Colorado Rockies 2012; top stories to watch for

Ah, baseball season is upon us.

Expectations are rather marginal in Colorado where the Rockies are predicted, by ESPN, as the 18th best team in Major League baseball. There are a lot of unknowns for the team at 20th and Blake, but you can depend on some storylines to pop up.

And here is a little preview….

Troy Tulowitzki was once one of the most up-and-coming players in the big leagues. Now, with the reigns being firmly placed in his hands after Todd Helton past the torch to him, it’s Tulowitzki’s term as leader. This is his team; the Rockies will go as far as he guides them.

The pitching staff is a black book of gorgeous possibility. But there is no better story than that of Juan Nicasio. Last year, while pitching for the Rockies he was struck by a line drive in the neck that endangered his life. His fracture vertebrae in his neck and doctors were hesitant to believe Nicasio would ever be able to regain his full strength let alone pitch in the MLB again. Nicasio is scheduled to start the second game of the year in Houston, but win, lose or draw it’s a great story.

Last year Jorge De La Rosa won four games before the end of April.  But Rockies best pitcher tore his ulnar collateral ligament in his left elbow, which forced him to have Tommy John surgery and sit out the remainder of the year. A comeback isn’t impossible, but recovering to be who De La Rosa once was may be a stretch.

There are veterans, and then there is Jamie Moyer. He’s 49, or in baseball age he’s over the hill or past his prime, but Moyer is still producing. Just like everyone else on the roster, Moyer had to earn his way into the big leagues. The now soft throwing left hander has spent 25 long years playing this sport and looks to be the oldest player to ever record a win in his first start of the season.

Todd Helton welcomes back a former friend, but he won’t be in the clubhouse, he’ll be playing down the street. Peyton Manning, the 4-time NFL Most Valuable Player and former Tennessee Volunteer, was welcomed into Denver and has close ties with Helton. Both played football in Knoxville and have been close ever since.

Michael Cuddyer comes in as the big off-season signee. The former Twin has already turned heads around the Rockies clubhouse. He’s a fun-loving, down-to-earth, and a veteran presence that will help Colorado this season.

It’s third base by committee. One giant hole in the Rockies lineup, both offensively and defensively, will be at the hot corner. Casey Blake was supposed to be a veteran to come in and take the job but he was let go by the organization in spring training.

Dexter Fowler legs could be as important as anything this year for the Rockies. The leadoff man struck out last year 130 times, or in essence, failing to put the ball in play and give up the possibility of legging more than a few out. The now 26 year-old will be an integral part in the offense, with Tulo’s and Cargo’s bat coming up right after him.

In the end, it all comes back to the manager. Jim Tracy will be in his third full year, and it sure is an important one. He took over from Clint Hurdle and was an instant difference maker but the last two years, Tracy managing the length of the 162 game season both times, have been described as disappointing. Tracy will have some pieces to work to mold this team into a possible NL West Contender.

The rosin bag is set, the lines are painted on and there is nowhere to go but up for the Colorado Rockies. They have the pieces, but it will also take some luck to get where some Rockies fans expect them to be.

Today: @ Houston, 5:05 pm

Saturday: @ Houston, 5:05 pm

Sunday: @ Houston, 12:05 pm

Monday: HOME vs. San Francisco, 2:10 pm

Josh Hamilton's recovery should continue in Texas

Texas Rangers center fielder Josh Hamilton has battled demons in his life. He has seen the darkest side of a life, but he's getting better.

Hamilton was a top prospect coming out of high school. His expectations only surpassed his potential. He was selected with the number-1 overall pick by the then expansion Tampa Bay Devil Rays. But unlike many predicted, his highest of highs were not on the diamond playing the game of baseball, his addiction to a plethora of drugs took over his life.

What happened next in his life is not only inspirational, but divine and something people, in this unfortunately crazy world, should appreciate.

He hasn’t turned his life around, it’s actually far from it.

Hamilton literally cannot go anywhere without someone at his side. He just doesn’t trust himself enough to not give in to the pressures and evils that still haunt him to this day. The tattoos he dons on his forearms are signs of worse times, but they are too painful to remove. To comply with Major League Baseball’s drug testing policies Hamilton gives a urine sample at least three times a week.

He is growing up, overcoming and doing the most courageous thing you can do. He is learning to trust himself the same way a small child learns to walk.

So while he has stumbled several times in the past two years, and most recently last week. He gave into it, only as many as 4 or 5 drinks of alcohol and nothing more, almost subconsciously because that is what his brain was trained to urge for during his darkest days.

Hamilton is finishing up a 2-year, $24-million contract with the Rangers, who are coming off their best season in franchise history, and this latest incident is causing much hesitation on contract negotiations.

That addiction isn’t terminal. We all waver, and Texas should be able to overlook this isolated incident. His future is not his past, it's only a reflection of how much he can overcome.

Rockies arguments 101: 'Their Due'

Baseball is a numbers game; baseball nerds can rattle off a player’s WHIP, ISOS, ERA, OWAR, BAbip or RC27 and then forget that same player’s name.

And the true beauty behind the game is that no matter what haphazard digit you look at there is an argument that arises indefinitely. A simple numerical value can split sides, tear families apart and divide a nation of fans and pundits alike.

And at the last two Rockies game we have seen the ‘Their Due’ argument in full force.

On Thursday night Colorado took on Ricky Nolasco and the Florida Marlins. Coming into the game Nolasco was a superfluous 5-0 against these Purple counterparts. He got touched up early and often, giving up 11 earned runs in just three innings of work and taking his first lose to the Rockies.

Then last night the Los Angeles Dodgers came to town with Hiroki Kuroda on the mound. Kuroda being the anti-Nolasco against the Rockies was a disheartening 0-5. He pitched 6 innings of 4 hit baseball and got some extra run support. Kuroda went on to take the victory; his first against Colorado.

