MLB: the August Scrambling; Colorado Rockies "on Game." /// NFL: Picking Winners; Brief Assessment, Denver Broncos.

For more analysis, go to Mile High Sports Radio AM1510 or FM93.7, and to Denver’s best sports blogging team, milehighsports.com. SPORTS NOTEBOOK posts its columns Tuesday and Friday of each week. Ed. & Publ., Marvin Leibstone; Copy & Mng. Ed., Gail Kleiner). . . // . . . MLB --- THE number of MLB clubs at or above .500 appears to be shrinking, 14 instead of the 16 of a few weeks ago, while the number of teams with 60 or more wins doubled in the past week---six, now three per league. The gap between MLB’s winners and losers is therefore widening, though the same teams that in July held first, second and third positions within their respective divisions are still inside that fold and will likely remain that way as August-2013 match-ups proceed. Leading both the American and National Leagues in number of wins today are the AL East’s Boston Red Sox and Tampa Bay Rays, tied at 63 wins. Next are the AL West’s Oakland Athletics, 62 wins, tied at that number with the NL Central’s St. Louis Cardinals and Pittsburgh Pirates, followed by the NL East’s Atlanta Braves, 61 wins. Of these clubs, and because of least number of losses, 41, the Cardinals are the only team in either league above .600 today (.602). And, from the noted ties, fans could see flip-flops early in August, that is, Boston returning to first place, and/or Pittsburgh prevailing over the Cards. But there will likely be little change at the top within the NL East, in that the Braves have the most commanding lead within either league, nine games above second place club, the Washington Nationals (52 wins, to date, and below .500). Strangely, that nine game deficit is the same number of games that NL West fourth place team, the San Diego Padres, are behind the NL West’s first place club, the Los Angeles Dodgers, which has but 56 wins, just one game ahead of the AL East’s fourth place team, the N.Y. Yankees. The NL West has the fewest total number of wins in either league, and also the smallest differences among its five teams re. wins accrued, to wit: the NL West’s second place team, the Arizona Diamondbacks, they are just two games behind the Dodgers; and third place team, the Colorado Rockies, they are six behind and two back of the Diamondbacks. The NL West’s last place club, the San Francisco Giants, are 10 games behind first place, while last place teams in the NL Central, NL East, AL West, AL Central and AL East are 14 and more games behind first place clubs. Worst belongs to the AL West’s Houston Astros being 26 games back; next, the NL East’s Miami Marlins, 20 behind. Except for the NL Central’s 59-47/.557 third place Cincinnati Reds being four games behind first place, all other third place teams will be struggling to close wide gaps between themselves and second place clubs, possibly more concerned with achieving and maybe surpassing the .500 mark than with reaching first place---all are seven or more games behind first place positions, e.g., the AL West’s Seattle Mariners are 12 games back, and the NL East’s Philadelphia Phillies, 11 games back. . . COLORADO ROCKIES --- HARD not to think of baseball as a game of miracles when after bad performances during a series versus the Chicago Cubs and another against the Miami Marlins, the Colorado Rockies executed a nearly flawless comeback. On Friday, July 26, with starting RHP Tyler Chatwood achieving 11 strikeouts, plus the Rockies getting nine hits, most resulting in RBI’s, defeated were the Milwaukee Brewers, 8-3, this after losing 12 of 20 games since July 1 and four of seven since the All-Star break. It was not until the sixth of seven innings pitched by Chatwood that the Brewers rounded bases and began putting up numbers. Until then, Chatwood controlled a shutout. In the second and fourth innings, the Rockies hits flowed, each successive hit causing a previous hit to be run after run, the line-up’s powerhouse middle activated fully finally for RBI’s, e.g., singles hit by Rockies SS Troy Tulowitzki and RF Michael Cuddyer that sent runners home. As noteworthy was an RBI triple from Rockies 2B D.J. LaMahieu. . . But the Rockies lost subsequently to the Brewers, and on the road Monday to the Atlanta Braves, 9-8, after 10 innings, first of a four game series vs. the Braves and of 10 away-from-home games. The Braves are 61-45/.575, leading the NL East by nine games over the Washington Nationals, third in the NL (The Rockies are eighth in the NL) a team presumably harder to beat than the Brewers. Tough, too, for the Rockies will be the 62-42/.596 Pittsburgh Pirates during a three game series following the Rockies/Braves series. The Pirates are at second position within the NL, and second in the NL Central behind the 62-41/.602 St. Louis Cardinals. The Rockies will also play against the Pirates at home, a three-game series starting August 8th. After a 3-game series vs. the Cincinnati Reds starting August 30th, the Rockies will be competing against teams within its division (NL West), in succession the L.A. Dodgers, San Diego Padres, S.F. Giants, Arizona Diamondbacks, then four against the NL leading club, the NL Central’s St. Louis Cardinals, next three vs. the Diamondbacks, then vs. AL East number two club, the Boston Red Sox. The last three games of the Rockies regular season will be against the Dodgers. According to numbers and status, from now until the end of the regular season, the Rockies will be subject to “Overmatch,” playing against teams that have been winning a lot more games than the Rockies have and that occupy much higher 2013 rankings. Reaching and surpassing .500 will take several performances like that of the win vs. the Brewers on Friday, innings that were controlled by RH Tyler Chatwood, with the Rockies line-up running the bases the way that they had during innings two and four. Right now, a viable indicator that the Rockies can surpass .500 lies within many of its July losses, 11 of 15 falls having been by four or fewer runs, e.g., last night’s 9-8 loss to the Braves, during which the Rockies put up five runs in three innings and pulled ahead for a 10th inning showdown, 14 Rockies hits vs. the Braves 12. . . /// . . . NFL --- FIGURING out the right questions to ask, that’s the initial and hard part in deciding which NFL clubs might rank when and where in weekly standings as the 16-game NFL regular season rolls forward. Will age make a difference this year for Denver Broncos quarterback, Peyton Manning, and New England Patriots QB, Tom Brady, 37 and 36 in years respectively? Is it possible that the Patriots have been affected adversely by the Hernandez issue? Will the Patriots be dulled and disoriented from a Tim Tebow media-go-round as such happened to the N.Y. Jets last season? With Ray Lewis retired, and so many other changes affecting the Ravens, including taking Elvis Dumervil away from the Denver Broncos, could the Baltimore NFL championship team pull out a repeat of 2012? Will Michael Vick be the Philadelphia Eagle’s leading QB under new head coach, Chip Kelly? Can Indianapolis Colts head coach, Chuck Pagano, and QB Andrew Luck continue to be the duo for a balanced ground/airborne offense that won fame in 2012? Will consistency of TD accumulation define the SF 49er offense with QB Colin Kaeperknick remaining at the helm afield, and will that description ever fit Jets QB, Mark Sanchez? Can the Arizona Cardinals lift out of the bottom half of the NFL with Carson Palmer as QB? And, what about the impact of injury for returning Washington Redskins QB, Robert Griffin III? Who will shine brightest as wide receivers, as running backs, linebackers, tight ends? Will these position players make a difference for teams that finished poorly last season---Oakland Raiders, Buffalo Bills, Cleveland Browns, the Jacksonville Jaguars? But training camp has just begun, and attempting to answer these questions today would be folly, a fool’s gambit. Most won’t be answered anyway until the season unfolds and occupies several weeks. . . Okay, impulse control isn’t always a slam-dunk. Given last year’s stats and this year’s rostering, here’s our pick for NFL teams likely to be post-season competitors: AFC West, the Denver Broncos; AFC East, the Patriots; AFC South, real close, the Colts or the Houston Texans; AFC North, Ravens barely over the Pittsburgh Steelers; NFC West, the 49ers; NFC East, the Redskins if RGIII is at full readiness, otherwise the Eagles or the Dallas Cowboys; NF South, the Atlanta Falcons; NFC North, another good Aaron Rogers year, the Green Bay Packers. . ./// . . . DENVER BRONCOS --- Better to consider what’s in front of you, not what isn’t. With a roster filled with gaps, Elvis Dumervil gone, some offense and defense players benched due to injuries, it’s best to see what’s clearly visible for the Broncos powerful economy-of-force game, namely QB Peyton Manning and wide receivers Erik Decker, Demaryius Thomas and Wes Welker; running back Montee Ball; tight end Joel Dreesen; cornerbacks Champ Bailey and Dominique Rogers-Caromartie; linebacker Von Miller. There are competent others, and a healthy back-up still. No reason yet to think that the Broncos couldn’t again finish atop the AFC West. END/ml

