BASEBALL: Colorado Rockies, N.Y. Yankees; Current MLB Standings; NBA: Playoffs-Semi-finals; Denver Nuggets Head Coach, George Karl, Nuggets GM Masai Ujiri.

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Rockies, Yankees   ----   THE New York Yankees are beatable and they will lose several games in the near-future, that is, during the current MLB season. That’s the fate of all MLB franchises. It’s also the fate of all MLB franchises that each can be unbeatable across a series of games, and that includes the Colorado Rockies. Each MLB franchise will win games into September, but then that also includes the Yankees, a team that the Rockies lost a series to in the past week while having home advantage.

All that the Rockies can take to heart in a positive sense from its loss to the Yankees is that they did not lose the series humiliated, final scores were not of the embarrassing variety, 3-1 yesterday, 3-2 the night before, and they did win game one vs. the Yankees, 2-0.

The sadness here is in two parts: first, the Rockies were close enough to win each of the final two games of the series and need to improve hurriedly on that which kept them from doing so; second, the lost series was the team’s third dumped series in a row, which could be prologue to a dismal period following games that helped the Rockies maintain second place within the NL-West and briefly, first place.

Issues that Rockies manager, Walt Weis, will likely be thinking about intensely now are, (1) While the Rockies pitching staff has improved immensely (starters + Bullpen), they were overmatched by Yankee hurlers that managed to hold the Rockies to five runs throughout the series; (2) Many Rockies half-innings left men on base unable to score (that RISP inefficiency problem of recent seasons, and of recent games); (3) Home-runs without sufficient RBI’s attached rarely win a ballgame; (4) Fielding went awry in game three, though some calls remain suspect; (5) Closers like Yankee Mariano Rivera, who thus far this season has 12 saves re. 12 games, usually prevent the likelihood of ninth inning comebacks, so “runs insurance” has to be built up in earlier innings.

The 19-15 Rockies are far from being NL non-contenders (though in third position of the NL West, they are close behind first and second place franchises). Next up for the Colorado franchise is a series vs. the St. Louis Cardinals, and then series vs. the Chicago Cubs and NL West first place team, the San Francisco Giants. Prevailing during these series could put the Rockies back on top.

Key, of course, will be the Rockies diminishing quickly the effects of the above-cited five issues.

MLB   ---   Exactly a month ago, the Arizona Diamondbacks led the National League West 5-3, the Colorado Rockies close behind, third the San Francisco Giants. Today the Giants are leading the NL West, 20-14, the Diamondback’s are second, the Rockies third. The NL East has gone topsy-turvy, too, today the 21-12 St. Louis Cardinals are in first place, the Cincinnati Reds directly behind, which is the reverse of a month ago. Only the NL East has stayed the same, the April 10th Atlanta Braves still in the lead today, now 20-13, the Washington Nationals at their heels, 19-15.

The AL has also experienced reversals, with the AL East’s April 10th first place Boston Red Sox now third and behind first and second place teams, the New York Yankees and the Baltimore Orioles. Meanwhile, the AL Central’s month ago first place Kansas City Royals are at second place today behind the Detroit Tigers, which on April 10th were third in the division. April 10th’s AL-Central second place Chicago White Sox are now the division’s fifth and last place team. It’s the top of the AL West that hasn’t changed, the Texas Rangers still holding first at 21-13, the Oakland Athletics second, 18-18.

Some changes at the bottom have occurred, as well, for instance, the NL West’s last place April team, the San Diego Padres, are at third place today, just four games behind first, and the AL Central’s Cleveland Indians have gone from last place on April 10th to third place today. But still at last place within their respective divisions are the NL’s Miami Marlins, the AL’s Houston Astros and the Toronto Blue Jays.

That song lyric, “Soon as you think you’re winnin’ you’re losin’ again,” it can go in reverse almost instantly, which professional baseball can surely be a chorus for.