Both pitchers were due for a change of luck against the Rockies, and both got what they had coming, Soprano style.

The sport is a never ending game of tiffs. People try to figure out the code if the streak is going to continue moving in the same direction or instantly change. Agree to disagree on all fronts.

Baseball statistics and determining what is going to happen on the next pitch, next at-bat or next matchup is like a game of Bop-It. No matter how you twist-it, pull-it or spin-it you have a good chance to win if you argue-it.

Sunday Bloody Rockies Sunday

The 6-2 loss to the Cardinals, which happened to be broadcast on ESPN for the entire world to see, made it 17 straight losses on Sunday for the Rockies.

All the other days of the week you would just think it’s an unlucky coincidence. But on the ‘Day of Rest’ there must be something much more to it; something divine is occurring that we, humans, cannot explain.

Yesterday Jim Tracy and the Rockies must have re-unintentionally prodded the higher deity. In batting practice Colorado’s 3rd base coach Richie Dauer took a ball to the nose, on an errant throw nonetheless. He was bloodied up and taken to the hospital before the game even started. Dauer later returned, with a couple black eyes and a broken nose to see the Rockies lose.

But this is bigger than Richie.

The Rockies are not destined to win on Sunday; they just aren’t supposed to win on the first day of the week. There is Black Sunday, Selection Sunday, Cold Sunday, Super Bowl Sunday, Sunday Fun-day, ‘Gloomy Sunday’, and now there is “The Seventeenth Sunday”.

Colorado has two more chances to beat the streak before the end of the year; both come against the Los Angeles Dodgers later this month. Both are viable options for the Sunday skid to stop.

The Rockies can’t win on Sunday; maybe someone up there thinks its football season in Denver already by mistake.

Ubaldo Jimenez is on the move to Cleveland

Great Rockies pitchers are as rare as a Wyoming vegan. They are found as often as a buried bone in the backyard.

Colorado ace Ubaldo Jimenez was traded to the Cleveland Indians for 4 prospects. He completed the first inning of his last start against San Diego then got whisked off to Cleveland off like the Homecoming Queen.

Jimenez is an Indian and Rockies fans should not be mad.

Colorado fans fell in love with the Dominican flame-thrower when he tore apart the majors for 15 wins before the All-Star game a year ago. They got attached to Jimenez after he threw the franchise’s first ever no-no. And now Rockies fans are as lost as that dog sniffing the ground for hours, and are never going to find the bone.

Ubaldo will be better off, and Rockies fans should be looking forward to the future with the bright young prospects joining the Rockies farm system.

There is no necessarily right or wrong in the trade. The Rockies management looked to the future when the season seemed out of reach. They found the right deal for the team, they made the trade even amid public strife and now they are sitting pretty if the prospects become something good.

Ubaldo won an Emmy in Colorado, he rounded into and out of form in 2010 showcasing his potential, and now he’s in Cleveland.

Good, now let’s move on.

I Scream, You Scream, We All Scream for Rockies pitchers

You are what you eat. And it’s looking like the Colorado Rockies starting pitchers are vanilla soft serve.

The Rockies three BEST pitchers (due to injury and lack of production) have 10,9 and 7 losses. Jason Hammel, Ubaldo Jimenez and Jhouyls Chacin all are the disappointing conclusion to the gallon ice-cream carton. They were supposed to be #1, #3 and #4 in the rotation and now even Baskin Robbins would drop them from their 31 flavor lineup.

Colorado has been, and will always be, a hitter friendly environment. What Dan O’Dowd and Rockies faithful need are bats, and just enough pitching to get by.

But they have gotten by like you get by security without getting a wink from the creepy x-ray TSA guy.

The Rockies pitching is the 26^th best in the baseball, only Chicago and Houston are worse in the National League. They are giving up more than 4 runs every game. Of the 54 losses, 39 are on the hands of the starters. And the ace of the staff is rumored to be a possibly trading piece.

Colorado doesn’t have one guy they can put on the mound that they feel confident they will win. When Jim Tracy picks up the bullpen phone he hopes the ‘Help-Line’ is on the other end. And ironically, the relievers are worse than generic Tums, they aren’t providing relief.

And it’s not going to get any better.

The Rockies are 11 games out of first place with very little light at the end of the tunnel. Like the tub that is sitting in the back of any Purple Hearted fan’s mini freezer; the rest of the season is going to be ‘slow churned’.

Huston Street's Home Run Patio

Huston Street is not leading the league in saves (22) the easy way. He does not press that obnoxious button from ‘Staples’ when he comes out of the bullpen.

The statistics are the scary part.

The Rockies closer has given up 7 home runs over 35 innings this year. The opposition has hit one out of the park every 5 innings, or more likely 5 appearances. Colorado cannot afford to lose close games in a tough division that they had the lead going into the final frame.

It keeps getting worse. He’s faced 61 batters this year, so he’s given up a mighty blast every 8.5 batters.  The All-Time Home Run king* Barry Bonds hit the little white devil out at a pace of 15.7 at bats per home run. That means that any batter Huston Street faces is almost TWICE as likely to hit a home run as the man that hit the most out EVER.

Like a blind man trying to fly a plane Street is becoming a liability.

This is a complete fluke though. Street does not usually give the long ball as frequently as he’s been doing it this year. He does not usually do this. Over the course of Street’s 7 year career he has allowed 5 home runs per season; he’s already 2 ahead of that number and it’s not even the All-Star break yet.

He may be the best closer in all of baseball. He also may be the best batting practice pitcher when your girlfriend is at the park too. But there is one that’s for certain; he knows how to make a baseball game dramatic.