MLB: Colorado Rockies, At The Margin; MLB Standings, AL & NL // NBA: Strategies, 2013/14

sports-notebook.blogspot.com /// For more analysis, go to Mile High Sports Radio AM1510 or FM93.7, and to Denver’s best sports blogging team, milehighsports.com. SPORTS NOTEBOOK posts its columns Tuesday and Friday of each week. Ed. & Publ., Marvin Leibstone; Copy & Mng. Ed., Gail Kleiner). . . // . . . MLB, COLORADO ROCKIES --- OF the 16 MLB clubs now below .500, several have been up and down between .480 and 500, like the Colorado Rockies, the Philadelphia Phillies and the Los Angeles Angels, .500 being a margin that divides the 30 MLB teams into winners and losers. . . Today, the 49-54 Rockies are .480 and should be higher, having lost four of its last six games against teams that have been far below .480 for a long while, the .455 Chicago Cubs and the .380 Miami Marlins. Of course, in some cases the potential of a ball club is such that a below .500 ranking is expected and that is what happens. In other cases, the potential is such that much more is expected. For example, a quick glance at the Rockies primary July line-up can cause one to wonder why the franchise isn’t higher in the National League standings and well above .500, a line-up best understood when revealed in segments within a long no-outs situation, starting with lead-off hitter CF Dexter Fowler and second batter 2B D.J. LeMahieu as a duo for getting on base, though Fowler can bang out home runs from an early pitch. Next exists “a foursome” for successive RBI’s: above-average hitters LF Carlos Gonzalez, SS Troy Tulowitzki, RF Michael Cuddyer (these three, 2013 All-Stars), and 1B Todd Helton, afterward another duo made up of catcher Wiln Rosario or catcher Yorvit Torrealba seeking extra-base hits for follow-on hitter 3B Nolan Arenado to convert into RBI’s; then comes the pitcher of the moment and a pinch-hitter option. On paper, this order is among the better line-ups within either league. We can now ask, “What is behind the Rockies having 10 or more runs in only five of its 49 wins of 103 games played to date this year?” Except for a 9-3 victory over the Cubs on July 20, the Rockies haven’t scored more than five runs per game in any of its last 17. Why? In addition to unexpected injuries occurring, causing top Rockies hitters to be sidelined, a widening inconsistency seems to be the primary culprit, for instance, when that foursome isn’t at its best it might as well be absent, the Rockies will likely lose from the foursome playing below the margin, to wit: Michael Cuddyer, who this year achieved a 27 game hitting streak, striking out and leaving men at third and first, or after smacking a home run Todd Helton strikes out and then at his next plate appearance hits into a double-play. No doubt, referencing day-after-day experiences like this the Rockies could say, “That’s baseball, it’s how the game works, no player is always at his best.” Or, the Rockies could figure out how to close the gap between the foursome’s already demonstrated skill and power and reality, between number of strike-outs and hits and between hits and number of RBI’s. So, it may be that the best Rockies recourse for more line-up heft is where the line-up is strongest and yet not consistent enough in application of that strength---needed, then, is elevation of the foursome, that middle of the Rockies line-up (Gonzalez, Tulowitzki, Cuddyer, Helton) for more heat, less ice. Unfortunately for the Rockies, the batting averages, significant number of RBI’s and OBP’s held this season by these players hasn’t been in alignment with games that the Rockies have needed to win the most. Highlighting this is that the Rockies haven’t given up more than five runs in any of its July games except once, an 11-1 loss to the NL West’s Arizona Diamondbacks on July 6, and in eight of these games the Rockies scored only one run per game, i.e., the Rockies losses cannot be put only on issues regarding pitching---the best of the Rockies has to be even better if the team is to rise above .500 and win a race to the playoffs. . . /// . . . MLB, STANDINGS --- This week, three MLB franchises hit the 60 games won mark, the National League Central’s 62-37/.626 St. Louis Cardinals, the 60-40/.600 NL Central’s Pittsburgh Pirates, and the American League East’s 60-42/.588 Tampa Bay Rays, joining the AL East’s 62-42/.592 Boston Red Sox, the team still leading the NL and the AL in number of wins. . . Leading the NL and the NL Central are the Cardinals, the Pirates directly behind, while first within the NL West are the 53-47/.530 Los Angeles Dodgers, the 52-49 Arizona Diamondbacks holding second place. . . Behind the Red Sox in the AL and also the AL East are the Rays, third in the AL are the 59-42/.584 Oakland Athletics, now leading the AL West by three games up over the 56-46/.559 Texas Rangers. . . Third within the NL are the NL East’s number one team, the 57-45/.559 Atlanta Braves, seven games behind them the 49-53/.480 Philadelphia Phillies. . . Only one third place team within either league is behind by fewer than four games, the 57-46/.553 Baltimore Orioles, and they are back of the Red Sox by two. Biggest third place deficit belongs to the AL West’s Los Angeles Angels, behind the Athletics by 10. . . Surely there are surprising success stories today: just three weeks ago, the NL West’s leading Dodgers were in third place behind the Colorado Rockies, and the AL East’s Rays, now one win behind numero uno Red Sox, were at fourth place behind the N.Y. Yankees. . . ///. . . NBA--- THE Miami Heat has Lebron James, D. Wade and Chris Bosh, the Brooklyn Nets obtained Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce recently, the N.Y. Knicks have had Carmelo Anthony, the Los Angeles Lakers went with Kobe Bryant, Steve Nash and Dwight Howard during 2012/13. While the Oklahoma Thunder has Kevin Durant, the Mavericks still have Dirk Nowitzki, and the Spurs have Tim Duncan and Tony Parker. Now the Houston Oilers have Howard. Stars, Stars, Stars! Make no mistake, there’s a philosophy at work here, that a team cannot make it to the NBA playoffs unless it’s blessed with one or more “great Ones.” Makes sense, doesn’t it? Build your team around a multiple Star-kit, at minimum a playmaker who is also a super-shooter (25ppg or higher) and an aggressive rebounder/blocker---how could this not force up 50 or more regular season wins and a post-season billet? Yet the Star-kit isn’t the only win package. Last season, the Denver Nuggets won 57 games and got to the playoffs without a Star-kit, no member of the Nuggets averaging more than 19 ppg, the team’s center and power forward highly competent but below the stats that define Star. Other teams reaching the playoffs and/or finishing the regular 2012/13 season above .500 were also without nationally-known Stars, among them, the L.A. Clippers, Memphis Grizzlies, Indiana Pacers and the Brooklyn Nets. The point being made here is that a second war paralleling that for franchise pre-eminence within the NBA will occur throughout 2013/14, like an undercurrent, “the Star-driven basketball team versus the team without Stars that emphasizes teamwork and tactics secondary to but always supportive of shooting for points,” the latter emphasizing transition from offense into defense, speed and coordination from the defense-rebound into the fast break, assists, passing, shock-and-awe defense (unexpected switchbacks from one-on-one to double-teaming), improved free-throws, foul avoidance, clock-observance and patience for the right shot, plus three-pointer artistry, and sixth-man competency. The outcome of this second war may not change the NBA entirely, instead will lend confidence and power to those teams that prefer the team-emphasis challenge and those that anyway cannot afford the $tar-kit concept. END/ml

NFL: League-wide issues, a primer /// MLB: Teams suddenly afire; Colorado Rockies---the upswing.

