MLB; COLORADO ROCKIES, STILL ON THE SLIDE; MLB STANDINGS PAST THE HALFWAY MARK

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, STILL ON THE SLIDE // MLB STANDINGS PAST THE HALFWAY MARK. . . // . . COLORADO ROCKIES--- THE reasons why a team’s losses have pushed it well below .500 and close to last position within its division can be shrouded in mystery for some time. You just don’t sort out the problems behind a lousy season in a day or two, along with solutions for a fast climb back up. Only a miracle could pull the Colorado Rockies up from the damage that the team has caused to itself, of course unwittingly, and while there really are tears in baseball there are no miracles when beyond the season’s halfway mark a team’s record is 37-53/.412 + 13 games behind division first place, which is where the Rockies are today within the NL West. You can think slump, bad management and/or poor coaching, and/or diminishment of player skills, and doubly perplexing can be some of baseball’s ironies, nagging truths that say, “It shouldn’t be, the Rockies ought to be higher in the standings,” truths that remind us of how unfair baseball can be, in spite of it being the amazing game that it is. Here’s what we mean: On Sunday, Rockies SS Troy Tulowityzki and OF Charlie Blackmon were selected to be All Stars for this year’s All Star Game, and Rockies 1B Justin Morneau is likely to be selected soon for that role. Presently, Morneau is second among NL players re. number of season RBI’s, 59. And, Rockies OF Corey Dickerson’s .402 OBP is eighth within both leagues, and of 65 of Dickerson’s hits 28 have been for extra bases. Also, as of yesterday the lowest Rockies batting average for a starter was .272, four others being above .300, highest being Troy Tulowitzki’s .348. And, more than half of the Rockies won games to date have included eight or more runs. Moreover, against two teams ahead of the Rockies within the NL West, the S.F. Giants and the S.F. Padres, the Rockies have been 7-4 and 4-4 respectively. Across the year so far, the Rockies have been averaging more than three runs per game, which equals and bests some teams that are presently holding higher slots within their divisions. During the Rockies last 10 games (most of them losses), the team put up 43 runs, thus a 4.3 run average for the 10, far better than several teams that are fewer games behind first within their divisions. Is it that the skills and power-thrusts within the Rockies batting order are assets poorly distributed, causing a kind of yo-yo appearance, that is, batters exceptional and winning for a few games here and there and then as if numbed and unable to contribute for an almost equal number of playing days? Why this see-saw effect? And of course, a pitching staff ERA above 5.0 hasn’t been of much help to the Rockies. Still, the drivers behind the Rockies downward slide are probably more than the lows in hitting that follow the high numbers, more than the abysmal starter + bull pen ERA. The Rockies 21-23 home record is only a win behind that of the NL West’s first place team, the 22-23 Dodgers, but the Rockies away from home record is poor, 16-30 (Ugh!). The Rockies are of only three teams today with 50 or more losses, and 30 of the Rockies losses have occurred on the road. What is it about away-games that trip up the Rockies? Is it asset management on the road or something else, maybe the lack of a component during spring training? Tulowitzki is a superb shortstop and great hitter, but how effective is he as team captain? Frontline leadership has its subtle drivers for the win, is Tulowitzki aware of them and good at their execution? And, on the road what about the right pre-game starter/bull-pen teaming, or is the selection for a reliever post-starter based first on availability factors only, on who’s rested, who isn’t? Is a Monfort (owner)/ Dan O’Dowd (Exec VP-Ops)/ Bill Geivett (GM)/Walt Weiss (Mgr) a quartet with attributes that withdraw rather than provide appropriately, maybe the three above Weiss are too much upon Weiss? Can Weiss think out of the box more for the situation at hand? These are matters that no-one knows much about, and which are valid questions. In a recent column, Denver Post columnist Woody Paige addressed the idea of ownership selecting a new VP-Ops and/or a new GM, it worked for the Denver Broncos and the Denver Avalanche, not the only solution but it could be a solution helping other solutions to come about . . . MLB---THE MLB half-season of 81 games is gone, and most of the AL and NL teams are 10 or more in for the back 81, only three having won 50 or more, the AL West’s leading team, the Oakland A’s having 55 wins, the NL Central’s number one, the Milwaukee Brewers, 52, the NL West’s top club, the L.A. Dodgers, 51, and the AL West’s number two, the L.A. Angels, also 51. Lowest number of won games among the six division leading clubs belongs to the AL Central’s Detroit Tigers, 48, reflecting a seven game differential between top and bottom of MLB’s six division leading franchises. But, of these leading clubs today not one has a substantial lead over a second place franchise. The best edge belongs to the 55-38 Brewers, ahead of second place team, the 48-42 St. Louis Cardinals. The weaker division lead is the NL East’s 49-40 Atlanta Braves one win above the 48-40 Washington Nationals. At the season’s 81-game halfway mark, the Nationals were above the Braves by one win, and the AL East’s Toronto Blue Jays were leading the Baltimore Orioles by four wins. Today, the 49-40 Orioles are leading the AL East, two wins above the Blue Jays. At that halfway mark, the A’s were second in both leagues, with 48 wins; today, the A’s are first from a 55-33 record. Three teams since 81 games were played this year have gone from fourth position within their respective divisions to last, the now AL East’s 39-50 Boston Red Sox, AL Central’s 39-45 Minnesota Twins, the NL East’s 38-51 Philadelphia Phillies. Worst records to date are that of the AL West’s Houston Astros, 37-54, and that of the NL West’s Arizona Diamondbacks and the Colorado Rockies, tied at 37-53. Of note is that at 81 games played and at 40 games played, the same teams leading divisions today, or that are close at the number two slots, they were in those positions then, implying power of and significance of consistency among teams that win more than others. Implied, too, is that should this value prevail, the same teams that today seem likely to achieve post-season berths will comprise that category as the end of September rolls in. The Gods of Sustainment advise that the Brewers and the A’s could be today’s best bet for a WS match-up. END/ml.