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MLB: THE SEPTEMBER GRIND; COLORADO ROCKIES, LAST PUSH FORWARD // NFL: WIN FACTORS

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: AS of today, most MLB clubs have between 25 and 30 games to play before the 2013 regular season closes and September gives way to the October playoffs and then the World Series. For three of these clubs, September can be “doubling down” month, “crunch time,” for they are but one and two games behind first place within their respective divisions---the National League Central’s Pittsburgh Pirates, one game back of first place team, the 77-54 St. Louis Cardinals; the AL East’s Tampa Bay Rays, one behind the 77-55 Boston Red Sox, and the AL West’s Oakland Athletics, two under the 75-55 Texas Rangers. The three other division second place teams are far behind respective division leading clubs---the AL West’s Arizona Diamondbacks are nine back of the 76-54 Los Angeles Dodgers, and the NL East’s Washington Nationals are 13 behind the 78-52 Atlanta Braves, while the AL Central’s Cleveland Indians are five behind the 77-54 Detroit Tigers. The only division third place club with a chance of catching up and guaranteeing playoff candidacy are the NL Central’s 74-58 Cincinnati Reds, three back of first place team, the Cardinals . . . Except for the AL East’s 70-59 Baltimore Orioles being five games rear of first place team, the Red Sox, all other division third place franchises are behind leading teams by 10 or more wins, the worst being the NL West’s 62-71 Colorado Rockies and the AL West’s Seattle Mariners, each 15 games behind first place . . . Leading both leagues today, it’s still the NL’s Braves, with its 78 wins. Close behind are the NL’s Cardinals and the AL’s Tigers and Red Sox, each of 77 wins . . . Without dramatic jump-ups in wins, more than a dozen MLB clubs will finish the 2013 season under .500, and only two or three clubs will close above .600. Two MLB clubs will surely complete under .400, the 49-80/.380 Miami Marlins, 23 games behind first place, and the 44-86/.338 Houston Astros, now 31 games back of first. . . //. . . COLORADO ROCKIES: SEVEN days ago, the National League West’s Colorado Rockies were at 58 wins and 68 losses, below .500 (.460) and in third place of the NL West, 15 games behind the NL West’s first place team, the Los Angeles Dodgers. Today, the Rockies are at 62-71/.466, still in third place, still 15 games back of the Dodgers. In the seven day period, it’s been “four wins and three losses” for the Rockies. More than a thought here is that the Rockies are not by any means “dead in the water” when it comes to a respectable season finish. Here’s why: Starting September 2d, the Rockies will play out the remainder of its 2013 regular season---24 games. Eighteen of these games will be versus teams within the Rockies own division, the NL West, surely an opportunity to rise up the division ladder some. Overall, should the August 20-August 27 Rockies “four wins of seven” continue along with an additional “two victories” the team will add 17 wins to its record + seven losses, finishing the season with 79 wins, 78 losses, above .500, at least a winning franchise if not playoff-bound. BUT, six of the remaining 24 contests will be against teams that are already front-runners for the post-season, i.e., the NL Central’s numero uno, St. Louis Cardinals, and the AL East’s number one club, the Boston Red Sox. Also, of September’s 18 games against NL West teams, six are vs. the Dodgers and six vs. NL West second place club, the Arizona Diamondbacks. While chances exist for the Rockies to own a respectable 2013 finish, it can only be from the team “doubling down,” going all out, maximum thrust for that 4 of 7 + 2 . . . // . . . NFL: IT can seem pure showbiz, all that pageantry + cheerleaders, the music and rockers at half time, but once an American college or professional football game starts it’s about gaining yardage and the tactics needed for that. It’s limited warfare, it’s the business of moving a ball forward, it’s about real estate + the collective energy and power needed to gain that. It’s Offense versus Defense, the latter’s job being to return the football to the former as fast as possible, which means more time for the Offense to do its job, build up points providing that it can outwit and overpower the enemy, escape the pass rush, the tackles, the interference, the exploitation of a fumble. And, like war, no-one can control all of a football game as it happens. A team’s biggest enemy can be predictability, afield the poker player’s “tell,” or a playbook lacking variety, or a head coach and quarterback believing what worked before will always work again. Theories abound, “Defense is the ticket,” an analyst shouts, while an offense coordinator believes that he is the next big thing in the NFL, then the difference between a good plan and its execution turns out to be wider than ever imagined . . flop, ooh! Ouch! Whatever happened to seeing pass protection as cool science, as progression of moves selected carefully and on the move? Who is that bad-ass linebacker who screwed up that play? Yet NFL winning teams seem to repeat, even if they don’t run in the same top two of their division every year. What is it that enables that, what has been embedded? Not just research but even casual fan observations show that having a savvy, skillful and strong quarterback with leadership qualities is a must, but without quality protection against the pass rush he can be neutralized. Top teams know this and will support the QB with the best that they can find among linemen. Also, winning coaches recognize the value of Special Teams and will do what’s needed to keep them at or above a high level of efficiency. Check out teams with below the margin records and you’ll find low performance data within Special Teams. Among the weaker NFL organizations, you’ll find inability to improvise quickly enough, to move to a plan B or plan C, or something suddenly imagined, when that first chosen maneuver flakes away. The better Defense is one that causes “disorientation,” “a what-in-Hell just happened bubble” containing the opposing Offense. Too, it’s easier for a Defense squad to stop or limit the rush, to pin down that running back with the ball, than to get between a QB and a fast and canny wide receiver, thus the importance of cornerback effectiveness, always noted on winning franchise. A WR that can escape and evade, purchase for the QB uninterruptable line-of-sight for the accurate long pass or bullet throw, he and that QB are, well, the big ticket. No QB, no NFL franchise, keeps succeeding without that WR attribute. Yet there are days when the best of cornerbacks rule. END/ml

