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