MLB:  Colorado Rockies, “It Keeps Getting better.”   

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 every week---Ed. & Publ., Marvin Leibstone.

MLB:   ROOTING for a comeback organization on its way up from having had a slow start or a steep mid-season dip is an American trait, evident this month during most games played by the Colorado Rockies, fans watching the men in purple with reinforced enthusiasm.

Though still in last place of the National League West at 53 wins and 75 losses, average .414, the Rockies have won 12 of their last 16 games, accruing 16 wins for August as of Tuesday’s victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers. The team’s 16-11 record for August is its first “win month” of the season. The Rockies finished 11/11 for April, 10-/18 for May, nine/18 re. June, the team’s worst month being July---seven/17.

No longer in downslide mode along with the below .400 Houston Astros and the Chicago Cubs, the Rockies have reflected other achievements since August 1, for instance, the four-man starter/limited pitching rotation seems to be paying off with left hand pitcher Jeff Francis having delivered a shutout against the L.A. Dodgers on Monday, a 10-0 win for the Rockies and the team’s fifth shutout of the year, followed next night by right hander Tyler Chatwood’s 8-4 win over the Dodgers, an opposing team that has held second place behind the San Francisco Giants in the NL West (Chatwood’s ERA is now around 3.4 for his six starts with the Rockies. The total Rockies starter ERA has come down in August, below 6.0).

Too, the Rockies have spiraled upward in August with top players on the team’s disabled list, e.g, the seasoned Todd Helton, Troy Tulowitzki, and recently, Dexter Fowler---the team’s anew with a line-up that includes several rookies perhaps not of the phenomenal skills exhibited by L.A. Angels rookie, Mike Trout, but surely above the expected margin for rookies, among them, catcher Wilin Rosario and infielder Josh Rutledge. Tuesday night, Rosario smacked his 22d home run, which placed him three behind Mike Trout, and third behind Helton and Tulowitzki among Rockies hitters with the most home runs in a rookie year (as of yesterday, Trout accrued 25 home runs). Rutledge is now the first Rockies rookie to hit a home run in four straight games---he’s now batting .364 against RHP’s, .276 vs. LHP’s.

Colorado & the NL West.   Given the Rockies recent climb toward achievement of a .500 or higher state of being, the team’s current position within the NL West seems inappropriate, especially when realized that while the Rockies are 18 games behind first place San Francisco, much of that has to do with losses to teams outside the NL West.

In truth, the Colorado franchise is only six games behind the remaining NL West clubs, when taken into account are only NL West games.

Against San Francisco, the Rockies record is three wins/eight losses, and versus the Arizona Diamondbacks the Rockies record is five wins/six losses; against the San Diego Padres, the Rockies are five/seven, and vs. the Dodgers, eight/six.

So, against NL West clubs the Rockies have won 21 games and lost 27, far from a deep-in-the-hole record.

Particularly noteworthy is that 13 of the Rockies hitters have double-digit multi-hit games, Carlos Gonzalez leading with 42, Dexter Fowler next with 28, Jordan Pacheco third, with 25. In August, an increasing number of Rockies hits have been doubles and triples.  

Also, since mid-August no Rockies loss has carried a deficit of more than three runs.

Up ahead are 34 remaining Rockies games, 25 vs. NL West teams, an opportunity for the Rockies to lift up from last to fourth place in its division, possibly third, though pullback could happen during a four game series vs. the NL East’s Atlanta Braves, a team that swept the Rockies across a series in May and that is likely to have a post-season billet within the NL; yet the Rockies lost the first game of that series by only one run, the second and third by two and three runs respectively, and in each of the three games the Rockies produced 12 runs.

And there could be rough going vs. the Philadelphia Phillies during a September three game stretch. The Phillies are currently 61/67, three games behind Atlanta in the NL East. In June, the Phillies wrapped up a series vs. the Rockies with two wins and one loss, but the Rockies drummed up three more runs than the Phillies had accumulated during that series, and its win in the series held the Phillies to only one run.

The Rockies defensive display against the Braves and Phillies in May and June, and the team’s above-described August turnabout, they anchor to reality the revitalized hope that the Rockies will finish the 2012 MLB season respectably and above the margin.

END/ml  

 

                    

NFL: QB PEYTON MANNING & THE BRONCOS, 2012 // MLB: “OLD & THE NEW,” ROGER CLEMENS, MIKE TROUT, OTHERS

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 every week---Ed. & Publ., Marvin Leibstone.

NFL:   It can be shouted from mountaintops, “Broncos 2012-acquired and possibly best NFL quarterback ever, Peyton Manning, is ‘on game,’” proven during the first half of Sunday’s Broncos/San Francisco 49er pre-season event, during which Manning threw two touchdown passes within drives executed almost perfectly, which included the kind of connectivity that effective QB’s and receivers like the Broncos Eric Decker, Willis McGahee, Lance Ball, Joel Dreesen and Brandon Stokley can share and demonstrate, at the expense of a good opposing defense (surely a 49er attribute, among the best of 2011). Add, Broncos kicker Matt Prater, delivering a field goal from 53.

Manning passed for more than 120 yards, completing 10 of his 12 throws, much credit to the superb Broncos pass protection and the Broncos offense preventing 49er intercepts.

Yes, the Broncos lost to the 49ers, 29-24, and the Denver team is one win/two losses in the pre-season, but the fact that in the three pre-season games the Broncos put more points on the board than that totaled by the opposing franchises (65 over 62), such makes the 1/2 record meaningless.