U.S. OPEN (Tennis), Profile // NFL: Looking Ahead, First Week-Regular Season

U.S. OPEN---AS last year, the U.S. Open (Tennis) will be held at New York City, N.Y., and will occur Monday, August 26th, through September 9th. It is the last of a year’s four Grand Slam events, and will happen on hard surface, the 133d version of the tournament since 1881. Of the four annual Grand Slam events, first is the Australian Open, a competition on grass. Next comes the French Open (Paris, Fr.), on clay, followed by Wimbledon (London, United Kingdom), grass. Of nations from which this year’s U.S. Open’s seeded male players (singles) are from, six are of Spain (the most from a single nation), and two are from the U.S.---John Isner, seeded 12th and ranked 13th in the world among male players, and Sam Querrey, seeded 23d, ranked 29th. The defending U.S. Open male champion (singles) is Andy Murray, of the U.K., this year’s Wimbledon singles winner. Murray is seeded third for the U.S. Open, and ranked third among men in world tennis behind first place, Novak Djokovic (Serbia), and second, Rafael Nadal (Spain). The seeded “top six” of the 32 male players qualified for this year’s U.S. Open are led by Djokovic. Second, Nadal. Third, Murray. Fourth, David Ferrer (Spain). Fifth, Tomas Berdych (Czechoslovakia). Sixth, Juan Martin del Porto (Argentina). . . Roger Federer (Switzerland), a U.S. Open male-singles winner for five years straight (2004-2008) is seeded seventh this year. Federer’s five straight wins is one win short of the six consecutive U.S. Open wins achieved by U.S. tennis great, Bill Tilden, 1920-1925. The last American male singles player to win at the U.S. Open is Andy Roddick, 2003. Within the past 40 years, U.S. male players have won the U.S. Open 20 times, 10 in a row from 1978 through 1987, John McEnroe winning four of these, Jimmy Connors three, Ivan Lendl, three. Among American players, Pete Sampras holds the record for the most U.S. Open wins in the 40 year time frame, five wins during 1990 through 2002. America’s Andre Agassi won the U.S. Open in 1994 and 1999. . . Among women seeded one through six for this year’s U.S. Open (singles), last year’s winner, Serena Williams (U.S.) leads. Second, Victoria Azarenka (Belarussia). Third, Agneiska Radwariska (Poland). Fourth, Sara Eviani (Italy). Fifth, Li Na (China). Sixth, Caroline Wozniacki (Denmark). Two other U.S. women will compete at singles-U.S. Open among the 32 seeded: Sloane Stephens, seeded 15th, and Jamie Hampton, seeded 23d. Women singles players who have won the U.S. Open more than once since 1973 are Chris Evert (5X), Marina Navratilova (4X), Venus Williams (2X) and Serena Williams (4X), also this year’s women’s French Open winner. . . So, Roddick is the only U.S. player to win the U.S. Open-singles/men within the last 10 years, and the likes of multiple U.S. Open female winners Evert and Navratilova haven’t been seen since 1987, Serena Williams now being the only U.S. athlete among the world’s top 10 women tennis players. Presently, the lack of there being new U.S. male and female tennis greats is as much a mystery as is the current dominance of the game by players from Europe . . . As of today, withdrawn from the U.S. Open due to injuries and/or personal reasons are male player, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (France), and the U.S. Open winner/women’s singles in 2006, Maria Sharapova (Russia), and Marion Bartoli (France), this years women’s singles winner at Wimbledon. . . /// . . . NFL-WEEK ONE, REGULAR SEASON---ON September 5, a Thursday, the NFL season-opening game competing the Denver Broncos against the Baltimore Ravens will likely be the high tension/high anxiety AFC event of the week, and not only because the Ravens knocked the Broncos from last season’s playoffs in overtime and went on to win a Super Bowl that the Broncos seemed until then to be up for (read: revenge). In addition, former Broncos linebacker now Raven LB, Elvis Dumervil, will be gunning for Broncos QB, Peyton Manning, the QB that he had committed to return a football to after sacking an opposing QB only last season---how will this work out for Dumervil? Too, will Ravens QB, Joe Flacco, direct an offense against a Broncos defense weakened from pre-season injuries and the loss of LB Von Miller “in ways proving he’d have done as well were the Broncos defense re-set, and in ways better than opposing QB, Manning?” Also, we will have a first look at Manning + his reinforced receiver package operating during regulation. So, if offense and defense are as comparable as the last time that these two teams met, the difference in points could come from “special teams,” the two ST’s also comparable, though data has the Ravens ST’s slightly ahead in kick/punt skills. AND, for NFL week number one several teams appear poised to win if we are to judge from last year’s final standings and current scouting reports. In other words, data advises that on Sunday, September 8th, it’s likely that the Atlanta Falcons will take down the New Orleans Saints, and the New England Patriots will win over the Buffalo Bills. Too, as suggested from data and recent analyses, the Seattle Seahawks could easily defeat the Carolina Panthers, and the Indianapolis Colts will draw victory from the Oakland Raiders. Data+ suggesting “uncertainty” on September 8th, then, are the N.Y. Giants against the Dallas Cowboys, and the Green Bay Packers versus the San Francisco 49ers. As for NFL Monday night, September 9th, data+ chooses the Houston Texans over the San Diego Chargers, and the Washington Redskins over the Philadelphia Eagles. END/ml

NFL: The Pre-Season, OUCH!! // MLB: NL & AL, Comparisons; Colorado Rockies & That "Up-Down Escalator."

