  Very funny.

The fans at both parks were active in the game, but at different levels.

The Brewers fan were louder than the Rockies fans, but the Rockies fans cheered at times that made sense while the Brewer fans sometimes seemed to be cheering for no reason.

Also, the Brewers fans were definitely drunker per capita.  I can’t be too mean, though, as I expected to receive at least a bit of trouble from a random drunkard at some point, but not one person was rude to me because of my Rockies jersey.  Not one person was rude to me period.

Brewers fan are a classy group.

The trip out of the Miller Park was a stark difference to leaving Coors Field.

When leaving the Rockies’ house, you always have to contend with a good degree of congestion around the exits.  Miller Park had zero congestion.  It was amazing.  The crowds move fluidly and efficiently.  Whatever they’re doing right, we need to figure it out.  A home loss for the Rockies always leads to bad situations around the stadium’s corner exits as malcontent drunks get smushed together.

Also, I have to relay this story.

At Miller Park, it took us twenty minutes or so to walk from our seats to the car.

When we left our seats, the roof of the ballpark was open.  When we arrived at the car, the roof was closed and I hadn’t heard a sound.  12,000 tons of steel moved 600 feet and you couldn’t hear a thing.  My friends in Milwaukee said there have been times when a game has been engrossing and you’ll look up and find the roof open or shut in the middle of a game without having heard it move.  That’s some pretty awesome baseball-related engineering.

The post-game at both parks is similar to the pregame, although Miller Park is much drunker after the game.  Although, it may be that the tailgating atmosphere in Milwaukee displays its drunken idiots in plain sight, while the drunken idiots might be attending a different bar in the Denver scene.  There will unavoidably by a giant mess left behind by the tailgaters that probably is left behind by the bar hoppers too, it’s just that the bars clean up quickly and in stages.

All in all it’s a good time both ways.

The battle of the beer-named ballparks is too close to call, but baseball fans attending either Opening Day in Denver or Milwaukee should count themselves lucky.  Both cities support first class baseball environments.  I highly recommend making your way to Coors Field or Miller Park for Opening Day 2011, as both ball clubs look to be competitive for some time.

Oh, speaking of competition, there’s one more big difference I forgot to mention.  The Rockies won their Home Opener.  Sorry Brew Crew.

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So imagine my excitement when I realized that Blue Goose was doing Rockies spots as well – and here they are. This year we get to see Todd Helton bagging on Twitter, Chris Ianetta butchering the Spanish language, and the introduction of the coolest thing I’ve ever seen – in a “dear God that had BETTER become reality soon” – a “Jim Tracy is my homeboy” t-shirt (below). Link to all the ads here: http://mlb.mlb.com/media/video.jsp?topic_id=8745022&c_id=col

And for those that are interested, the Mariners batch of ads are pretty good this time around, see them here: http://seattle.mariners.mlb.com/media/video.jsp?topic_id=8716162&c_id=sea

I'm buying this as soon as it's available and wearing it to every Rockies game I attend.

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