For more analysis, go to Mile High Sports Radio AM1510 or FM93.7, and to Denver’s best sports blogging team, milehighsports.com . . . SPORTS NOTEBOOK posts its columns Tuesday and Friday of each week. Ed. & Publ., Marvin Leibstone; Copy & Mng. Ed., Gail Kleiner). . . ///. . . NFL --- Like soldiers returning from leave, America’s professional football players have reached training camp, some having stuck to routines preparing them for pre-season scrimmages, sprint repeats, the no-pain/no-gain weightlifting, and the lectures. Others have arrived overweight or underweight and definitely out of shape. Around 25 have negative baggage---arrest records, while several hundred have landed at camp unsullied, many of them family guys. And some have come to camp angry for one reason or another and won’t give their all until after that first regular season game, when they will embarrass themselves and their teammates and decide to man up. Moreover, players still fresh from college, high school or a local field will be dreaming big and learn quickly that the NFL game is one they’d never encountered directly, that it’ll be a while before they are fully credentialed. And, as training commences it’ll once again be clear to head coaches and front office personnel that the nearest thing to perfection of individual football skills and of teamwork is the maximum effort put forth by their players, which will never lead to perfection but can come close. Other coaches and owners won’t see that and will wish they were in another profession, anything but football . . . Yes, another NFL season is moving forward and gaining momentum, by September it will roll in like thunder, some fans sighing happily as if to their table a fantastic meal had been set; they are alive again---until their favored team experiences that first crush, a loss by 15. Furthermore, as the new season approaches “a gathering of critics will again appear, asking that the NFL game disappear from planet Earth.” They will argue that there is medical evidence that the game’s players are at risk of suffering psychological, neurological and physical damage, post-career. They will add that there is evidence that the game inspires thousands of observers to tag violence as a virtue among character attributes, as other than lurid entertainment for young and old. A recent criticism is that professional football encourages violent crime and also obesity, makes it okay for players and fans to be enormously fat. . . Of note, and problematic for the NFL, is that there is much truth to the above-cited criticisms, which have been coming to light at the same time that the NFL has reached new heights of popularity and financial profit. But no way does elimination of the NFL need to happen, the NFL game can evolve, it can lose nearly all of the negatives now plaguing the NFL as long as the NFL refrains from resisting the criticisms and makes certain that it does not label the criticisms, “Bogus.” A model worth following is that of the U.S. military responding this year to claims of widespread sexual assault within the ranks. Instead of denying that the problem has existed and instead of attempting to demonize critics, the military admitted failure and has established programs to eliminate the problems cited. In this vein, the NFL has more than enough money to uptick its outsourcing for R&D re. technical and physiological means capable of reducing numbers of player-received concussions significantly. Too, NFL team-owners have to get over the fear that rule changes minimizing football’s violent effects will result in too many empty seats, huge losses in TV ratings and massive reductions in advertising. Many media and sports management analysts believe that NFL fans have sufficient sophistication for acceptance of less train-wreckage on the football field. Game appreciation drawback did not occur for the NBA when rule changes for less violence occurred, placing greater responsibility on referees for calling fouls, turning basketball defense and the avoidance of fouls into art forms that fans have learned to appreciate. Such can happen in football from referees being more vigilant about spotting and penalizing the over-zealous crusher. . . Regarding obesity, records show that it’s in all walks of American life---what could be a better outlet for speaking about the dangers of obesity than during televised NFL games, many millions of fans watching? Okay, it could seem hypocritical, like the seductive cigarette pack that says that smoking is indeed hazardous, unless the NFL takes more to heart that mastering skill-sets is a better way to get a job done than a player being 30 pounds heavier than an opponent, backing this up by placing limits on body-weight per lineman that cannot be surpassed or a player will disqualify, be suspended . . . In sum, the NFL ignoring or denouncing criticisms that cannot be faulted could result in growth of opposition, in sophisticated public outcries, in less NFL popularity and in forced changes beyond that which were necessary. No sport is immune to power of truth, not to the losses in number of fans, not to the prestige and revenue that truth can take away in a matter of hours. . . /// . . . MLB --- Since 11 days ago, the NL West’s first place team, the 51-47 Arizona Diamondbacks, have won only one of five games. But NL West second place club, the 51-47 Los Angeles Dodgers, won five and lost two. Meanwhile, the NL West’s third place franchise, the Colorado Rockies, accrued four wins over three losses. Resulting from this is that the Diamondbacks and the Dodgers are now tied at first place, and the Rockies, while still a third place club re. number of wins, they are actually in the number two spot, closer to .500 than 11 days ago, still just four games behind first place. . . Within the NL Central, there’s been less change across the past 11 days, the now 58-39 Pittsburgh Pirates still in second place behind the 59-37 St. Louis Cardinals, the former 4-3 of seven games played since July 12, the Cardinals 4-2 of six during the same period. . . It’s the NL East that can speak of significant change within the 11 days, the division’s July 12 second place team, the 48-51 Washington Nationals, now at third position behind the 49-50 Philadelphia Phillies, the Nationals having gone 2-5 during the past 11 days, while the Phillies maxed at 3-3. Still atop the NL East, however, are the 56-43 Atlanta Braves, by seven wins. . . Within the AL West, the 58-41 Oakland Athletics have maintained the top spot since July 12, now three games up over the 55-44 Texas Rangers, instead of by only one win. The A’s recorded four wins over three losses since July 12, the Rangers finishing the 11 day period, 2-5. . . Within the AL Central since July 12, the first place 54-44 Detroit Tigers won four and lost three, and second place 52-46 Cleveland Indians won four and lost two, so there hasn’t been significant change in the AL Central’s top two positions, while third place team, the Kansas City Royals, went 2-5 since July 12 and is now eight games behind the Tigers instead of six. . . Nor has the AL East experienced serious upheavals from just before and after the All-Star game. Though the AL East’s numero uno are still the 60-41 Boston Red Sox, the Sox are but one game atop the 59-41 Tampa Bay Rays, the latter having won six games and lost only one in the 11 days since the AL won the All-Star event, while the Sox went 3-4. The AL East has also seen a significant jump-up, in that third place 57-43 Baltimore Orioles went 6-1 since July 12. While still in the third slot, the Orioles are now but two games behind first place, not the five behind on July 12. . . So, it can be said of the NL Central’s Phillies, the AL East’s Rays and the Al East’s Orioles, that they might be teams afire, closing in on leading clubs, but also that the NL East’s Braves and the AL West’s A’s have been afire, expanding their leads at the top. . . The AL East’s Red Sox are still the leading MLB club, and the first MLB club to reach 60 regular season wins. Still worst among the 30 MLB franchises are the AL West’s Houston Astros, 32-59. Colorado Rockies --- Watching baseball clubs is probably akin to observing salamanders meandering across a plaid rug, the many changes in color swift and usually unpredictable. No player is exactly the same player that he was yesterday, and so no two scheduled MLB games are ever exactly the same. Not much to go on if you like to predict a game’s outcomes. Too, pitcher rotation adds to the likelihood of today’s game being different than yesterday’s . . . Some ball clubs are less predictable than others, with a wider gap between one day’s performance and another’s. The AL West’s 48-52/.480 Colorado Rockies are close to being in this category. Fans ask, “How can a team of its caliber not sweep the Chicago Cubs, though it just took a series away from the Cubs, next lose a game to the second worst franchise in the majors, the Miami Marlins, when this season the Rockies have won three-game series against the Arizona Diamondbacks, the San Francisco Giants, the Los Angeles Dodgers and the San Diego Padres, all AL West teams, and also split a four-game series vs. the Washington Nationals?” To date this season, the Rockies have won 14 series, but have lost 15, not a disastrous stat were it not that some of the lost series were to teams that, in light of the Rockies skills and power, the team should have won, e.g., losing a series to the Toronto Blue Jays in June, and three of four to the Houston Astros in May. . . Implied here is that MLB clubs that play at their highest levels of competency consistently can lose games, but rarely do they lose to clubs that play at competency levels that are always much lower. Last Friday, during game one of three vs. the Cubs, one of the more powerful line-up segments in the NL---the Rockies OF Carlos Gonzalez, SS Troy Tulowitzki and OF Michael Cuddyer---could not push anyone around the bases for runs, rarely themselves. The Rockies lost to the Cubs, 3-1, when Rockies starter, RH Jorge De La Rosa, had suppressed Cubs hitters more than adequately. Yes, a rare occurrence for the three Rockies hitters but in the second half of a season to be avoided. Compounding the matter’s seriousness is that the game was the first of a 10 game homestand consisting of games versus three teams that the Rockies have the wherewithal to win all 10. As noted on this page in an earlier column, winning all 10, or the lion’s share of the 10, is most important as insurance against the possibility of Colorado losses vs. clubs much harder to beat in August, e.g., the Pittsburgh Pirates, the Atlanta Braves, the Baltimore Orioles. Then there are six games scheduled against the Diamondbacks in September. By shrinking the July loss rate from today on (there are three more games vs. the Marlins, then three against the Milwaukee Brewers) and by increasing wins in August, such means post-season candidacy for the Rockies and definitely an above .500 end-of-season record. END/ml