The Broncos three point lead in total points may not seem like much, but it’s far from the scant total of a franchise likely to have a below .500 season.

And making the loss to the 49ers more meaningless is that mostly during the second half, when the San Francisco offense scored big, the Broncos were measuring individual players "and rostering" from a reserve defense, a more important step in preparation for the regular season than focusing solely upon performing way above San Francisco’s competency, as was the case during the game’s first half.        

*          *          *

MLB:  THE lyrics are, “Out with the Old, in with the New,” or is it the other way around? Anyhow, neither setting references professional baseball---so it seems from 50 year old hurler, Roger Clemens, deciding against retirement, joining an Atlantic League ball club, the Sugar Land Skeeters, out of Sugar Land, Texas, around 17 miles from Houston.

Meanwhile, a 21 year old belonging to the Los Angeles Angels (Anaheim), Mike Trout, has been piling on records faster and better than players of the same age group “both present and past.”  

In his 24 years of pitching for major league teams, Clemens became a seven-time Cy Young award winner, his last professional pitch in 2007 for the New York Yankees. In his early years in the majors, Clemons was already among starting pitchers demonstrating new levels of accuracy, cunning and speed, causing a lot of hitters to think that it would take steroids to manage super hits against them (ironic that Clemens would be found in his later MLB years to have experimented with PED’s).

Why, then, having had an enviable career in “the majors,” would Clemens want to play baseball for a small league club?

Too, could this year be the first within a long era of “the kids,” more precisely, of the 21 or younger ballplayers, like Trout?

Also, is there some sort of link between (a) the return of a 50 year old to a game that mostly younger men play, and (b) young players who aren’t supposed to be as good as they are and are that good?

If we choose cynicism over the probability of Clemens joining the Skeeters, we could believe that what he has had in mind is a slot with the nearby Houston Astros, now the worst team in either the National League or the American League, below .400 with less than 45 wins (the Astros could be desperate enough to return Clemens to the mound, in spite of most ballplayers over 45 having little to offer a team that needs to rise back up quickly---by playing for the Astros, Clemens could stay in the eyes of those whose appraisals could have him voted into baseball’s Hall of Fame.).

Denying cynicism, we could choose to believe that Clemens wants to pitch for a baseball team not far from his home “for the pure kick of doing just that!” We know the phrase, “for love of the game.”

And if selecting cynicism, or if it’s been a habit, we could comment that Trout will turn out to be a Roman candle, rocketing into oblivion, you know, the proverbial flash in the pan.

Saying no to cynicism, we could choose to say that Trout is not just beginning to be great, he is great, for, as reported this week in Sports Illustrated, his on-base and slugging percentage is already better than that of Hall of Famers Ty Cobb, Rogers Hornsby, Jimmie Fox and Eddie Matthews, when they were in the 21 years of age or younger category.

Moreover, Trout’s current batting average is better than .345, and thus far in the 2012 season he’s hit 24 homers and accrued 39 steals.  

Now let’s forget cynicism and assume that Clemons has chosen to pitch professionally again because he needs to be playing baseball in order to feel that his life is complete, it’s what he loves to do most, and, according to what’s been seen recently he could still pitch fast, deliver a tricky cutter, put curves across the corners.

Also, a look at Trout’s ballplayer resume shows consistency of high performance since his high school days.

So, where’s the link between the old and the new? It’s in one word, “Competence.”

If we review the rosters of many MLB franchises, found will be players older than 35, still pitching, fielding and hitting above the margin. As with the Colorado Rockies, line-ups will be seen to include rookies who are around the same age as Trout, playing alongside over-35 veterans, such as the Rockies Jason Giambi and Todd Helton, players still credible at the plate and in the field, interspersed with rookies who are nearing MVP-levels.  

In other words, older is better today, and younger is better today .  .  .  which is an opportunity to bring up the fact that professional baseball is among the few sports without an equivalent of “a popular Masters,” that is, a kind of professional post-MLB career across-America league, allowing the Clemens and the Giambis and the Heltons and Derek Jeter + Alex Rodriguez (NYY) and Albert Pujols (L.A.) to transition from the majors to a system within which they could continue playing a game that they’ve been a major part of---so what if hurls from the mound are under 75 mph and the batters aren’t clearing walls and fences? There’d be extended baseball for these athletes---no-one would have to witness them fading away before (ugh!) middle age. Cal Ripken, Jr. (Baltimore, now retired), who holds the record for most MLB games played consecutively, would never miss a post-career challenge, he’d feel like a Jr. again.

END/ml         

MLB: COLORADO ROCKIES, STILL ON THE WAY BACK  // NFL:  (Revised:) QB PEYTON MANNING & THE DENVER BRONCOS.

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 every week---Ed. & Publ., Marvin Leibstone.

MLB:  IT’s there, 50 wins, a team no longer below .400, 11 games ahead of NL bottom-of-the-pile Houston Astros---this is the Colorado Rockies, experiencing a steady and respectable climb toward other than an embarrassing 2012 MLB season finish.

As proof of  "new life," the Colorado baseball franchise has won 12 of its last 17 games, and in a balanced way, that is, with (a) contributions from an improved starting rotation and a refreshed bull pen, (b) a line-up that’s hitting better, and (c) a defense that’s been fielding more aggressively.

Of the recent Rockies wins, most had opposing teams finishing with very few runs (3 or less), and two series were won by the Rockies---vs. the Miami Marlins + a four game sweep of the New York Mets, the latter topping off with a four day total of 15 runs and a combined starter and bull pen ERA below 2.0.  

