World Baseball Classic, Update // MLB: Colorado Rockies: Plate, Mound.

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WBC   ---   NEVER mind that nationally known baseball stars Josh Hamilton and Mike Trout of the L.A. Angels, and Prince Fielder and Justin Verlander of the Detroit Tigers, decided against joining Team USA for the third World Baseball Classic, a concept that grew quickly when in 2008 the International Olympics Committee chose to scratch baseball from its menu of more than 30 sports. Not exactly B-list players, Brandon Phillips of the Cincinnati Reds, David Wright of the N.Y. Mets, Jimmy Rollins of the Philadelphia Phillies, Ryan Braun of the Milwaukee Brewers, they have held to form under manager, Joe Torre (NYY, & L.A. Dodgers---past), bringing Team USA to the WBC’s semi-finals and a chance to defeat two-time WBC champion, Team Japan, in spite of Team USA’s weak performance during a loss to Team Mexico at the start of WBC-Round One.

Today, Team USA faces Team Puerto Rico, a land where baseball is experiencing intense revival within a region dominated for decades by players from Cuba, which just experienced WBC elimination from a 7-6 loss to Team Netherlands. What’s that? The Dutch? You thought the Netherlands only grew and sold flowers? Not so---Dutch baseball is part of a Euro phenom. While nowhere near the scope of fandom that Euro soccer has acquired, baseball is the continent’s fastest growing sport. Within where else in Europe? Team Italy has advanced to the WBC’s Round Two, a threat to both the U.S. and Japan.

MLB Commissioner, Bud Selig, hasn’t frothed at the mouth the way that NBA honchos have over the spread of basketball inside Europe, swooning over the opportunitie$$$ in it for the NBA. However, Mr. Selig has developed a gleam in the eye for extension of world baseball as spawning ground for better pro-baseball/USA.

So, four continents are in the WBC-2013 chase: Asia (Japan), Europe (Netherlands and Italy), South America (Dominican Republic) and North America (USA). Though sort of outer-space, as if in a deliberately silly science-fiction flick, we will say it here anyway: “May the best ‘continent’ win!” Where to, next? At your video-game store by XMAS, “Galaxy Baseball: Earth vs. Mars.”

IOC? Sorry, guys, you lost the big one, big time!

Colorado Rockies --- IF you had to select a pro-baseball team that reflects powerful hitting and weak pitching, as if strength of the former were deliberately created to offset the vulnerabilities of the latter, you wouldn’t have to look further than the Colorado Rockies. As to “deliberately,” that’s only what it looks like, “it aint so.” The vast difference between the two values is more problematic than that, of a combination of variables complicated in themselves, for instance, excessive faith in purchases and trades for new hurlers, faith in pitchers with past high win/low ERA’s, injuries to both key hitters and starting pitchers (shortstop, Troy Tulowitzki; first baseman, Todd Helton, RHP Juan Nicasio, out during much of 2012); belief in a strategy that produces nearly zero results (70-75 pitches and you’re gone, fella, in comes the reliever). Add, team owners capping low the dollars required for attainment of at least two top starting throwers.

Enter the 2013 MLB season, for which the Colorado Rockies have a lineup some MLB managers would probably take a steep cut in pay for, as in, “Those guys can hit.”  Tulowitzki and Helton “are back,” likely for more than 100 games each. By mid-season last year, Tulowitzki’s batting average exceeded .280, his on-base percentage, .360. Helton dropped out after 69 games with a .238 batting average, and .343 OBP.

By season’s end (2012), the Rockies held the third worst win/loss record in both leagues, 64/98, second worst belonging to the Chicago Cubs, 61/101, and worst of all, the Houston Astros, 55/107. Still, the Rockies could boast of having four hitters with batting averages at or higher than .300, infielder (1^st & 3d bases) Jordan Pacheco atop with .309, next left-fielder Carlos Gonzalez, .303, followed by infielder (3d base) Chris Nelson, .301, then lead-off hitter/center-fielder, Dexter Fowler, .300. In addition, infielder (2d base) D.J. LeMahieu batted .297, and infielder (1st base) Tyler Colivin, .290, infielder Josh Rutledge (2d base), .274, and catcher, Wilin Rosario, .270.

The Rockies 2012 line-up produced an aggregate .300+ OBP, and more RBI’s than that which helped opposing teams win a lot more ballgames than the Rockies could win, in that the Rockies line-up hadn’t the unusual power needed to offset what is aptly labeled, “lousy pitching," think: Superman, Batman and Iron Man, in baseball uniforms.

In 2012, only one Rockies starting pitcher came close to winning more games than lost: LH Jeff Francis, 6-7, while four of seven Rockies relievers had winning records. Closer/RH Rafael Betancourt closed his season, 1-4.

Unfortunately, of the seven Rockies relievers just one could speak of winning a lion’s share of games, LH Rex Brothers, 8-2, ERA, 3.8.

In 2012, it took three Rockies relievers to accumulate the 20 wins that a single CY Young-candidate pitcher achieves. Also in 2012, six of eight Rockies starting pitchers were unable to come up with a total of 20 wins.

Again this year, the Rockies have a formidable line-up. It’s likely that they will again deliver more than the 500+ RBI’s that can win enough ballgames for a post-season billet, “as long as that number isn’t such that it cannot overcome runs given away by beneath-the-margin pitching.”

All this said, if Spring training is any kind of indicator, the Rockies pitching has elevated from “thumbs-down” status to “undecided,” frankly a positive leap given last year’s overall pitching performance, this due to 2007’s champion starter, Jeff Francis. As reported recently in the Denver Post, the now older than in his best year to date, 2007, when the Rockies went to the World Series, Francis has a slower fastball, which means his being a threat will require better placement of the ball as it crosses the plate. New to Francis will be greater reliance on the cutter, the change-up, slider, in other words, the wider inventory of throws, helping him to reverse his win/loss record of 2012 and to prevent runs given away by a fifth or sixth inning that even the best relievers would fail to overcome.

So, if Francis succeeds, and right hand starters Jhoulys Chacin and Nicasio can participate in more than the combined 13 games that they attempted to win during 2012, the Rockies will be a better than .500 ball club in 2013.

First up for the Rockies in the regular season will be an away from home three-game series vs. last year’s National League-Central 83-79 Milwaukee Brewers, which means facing .319 hitter/.391 OBP Ryan Braun and ..300 hitter/.360 OBP Aramis Ramirez, and starters Yovani Gallardo, 16-9, ERA 3.6, and Mike Fiers, 9-10, ERA 3.7.

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