MLB: The Season's Back End; Colorado Rockies & Forward.

sports-notebook.blogspot.com . . . For more analysis, go to Mile High Sports Radio AM1510 or FM93.7, and to Denver’s best sports blogging team, milehighsports.com . . . SPORTS NOTEBOOK posts its columns Tuesday and Friday of each week. Ed. & Publ., Marvin Leibstone; Copy & Mng. Ed., Gail Kleiner). . . MLB: IT’s always a mean season for MLB clubs; and, the season’s back end, the normally less than 80 games to be played by each franchise after the All-Star break, is the season’s meanest component. This is so because the next ten or thereabout weeks will be about MLB franchises scrambling harder than ever either for supremacy or for the dignity that begins with and rises from clubs reaching .500, a margin below which a baseball team is dubbed, “Loser,” this within a sport that denies perfection no matter which team is at bat or afield. No matter which ballplayer is doing this or that, failure is in the air and sharing the odds. “Beat the Devil,” is baseball’s real battle cry. . . Right now, the 14 teams that are below .500 (seven within each league) are conjuring up ways to climb up and see other clubs fall behind, surprisingly among them last year’s World Series winner, the now 43-51/.457 National League West’s San Francisco Giants; so, too, the American League East’s now 41-50/.451 New York Yankees, a 2012 post-season club, finishing the 2012 regular season at 95-67, plus the AL Central’s 37-55/.402 Chicago White Sox, finishing last year in the top half of the majors, 85-77, and the now 44-49/.473 Los Angeles Angels, last year ending within the top seven MLB clubs, 89-73. . . Surprises at the top are the NL Central’s now 56-37/.602 Pittsburgh Pirates, in 2012 finishing below .500 (79-83), and the AL Central’s now 51-44/.537 Cleveland Indians, which ended 2012 under .500 (68-94). . . Today, the 54-41/.568 Atlanta Braves are the only franchise atop a division with a commanding number, six games ahead of the 48-47/.505 Washington Nationals. Leading the NL Central are the 57-36 St. Louis Cardinals, just one game ahead of the Pirates. The 57-36/.613 Cardinals and the Pirates are the only NL teams with more than 55 wins and also the NL’s only .600+ teams. First place, NL West, has been held by the 50-45/.526 Arizona Diamondbacks, three up on the 47-47/.500 Los Angeles Dodgers. . . In the AL, leading the AL East are the 58-39/.598 Boston Red Sox, three games ahead of the 55-41/.573 Tampa Bay Rays. The Red Sox are now the hottest team in the majors, leading both leagues with 58 wins, the NL’s Cardinals at their heels with 57 wins. Leading the Al Central are the 52-42/.553 Detroit Tigers, one game ahead of the 51-44 Indians. First place within the AL West are the 56-39/.589 Oakland Athletics, only two games up on the 54-41/.568 Texas Rangers. . . Except for that of the NL East’s Braves versus Nationals, the competition between all other division first- and second-place clubs could see turnabouts before the end of July, unless the Braves slip into a long losing streak (doubtful, based on recent performances). Among division third-place teams within the NL, two are five and six games behind, respectively the NL Central’s 53-42/.558 Cincinnati Reds and the NL East’s 48-48/.500 Philadelphia Phillies. The NL West’s third-place 46-50/.479 Colorado Rockies are four behind the Diamondbacks. Within the AL, the third-place AL West’s 44-49/.473 L.A. Angels are 11 games back of the Athletics. Inside the AL Central, the 43-49/.467 third-place Kansas City Royals are eight games behind the Tigers. Within the AL East, the third place 53-43/.552 Baltimore Orioles are four back of the Red Sox. . . Among the NL’s third-place teams, the Rockies have the best chance for post-season billeting, in that they are now but one game behind the NL West’s second place club, the 46-47/.500 L.A. Dodgers and three and four ahead of the Giants and the 42-54/.438 San Diego Padres. A similar situation exists for the AL East’s Orioles, just one game back of second place team, the 55-41/.573 Tampa Bay Rays. A downside for the Rockies is that a maintaining of the NL West status quo could see the Rockies staying a playoff candidate club yet still below .500. . . The clubs with the hardest days ahead are the NL Central’s 38-56/.404 last place Milwaukee Brewers (19 games behind), the NL East’s 35-58/.376 last place Miami Marlins (18 games behind), the AL West’s 33-61/.351 last place Houston Astros (22 games back), the AL West’s 43-52/.453 fourth place Seattle Mariners (13 games back), also the AL Central’s 37-55/402 last place Chicago White Sox (14 back), and the AL East’s 45-49/.479 last place Toronto Blue Jays (eight games behind). . . Were today’s numbers the 2013 end-of-season stats, looking best for the NL-championship battle would be the Cardinals or Pirates vs. the Braves. Best within the AL for a championship go-round would be the Red Sox vs. the A’s or the Rangers. Again using today’s data, the Braves and Red Sox would be the WS match. But it’s not only numbers dominating that which comprises the MLB season’s final quarter, i.e., those late August and September days that can draw up the unexpected more than during preceding months. Much as we depend on stats to decipher who is up or down in baseball, there is that which cannot be quantified. There are qualities among teams that suddenly appear and command the day. Neither the NL’s Giants nor the AL’s Detroit Tigers went to the WS last year as having won the most regular season games. Ahead of the Giants then 94 wins were the Nationals with 98 wins, the Reds 97, and the Yankees 95, all ahead of the Tigers 88 wins, as were the AL West’s L.A. Angels ahead of eth Tigers, with 89 wins. . . The rational among us are saying, “Hold your bets.” . . . COLORADO ROCKIES --- The Rockies are not a ballclub that wins consistently. Nor are the Rockies a club that loses consistently. See-saw, Roller-coaster, Ferris-wheel, as metaphors these objects describe the 46-50/.479 NL West now third-place Rockies. The Colorado franchise hasn’t surpassed a 2013 three-game winning streak, but in 2013 has lost four in a row only once. It reached the NL West’s first-place slot this year and has since gone down, up, down again from second to third position. It lost a four-game series in May (1-3) to the very worst team in the majors, the 33-61/.351 Houston Astros, but won a three-game series versus last year’s WS winner, the San Francisco Giants, in the same month, and this year has won more than five games vs. the NL West’s first- place team, the now 50-45/.526 Arizona Diamondbacks, and has won games this year against the NL Central’s leading club, the 57-36/.613 St. Louis Cardinals and vs. the NL East’s leading teams the 54-41/.568 Atlanta Braves and the 48-47/.505 Washington Nationals. Too, the Rockies were among the few of MLB’s 30 franchises sending more than one player to the All-Star game---SS Troy Tulowitzki, OF Carlos Gonzalez, and OF/IF Michael Cuddyer. Yes, were the Rockies now within the NL Central they’d be in fourth place, and they are now just one win above the AL East’s 45-49/.479 last-place Toronto Blue Jays, but were the Rockies in any of the four remaining divisions today they’d still be a third-position club. Presently, of course, the Rockies are aiming to climb upward, and if unable to do that to keep from slipping back, for the Rockies are today but four games behind NL West first-place, and two behind second-place. The opportunity for winning enough games to achieve a post-season slot still exists for the Rockies to exploit. Of much value now is that, as mentioned in Tuesday’s posting (this page, July 16), the Rockies next 10 games are vs. NL clubs well below .500, four vs. the NL East’s 35-58/.376 Miami Marlins, now the second worst team in the majors, and three each vs. the NL Central’s 42-51/.452 fourth-place Chicago Cubs and vs. the 38-56/.404 last-place Milwaukee Brewers. By winning as many as eight of the upcoming 10 games, the Rockies could offset the possibility of losses during subsequent games vs. teams far above .500, the Braves, the Pittsburgh Pirates, the Baltimore Orioles and the Cardinals. For the 2013 Rockies, a much-used phrase still applies, “It aint over ‘til it’s over!” END/ml