NBA  ---   IT’s the surprises blasting in, like Whoosh! Where’d that come from? Leading the unexpected in the West are the Golden State Warriors, last season not even an also-ran, finishing 2011/12 as fourth in the West’s Pacific Division, no playoff appearance, beating back the Denver Nuggets in the 2012/13 playoffs (first round), now causing the San Antonio Spurs to sweat and groan.

From the field, the Warriors are shooting nearly 50 percent, achieving an almost 110 points-per-game average, the standouts being Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson. By sustaining current speed, tactical savvy, teamwork mentality and shooting accuracy, Curry could soon be the West’s playoff MVP---shooting percentage above 43 percent; seven + assists per game; 31 three-pointers in the playoffs thus far, but Klayton topping him recently with seven successful three-pointers during a single game, a franchise record. This has been happening linked to a tight defense (the Warriors are now within the NBA’s top five teams re. defense skills).

No irrationality exists in thinking that the Warriors after a possible defeat of the Spurs could be taking down the Memphis Grizzlies or the Oklahoma City Thunder. Of course, it’s not over yet for the Spurs, and the Thunder and Grizzlies have been known to go beyond surprises, think: shock and awe! 

The East’s Miami Heat (now vs. the Chicago Bulls), they’ve continued to heap damage upon opponents, though zero is absent today as a win figure in the NBA East. All four Eastern semi-final franchises have been winning post-season games; the Heat haven’t come off as “leap-ahead & super-unbeatable, as a sure-thing.” And, while never a stratospheric division leading team during 2012/13 the Chicago Bulls are not playoff slouches even vs. Miami’s best players. Our guess, we won’t see another 42 ppg from the Heat’s Dywane Wade, in that the Bulls defense will get meaner. Meanwhile, the New York Knicks are taking “heat” from the Indiana Pacers. Careful logic says, “Too early to suggest which of the East will be at the finals.”

Denver Nuggets   ---    Nuggets Head Coach, George Karl, recently accepted the year’s NBA “Coach of the Year” award for the right reasons, and not only because he brought the Nuggets to a playoff billet from 57 season wins, surely indicative of “consistency of victories.” Karl managed to have that happen for players whom without constant dependency on each other’s “strength vs. vulnerability” ratios could have turned out as a bottom-of-the-heap group. Karl figured out how to combine those strengths, improve upon them and reduce the collective of vulnerabilities, operating from a concept many NBA head coaches fear adhering to, “Teamwork vs. star power.”  No player on the Nuggets has been for the history books in a big way, but “the team” has gone there in an important manner. As noted on this page in an earlier column, during 2012/13 the Nuggets posted six, nine and 15-game winning streaks and defeated each team now comprising the NBA playoff semi-finals. Why, then, had the Nuggets again failed to advance from the post-season first round? Being a masterful head coach, Karl will determine the answers early on, with the right solutions for next season soon applied.

GM/Head Coach compatibility is an NBA franchise essential, and it isn’t present everywhere within the league. As Nuggets GM, Masai Ujiri has been a natural fit for this without his having to fight to the hilt to make it happen. By crafting that which fit his image of a winning franchise, GM Ujiri managed to deliver the post-Carmelo Anthony era starter, bench and assistant coaches that head coach George Karl might have selected were Karl a notch higher in the Nuggets organization. Mostly for that, and for his ability to maintain a GM’s proper distance from the floor during training + games and yet exert strong leadership and management en absentia, Ujiri recently received the NBA’s “Executive of the Year” award.

The Nuggets were eliminated from the NBA’s 2012/13 post-season, but that’s been the result of a few games. Ujiri secured a 2012/13 team enabling Karl to force up a third-in-the-West season finish, with six players averaging double-digit ppg across the lion’s share of 82 games.

Fans and analysts are still steaming over the Nuggets failure to reach the playoff’s second round and some have called for Karl and/or Ujiri to resign or be fired. However, breaking up one of the more successful GM/head coach combos would be a ridiculous feat, indeed.

End/ml.