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