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---Pre-season NFL games can be a lot of things to a lot of different head coaches and key front office staff, and what no head coach or front office exec wants the pre-season to be is a series of humiliations + multiple injuries to players. For the most part, an embarrassing pre-season score is rare for most of the 32 NFL franchises, and nearly all of the hard bumps and tackles received by NFL players in the pre-season are forgotten immediately after contact. Still, that wide-apart scoring occurs for some teams, and some key players are injured. But---it’s the pre-season tactical lessons that begin haunting an NFL franchise more than anything else, along with the hard truth that good as a team thought that it was last season, or good as it thought it was at training camp, it is still vulnerable and that vulnerability could keep it from rising above a 7/9 regular season. In other words, there’s lots more work to accomplish prior to that first regular season event in September, and not a lot of time for it between pre-season games. Almost inevitable in the four-game NFL pre-season is that quarterback and wide receiver connectivity will be viewed to be “off” in seconds relative to distance between the two offense actors, and pass rush protection won’t have the quick response needed to allow that near-perfect QB sighting + adjustment for the necessary throw. And, fear of injury before September results often in hesitancy among many a running back and also among defense linemen; and, cornerbacks get it that they are still not in good enough shape to track down and neutralize every opposing receiver in their narrow and always moving sphere of influence. We see fumbles that should never have been, and punts of less angle and distance than preferred, and repeated third and fourth down attempts failing to put up points. And, fans as well as coaches and execs will be reminded that during a pre-season the differences in strength and skills between worst and best teams in the NFL aren’t as great as indicated by previous or even current stats, or as they will be by, say, game four or five of the regular season, which means that a franchise of fewer power-points can during the pre-season pound against and ridicule a team thought to be best among the best, as in last Saturday’s Seattle Seahawks vs. Denver Broncos game, the favored Broncos losing, 40-10. Those analysts arguing that injuries are much to blame for the Broncos poor showing, they have a valid case---LT Ryan Clady, TE Joel Dreesen, CB Champ Bailey, WR Wes Welker, DT Derek Wolfe and RG Louis Vasquez and RCB Dominique Rogers-Cromartie, all injured. Then there’s Broncos sack-master, Von Miller, and his off-the-field troubles---he may not be playing in the Broncos next five or six games. Moreover, pre-season is a window during which a number two QB can be tested, which at Seattle kept Broncos number one QB, Peyton Manning, from more minutes afield. Still, effective depth of personnel is within the Broncos organization, suggesting that the disparity in the 40-10 loss could have been much lower for the Broncos if only that second wave of players had more time coordinating with each other, not something that’s possible in a brief training period and during half the pre-season. Other wins re. game two of the current pre-season were Green Bay against St. Louis, 19-7; San Francisco vs. Kansas City, 15-13; Arizona over Dallas, 12-7; New England vs. Tampa Bay, 25-21; Buffalo vs. Minnesota, 20-16; New Orleans against Oakland, 28-20; Cincinnati vs. Tennessee, 27-19; N.Y. Jets against Jacksonville, 37-13; Houston vs. Miami, 24-17. Around half of these wins were predictable. Of some interest is that except for the Seahawks win over the Broncos, there were no scores of as wide a gap as was the 40-10 Seahawks take. Of the 17 other teams listed here, the N.Y. Jets/Jacksonville difference in points was highest---24, while no other game showed a difference greater than 12 points between winner and loser, nearly all of the games having a less than nine point difference. Too, all of the above cited teams scored one or more touchdowns. Could be that none of these franchises will be deep-sixing this year in an embarrassing way. . . // . . .MLB---INSIDE the National League Central, the St. Louis Cardinals are now one instead of two games behind first place team, the Pittsburgh Pirates, and the NL East’s Atlanta Braves increased its lead over second place franchise, the Washington Nationals, to 16 games from 14 on Friday, while the NL West’s Los Angeles Dodgers lead over second place club, the Arizona Diamondbacks, remains seven games up. Within the American League, the AL Central’s number one team, the Detroit Tigers, are seven games ahead of number two, the Cleveland Indians, up from Friday’s six game lead. The Al East’s leading club, the Texas Rangers, are still one game ahead of number two team, the Oakland Athletics, and the AL West’s Boston Red Sox Friday lead of two over the Tampa Bay Rays is now one game up. . . Within the greater NL, Atlanta leads with 76 wins, Pittsburgh next with 72, third the Dodgers also with 72 wins but one more loss than experienced by the Pirates. No second place NL team has more wins than the NL’s third place team, the Cardinals---72/52 losses. Inside the AL, Boston leads with 73 wins, Detroit next with 73, but two more losses than the Red Sox have accrued; third, the Rangers---72 wins. No other team in the AL has more than the 71 wins belonging to Tampa Bay. . . Within both the NL and AL, Atlanta leads with its 76 wins, the Detroit Tigers next with its 73 wins, 51 losses, the Red Sox at Detroit’s heels with 73 wins, 52 losses. . . As to total number of wins among the three division leading clubs within each league, the difference is but three games, the NL ahead with 220 wins over the AL’s 217. Go to the middle, to third place teams within each division of each league, again the difference in total number of wins is slight, the NL with 186, the AL, 182. If there’s a pulling down of any significance it’s among last place teams within each division of both leagues, the NL total being 157, the AL’s 147. However, the AL’s worst total number of wins, and the worst number of wins re. both leagues is from the Houston Astros 41 wins, seven fewer than the next lowest, the NL West Miami Marlins total of 48 wins. . . A point to be taken here, then, is that the two leagues as competing aggregates are roughly equal, and that both leagues together are in proper enough balance . . . // . . . COLORADO ROCKIES---AGAINST the Philadelphia Phillies yesterday, the now 58-68 Colorado Rockies lost 5-4, and the day before they dropped to the Baltimore Orioles, 7-2, after losing to the Orioles on Saturday, 8-4, all this after a Rockies 6-3 win over the Orioles and before that wins vs. the Pittsburgh Pirates and the San Diego Padres. Signaled again is that the Rockies cannot win consistently enough to rise from third place in the NL West and compete from being fewer than, say, four games behind first place club, the 72-52 Los Angeles Dodgers. The Rockies are now 15 wins back of the Dodgers, and six behind second place team, the Arizona Diamondbacks, and only one win ahead of fourth place franchise, the Padres---this is the worst games-behind record among third place teams today within either league. Yet we’re not watching second rate baseball when we watch the Rockies. In spite of coming off two won series, that is, five wins of six games played plus an additional road win, going suddenly into successive losses, the Rockies anyway amassed a respectful number of runs, more than 15 since the team’s win over the Padres on August 14. The team hasn’t been without hits and runs in any of its losses since then; it just can’t seem to go all the way in enough games. And, it should be taken into account that, except for vs. the Boston Red Sox, the Rockies have won one or more games this season against current NL and AL division leading ball-clubs, three vs. the Pirates, two against the Dodgers, one vs. the Braves, and as of mid-August could boast of being a better than .500 franchise within its division, the NL West, 29 wins, 24 losses. Is this a sign of exaggerated optimism? Not so, this page believes that the Rockies can recover from losses and reach respectability before the MLB regular season ends, but not as a playoff-headed victor. END/ml

ALL SPORTS: How Dirty, How Clean? // MLB: Then & Now; Colorado Rockies--"Rockin' On!"