The final game of the vs. N.Y. series had the Mets scoreless, redemption for a Rockies pitching staff humiliated in earlier games by several NL and AL teams (prior to the Rockies August, 2012, surge). The final vs. Mets game gave the Rockies a second five game winning streak of the season, four that were against the Astros end of May + a win vs. the L.A. Dodgers, June 1.

So, what’s congealing for the Rockies? Is the team’s risk-laden go at a four man rotation/70-75 limit pitch per starter paying off as hoped, reaching a point where, as if a laboratory experiment, it’s obtained enough yeas as means to upgrade suppression of an opposing ball club in the first five innings of a game?

Is it that manager Jim Tracy finally has a line-up that can deliver multiple hits resulting in runs during most of the team’s half-innings?

Is it that the Rockies current line-up has included some of the best rookies playing baseball today, and that the line-up's Josh Rutledge, Tyler Colvin and D.J. LaMahieu have proven to be hot infielders and solid replacements for the reliable but injured Troy Tulowitzki, Todd Helton and Michael Cuddyer?

Witnessed above all has been a successful internal attack against two of the Rockies more serious vulnerabilities, a starter rotation and bull pen that until the second week of August performed far below rational expectations, and an insufficient number of extra base hits capable of driving in runs before that third out.

It’s likely that the above-cited reasons for the Rockies recent wins can be credited equally in rough measure, and there hasn’t been evidence that any of these causes of success will step back quickly and deflate.

Peculiar in the wake of the Rockies victory-causes, however, is their contribution to the number of games that the Rockies have won on the road compared with games won at home. Presently, the Rockies away from home win/loss record is 24/34, and the Coors Field record, 26/39. The 10 game road deficit is a better stat than the team’s 13 at home deficit, odd since year after year the Rockies have had a better at home record than maintained on the road.

Next up at home for the Rockies, is a three-game series against the Dodgers, followed by three vs. the San Diego padres. Not only can winning the two series reverse the Rockies road/home stats favorably, more importantly they could lift the Rockies from last place onto fourth in the NL-West, in range for reaching the third spot that’s now occupied by the Arizona Diamondbacks, if the DB’s can lose a third of their games between now and then.               

 *   *   *

NFL:   THIS page listed the obvious on Tuesday, “QB Peyton Manning will remain an extremely valuable asset for the Denver Broncos throughout the 2012 NFL season,” adding that notions about his achieving “savior status” as easily as a God might are unrealistic, in that Manning will be working as hard as any other QB who hopes to lead a winning offense, which means that, like other QB’s, Manning will experience some setbacks.

It isn’t unreasonable to think that with Manning at the helm the Broncos offense could help the Denver team finish the NFL year with as many as a dozen wins, but there’s no jury with pure evidence backing this up.

Sure, Manning allows for the possibility of a great Broncos season finish, a goal that did not exist as a safe expectation last season. We can even argue that the Manning-led Broncos offense could have a shot at the Super Bowl, without our seeming as though we’ve inhaled an illegal substance, providing, of course, that the Broncos defense can equal the improved Broncos offense.

But the idea that Manning will be the sole reason for an effective Broncos offense, is flawed.

When judging Manning’s leadership, his speed and throwing skills, we could make the mistake of seeing him as a spectacular one-man show, as the scene-stealing hero of the American football drama, everyone else on the field, and even Broncos head coach, John Fox, being supporting characters meant to exist in Manning’s shadow. Fact: with regard to tactical execution of playbook maneuvers, Manning’s throws will demand the effective wide receiver, the canny tight end and the fast back capable of taking that accurate bullet from Manning; and, for making those throws safely, Manning will be depending on speedy pass protection.

Unmistakably, Manning has a lot going for him in Denver receivers Eric Decker, Brandon Stokley, DeMaryius Thomas, and backs Willis McGahee and Lance Ball.  .  .  and, there’s kicker, Matt Prater, for “the essential three.”

This page repeats: Manning isn’t going to be Denver’s only Sunday hero---(forgive the cliché:) “such will require a team.”

Remaining pre-season games could tell us how close to perfection the synchronicity between steadily effective QB’s and their targeted receivers can be in the regular season. The Broncos will be playing the San Francisco 49ers at home on August 26, and challenging the Arizona Cardinals, August 30.

END/ml  

NFL:  QB PEYTON MANNING & THE DENVER BRONCOS

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 every week---Ed. & Publ., Marvin Leibstone.

NFL:   IN all sports, a gap between expectations and reality can be huge, an invitation to hopelessness.

However, when expectations and reality intersect and hold, well, that’s where we embrace success and pride.

It’s a no-brainer: the smarter team athletes and true fans prefer and go for expectations that can find fulfillment, which requires that our hopes start out real, not ballooned into that which cannot ever be and will disappoint, which is why careful analysis of pre-season/exhibition NFL games can help to keep our thoughts from getting stuck in fantasy land.

So, from the pre-season games played thus far by the Denver Broncos, we can argue safely that QB Peyton Manning will be a strong asset for the Denver Broncos throughout the 2012 NFL season.

Yet any thoughts that Manning will achieve “savior status” as easily as a God might is a faulty expectation, for he’ll be working as hard as any NFL QB who hopes to lead a winning offense. As implied by the Broncos exhibition games to date, Manning will surely experience some setbacks, he won’t be having many football equivalents of the baseball pitcher’s no-hit finish---oh, those two interceptions of his throws during last week’s vs. Seahawks game!

