BASEBALL & "THE ROCKIES LONG SLIDE" // NFL--"BRIEFS"

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 . . . BASEBALL & “THE ROCKIES LONG SLIDE" // NFL-BRIEFS” . . . // BASEBALL---HITTING bottom and puzzled as to why—that’s what six of 30 MLB clubs will be struggling with as they realize they’re to be glued to last place within their respective divisions as the 2014 regular season closes. And the Colorado Rockies could be among the worst of the six, now 53-80 and last inside the NL West and within the NL-entire. Where to begin, then, to solve the puzzle, especially difficult in that the Rockies can boast of having some of the best hitters in professional baseball, e.g., Rockies 1B Justin Morneau, he’s likely to be named best NL hitter of the year; if not, the title could go to Rockies LF Corey Dickerson. Morneau’s batting average has come close to .320, Dickerson’s around .316. Last season, Rockies OF Michael Cuddyer won the NL batting title, and OF Carlos Gonzalez won it in 2010. The Rockies IF’s Troy Tulowitzki, Charlie Blackmon, Josh Rutledge, Nolan Arenado and D.J. LeMahieu, plus OF Gonzalez, could never be regarded as marginal hitters and defenders. Yet with 27 games left to play in the regular season, it’s possible that the Rockies could lose 100 of the season’s 162 for the first time in franchise history and fall below the AL West’s now 52-81 Texas Rangers as the worst MLB club of 2014. This wasn’t supposed to be, not with the powerful batting order that the Rockies began the season with, not with the pitching staff that in spring training showed some improvement over the past season, expectations fulfilled only by LH Juan De La Rosa and his double-digit win record. So, what has gone wrong? The easy and possibly correct answer to the question is, “Just about everything!” with at the top of the list, “Injuries,” followed by a pitching crew that, except for De La Rosa, hasn’t lifted above the marginal. Next, away from home scheduling has been an obvious obstacle to full application of the Rockies skills, reflected currently by only 19 wins and (ugh!) 47 losses. Add a Rockies high rate of two and three runners left on base at the end of half-innings. Related here, and for which there’s no single word, is “the wrong thing happening at the wrong time way too often,” e.g., the Rockies having loaded the bases, two outs, next player at the plate purchasing the K, i.e., no single, extra-base hit or HR putting the team ahead for the win. This makes one think that a “choke” virus infected the team at the start of the 2014 season. At home games, there’s a different story---the Rockies Coors Field record this year has at least been above .500, now 34-33, just one loss more than those of the NL West’s number one club, the L.A Dodgers, the LAD home record being 34-32. Then there are the two factors hardest to quantify, “Leadership afield,” and “Off-the-field Management,” the former re. decisions and related actions performed by a team captain, team manager, coaches, the latter re. the same by a team’s owner(s) and a team’s GM. As to what stands out among these causes, surely it’s injuries, marginal pitching from within the rotation and bull pen, and that awful gap between wins away from home and those tallied at home. This year, 17 Rockies players have landed on 15-day disabled lists, including Morneau, Tulowitzki, Gonzalez, Arenado, and seven on 60-day disabled lists, among them, last year’s NL top batter, Michael Cuddyer. With regard to the Rockies many away from home losses, surely injuries have played a role, but so, too, has the marginal pitching, which hasn’t been of sufficient help for a home record that might have offset the team’s poor away from home data. Of course, more needs to be known about the losses away from Coors Field, tedious research is needed for this and will happen if leadership doesn’t choose only the problem-solving shortcut of fire, then hire, which hasn’t worked but once since year 2008, when the Rockies NL Championship club of 2007 hooked onto a slide. . . // NFL---DENVER QB, Peyton Manning, was fined $8,268 recently for foul language aimed at Houston Texans player, D.J. Swearinger, whose unnecessary forearm and shoulder thrust caused Broncos WR, Wes Welker, to suffer a concussion. Both acts were consequential in the negative. Manning’s behavior was below what’s usually thought of as sportsmanlike, but given the number of NFL player-concussions and the effect such has had on the post-career lives of players, Swearinger’s action will remain a more unacceptable demonstration of what ought not be. Since QB Manning’s behavior probably won’t encourage excessive “mouthing offs” across the NFL, a rational take is that “an award” of $18,000 ($1K per digit of his jersey number) should have gone to Manning for “Manning up” and scolding Swearinger; and a fine of thirty-six cents could still be imposed on Swearinger (it’s the number on his jersey) because his actions of late have suggested that with regard to choices of behavior afield he may not be worth more than that. . . SURELY to watch this year is the Dallas Cowboys offense execution of “3-2-0,” three receivers deep and wide to one side of the QB’s direct line-of-sight, two to the other side, with the QB, that is, QB Tony Romo, at zero, that is, alone for the long or short throw or hand-off. But this isn’t something that other than a very fast-on-his-feet/fast-thinking/fast scanning QB could deliver for, and Romo may not be that QB. Many QBs participating in the 3-2-0 will risk being victims repeatedly of the league’s punishing pass disruption units. . . CAN the Cleveland Browns begin an era of winning records? The plusses for this are new head coach, Mike Pettine, and the signing of Johnny Manziel, a Heisman trophy winner and the Texas A&M QB who passed for more than 7,100 yards and delivered more than 60 TD’s for the Aggies, although Manziel’s start in the NFL won’t be as the starting QB. The team’s first four games through October 5 could answer yes or no for the Browns. The Browns will be facing top QBs Ben Roethlisberger (Steelers), Drew Brees (Saints), Joe Flacco (Ravens), and Jake Locker (Titans) if free of pain from injury. The Browns bought a 4-12 record in 2013, seven of its losses a streak that began with Week 10. Should the team lose its first four games, it will be with a tougher schedule up ahead---vs. the Colts, the Ravens again, the Falcons, the Panthers. But the early four losses could see Johnny Manziel as starting QB, and that could make a difference with 12 games left to play, a hope in Cleveland that the off-field acting-out Manziel is more like former N.Y. Jets QB, Joe Namath, a flamboyant individual but a Hall of Famer, than he might be the diamond-in-the-rough and unfulfilled promise that was Tim Tebow. . . PUNDITRY has the Seahawks and the Broncos returning to the next Super Bowl. If this is to be, much can hint of the SB outcome when the teams meet during NFL Week Three (Sept. 21) at Seattle. Too, from the last five 2014 regulation games that the teams will be playing are hints as to whether pundits have been right about their SB Broncos/Seahawks pick. The Broncos will have the easier go, it seems---no super threats, while the Seahawks may face serious difficulties---two of its last five challenges will be against the S.F. 49ers, a third vs. the Philadelphia Eagles. END/ml