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) . . . // . . . ALL SPORTS---IT isn’t signaling nobility, fairness, respect for others, or self respect, the values that we like to think American sports can depict regularly, the fact that 30 NLF players have been arrested over misdemeanors or worse since the Super Bowl, and that 13 MLB players were identified as PED users this year, adding to the legion of PED related disappointments---Mark McGuire, Barry Bonds, Roger Clemons, Andy Petite, Jason Giambi, others. Add the shamed athletes from other sports: bicyclist, Lance Armstrong; Olympic runner, Marion Jones, with top of the wrongdoer list of 2013 being a New England Patriots player accused of committing murder. So, are we to believe that the American way of sports is compromised, rotten to its center, the way that pundits keep defining Washington politics, Wall Street, and high-end corporations? More than likely, our descriptions of the nation’s capitol, of our financial centers and the corporate world being Dirtbag-heavy are as exaggerated as anyone believing that American sports are sullied beyond repair and a breeding ground for liars, crooks and killers. Yes, the worst of American sports breeds topics for tabloid-reading junkies, feeding a media that perpetuates the existence of problems because that is what sells papers, keeps TV and radio going, and advertisers knocking at the door. This can stretch the reputation of sports into Dodge City proportion. Yes, and as this page sees it, no institution has ever been squeaky-clean, even the Vatican has had to announce, “our Bad.” But while from a look at the history of American sports it’s a fair argument that they are less than 100 percent effective when it comes to owning the moral high ground, we can also say that our sports hangs at more than 90 percent effectiveness "morally." Consider that the NFL pre-season begins with 50-55 athletes for each of 32 teams and dwindles down to 40-something per. This advises that the 30 NFL athletes arrested since the Super Bowl are a very small fraction of the 32 NFL teams, they are a tiny portion of the many, less than one percent, and the scrutiny applied by the NFL + the sports media is of such today that if there are more greedy and crime-leaning persons in the league than already identified, surely the numbers are small compared with the huge number of athletes who will continue to stay clean. We can say the same about this year’s 13 MLB PED users, discovered from among the several hundred MLB players who are and will likely remain clear of any illegal drug use. Of the 40+ team roster of each of the 30 MLB franchises, the 13 are much less than one percent of the MLB-entire. So, can we ever say that American sports is a crime mecca? No way! It all comes down to the saying, “There are always a few bad apples in the bunch.” Of course, this shouldn’t excuse any year’s bad apples. We shouldn’t think that the status quo is okay. We all know that vigilance within any institution is the best enemy against wrongdoing, that the leadership within every sport needs to maintain along with enforcement the likes of that imposed recently upon Alex Rodriguez, Ryan Braun and the 11 other MLB players found to have used PED’s . . . // . . . MLB---NOT all of the MLB teams finishing in the top 10 last season are the same top 10 that exist today and that will probably compete for post-season ascendancy and maybe a World Series slot. And, those that have stayed within the top 10 are not holding the same positions as at the end of 2012. Of the former top 10, last year’s World Series championship club and therefore 2012’s number one club, the National League West’s San Francisco Giants, they are today ranked past 20th within both the NL and American League, 17 games behind the NL West’s first place team, the Los Angeles Dodgers, which failed to be among last season’s top 10 (the Dodgers finished 13th, as 2012 closed). Today, the Dodgers are ranked sixth within both leagues. Also new to the top 10 over a 2012 performance-ranking are the Pittsburgh Pirates, ranked third today within both leagues (they were 18th as the 2012 season ended) . . . Finishing 10th last year were the NL East’s leading team, the Atlanta Braves, today the number one club within either league---74 wins, 47 losses. Last year’s number nine club, the Baltimore Orioles, they are now eleventh in the majors. Number eight of 2012, the AL West’s leading club, the Texas Rangers, are currently sixth, tied with the Dodgers, and 2012’s number seven, the AL West’s Oakland Athletics, are ninth now, though just one game behind the Rangers. Last year’s sixth place team, the NL Central’s Cincinnati Reds, are eighth this week, while 2012’s number five club, the NL East’s Washington Nationals, are 17th. Number four of 2012, the AL East’s New York Yankees, their story is similar to that of the Giants, today they are in next to last place within their division, ranked 15th among MLB’s 30 franchises. Number three of last season, the St. Louis Cardinals, are now seventh within the majors, and number two of 2012, the Detroit Tigers, are fifth within both leagues. . . As of today anyway, the 2013 MLB season isn’t “‘Dejavu’ All Over Again.” It isn’t “Ground Hog Day.” There are many differences thus far in 2013 from last year’s finish, which certainly justifies the hope expressed in another phrase, “Wait ‘til next year.” . . . // . . . COLORADO ROCKIES ---THE 57-65 Colorado Rockies are now at third place within the NL West, 14 games behind first place team, the 70-50 Los Angeles Dodgers, and seven back of second place club, the 62-57 Arizona Diamondbacks, having risen from flames like the proverbial phoenix, impressive after a disastrous away-from-home 1-9 record. Since August 9, the Rockies have not only won five of six games, they swept the National League’s second best team, the Pittsburgh Pirates, and won a three-game series versus the San Diego Padres, highlighted by a 10-1 win against the Pirates and a 14-2 win vs. the Padres, this latter score the Rockies biggest double-digit victory all season. Notable in this comeback period have been LHP Jorge DeLaRosa nd LH Jhoulys Chacin proving their worth and lowering the overall Rockies starter rotation ERA considerably, plus the one, two, three + four punch at the start of the Rockies batting order being a successful dynamic (CF Dexter Fowler, 2B D.J. LeMahieu, SS Troy Tulowitzki, RF Michael Cuddyer), followed by C Wilin Rosario, 3B Nolan Arenado and 1B Todd Helton RBI-ing the base-runners, even when it’s Helton’s sharp eyes earning a walk. Too, there’s that C Yorvit Torrealba’s headline-worthy tag of two runners on one play. . . Should the Rockies performance upticks continue, the Colorado team can achieve a respectable end-of-season finish, providing that the improvements since August 9 lead to 21or more wins of the 40 games that they have left before the season’s playoffs. Most of these 40 contests will be against teams with better records than the Rockies have obtained since May 1 of this year, among them 18 games that will be played at home, where the Rockies have been at their best. Four of these opposing teams will be those now holding first or second positions within their divisions---the NL West’s Dodgers and Diamondbacks, the NL Central’s St. Louis Cardinals, the AL East’s Boston Red Sox. Too, of the 40 games left for the Rockies to play, 21 are vs. teams within the NL West, the Rockies division. If the Rockies can win the lion’s share of these NL West games, especially the six planned against the Dodgers and the three vs. the Diamondbacks, a Rockies move up into second place in the NL West could happen. And for more respectability, there’s the possibility of the Rockies sweeping the planned August 23-25 three-game series against the now 46-73 Miami Marlins, worst team in the NL and third worst in all of baseball, but a team that dominated a vs. Rockies series, 3-1, in July. END/ml

MLB: That Unexpected & Big TURNABOUT (Colorado Rockies); the Week's Standings.