Will Manning prove to be a better quarterback for the Broncos than several of recent years, including now with the Chicago Bears, Jay Cutler, and last year’s N.Y. Jets acquisition from Denver, Tim Tebow? Fact: stat for stat, past and present, Manning already is the better QB. And, as regards the future, Manning’s savvy and execution shown in this year’s Denver practice sessions and in pre-season games point to likelihood of his performing better than the former Denver QB’s.

As to a rational expectation, then, there’s no mistaking that with Manning at the helm the Broncos offense could help the Denver team finish the NFL year with as many as a dozen wins, but there’s no 12-person jury with pure evidence backing this up.

Okay, Manning’s presence allows for the possibility of a great season finish, a goal that did not exist as a rational expectation last season or during several seasons before that, a definite upgrade for the team. Using expectation vs. reality logic, we can even argue that the Manning-led Broncos could have a shot at the Super Bowl, without our seeming as though we’ve inhaled an illegal substance, providing, of course, that the Broncos defense can equal the improved Broncos offense (plausibility exists here, too---mid-scale, no guarantee).

A faulty expectation is the notion of Manning being the sole reason for an effective Broncos offense. When judging Manning’s leadership, his speed and throwing skills, we could make the mistake of seeing him as a spectacular one-man show, as the scene-stealing hero of the American football drama, everyone else on the field, and even Broncos head coach, John Fox, as supporting characters meant to exist in Manning’s shadow---but with regard to tactical execution of playbook maneuvers, Manning’s throws will continue to demand the effective wide receiver, canny tight end and fast back capable of taking that accurate bullet from him; and, for making those throws, Manning will be depending on speedy pass protection.

Fortunately for Manning, he has a lot going for him in Denver receivers Eric Decker, Brandon Stokley, DeMaryius Thomas, Lance Ball, and backs Willis McGahee and Lance Ball.  .  .  and, there’s kicker, Matt Prater, for “the essential three.”

So, realistically, Manning isn’t going to be Denver’s only Sunday hero---(forgive the cliché:) “it takes a team.”

END/ml   

MLB: COLORADO ROCKIES, THE WAY BACK “& UP!” and  brief Talk w/Rockies Outfielder, Dexter Fowler. 

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 every week---Ed. & Publ., Marvin Leibstone.

MLB:   WITH 46 games left to play in the 2012 MLB season, could the Colorado Rockies finish up from last place in the National League West, when 26 of these challenges are against NL West rivals (L.A. Dodgers, S.F. Giants, Arizona Diamondbacks, S.D. Padres), the rest versus NL East and NL Central clubs, each having maintained better records than the Rockies since May 1 (Miami Marlins, N.Y. Mets, Chicago Cubs, Atlanta Braves, Philadelphia Phillies)?

So, evolving across late August, September and into October will be 14 series for the Rockies to appear in, five consisting of four games per, these against. Miami (now in progress), N.Y., Atlanta and S.F., the rest three each vs. the Chicago Cubs, the Dodgers, Phila., S.D., S.F., Ariz.

The question regarding a lasting Rockies rise from below .500 can seem to underscore “the Quixotic,” “the impossible quest,” given that the team’s current 45/71 win/loss record is second worst in the NL above the Houston Astros 39/80; for to obtain a dramatic bump upward and an MLB season finish above marginality, the under .390 Rockies must play better than .500 baseball until last day of play October 3, no easy task for any team to accomplish.

More precisely, of the 46 games that are left, to be a winning team by October 3 the Rockies need to win as many as 26, an added value from a lion’s share of the 26 wins being against NL-W clubs, especially vs. Arizona and San Diego, so that the Rockies could ascend from fifth to fourth place in the NL-W, while toughest for the Rockies will be their six games against the Dodgers (three in August, three in September) and seven vs. the Giants (four in Sept., then three starting four days later), teams now respectively in first and second place of the NL-W.

Too, for a significant Rockies climb upward, the team’s NL-W rivals have to lose at least a third of their remaining contests.

But about the “Quixotic,” “the seemingly impossible” becoming reality and a winning record, such isn’t new to baseball. Hope springs somewhere at unexpected moments during every baseball season, even if “dimly,” and that the Rockies have won seven of their last 10 games and their last four games straight (three vs. the Milwaukee Brewers, one vs. the Marlins) isn’t “dimly.”

Yes, and quite suddenly, stats are signaling a bubbling up of progress for the Rockies.

Thus far for the month of August, the Rockies are second best in team batting average re. both leagues, behind the 63/55 Detroit Tigers. Since the All Star break, the Rockies are number one in team batting average, ahead of MLB leading team the 73/45 Washington Nationals and above the NL-W’s Dodgers and Giants.

And in 14 games from July 31 through August 15, the Rockies accumulated 72 scored runs, 10 home runs, 69 RBI, three triples and 38 doubles---this is hitter fulfillment finally offsetting a Rockies starter rotation and bull pen that still gives up runs, fact: only one of the team’s seven losses of August has been by fewer than three runs, while in each of the losses the Rockies accrued three or more runs, “in many of these wins and losses of the period the Rockies line-up delivering up to 10 hits.” Also, on Wednesday the Rockies achieved their seventh walk-off win of the season.

Moreover, when it comes to most runs accrued in first innings, the Rockies are now leading both leagues from its total of 98, as of August 15.

And some individual Rockies players have sizzled, of late. For example, in his last five games played at home, left fielder Carlos Gonzalez has had multi-hits and a run scored during each. Since July 31, outfielder/infielder, now leadoff hitter, Eric Young, has had the most hits in the National league since August 1---24; and, Young has reached base safely in his last 10 games. Centerfielder Dexter Fowler leads the NL in number of triples for the season---11, to date, while maintaining a .350 batting average. Second baseman D.J. LaMahieu is hitting .383 since July 17, with a home run, four doubles, five RBI and six runs scored.