MLB: ALL-STAR WEEK /// COLORADO ROCKIES, NOT TOO LATE FOR A JUMP ABOVE .500

FOR more analysis, go to Mile High Sports Radio AM1510 or FM93.7, and to Denver’s best sports blogging team, milehighsports.com . . . SPORTS NOTEBOOK posts its columns Tuesday and Friday of each week. Ed. & Publ., Marvin Leibstone; Copy & Mng. Ed., Gail Kleiner). MLB: IT’s that time of year when a large number of MLB fans start saying to the American and National Leagues, “Show us what you got,” while others prefer asking that of individual players belonging to one or both leagues. Since 1933, professional baseball’s All-Star week has been that kind of a fish bowl, and since national TV coverage began several decades ago the annual event has been an iconic American experience, last year watched by around 27 million Americans. This year will be no different for players from a sizeable number of MLB’s 30 teams. Yes, last place franchise in either league, the Houston Astros, will be represented, by quality catcher, Jason Castro, batting average .266, with 31 RBI’s and a dozen home runs. He’ll be joined by top hitter from the AL’s Detroit Tigers, Miguel Cabrera, BA .367 (best in MLB this season), with 95 RBI’s and 30 HR’s, also by Jhonny Peralta of the Tigers, BA .300, 99 hits, 25 of them doubles. Among pitchers to be seen during the All-Star game will be the AL’s Grant Balfour (Oakland Athletics), closer Mariano Rivera (NYY); from the NL Clayton Kershaw (LAD), Cliff Lee (Phila.), Jason Zimmerman (Wash. Nationals), closer Sergio Romo (SFG). SOME BACKGROUND--- . . . Since 1933, the National League has won the All-Star game 41 times, the National League 37 times. . . . The longest All-Star game winning streak, that is, a League winning year after year, belongs to the AL---12, from July 1987 onward. . . . The second longest All-Star game winning streak (year following year) belongs to the NL---11 wins from 1972 on. . . . Third longest All-Star winning streak is owned by the NL---8, starting 1962. Rarely has either League failed to win the All-Star game two or more years in a row. Solo wins followed by a loss in the next year has occurred less than five times for either League. . . . The first All-Star game MVP was selected in 1962---the NL’s L.A. Dodger Maury Wills shared the award with the AL’s L.A. Angels Leon Wagner. Since then, an NL MVP has been selected 27 times, an AL MVP 24 times. . . . The longest All-Star MVP selection winning streak belongs to the AL and the NL, 12 apiece, the NL from 1972 on, the AL from 1997. . . . Only three ballplayers have been All-Star MVP’s more than once: Willie Mays (NL-SF G), 1963 and 1968; Steve Garvey (NL-LAD), 1974 and 1978; Carl Ripken, Jr. (AL- Balt. Orioles), 1991 and 2011. . . . Of note is that the All-Star MVP is rarely the MVP selection at the end of the baseball season. Such has happened fewer than six times since 1963. . . . Last year’s All-Star winning team? The NL, with a shutout of the AL for the sixth time. The MVP for All-Star game-2012 was the NL-SFG’s Melky Cabrera. . . . This year’s All-Star AL starters will be from seven AL teams, three from the Baltimore Orioles (1B Chris Davis, SS J.J. Hardy, OF Adam Jones), the rest from the Minnesota Twins (Catcher, Joe Mauer), the N.Y. Yankees (2B Robinson Cano), the Detroit Tigers (3B, Miguel Cabrera), the Angels (OF, Mike Trout), the Toronto Blue Jays (OF, Jose Bautista), and from the Boston Red Sox (DH, David Ortiz). . . . The All-Star NL starters will be from six NL clubs---St. Louis Cardinals (Catcher, Yadier Molina, and OF, Carlos Beltran), Cincinnati Reds (1B, Joey Votto, and 2B, Brandon Phillips) the Colorado Rockies (SS, Troy Tulowitzki. and OF, Carlos Gonzalez), from the N.Y. Mets (3B, David Wright), and from the Washington Nationals (OF, Bryce Harper). . . . . . COLORADO ROCKIES---On Sunday, the Rockies won their last game prior to All-Star Week, 3-1, versus the Los Angeles Dodgers, an upside keeping the Colorado franchise in contention for a post-season slot by being only four games behind NL West first place franchise, the Arizona Diamondbacks, though the 46-50/.479 Rockies are now in third place behind the Dodgers by two wins. Not good, though, is that within the NL the Rockies are way back, ninth among the league’s 15 teams. Within the entire MLB, the Rockies are 18th among 30 clubs, therefore in MLB’s bottom half. The team had a good April this year, winning 16 games, losing 11, but May was a reverse ride---12 wins, 16 losses. In June, the Rockies failed to do much better, winning 13 and losing 15. And not once since the season started have the Rockies won more than three games straight, while they’ve suffered a five game losing streak in June and were swept by the Diamondbacks in July, a team they needed to at least split a series with in order to prevent a drop back within the NL West. Yet the Rockies are among a small number of MLB clubs sending three players to Tuesday night’s All-Star game---SS Troy Tulowitzki, OF Carlos Gonzalez and IF/OF Michael Cuddeyer, who achieved a 27 game hitting streak this season. The Rockies are also among only three ball clubs with two players chosen to “start” Tuesday’s All-Star game---Tulowitzki, and Gonzalez, with Cuddyer on the All Star reserve list. Too, on Friday last the Rockies experienced their fourth shutout of the year, defeating the Dodgers 3-0, with RH starting hurler, Juan Nicasio, throwing seven innings with no earned runs and ending the Dodgers five-game winning streak. In spite of more losses than wins, Rockies talent seems to surface big time. . . A leap ahead is possible for the Rockies after the All-Star break, starting with a three game series vs. the 42-51 Chicago Cubs (fourth place, NL Central), followed by four games vs. the 35-58 Miami Marlins (last place, NL East), then three games vs. the 38-56 Milwaukee Brewers (last place, NL Central). That’s three teams with worse records than the Rockies now hold. The Marlins are also the second worst team within the entire MLB, just two games up on the AL’s Houston Astros. If nothing else, winning the lion’s share of these 10 contests could serve as a buffer against possible July and August losses to currently top-of-the heap teams, especially vs. the NL’s 54-41 Atlanta Braves, NL Central’s 56-37 Pittsburgh Pirates and the AL’s 53-43 Baltimore Orioles. END/ml