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---WHILE the 56-64 Colorado Rockies chances for a playoff billet are probably dead, the team definitely IS NOT. After losing nine of 10 straight games, the Colorado Rockies BROOMED MLB’s current National League number two ballclub, the 70-47 Pittsburgh Pirates, on August 9 the score being 10-1, on August 10, 6-4, August 11, 3-2; then, on August 12, the Rockies humiliated the San Diego Padres with a second double-digit lead and its best winning score all season, 14-2. The Rockies moved suddenly from NL West fourth place and 13 games behind to third place and 12 behind. Noteworthy is that the turnabout was from nearly an entire team instead of from a select stronger and suddenly more skillful few: a batting order including 2B D.J. LaMahieu; SS Troy Tulowitzki, RF Michael Cuddyer, 1B Todd Helton, C Wiln Rosario, 3B Nolan Arenado, others, all contributing to games won primarily from being base-runners and having a much lower preentage of runners left in scoring psiiton than that which has characterized many a losing Rockies game; plus Rockies starting pitchers who were feared to be regressing toward levels beneath mediocrity rose since August 9 to their better days, lowering their ERA’s, among them, Jorge DeLaRosa, Jhoulys Chacin. So, exactly how did these Rockies spiral upward so suddenly “and fantastically,” accumulating 33 runs in four days, on average more than eight runs scored per game, when from July 30 until August 9 it appeared that they had no juice left? Maybe the great Yogi Berra’s comment that a batter can’t hit a baseball and think at the same time applies here. In other words, the Rockies ought just go afield and play, not think about what constitutes winning or losing, JUST PLAY! Meanwhile, the Rockies GM, other front office execs and fans (those outside the arena where most of the credit for winning is really due), they can ponder why those nine of 10 losses occurred, why since April the Rockies haven’t had more wins than losses. Okay, the Rockies are under .500 still, they are at .466 today, therefore the Rockies leading the NL West by late September can only be in the cards from an unlikely and long (very long) winning streak, plus other NL West teams losing a big share of their remaining contests. This said, the last few days of Rockies play reminds of a fact about Nascar and Formula One motor races, where quite often the most interesting, most enjoyable racing competition is from the cars at the back end, from those behind by what seems an infinite number of laps. Rockies fans can still shout “Go, Rockies, Go!” without feeling that defeat will always be in the air, anyway "not at 5280" . . . /// . . . MLB STANDINGS--- NATIONAL LEAGUE WEST: WHILE second place team, the Arizona Diamondbacks, dropped from being in first place approximately one month ago and is now seven games behind first, the now 67-50 Los Angeles Dodgers rose to first by winning 13 games, now tied at third place within the greater NL alongside the NL Central’s 67-50 St. Louis Cardinals. Unexpectedly, and against expectations, is last year’s World Series winning team, the 52-65 San Francisco Giants, now in last place, having gone from six games behind first a month ago to 15 behind today. . . NL CENTRAL: From second place around one month ago, the today 70-47 Pittsburgh Pirates ascended to first position and has a three game lead over the Cardinals, four above third place team, the 66-52 Cincinnati Reds. . . NL EAST: Here it’s the 72-47 Atlanta Braves (best in both leagues by one run above the American League East’s leading club, the Boston Red Sox), a month ago six games above second place team, the Washington Nationals. The Braves now have a 14 game lead, the steepest over a second place club in either league. . . . AL WEST: One month ago, it was the now 67-50 Oakland Athletics leading second place team, the Texas Rangers, by one game, and this has reversed, the 69-50 Rangers are now ahead of the Athletics by two wins, with third place team, the L.A. Angels, behind the Rangers by 13 games. . . AL CENTRAL: Around July 12, the now 69-48 Detroit Tigers led with one game above second place team, the Cleveland Indians. This advanced to today’s six game Detroit lead over the 62-54 Kansas City Royals, the Indians now at third position from seven games back. . . AL EAST: One month ago, the now 71-49 Red Sox ruled, three games above the Tampa Bay Rays, and that hasn’t changed much, the Rays now 66-50 and one above the 65-52 Baltimore Orioles, the latter now five wins behind the Red Sox. . . About all that can be said about this is that for most division first and second place teams of the past month, status hasn’t changed dramatically, and that among last month’s third place teams the ascension surprise has been the AL Central’s Royals moving to second position. END/ml

NFL: Pre-Season; Denver Broncos, 1-1 // MLB: League & Division Leaders Advancing; Colorado Rockies--In Defeat, For How Long?