Sustaining what’s been an upswing since August 1 may not deliver a post-season billet for the Colorado Rockies, but such can lift the franchise above that line that divides winners from all others---bye-bye Astros, goodbye Cubs and Twins, wish you the best for 2013!

*                      *                      *

Our brief talk with Rockies outfielder, Dexter Fowler

On Tuesday, August 15, and against the Milwaukee Brewers, Rockies center fielder, Dexter Fowler, executed a slide-across- the-earth catch that had it been during a pennant or World Series game, well, it would have listed as candidacy for MLB history. Batting .350 now, and leading the NL in triples, Dexter Fowler has been a leading figure in what may be a Rockies season comeback from its current below .400 status. First impression of Fowler: tall and lean, and were he a bit heavier his stature could remind an observer of Usain Bolt, slightly more elegant, and you’d find Fowler affable and choosing words carefully, no sign of vanity or of stress. Below are comments that this intrepid outfielder and hitter provided during my conversation with him Thursday, August 16---  

Q:  Dexter, for some time you’ve been leadoff hitter in the Rockies line-up. That’s changed, for now. Is the leadoff position a preference for you?

Dexter Fowler:  Actually, my first preference is being in the line-up, and that means anywhere, whether leading off, next up, wherever. You can help win a ballgame from any position in the line-up.

Q:  You’ve been doing well in defense, that is, as a center fielder. If you had to play another position on the Rockies, where would you want that to be?

Fowler:  Right field, for sure (Dexter wouldn’t want to suggest upstaging left fielder and friend, Carlos Gonzalez, no way!).

Q:  How did you feel immediately after that amazing sliding upon the grass catch you made the other day?

Fowler:  Tell you the truth, awful! I mean physically. Happy to have made the catch but physically I was hurting, a bit beat up.”

Q:  What are your thoughts after the recent Rockies wins, especially the series win versus the Brewers?

Fowler:  Something real good is happening, and it has us winning games and we can win a lot more. We’re rising up again, as a winning ball club?

Q: Is there a sense you have, and that others on the team have, that the Rockies can finish the 2012 season with a greater share of wins and fewer losses?

Fowler: We can do that now, we’re up to our potential.

Q:  What’s you special objective for the 2013 baseball season?

Fowler: Right now, to concentrate on just that, on making sure that I do what it takes for me to help the Rockies win lots of ball games.

END/ml 

SUMMER OLYMPICS, U.S. AT THE TOP // NFL 2012, AFIELD 

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 every week---Ed. & Publ., Marvin Leibstone.

OLYMPICS  ---   U.S. wins at track and field’s 10-event decathlon and the women’s 400 meter relay, plus basketball, swimming, women’s tennis, women’s soccer, so many other activities, all resulted in 104 medals, 46 of them Gold, 29 Silver, 29 Bronze, the most awarded to any of the 204 countries competing during the 2012 summer Olympics at London, U.K.

Though shy of the 110 medals won by the U.S. in 2008 at Beijing, the 2012 U.S. finish included 10 additional Gold over the 2008 total of Gold. Second place medal winner China finished with 87 medals, 36 of them Gold, equaling the number of Gold that the U.S. won in 2008. Russia finished third this year, with 82 medals, 24 of them Gold. Host country Great Britain finished fourth, with 65 medals, and Germany fifth, with 44.

We can take from the medal-winning totals that within most of the world’s major sports the U.S. is “best, perhaps the best ever.” Yet at London the track stars Usain Bolt and Yohan Blake of Jamaica proved that they are the fastest men on the planet, and Great Britain’s Mo Farah won the 5,000 and 10,000 meter races while Uganda’s Stephen Kiprotich won the marathon, suggesting that the U.S. isn’t best at long distance running and endurance; and, Great Britain’s Andy Murray picked up Gold in men’s tennis, and Mexico took Gold for men’s soccer, implying that the U.S. isn’t always best at solo and team competitions.

Another way to look at the U.S. accumulation of medals is to set aside words like “best,” which often implies separation from other nations and a desire to remain so, a kind of isolation. Why not substitute “best” with terms and phrases such as “leading edge,” “out front,” “first among many,” “ahead of the pack,” which underscores that the U.S. is indeed forward along the frontier of  athletic grace and physical accomplishments, setting examples for future athletes to follow “but not alone at the task, instead joined by greats from other nations.” With reason to celebrate its 2012 victories, it’s also of America’s heritage and of its grace to know and appreciate that the Olympics is forever a world happening, a U.S.-held knowledge and attitude that reflects what’s best about the red-white-and-blue and home of the brave.

NFL   ---    It’s here, professional football, just a few exhibition games before the regular NFL season begins, and so franchise leaders, players and fans are surely in question mode, of course starting with, “Which NFL teams will go to the Super Bowl come February, 2013, and will one of them be my team?” Here’s a take on other questions that ought to be asked about NFL games as autumn 2012 commences, none in any order of more importance than others---

(1) Will any of the teams that dominated in 2010 and 2011 be victory repeats in 2012, e.g., N.Y. Giants, N.E. Patriots, Green Bay Packers? Pittsburgh Steelers?  If none of these, which teams will comprise the top four as the season ends?

(2) Can Drew Brees and the N.O. Saints enact a comeback?

(3) Can QB great Peyton Manning raise the Denver Broncos quality of performance game after game?