Basketball, Tennis, Baseball

NBA: Musical Chairs, Again! /// TENNIS: Wimbledon-2013 & the Unexpected /// MLB: the Standings, All-Star Week. . . For more analysis, go to Mile High Sports Radio AM1510 or FM93.7, and to Denver’s best sports blogging team, milehighsports.com . . . SPORTS NOTEBOOK posts its columns Tuesday and Friday of each week. Ed. & Publ., Marvin Leibstone; Copy & Mng. Ed., Gail Kleiner). NBA: Some years, the more that faces and names change within the NBA the more everything stays the same. Other years, it’s different. It’s hard to know what new and old assets will do “precisely.” Still, we ponder about NBA outcomes, we try to figure out if numerous changes made will really make a difference for the win curve. Recently, the NBA seems to have undergone serious overhaul, Doc Rivers from Boston to L.A., Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce from Boston to Brooklyn, Dwight Howard from L.A. to Houston, Brian Shaw from Indiana to Denver, Jason Kidd from the Knicks to being a coach for the Brooklyn Nets, so many other moves, all implying that when the 2013/14 regular season kicks in the NBA will be unrecognizable compared with last year’s layouts. What to expect? Will the playoff also-ran teams now reach second-round berths and maybe travel higher? Will the status quo maintain? New acquisitions don’t always pan out. Shaq to the Lakers was a boon for the L.A. team, but his return to the Magic in years after wasn’t as great a gift. And, no amount of musical chairs in the 1990’s helped teams engage the Chicago Bulls sufficiently enough to topple them, Phil Jackson then Chicago’s head coach, Scotty Pippen turning down offers from other teams. In later years, Michael Jordan couldn’t lift the Washington Wizards to glory, neither as an executive nor as player. Last season, Steve Nash and Howard going to the Lakers hadn’t spoiled the brew for other Western Conference teams. No trade involves players and coaches of such stature that their presence guarantees a championship ring, and there’s no guarantee of the 50 wins that usually pitches teams into post-season slots. In other words, LeBron isn’t on his way back to Cleveland, Tony Parker will remain a Texan, there will be more thunder from Oklahoma City’s Kevin Durant, and Kobe Bryant isn’t leaving L.A., nor is Carmelo Anthony turning his back on New York. Yes, Doc Rivers coaching the L.A. Clippers could make a huge difference, and surely Shaw will have the Denver Nuggets in playoff mode early on. So, too, will Garnett, Pierce, Howard and others add value to their new homes during the 2013/14 season, yet new and veteran coaches will want to structure franchises that can win big well beyond 2013/14, which for reconstituted teams requires cautious starter + bench rostering and lots of trial-and-error easing into new strategies and tactics. An issue here is that the best of players do not always readjust to new teammates quickly. Re-invented player-combinations rarely begin a best and enduing ride during a first run out of the stall. It’s likely, then, that the NBA’s recently rebuilt franchises will see steady progress toward best possible team + individual player execution, but such usually comes about after more than one NBA season. It’s a foolish bet that coach and player differences for 2013/14 will result in the Heat, Spurs or the Knicks floundering and going down in flames. WIMBLEDON -2013 --- A sport can begin to look like Ground Hog day, same as yesterday, same athletes reaching the top, same bottom of the pile, no change at mid-point. Then comes a storm with twists and turns that no-one predicted, such as United Kingdom player, Andy Murray, winning the men’s title + trophy at the 2013 all-England Wimbledon Grand Slam tennis event (grass), a feat last accomplished 77 years ago. But that wasn’t all that rained down from wizards on high. The leading world tennis players that analysts thought would finish at the top of Wimbledon-2013 were eliminated as if failure dust were sprinkled all over them, example: the 2008 Wimbledon winner and this year’s French Open winner, Spain’s Rafael Nadal, fell away in the first round to a player ranked 135th, Steve Darcis of Belgium. Then Darcis was gone in a subsequent round. Pundits were saying, “It will be last year’s Wimbledon winner, Roger Federer, vs. Serbia’s Novak Djokovic, at the finals.” BUT---Federer fell to Sergiy Stakovsky, the Ukrainian eliminated soon after, and 2011 Wimbledon winner Djokovic left the scene after being beaten by Argentina’s Juan Martin del Porto, who had defeated Spain’s David Ferrer, a favorite for the Finals. Also against a reasonable expectation was last year’s Wimbledon women’s title winner, America’s Serena Williams, losing early to Germany’s Sabine Lisicki, a surprise defeat after Serena Williams had won 34 matches straight. Then Lisicki dropped at the finals to the now Wimbledon-crowned, Marion Bartoli, of France. Was anything predicted about Wimbledon-2013 that turned out to be so? Yes, that the 11 American Wimbledon “male” singles entries would be eliminated quickly. It didn’t just happen; it happened as the record for one nation’s entire number of players zapped during early rounds of a Grand Slam, surely a flip side of the 1980’s and 1990’s, when American male tennis players dominated not just Grand Slams but all of pro- tennis (Agassi, Connors, Lendl, McEnroe, Sampras). The last American Grand Slam singles tennis hero was Andy Roddick, U.S. Open winner, 2003. Last male American to win at Wimbledon was during year 2000---Pete Sampras, a seven-time Wimbledon champion, a record after surpassing Bjorn Borg’s five Wimbledon wins. Last year, Federer leaped ahead of Sampras---eight Wimbledon wins. The last Grand Slam of the year will soon occur---the U.S. Open, to be held August 26–September 9, at Flushing Meadows, N.Y. Last year’s U.S. Open singles winners were Murray over Djokovic, and Serena Williams over Victoria Azarenka, of Belarus and Monaco. For the most part, appearing at the U.S. Open will be the same cast of characters that filled out the 2013 Wimbledon story, but if Wimbledon is now the indicator little else will be familiar. MLB --- Monday begins All Star week-2013, when the American League and National League will be competing most of their best players. Surely appropriate, then, is a look at which league is best so far this season and which teams within each and among MLB’s six divisions appear to be superior, the measure being number of games won. As a starter in our exploration, the AL has, as of today, the most wins, 692 over the NL’s 677, and of the six divisions (3 per league) the AL East has the most wins, 255, while the NL Central has the next highest number, 238. Meanwhile, though the AL Central has the least number of wins among all six divisions, 214, the AL has seven teams with 50 or more wins to date, and the NL has only four. Of the AL East’s five clubs, four have 50 or more wins. The NL Central is the only NL division with more than one club having achieved 50 or more wins. Most number of wins obtained by a team within either league today belongs to the AL East’s Boston Red Sox, 57, next the NL’s St. Louis Cardinals, 55. Least number of team-accrued wins is within the AL, those of the Houston Astros, 32, while the NL’s Miami Marlins sit directly above with 33 wins. Moreover, the next two bottom-of-the-pile teams belong to the AL, the Chicago White Sox (36 wins), and the Minnesota Twins (37 wins). When it comes to comparison of percentages, the NL has two teams at and above .600, the NL Central’s Pittsburgh Pirates (.600) and the St. Louis Cardinals (.611), while the AL has only one team within the .600/.600+ category, the Boston Red Sox (.606). In addition, of the 12 of 30 MLB teams that are at or above.500 but under .600, seven belong to the AL, while five are within the NL. Yet within the NL the gap between the division with the most wins and the division with the least is a lot less than within the AL, 19 from the NL Central’s 238 and the NL East’s 219, suggesting that there is more unity + parity within the NL, in spite of this being an unsought occurrence. And, while the NL West is third among the six divisions when it comes to most wins, it has the smallest gap between top and bottom, the Arizona Diamondbacks having 48 wins and the fifth place San Diego Padres having 41 wins, the small difference contributing to the NL’s unity/parity appearance, the NL seeming to be a more cohesive organization. Inside the AL, the gap is much wider, a difference of 41 wins from the AL East’s 255 and the AL Central’s 214. Which league has the most wins between division-first place and division-second place teams? The NL, with nine wins, while the AL has seven. However, the NL lead here is from the NL East’s Atlanta Braves (53 wins) being seven games up over second place team, the Washington Nationals. Except for the AL East’s Red Sox (57 wins) being four ahead of the Tampa Bay Rays, all other division leading clubs (both leagues) have just one or two game leads over the next team in line. Which is the league with the best away from home record? The AL, 316 vs. the NL’s 301. Which division within the AL has the most road wins? That’s the AL East, 113 wins. Within the NL, it’s the NL Central, 107. And, which league has the most home wins? The AL has 377, the NL, 375. Also, the AL has the division with the most home wins, the AL East with 142. Next best within both leagues is the NL Central, 130 home wins, the NL West close behind with 128. Too, the NL has the team with the best road record, the Cardinals, with 28 wins. Next highest are the AL East’s Red Sox and AL West’s Oakland Athletics, each with 26 road wins. Best team home record within either league belongs to the AL’s Red Sox---31 wins. Next, the NL’s Braves, 30 wins. The worst road record belongs to the NL’s Marlins, just 14 wins. Worst home record is that of the Astros, 17 wins. So, what does the above washboard of data tell us? Certainly that determining which of the two MLB leagues is ahead of the other is no easy feat, in that the categories for judgment seem almost endless. Evident, however, is that rough parity is within reach among the two leagues, neither having a significant edge over the other once we get past the AL’s total number of 2013 wins now being 15 more than those of the NL. END/ml

BASEBALL/TENNIS

MLB: “the Winners;” Colorado Rockies, Now & Up Ahead // Tennis: Wimbledon.   