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 --- NO NFL pre-season contains enough time for a head coach to determine precisely how his players will perform across a 16-game regular season, nor is any NFL pre-season enough for analysts and fans to predict regular season player/team outcomes with pinpoint accuracy. Then there’s the testing of playbooks in the pre-season: will this or that strategy and the tactics they require take a team from first down to the next and then to points? On that first day of the regular season, no-one is absolutely certain about what will work and that which won’t, in spite of the many reviews and analyses during the four game pre-season. And, during the pre-season a huge share of 50+ players per each of 32 NFL teams will be thinking mostly about “Me,” “Will I make the cut?” while coaches will keep looking for the opposite of self-realization, for the “We” instead of the “Me,” wondering at the end of four exhibition games if a team has jelled properly, can come together in 16 regulation contests, coordinate in a timely manner game after game, seal a post-season slot. Surely the NFL’s four-game pre-season is inadequate for full understanding of what a football team can do September through December 31, but it’s about the best there is that’s close to getting the job done, all there is for preparation, for readiness, just as the few weeks of training camp is a weak indicator. Thus the NFL pre-season is more than player + team trial & error; it’s hurried exams and then final exam, it’s “the Separator,” “hatchet-time,” lots of suitcases packed and men gone after game four, playbooks adjusted, “all on the fly,” something uncomfortably new inside the 32 teams as that first week in September approaches, “Crush time!” Still, this year, as in previous years, the temptation to look at the pre-season as Round One, Super Bowl XLVIII (February, 2014) draws like a powerful magnet; the lights have come on and before us are the teams that dominated in the previous season. Yes, the New England Patriots give the impression that "the Repeat" is their domain, that they own it---six trips to a Super Bowl since year 2000. The Pittsburgh Steelers are next in most Super Bowl appearances since 2000---three. But where were the N.Y. Giants last year, after winning Super Bowl, 2011/12, and Super Bowl winner 2009/10, the New Orleans Saints---the high-end championship essence of these teams went south, way south. Fact: the number of one-time-only Super Bowl appearances since 2000 outdistances the number of "repeats" by several miles + nine yards, to wit: the Arizona Cardinals, Green Bay Packers, Chicago Bears, Tennessee Titans, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Oakland Raiders, Carolina Panthers, Philadelphia Eagles, Seattle Seahawks, San Diego Chargers, the Saints. Yet the division-strong seem to stay that way for two, sometimes three years straight, and it’s likely that this year the one or two division teams mightier than the rest last year will “repeat,” e.g., AFC East, the Patriots. To continue, AFC West, the Denver Broncos; AFC North, the Ravens and the Steelers; AFC South, the Houston Texans and the Indianapolis Colts. NFC East, the Washington Redskins, N.Y Giants, the Dallas Cowboys. NFC West, the 49ers, the Seahawks; NFC North, the Packers, the Bears. NFC South, the Atlanta Falcons. But beyond that, that is, how division and conference championship games will line up, such will be like the pre-season, uncertainty prevailing, the end the same as the beginning, anyone’s guess, and that’s what makes the NFL game more than just interesting. DENVER BRONCOS --- THE Denver Broncos led the AFC West in 2011 as a .500 team, eight wins, eight losses, while the seven other division leading teams were above .500, the San Francisco 49ers and the New Orleans Saints at the top numerically, .813 and 13 wins/three losses each. Last year, the Broncos led the AFC West again, this time above .800, 13-3, while the 49ers led the NFC West but finished 11-4-1. The two teams played their first game of 2013 last night, Denver the winner, 10-6. Rational analysts braving predictions have listed the Broncos and the 49ers as the teams for next February’s Super Bowl. More than a pocketful of probabilities exist for this notion, though the same can be said for other NFL franchises, e.g., New England, maybe the Seattle Seahawks. The money seems to be on Denver, however, and not just because of the 2012 Denver addition of quarterback great, Peyton Manning. No quarterback does offense alone, which is why making Manning “the Man” again can be from wide receiver Wes Welker being added to a WR pack that includes Erik Decker, Demaryius Thomas, backup WR Trindon Holliday, plus as running backs, Knowshon Moreno, draftee phenom Monte Ball, RB C.J. Anderson (Willis McGahee is recovering from an injury), left tackle Ryan Clady, tight end Joel Dreesen, plus a defense that includes super pass-rusher Von Miller, also LB Nate Irving, RE Robert Ayers, CB Champ Bailey. Add, kicker Matt Prater; punter, Briton Colquitt (2d best in league last year). Were a Pro-Bowl to organize today, these Broncos would be among candidates for it. But especially important is filling the vacancy left by lineman, Elvis Dumervil, having gone to the Baltimore Ravens, who will be gunning for QB Manning on Sunday, September 5, the Ravens being Denver’s first opposing team for the 2013 16-game regular season, dramatized by the Ravens having defeated the Broncos last season in double-overtime for a conference title that may have led to a third Denver Super Bowl win (the Broncos won the Super Bowl back-to-back, 1998/1999, New England the only franchise to accomplish that since, 2004/2005). Last night, the Ravens humiliated the Buccaneers, 44-16, and last night’s vs. 49er game said this about the Broncos: (1) Denver will be the AFC team to beat if its formidable offense can go the extra yardage for points, and that’s possible even when backup QB Brock Osweiler is afield and situations call for the short pass and/or the run; (2) a defense that is alert for the unexpected is essential whenever good offense drives fail to become points. Were it not for a 49er fumble picked by Denver’s LB Shaun Philips for a touchdown, the Broncos might have lost last night’s game, 6-3; (3) If the C. in RB C.J. Anderson’s name if for “Consistency,” he could be the force of insurance for that series of first downs and the extra TD (he was 15-69 vs. the 49ers last night); (4) For passing yards dominance against an opposing team, such will have to be from QB Manning---the 49ers were way ahead on this, 227 over Denver’s 103; (5) To meet expectations, the Broncos will need to make better use of “time of possession.” Versus. the 49ers, they purchased only a field goal inside of 35 minutes, while the 49ers possessed the ball for much less---25 minutes, though the Broncos achieved 16 first downs. MLB --- IN just a few days, five division leading teams increased their edges over second place clubs, while one fell back, the AL West’s 64-49 Oakland Athletics now tied at first position with the 65-50 Texas Rangers, having fallen from two up. The NL West’s 64-50 Los Angeles Dodgers are now two instead of one game ahead of second place team, the Arizona Diamondbacks, the NL Central’s 70-44 Pittsburgh Pirates and four over the St. Louis Cardinals instead of two, the NL East’s 70-45 Atlanta Braves are 15 ahead of the Washington Nationals, no longer 13. In the American League, the AL Central’s Detroit Tigers rose to seven over the Cleveland Indians from four, and the AL East’s Boston Red Sox are two instead of one atop the Tampa Bay Rays. Leading the NL, then, are the 70-44 Pirates, the AL being led by the 70-47 Red Sox, the Pirates leading both leagues. No third place club has altered its fate substantially this week, and spiraling downward fast are the 52-64 Colorado Rockies, fourth in the NL West, just one game ahead of fifth place team, last year’s World Series winning club, the San Francisco Giants. COLORADO ROCKIES --- LESS than 10 days ago, the NL West’s Colorado Rockies were in third position and six games behind first place. Today, the Rockies are fourth in the NL West and 13 games behind first position. On August 1, the Rockies away-from-home record was 20-30, the team’s at-home record, 31-26. As of today, the Rockies away-from-home performance is 21-38, home-record the same as that of July 30. That’s one win out of nine tries into August. It’s at a point when if you believe in curses, you are nearly convinced that the Colorado franchise is indeed cursed. Of course, that isn’t so, though something is beehive-busy against the Rockies. About as close to a possibly fair answer as to what this is, is an argument that “the something” is “Everything,” that is, “Everything that can go wrong,” which may seem unlikely for a ballclub with the Rockies obvious high above-the-margin talent, but the idea is surely within the realm of possibilities, a lot more believable than if we are to think it’s a curse or a nuance about the Rockies that the so-called baseball Gods dislike immensely. Think about (a) Injuries across much of the line-up at the wrong time; (b) Insufficient depth for player replacement, certainly untimely; (c) A schedule pitting hot teams vs the Rockies at the wrong time, and poorer teams at the wrong time; (d) Excessive reliance on too few players for home runs and extra base hits, again untimely; (e) Too many runners left in scoring position game after game; (f) Starting pitchers that weaken in fourth and fifth innings; (g) Relief pitchers unable to bury with enough strikeouts the amount of opposing team runs earned by starters, While batters haven’t been able to surpass that number from mid-game on (again, the pressure is from less time to do a job well enough to win); and more specifically, (h) Inability of the team to exploit the advantages inherent in multiple home games against mostly beatable teams, this for insurance against nights when better teams would be taking the Rockies down. It’s been said that constant bad luck in any team sport is from a team being at the wrong place at the wrong time in the wrong way while doing the wrong thing “numerous times,” and this can happen to many among the MLB’s 30 franchises when new pathways fail to show up. The Rockies know that they have to find those new paths, but unfortunately there’s little time, little space for clearing the way now that more than half of the MLB season is gone. This is that time of year when we believe with some assurance that we’ll be saying in late September, “Better luck next year.” YET ON AUGUST 9, THE ROCKIES DEFEATED BASEBALL'S CURRENT BEST TEAM, THE 70-44 PITTSBURGH PIRATES, 10-1, THE BEST DOUBLE DIGIT WIN THAT THE ROCKIES HAVE HAD SINCE MID-JUNE. SURELY THE JUICE IS STILL THERE, AND MAYBE THE WIN WAS THE START OF A ROCKIES TURNABOUT, UP TOWARD .500. END/ml

MLB: A-Rod, Down; Team Standings; Colorado Rockies & "The Slide."