(4) Will the N.Y. Jets QB-2 Tim Tebow have opportunities to shine before mid-season?

(5) To what degree will team secondaries prove their value as game-savers?

(6) How many running backs and wide receivers will be offsetting any vulnerabilities demonstrated by stressed QB’s, and which receivers will shine because of the qualities of superb QB’s? Relatedly, which QB/receiver teamings will be best in 2012?

(6) To what measure will pass protection be the saving grace for even the better among QB’s?

(7) Will we witness evolutionary changes in game strategy and tactics? And, how many games will be won from unplanned deviations from playbook requirements?  

(8) Will any of the teams that finished bottom of the heap in 2011 land in the top half of their conferences before December and remain there, and which will these be?

(9) Which 2011 and 2012 trades will prove to have made sense?

(10) Who will emerge as season MVP’s?

(11) To what degree will special teams be offsetting offense and defense weaknesses?

(12) Which records will be surpassed by teams and by individual players?

We could come up with an additional dozen questions, and more as the season progresses. Come to this site, and be with Mile High Sports commentary (see above re. web address and radio signs) “for takes on the answers as they unfold.”

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OLYMPICS: SWEET THURSDAY // MLB: MID-SEASON, 2012

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 every week---Ed. & Publ., Marvin Leibstone.

OLYMPICS ---   When crossing a finish line at the London Olympics on Thursday, Jamaica’s six-foot-five Usain Bolt became the first track athlete to win Gold in both the 100M heat and the 200M during two Olympics in a row, finishing the former at 9.63 (a record) and the latter, 19.32, making him the fastest Olympian ever.

Also on Thursday, America’s Ashton Eaton won the Decathlon, which many students of the Olympics claim is emblematic of being “the world’s best ‘all-around’ athlete,” a labeling that began 100 years ago at the 1912 Stockholm Olympics, when leading host, King Gustav of Sweden, told U.S. Decathlon winner, Jim Thorpe, “Sir, you are the world’s greatest athlete,” arguably a truth today.

The Decathlon consists of 10 events experienced across two days, day one including, in succession, a 100 meter heat, the long jump, shot put, high jump, and a 400M run; second day, a 110M hurdles competition, the discus throw, pole vaulting, the javelin throw, and a 1500M race.

Moreover, on Thursday the U.S. women’s soccer team dominated rival Japan, winning Gold, score: 2-1.

And so the medal count has shifted.

As of Thursday at midnight, the U.S. spun ahead with a total of 90 medals, 39 of them gold. China is second with 80, 37 of them Gold, Great Britain third with 52 (25 Gold). The U.S. became first regarding Silver---25, China second with 24, Russia third with 21.

The U.S. took the lead in Bronze, too, with 26, Russia following with 23, China 19.

To date, of the more than 200 countries participating in the 2012 Olympics, only six have won Gold in double digits---the U.S., China, Great Britain, Russia, South Korea and Germany, the least Gold won being Germany’s 10.

Of the 30 countries that have won medals including Gold, the least taken before today has been by Croatia---four total, two Gold.

Obvious from the 2012 Olympic medals count is that no nations are invincible when it comes to sports, yet some can field teams and individual athletes that are better than others, indicated by the top 12 among those that have double digit medals in either Gold, Silver or Bronze. Noted is that of these are the U.S. + eight European countries, the remaining countries being China, Japan, South Korea and Australia, suggesting Western dominance in sports.

Underscoring Western dominance in the Olympic sports is the fact that of the top 12 all-time medal winning countries since the modern games began in 1896, only three are from outside the U.S. and Europe (China, Japan and Australia, the latter an English-speaking nation and Western in its culture and its political leanings).

Yet while the U.S. has reigned as the country winning more medals than any other (2,307), among the top 15 all-time individual athletes winning Olympic medals there are but five Americans, Michael Phelps being the leader with 22 medals, swimmers Mark Spitz and Matt Biondi, each with 11, and track stars Ray Ewry and Carl Lewis, each with 10.

Russia holds second and third place among the super-medalists, from gymnasts Nikolai Andrianov and Boris Shaklin winning 15 and 13 medals respectively.

Only two athletes on the list are from Asia, both gymnasts.

A glaring fact is that the extremely sports-conscious and sports-active Latin American nations appear to finish below the margin re. Olympic medal winners, occasional exceptions being Argentina, Brazil and Cuba (this year, Brazil is the only Latin American country to have won Gold, to date--2). This reminds that today, Team USA Basketball will play Argentina’s formidable basketball team, which put Team USA out of the semi-finals during the 2004 Olympics. On Sunday, today’s winning team will play either Russia or Spain for hoops-Gold.

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MLB:   AS of today, with less than 110 games to go for most of its teams, professional baseball is again filled with surprises, including American League and National League teams that in April were expected to hold sway over others by now but are at the bottom of the pile, while several franchises that were expected to be feeding sub-basement are now teams that are top of the heap.

An MLB fan returning from a stay at the Arctic Circle without having had TV, a radio or newspapers would now be saying, “It can’t be that the Washington Nationals are the only team above .600 and that they are leading both leagues, and that the Philadelphia Phillies are in last place in the NL-East, when in 2011 they led the NL-East with 102 games, and the NL in number of games though they lost to the St. Louis Cardinals for the NL title. You’ve got to be kidding me, right?”

“Well, Joe Fan, it gets even stranger!”

The NL Central’s Cincinnati Reds are second behind the Nationals in the NL by just three games, when last year they finished third in their division, 17 games behind, 10th in the NL.

Furthermore, the St. Louis Cardinals, 2011’s NL champions, are surprisingly third in the NL-Central today, five games behind the Reds.