For more analysis, go to Mile High Sports Radio AM1510 or FM93.7, and to Denver’s best sports blogging team, milehighsports.com .  .  .  SPORTS NOTEBOOK posts its columns Tuesday and Friday of each week. Ed. & Publ., Marvin Leibstone; Copy & Mng. Ed., Gail Kleiner).  

            MLB   ---     All Star week is 10 days away, a sort of half time period for professional baseball without the beautiful Beyonce and her entourage---maybe! The All Star execs want to bulk up the TV ratings. Given the increasing spectacle-plank of the All Star period, one may wonder which side Beyonce would want to bat and field for? Our preference, Halle Berry, or Amy Adams from last year’s Clint East Eastwood baseball film. That set aside, MLB is in "approach mode" now, an about-to-land phase for its two leagues that comprise three divisions each, the six divisions having five ball clubs per, their rankings now an indication of which could be vying for October play.

In the National league, leading are the NL Central’s 52-32 Pittsburgh Pirates, American League the 53-34 Boston Red Sox, the latter now the top winning team within both leagues.

Second in the NL are the NL Central’s 50-34 St. Louis Cardinals. Third, but tied, are the NL Central’s 49-36 Cincinnati Reds and the NL East’s 49-36 Atlanta Braves.  

Second within the AL are the AL West’s 50-36 Oakland Athletics, third the AL West’s 49-36 Texas Rangers.

Of course, the above-cited teams are leading their divisions, but only two among MLB’s six division leading clubs have a stretch of wins that can keep them in their numero uno slots well past All Star week, the Braves being ahead of the NL East’s second place team, the 43-42 Washington Nationals, by six games, and the Red Sox leading the AL East’s 48-38 Baltimore Orioles, by five games.

The remaining four division leading teams have edges that can be overturned in a matter of days, to wit: the Oakland A’s are just one game ahead of the AL West’s Rangers, and the NL West’s leading team, the 44-41 Arizona Diamondbacks, are two up on second place club, the 42-44 Colorado Rockies.

Of the six division leading franchises, the Diamondbacks have the weakest record, barely above the line that separates winning from losing clubs---.518. Today, the Diamondbacks and the Rockies begin a three-game series, after which the Rockies could be leading the NL West, though also barely above .500 (the Rockies are now at .488).

Within the NL Central, the Cardinals are only two games back of the Pirates. Inside the AL Central, the 46-38 Detroit tigers command first place, one game ahead of second place team, the 45-40 Cleveland Indians.

A month ago, only one of the six leading MLB clubs reflected other than conditions for leadership---the NL Central’s then 35-23 Pittsburgh Pirates. On June 4, the Pirates were in third place, behind the Cards and also then second place team, the Reds. All other June 4 division leading clubs were the same leading clubs of today. Another surprising ascent since June 4 involves the AL Central’s now 40-42 Kansas City Royals, moving from last to third place.

The majority of surprises in the past month have been descents or continuums rather than ascents, e.g., the NL West’s 39-45 San Francisco Giants having fallen from second to last within the NL West, the AL Central’s now 34-48 Chicago White Sox having dropped from fourth to last place, and the AL East’s 46-39 New York Yankees still in third place.

If the current standings remain mostly a constant, late September post-season contention can be as follows: NL West, Diamondbacks versus the Rockies; NL Central, Pittsburgh vs. the Cards; NL East, Braves vs. the Nationals; AL West, A’s vs. the Rangers; AL Central, Tigers against the Indians; AL East, Red Sox battling the Orioles.

If there are dark knights rising fast now, it’s probably NL West’s third place team, the 40-44 Los Angeles Dodgers moving up from last place a month ago, now three games back of first place.

 Colorado Rockies   ---    The 42-44 Colorado Rockies moved back to second place within the NL West, but they are seventh within the NL-overall.

Were the Rockies suddenly inside the NL Central, they’d be in fourth place of that division, a playoff slot for them unlikely, and in the NL East the Rockies would be in third position, just one game ahead of the 41-45 Philadelphia Phillies.

That the Rockies reside within the NL West today is a boost toward the team entering the post-season, for the NL West is a very tight division, the difference between last and first place being just four wins. For the Rockies, then, every win from today on can be the win that says yes to a playoff-billet, though precariously.

Surely the road ahead for the Rockies couldn’t qualify as smooth all the way, it’s mostly uphill, bumpy and filled with potholes, in that not only have the Rockies undergone necessary changes that are uncertain with regard to the effectiveness that wins ball games, the competition has also undergone such changes, e.g., Rockies shortstop/super batter, Troy Tulowitzki, still out of play due to injury, plus reliance on new rotation acquisition, Cy Young award winning RH pitcher, Roy Oswalt.

Between now and the All Star break, the Rockies will be facing three NL West teams “away from home.” This will include three games versus the NL West’s leading club, the 44-41 Arizona Diamondbacks, followed by three against the 40-46 San Diego Padres, then four vs. the 40-44 Los Angeles Dodgers, the latter a team that just took a home-stand series away from the Rockies.

Yet some Rockies relief against losses could obtain from wins during a follow-on home-stand (July 19 – July 28) pitting the Rockies against clubs now in fourth or last place within their respective divisions---the NL Central’s 36-47 Chicago Cubs and the 34-50 Milwaukee Brewers, and the NL East’s 32-52 Miami Marlins.

Then will arrive the big guns of dwindling July and August, when the Rockies  complete a series vs. the NL East’s number one team, the 49-36 Atlanta Braves, followed by three games vs. the NL Central’s top club, the 53-32 Pittsburgh Pirates, now leading the NL while second within both MLB leagues.

This much is certain: not just for the most part but unmistakably throughout the rest of July and August the Rockies will NOT be a laid back/layabout ball club. Win or lose, the Rockies will deliver exceptional baseball—relatedly, fans and analysts won’t be forgetting the June and July Michael Cuddyer 27 game hitting streak, those home runs blasted by Carlos Gonzalez, the amazing picks by Nolan Arenado at third base and his clutch RBI hits, the sacrifice hits off of Todd Helton’s bat, the near-shutouts thrown by Jhoulys Chacin---there will be more of this.     

Wimbledon   ---    The rivalry-lite that is a Germany-France mainstay will get a boost on Saturday as Germany’s Sabine Lisicki and France’s Marion Bartoli compete at the Wimbledon women’s finals, “unexpectedly,” for this will be the second time in more than 40 years that two women will be competing for Wimbledon’s best-among-women trophy without ever having won a Grand Slam event.

Also a near-shocker is that Lisicki beat last year’s winner and 17 Grand Slam winner, America’s Serena Williams, in an early Wimbledon round. Too, both Lisicki and Bartoli were seeded quite low for Wimbledon, second in Wimbledon history re. low-seeded women players making the finals at the U.K-held event.

And, no-one expected French Open winner for the eighth time, Spain’s Rafael Nadal, to be out of this year’s Wimbledon competition early on.

Furthermore, Switzerland’s Roger Federer hasn’t looked like the Federer of old, a winner of Wimbledon events seven times, surpassing the six Wimbledon events won by America’s Pete Sampras.

This could be the year, then, that a British male player can win at Wimbledon, Andy Murray, a first since 1936. Possibly in the way of that happening is the extraordinary Serb, Novak Djokovich, rising toward the Finals, today defeating Argentine, Juan Martin del Porto, in an incredibly long match---four hours, 43 minutes.