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: A-ROD, DOWN --- A priest confesses to having embezzled Vatican funds, a city cop admits that he accepted payoffs from a drug dealer for looking the other way, a U.S. government intelligence analyst tells his superiors he did indeed provide classified information to a news reporter, and against overwhelming evidence a skilled and powerful professional baseball player cannot deny plausibly his use of performance enhancement drugs (PED’s). We cringe at this information more than when professional criminals commit acts many times as bad, and that is often because these individuals had committed to professions asking more of them than is asked of the average citizen. Society keeps expecting such persons to be above reproach---honesty, loyalty, exemplary behavior within all settings. Why, then, the rogue behavior, the lawlessness, the rule-breaking? Case in point: N.Y. Yankee third baseman, Alex Rodriguez, not long ago a potential heir to the throne, a king of baseball in the making, stripped now of that, self-criminalized, PED-use having dragged him down, before us the great A-Rod caught in a vise, being squeezed from all opportunities for redemption. He’s purchased a 211-game suspension, long enough to take the game out of A-Rod, not just A-Rod out of the game. Even if minor league-caged, A-Rod will be forever suspect at the plate, maybe at everything else, as well. So, too, will the impressive data that he’s amassed be suspect. BUT, this year a dozen more MLB players have been suspended for similar wrongdoing, this after the PED scandals of years past---Barry Bonds, Mark McGuire, Jason Giambi, Roger Clemons, Andy Petite. Why the errors of their ways? Is it more than just bad choices made by athletes wanting to maintain an edge, men foolish enough to think they’ll always get away with deals made with greedy clinics, with physicians they knew to be dirtbags capable of being informants? Could it be that along with all that amazing talent of his, A-Rod also owns a giant bubble of insecurity inside him, fear of his talent never being enough to match the expectations of fans, of teammates, of front office execs, of his own expectations, an insecurity driving him to risk “the big trade,” i.e., risk losing respect and admiration to humiliation, shame? When so many top ballplayers are discovered to be PED-users, are we to blame only them for the waywardness? Found to be a user of PED’s, former Red Sox and Dodger player, Manny Ramirez, left the U.S. to play for a Taiwan ballclub. Should that be A-Rod’s choice, is MLB commissioner, Bud Selig, to say, “Have a Nice Trip, Alex,” and then forget all about PED usage, having this year also suspended the dozen other PED-users? More important is that MLB Commissioner Selig continue looking for what it is that enables PED behavior? Surely the discovery of numerous PED-using ballplayers from different franchises mirrors an aspect of how Selig’s multi-billion dollar organization exists as an institution that stills claim the role of America’s national pastime, “an aspect that is corrosive.” Something within calls for an examination of greater depth than has occurred in the past, never with exoneration of A-Rod or of other players in mind, purpose: a scouring away of whatever it is that causes an MLB athlete to believe that he can get away with using PED’s. . . /// MLB STANDINGS---THE NL East’s 68-45 Atlanta Braves are still the division-leading franchise with the best edge over a second place club---13 games above the NL East’s 54-58 Washington Nationals. The Braves also hold the number two position within the National League, just one game behind the NL Central’s 67-44 Pittsburgh Pirates. And, the Braves are second within both the NL and the American League from only a game behind the AL East’s 68-46 Boston Red Sox, which has a tenuous division lead, being just two games up on second place team, the AL East’s 66-45 Tampa Bay Rays. The second best division lead over a number two team now belongs to the NL West’s 62-49 Los Angeles Dodgers, six games ahead of the 56-55 Arizona Diamondbacks. Third are the AL Central’s 65-45 Detroit Tigers, being three games ahead of the 62-50 Cleveland Indians. All other division leading clubs are of two games up. Meanwhile, third place teams seem to be in a hurt, three of which are more than 10 games behind first place, the remaining three six, six and seven behind, and one third-place team of last week is now fourth within its division, the 52-61 NL West’s Colorado Rockies relinquishing the third spot to the 52-60 San Diego Padres. Another show of decline is that half of the major league franchises are now below .500, best among them the .482 Nationals. If the Nat’s current win/loss ratio continues as is, the team could be the year’s only below .500 team vying for a league championship and a shot at the World Series. How fair is this to the AL West’s third place team, the 52-59/.468 Seattle Mariners, or for the AL East’s fifth and last place club, the 51-60/.459 Toronto Blue Jays, should they also continue their current rate of wins and losses? Still at the very bottom of either league this week are the AL West’s 37-74/.333 Houston Astros, second worst the AL Central’s 41-69/.373 Chicago White Sox. . . /// COLORADO ROCKIES---IT hasn’t been a classic fall from grace, not one of those sudden dives from a mountain’s highest peak to a ravine under the sea, no overnight drop from earned stardom to insignificance. Instead, the 2013 Colorado Rockies have been of a one yard forward/two back “slow slide” from a promising though not amazing start to being beneath a watermark separating winners from losers. The Rockies are 52 wins, 61 losses today, under 500, therefore a losing ballclub. After a winning April (16 wins, 11 losses), it’s been more downhill than up for the Colorado franchise, 12-16 in May, 13-15 in June, more losses than wins in July and it seems to be going that way in August. After being just one or two games behind first or second place within the NL West, by July 30 the Rockies were in third place and six games back of the L.A. Dodgers. Today, the Rockies are in fourth place, 11 games behind the Dodgers and only three games ahead of last place team, the S.F. Giants. The bend in the road that made the difference for the Rockies was a 10 game homestand versus teams that if defeated one after the other would have offset the team’s following away-from-home losses to teams a lot harder to defeat than those of the 10 day homestand, namely the Atlanta Braves and the Pittsburgh Pirates, two of the year’s best MLB clubs, either league. Instead, the Rockies lost half of the July 10-game homestand. Why the increase in fallbacks? Check the boxes: Player injuries, YES; Starting pitchers + relievers with low strikeout/high ERA ratios, YES; Hit-inconsistency among skilled and powerful batters, which has caused runners left in scoring position at third outs, YES. All are causes repeated often in the media. If there’s a good side with regard to the Rockies current standings, it’s only that the Rockies are NOT in the bottom third of the NL along with four other teams; they are but two games shy of being in the top half. A better tag is that the Rockies are NOT DULL, they are an interesting ballclub. What makes this so is that the Rockies keep having short bursts of skill and power, a sudden though short stream of strikeouts from starting pitchers Jorge De La Rosa, Jhoulys Chacin and Tyler Chatwood, and home runs and extra base hits resulting in runs, plus successful steals. But this hasn’t been enough to offset the opposite, not enough to erase those zip, zero and nada half-innings allowing games to be lost. So, it’s time to watch Rockies games with less attention given to standings relative to a possible post-season slot or even the .501 grace-saving mark, rather with more attention given to the good baseball that the team seems to provide just enough to be free of the sin of boredom “win or lose.” END/ml