And, the three clubs that are leading NL division teams (Nat’s, Reds and the San Francisco Giants) are leading the AL’s three division leading teams (Texas Rangers, Chicago White Sox, the New York Yankees), with 196 wins over 190 (no small matter, in that such is two more wins than it takes to win a World Series).

Did we really list the White Sox? Last year, the White Sox finished third in the AL-Central, 16 games behind, 10th in the AL, while the Nat’s ended up third in the NL-East, 21 games behind, and seventh in the NL.

But at the low end this year are the Colorado Rockies, second from the bottom in the NL-West, holding a less than a .400 average from only 40 wins and 69 losses, second worst within both leagues (the Rockies were expected to do a lot better than this after reaching .500 at the end of April).

Yet no team has been worse re. either league than the Houston Astros---.319 average, from 36 wins, 77 losses, as of today. This isn’t a surprise---in 2011, the Astros were last in the NL-Central, last in the NL, last in both leagues---56 wins, 106 losses.

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OLYMPICS: “LEADING THE REST” // MLB: COLORADO ROCKIES, “FINDING THE BIG FIX”  

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 every week---Ed. & Publ., Marvin Leibstone.

OLYMPICS ---  The sports kudos for a wave of today’s English-speaking world are certainly well deserved. We’re talking about American, British and Jamaican athletes performing superbly at the 2012 London Olympics.

More specifically, cheers and applause belong now to the U.S. men’s swim team for winning multiple Gold at the London games, and to America’s amazing women swimmers for doing the same.

And praise surely belongs to America’s Serena Williams winning Gold at women’s tennis, plus Venus and Serena capturing Gold at women’s tennis-doubles.

Let’s add Britain’s Andy Murray defeating world class tennis great, Roger Federer, for Gold, and Jamaica’s Usain Bolt for establishing an Olympic record in track and field’s 100 meter heat, and Jamaica’s Yohan Blake taking Silver for the same event.

And, praise belongs to America’s Sanya Richards-Ross for her Gold after completing the women’s individual 400M, praise, too, for Jamaica’s Shelly Ann Fraser-Price for receiving Gold after winning the women’s 100 M, and high praise must go to Britain’s Jessica Ennis for achieving Gold for her win of the women’s Heptathalon after a stunning finish at the 400M Heptathalon-component. 

Incredibly noteworthy, of course, is U.S. Olympian swimmer, Michael Phelps, retiring at London with 22 medals, the most of any athlete in Olympic history, 18 of them Gold, and praiseworthy, too, is U.S. newcomer to the Olympics, 17-year old swimmer Missy Franklin picking up five medals, four of them Gold.

Prior to Monday, the U.S., Great Britain and Jamaica together accrued more than 85 medals, nearly half of them Gold, the most by any group of nations that not only have the same official language but excel in similar sports, for example, America’s Williams sisters and Britain’s Andy Murray regarding tennis, and the U.S. and Jamaica with regard to track and field (While the two male Jamaicans grabbed Gold and Silver for their 100 meter performances, U.S. track stars Justin Gatlin, Tyson Gay and Ryan Bailey placed third, fourth and fifth in the 100M activity. Remarkable is that these Jamaican and U.S. racers finished with times under 10 seconds, an Olympic first, Bolt the leader with his Olympic record-breaking 9.63, Blake next with 9.75).

Yet as of early Monday the U.S. failed to maintain its lead in number of medals won at London. The U.S. had 61 wins then, three less than leading country, China, which of its 64 medals had 31 Gold versus America’s 28 Gold and vs. Britain’s third place 39 medals, 17 Gold. Will the U.S. tack back the lead? Check with this page Friday, August 10.

MLB:  When a baseball franchise hits bottom, and you can’t get lower than where the Colorado Rockies are today in the National League, something has to give, change has to happen, though moving lots of players, office staff and the furniture around isn’t always the making of a positive difference. Reconfiguration isn’t necessarily “restoration.” It can be, usually starting under a different label, “trial & error.”  

Facing the Rockies front office today, and, of course, challenging Rockies manager, Jim Tracy, is a long ride across difficult “makeover terrain,” where missteps will be common until the right solutions to problems appear clear as a cloudless blue sky. One could say that the ride began more than a month ago, when manager Tracy shifted the Rockies starters to a four-game/roughly 70-75 pitching limit, now too early for knowing if matters could have been worse had Tracy not done this.

            So, what is it that winning teams have that the Rockies are without? That’s easy to figure out, but hard to obtain in the short run, and impossible to put in place beyond mid-season, for example, the lion’s share of winning teams usually have two exceptionally competent pitchers, plus infielders and outfielders that always create the right path instantly to a baseball, making the pick and throwing accurately when necessary. Add a line-up that’s strategic---extra-base and home run batters and a DH and others from the bench maintaining high on-base percentages. Also include low ERA relievers and closers that can sustain or create the winning advantage. And, most important, winning teams have sufficient farm system depth for players to move up from the minors speedily as replacements for injured frontline starters, e.g., more than one Rutledge to get out of a rut with.

Surprisingly from examinations of individual player records, the Rockies have much of what comprises a winning team, e.g., outfielders/hitters Carlos Gonzalez and Dexter Fowler, infielders Troy Tulowitzki, Josh Rutledge and Todd Helton, catcher Wilin Rosario. However, as this page has noted repeatedly, this hasn’t been enough to offset the Rockies weak starting pitcher rotation or the bull pen’s vulnerabilities.

