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