MLB: Team Turnovers & Fallbacks; Colorado Rockies, "OFF Game"

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---IN just three days, two consistently aggressive teams summitted: the National League Central’s 65-43 Pittsburgh Pirates are now in first place today over second place club, the 63-44 St. Louis Cardinals, and the American League East’s 66-44 Boston Red Sox are again atop the 64-44 Tampa Bay Rays. Meanwhile, the NL East’s number one 64-45 Atlanta Braves extended a nine-game lead to 11 games ahead of second place team, the 52-56 Washington Nationals, and the NL West’s leading club, the 58-49 Los Angeles Dodgers, are now three up on second position team, the 55-53 Arizona Diamondbacks. In the AL West, the number one 63-45 Oakland Athletics edge over the 60-49 Texas Rangers dropped from five to three since Tuesday, while the AL Central’s numero uno, the 61-45 Detroit Tigers, held onto a slim lead ahead of the 60-48 Cleveland Indians. From its 66 wins, the Red Sox are leading both leagues, with the top NL Team, the Pirates, second in both leagues from its 65 wins (the two are the only clubs averaging at and above .600). . . OF the 14 franchises that are still below .500 (all third and fourth place teams), five have dropped back by nine or more decimals since Monday, the NL West’s Colorado Rockies, 477 to .464, the NL East’s Nationals, .491 to .481; the AL West’s Seattle Mariners, .476 to 463; the AL West’s Los Angeles Angels, .462 to .453; the AL Central’s Minnesota Twins, .441 to .429. So, if these accelerated changes in MLB standings at the top and middle keep on, only the NL East’s Braves and the AL West’s Athletics have considerable insurance against the impact, this from their respective 11 and five game leads. The big battles, then, between now and October, will be between the first and second place clubs of the other four divisions. Wildcard clubs, which will they be? Right now, that’s anyone guess in light of the several team fallbacks from .500. . . /// . . . COLORADO ROCKIES---Could it be that a team can never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity? Have fans just witnessed “The Rockies Baseball Horror Show-Part II,” "Part I" being the straight four that the currently 51-59 Colorado franchise lost in the 2007 World Series to the Boston Red Sox? The opportunities missed? There are two, of late. First, a 10 game homestand against clubs of less talent and poorer ratings, with the Rockies losing five of these when winning eight or more could have been numbers serving as a buffer against future games lost to higher-rated teams, the way that extra-earned wages and savings prevent a serious deficit. Too, winning a lion’s share of those 10 games might have kept the Rockies in the NL West’s second place slot instead of third, maybe three games behind first place team, the now 58-49 L.A. Dodgers, instead of today’s six behind. . . The second Rockies opportunity lost was that rare occurrence that a team can use to show what it’s really got, demonstrate that it is not an organization easy to beat, that it has what it takes to ascend. For the Rockies, this was a July 29-August 1 four-game series versus one of the year’s top-ranked teams, the NL East’s now 64-45 Atlanta Braves, second in the National league below the NL Central’s 65-43 Pittsburgh Pirates. The Braves now hold the most commanding division lead in either league, 11 games over second place team, the 52-56 Washington Nationals. Dominating the Rockies/Braves series meant more than recovery of pride after losing five of the 10 game homestand, it meant entering August 2013 fairly close to .500 and having the confidence that they could give battle to the Pirates during a three-game series starting today. The Rockies didn’t just blow this vs. Braves opportunity and set themselves back re. contention for a post-season slot; they entered the domain of great embarrassment usually occupied by the Houston Astros (36-71, last place both leagues) first losing to the Braves 9-8 in the 10th inning of Game One vs. the Braves, this after having a significant lead, then by losing three games straight to the Atlanta franchise, 11-3, 9-0, 11-2. Total number of runs that the Braves accrued in the four games, 40; Rockies, 13 (Ugh!). What to blame this on? There are myriad reasons, none unusual in teams that in the second half of a season begin a steep downward turn---injuries compounded by insufficient depth for suitable replacements; starting hurlers beginning to lose effectiveness by a fourth or fifth inning, relief pitchers unable to make up for the number of runs lost; and the best eyes, muscle and swing within a line-up lost or fading, as in LF Carlos Gonzalez out from injury, SS Troy Tulowitzki just a dozen hits out of nearly 60 at-bats, no Tulowitzki home runs in more than 15 outings at the Braves ball-field, RF Michael Cuddyer unable to be afield because of a personal issue, 1B Helton not having enough men on base for his timely hits to produce enough runs. . . THERE are lots of baseball heroes but there are very few baseball super-heroes, i.e., those that maintain high numbers April through end of September. When vast power-differences exist between a team’s usually three, possibly four heavy hitters and the other players of the batting order, it’s then that an entire season, especially the last half, is likely to be only as strong as its weaker parts. Yes, CF Dexter Fowler, 2B D.J. LaMahieu, C Wiln Rosario, 3B Nolan Arenado and others can get on base, but they need more power to move them across third to home. For a return to a respectful division finish + .500 status, either that Rockies slugger foursome (Gonzalez, Tulowitzki, Cuddyer and Helton)returns to maximum prowess, or the rest of the Rockies line-up upgrades performance levels significantly, meanwhile the pitching staff’s starter rotation and relievers expanding their ability to keep more fat from piling onto their ERA ratings. Can this happen? It’s not impossible, for there are more than 50 games left for the Rockies to play and regain prominence, 21 of them against teams that are within the Rockies own division (NL West), 12 vs. the two teams that are holding first and second place now in that division, the Dodgers and the Diamondbacks. Hence, opportunities for the Rockies to win a hefty package of games and return to second place within the NL West are here. By building on performance levels and exploiting a schedule of games favorably, it could never be said that the Rockies never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity, and "Rockies Horror Show, Part Three," i.e., the Rockies finishing a season as a losing team third year in a row, will never be, either. END/ml.