First priority for the Rockies, then, is developing that string of starting pitchers that can build a lead in early innings, with a bull pen that can hold that lead. How possible is this? One way to look at the question is to ask another: “Is the current Rockies pitching staff capable of being a successful work in progress, can it evolve into a game-winning pack?” If not, there’s that necessary look at baseball history and baseball money, which shows that year after year available talent crowds the MLB scene, often better than the year before, but also that this talent is suited in money, the two are sewn-together assets, inseparable twins for the evolution of professional baseball. Team progress requires finance-backed Darwinism if a team wants to win enough games for post-season play. What’s an option, then, for the Rockies, a possible fix? Steinbrenner’s gambit, a.k.a., “deep pockets.”

Yes, Michael Lewis’ book/movie, Moneyball, suggests that GM savvy can override high-end spending and put together a winning ball club, providing that a rarity comes one’s way, i.e., the existence of super talent that can’t find better paying work elsewhere, almost as rare as the Chicago Cubs winning as many World Series as the New York Yankees have.

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OLYMPICS:  NATIONS, MEDALS & MEDALISTS

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 every week---Ed. & Publ., Marvin Leibstone.

OLYMPICS ---   AT the 2008 summer Olympics held at Beijing, the United States led in number of medals earned: 110, consisting of 36 Gold, 38 Silver and 36 Bronze. That’s a lot more than the 19 won by the U.S. during the first “modern” summer Olympiad, held at Greece in 1896, when only 311 athletes from 13 nations attended (11 Gold, six Silver, two Bronze).

Of the 29 summer Olympics held between 1896 and the Beijing games of 2008, the U.S. has been the top medal winner during fifteen of them, for a total of 2,307 medals, of which 934 have been Gold, 730 Silver, 643 Bronze.

And if the rate at which the U.S. has picked up medals since the start of the  London, U.K., 2012 games the U.S. could again be the top medal winner among the 204 nations competing. Only four other countries can be cited as top medal winners during multiple summer Olympiads---France, Greece, Russia (a.k.a., USSR, until 1988), and China.

The U.S. is also far ahead when it comes to being top medal recipient across time “sequentially.” The U.S. has been top medal winner for five Olympiads straight, from 1992 at Barcelona, Spain, through the 2008 games, and before that the U.S. had the most medals during four Olympiads in a row, 1920 through 1932.

Second to the U.S. in total medals won throughout the long string of Olympiads is Russia/USSR, with 1,010 medals (395 Gold, 319 Silver, 290 Bronze). Third on the list of top medal winners among nations is the U.K., with 725, including 209 Gold, 259 Silver, 258 Bronze.

            Among the top 15 individual male medalists at the summer games, six have been from the U.S., followed by Russia/USSR, with five medal-winning athletes, next by Japan, having two. Of the top 15 male medalists, three have been swimmers, three from among gymnasts, and three from track and field. The male athlete with the most Olympic medals prior to the London games is U.S. swimmer, Michael Phelps, with 14 Gold and two Bronze; next the Russian gymnast, Nikolai Andrianov, with seven Gold, five Silver, three Bronze.

The only other male athlete with double digit Gold medals is U.S. track and field star, Ray Ewry; he has 10 Gold. U.S. track star, Carl Lewis, is close behind with nine Gold, one Silver. Swimmer Mark Spitz is also a recipient of nine Gold.   

Among the top 13 women medalists from the many summer Olympiads are first place Russian gymnast, Larissa Latynina, with nine Gold (the most won by any woman athlete), plus five Silver and four Bronze, for a total of two more medals than Michael Phelps has attained, followed by U.S. swimmer, Jenny Thompson, who has eight Gold, three Silver, one Bronze.

Of the top 13 women Olympic medalists, only two others are from the U.S., both swimmers. Russia leads on the list of 13 top Olympic women athletes, with four.    

            By midweek of the first week of the current London games, the top medalist nation turned out to be the U.S., with a total of 37, comprising 18 Gold, nine Silver and 10 Bronze. China listed second with 34, consisting of 18 Gold, 11 Silver and five Bronze, Japan third with 19 medals (two Gold, six Silver, 11 Bronze), Germany behind Japan with a total of 17, tied with Russia’s 17.

Among the top 13 women Olympic medalists of all time, seven are gymnasts, six are swimmers. The five least among them have eight medals each, three with four Gold, two with two Gold.

            A planned summer Olympics that failed to take place was the 1940 Olympiad, cancelled because of World War Two (it was scheduled to be at Tokyo, Japan). Since then, the nation that has achieved the most medals during a single Olympiad is Russia, in 1980, venue: Moscow---195 medals, including 80 Gold.

The highest total of medals accrued by the U.S. during a single Olympiad since WW-2 occurred at the Los Angeles games in 1984---174 medals, of which 83 were Gold.

While that mysterious value we like to call “Home Court Advantage” has failed to work for most countries that have hosted the summer Olympics, the concept may have had its start during that first “modern” Olympiad (1896) held at Greece, when Greece led with 47 medals---10 Gold, 19 Silver, 18 Bronze. During the next five summer Olympics that were held (1900 through 1912), four of the host nations were those with the most medals (France, the U.S., the U.K., and Sweden). However, it wasn’t until 1980, at Moscow, when a host nation accrued the most medals; afterward, no host nation accrued the most medals until the U.S. did so at Atlanta, Georgia, in 1996, winning 101.

Given what’s been seen to date (August 3), and from the strength of its swim, gymnast and track and field teams, it’s a fair bet that the U.S. will leave London with more medals than it won during the Beijing-2008 games.     

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