There hasn’t been a slew of top U.S. men nearing Grand Slam finals (singles) repeatedly for many a year. No-one seems to know why. Care to venture an answer? Send to: MLResources1@aol.com, addressee: Ed., Sports Notebook. 

END/ml

sports-notebook.blogspot.com

MLB: Standings At Mid-Season; Colorado Rockies, 2 Forward, Then Back.

For more analysis, go to Mile High Sports Radio AM1510 or FM93.7, and to Denver’s best sports blogging team, milehighsports.com .  .  .  SPORTS NOTEBOOK posts its columns Tuesday and Friday of each week. Ed. & Publ., Marvin Leibstone; Copy & Mng. Ed., Gail Kleiner).  

          MLB   ---   WE can label any mid-season in sports as a hot corner, a necessary turning point, as a final opportunity to be smarter, faster, stronger---last call, last chance. Or, we can see it as only another few hours within a long stretch of games and conduct business as usual.

In baseball, those teams that are way behind in standings at mid-season and have pride and the will to play well, they’ll try to pump up, put forth extra effort to move ahead, even if it’s from last to fourth place within a division.

Meanwhile, teams that are still in contention for a playoff slot at mid-season, they too might chute up, seek the breakthrough, give it their all. And, those teams already far ahead, leading divisions by more than three or more games, well, they probably won’t change what’s been working, their tempo and style may stay as it’s been.

Here’s what 2013 pro- baseball in America looks like with half of its 162-game season now history for the 30 MLB franchises; and, we’re just 12 days from All Star week---

As of now, the American League leads the National League in games won, 618 over 607, and so leads the NL in least games lost, 587 over 617. Another way of expressing this is NL 11 games behind, NL 30 more games lost. Add that the AL has played fewer games than the NL (AL, 1,205 games played, NL, 1,224), which means that the NL could have put up more wins than the AL and hadn’t.

Too, the AL has the division with the most wins at mid-season, either league, the AL East, 225 wins, 189 losses. The AL East is also the only MLB division within which every team is at or above .500. Next within either league is the NL Central, 214 wins, 192 losses. Least total division won games belongs to the NL East and the AL Central---193 wins each, yet the division with the least number of teams at or above .500 is the NL West, the Arizona Diamondbacks being the only AL West team that’s not below .500.

Leading the entire MLB today are the NL Central’s number one club, the 51-30 Pittsburgh Pirates, followed by the AL East’s leading team, the 50-34 Boston Red Sox, these being the only teams that have reached the 50 games won mark. Only Boston is close to a commanding lead, however, with three games won over the Baltimore Orioles (47-36). The Pirates are two ahead of the St. Louis Cardinals (49-32).

Except for the NL East’s number one, the 48-34 Atlanta Braves, the remaining division first place clubs (both leagues) do not have commanding leads. The Braves are ahead of the NL East’s number two, the Washington Nationals, by six games.

Within the NL West, the leading Arizona Diamondbacks (42-40) are but one game ahead of number two, the Colorado Rockies (41-42).

Within the AL West, the Texas Rangers and the Oakland Athletics are tied at first place, 48-34 and 48-35 respectively, directly behind them the Los Angeles Angels (39-43---a nine game deficit).

Within the AL Central, the 44-38 Cleveland Indians are only one game ahead of the Detroit Tigers (43-38).

So, were league champions to battle today for the World Series title and number of wins were the deciding factor, it would be an eastern seaboard contest, the NL’s Pirates vs. the AL’s Red Sox, and the Pirates would take the WS (four straight, doubtful).

But--it’s mid-season, and the small gaps between first and second place teams advise that all could turn around quickly within a matter of weeks, maybe sooner. Clear is that while mid-season/2013 speaks to the need for several teams to juice up and reach their highest potential, there’s very little assurance as to which will definitely remain above the rest (bettors, beware!).

As to teams at mid-season that aren’t supposed to be where they are, i.e., those that haven’t met expectations, they are the L.A. Dodgers, last place, NL West, at 38-43, and the Milwaukee Brewers, last place NL Central, 32-49, plus the Chicago White Sox, last place, AL Central, 32-47; and, the N.Y. Yankees, fourth place, AL East, 42-39 (six games behind first place team, the Red Sox, and one game ahead of last place, Toronto Blue Jays).

As for the Miami Marlins and Houston Astros, it’s business as usual---they have 30 wins each, and 51 and 53 losses respectively, the worst 2013 mid-season records, either league.

COLORADO ROCKIES    ---    IT looks more and more like two personalities,  some sort of bi-polar syndrome; they win two, they lose eight of 10, they start winning again, then there’s another loss, and another, followed by a win. Does this seem like the Colorado Rockies? Yes. But the pattern reflects just about every other baseball team in existence (of course, in varied degrees). Yes, Joe DiMaggio hit in 56 games straight, but no MLB team has won 56 games straight.

Relative to being a .600+ team by mid-season, any season, baseball is merciless, meaner than the proverbial junkyard dog. I almost wrote, “meaner than a bull facing red,” but red’s been doing well this year, as in the 50-34 Red Sox and 47-36 Cincinnati Reds---anyway, you get the picture: all baseball clubs play “against the odds,” even the best. Only two of 30 MLB teams are at or above .600 today, the .630 NL Central’s Pittsburgh Pirates and .605 St. Louis Cardinals, and only 12 are above .500.

Right now, the 41-42 Rockies are marginal, in that they are close to being .500 again, yet they are exceptional for they are in second place of the NL West, just one game behind division leader, the 42-40 Arizona Diamondbacks, therefore of playoff-candidacy if they can stay ahead of the 40-43 San Diego Padres and the 39-43 San Francisco Giants.

For nearly all MLB clubs, mid-season means that the values resulting from choices made by their managers has to go up a notch, Always important, field decision-making becomes more critical because some players begin to plateau from game fatigue (usually pitching staff “starters”), others suffer injuries and have to be rehabbed or benched. First year as Rockies manager, Walt Weiss, he can’t be faulted for the recent choices he’s made, the prints of which are evident from trust he’s placed in pitchers RH Jhoulys Chacin and reliever, LH Rex Brothers, in the consistently capable OF/IF Michael Cuddyer (.347 as of Saturday), catcher Wiln Rosario (.274, also as of Saturday) and rookie, Nolan Arenado. Friday last, Chacin went eight innings keeping the Giants scoreless, busted by a Buster Posey home run, Brothers holding the Giants back, final 4-1, Rockies ahead with a chance for a sweep of the Giants. It was only the second such run allowed by Chacin in more than 25 straight innings as starter, among them, seven scoreless vs. the Washington nationals a week ago, a shutout also ended by a big hit. Brothers hasn’t left the field in 20+ innings as a spoiler, as having given up runs gained by the Rockies offense and undoing a likely win. Cuddyer? He’s currently a phenom, having hit in 27 games straight, six HR’s within, for 14 total as of Sunday, a .380 batting average since May 28, game one of the streak. He’s now at the halfway mark toward the DiMaggio 56 .  .  .  Arenado, his hit forced up the ninth winning run that beat the Giants on Saturday, 2-1 .   .  Rosario’s solo HR added to the Rockies Friday night vs. Giants win, he’s put up 13 HR’s since April 1, along with more than 40 RBI’s.

That which is omitted by a manager has good or bad consequences, sometimes being a true crapshoot. Will manager Walt Weiss sending RH Juan Nicasio to triple-A leave a gaping hole in the starter rotation? Framing the positive now is Weiss having faith in NL Cy Young award winner, Roy Oswalt, that he’ll maintain his career 3.2 ERA and his 160+ wins record vs. his less than 100 losses.

Last year, the Rockies duality was greater in contrast. When pitching went well, the line-up couldn’t hit. When hitting was superb, the Rockies hurlers gave back runs, they accumulated embarrassing ERA’s. There were important hits and base-runners, but somehow the majority of base runners were left in scoring position at third outs. There’s been much less of this dichotomy in 2013, so far, which has pushed forward the Rockies chances for NL West ascendancy, possibly the top position as September closes.

END/ml