News sure to make EYj fans happy – Eric Young Jr. will get the start in center field today and will lead off at the plate. EYj has been an excellent tool off the bench so far this season and with Dex still struggling it is a great way to get some speed on the bag, especially against Lilly, who has been a Rockies killer.
The rest of the line-up:
YOUNG (CF)
SCUTARO (2ND)
GONZALEZ (LF)
TULOWITZKI (SS)
HELTON (1B)
CUDDYER (RF)
HERNANDEZ (C)
NELSON (3B)
CHACIN (P)
IN GAME CHAT (just click play to chat during game)
[snaplet id="3614" width="660" height="700"]
EYj POLL
Loading ...
Pooter, now is your chance – this game will be your sounding board baby!!! Chat it up!!!
Added a new poll in honor of EYj’s start…
Does anyone know if Chacin has any options left? It’s time to send him down to relearn how to pitch.
Chacin has one option remaining.
He’s getting hammered. And yes, he certainly has at least one option left. I see two things going on. Velocity down — fastballs are at 87-90 tonight, last year he was at about 90-92, plus he’s just hanging about every breaking ball he tries to throw. Oh, and getting behind hitters too, that fastball command thing. He’s been bad before, but it was more of the “talented pitcher throwing like he’s just learning to pitch” thing. Now it’s more of “I’m not seeing a major league pitcher here.” More like a Guillermo Moscoso. I don’t know who you call up but I’m ready to make the move now. And if I am — the guy who preaches patience and that players will eventually come around to their average performance level — then I guess everyone is. In general, our starting pitching is a train wreck. Guthrie: bad. Pomeranz (another guy throwing like he’s hurt): bad. Chacin: awful. Nicasio: o.k. Moyer: marginally acceptable as a fifth starter.
George just said “it’s not about the velocity, it’s about the command.”
We get so used to hearing this that we forget: velocity is really important. I took a look at a hardballtimes article from a couple years ago. For pitchers with fastball velocities of 91+, every mph translates into roughly a .20 lower run average (ERA, taking out the E part since that tends to just introduce arbitrary scorer’s noise). So Ubaldo goes from 96 to 92 (as he has over the last year and a half), we expect his RA (and ERA) to go up by about .80 of a run. 5 mph = 1 run per game. That’s huge. That’s why the Pomeranz we saw in September and so far this year also worries me. There’s a big, big difference between a guy who throws 88 and a guy who throws 94, and we’re seeing that all over the place in Rockiesland.
The day Dan O”Dowd felt compelled to open his mouth and bitch about Chacin’s work ethic is the day he should have picked up the phone and traded him instead of blabbering to the media. Now Chacin is pretty much worthless.
Misery loves company…Ubaldo getting knocked around again, trailing White Sox 6-1. He’s walked five in four innings and thrown 84 pitches. ERA is 4.82.
Ted Lily is 8-1 against the Rockies (before tonight) and 119-110 against the rest of the world. So he’s just a little above an average pitcher except against the Rockies where he’s all-world. Maybe a different approach?
Getting real depressed about this season. They can’t keep Chacin here. Can they? Well I’m a glutten for punishment but it’s games like this that make me glad I gave up my season tickets. I understand we’re down in the bullpen but we’re getting killed and yet they have not pinch-hit for the pitcher. Seems like giving up to me. And tomorrow is a day game. Helton and Hernandez will sit. Who else?
I doubt it will make much difference who plays for Rox tomorrow afternoon since they’re facing Kershaw.
Actually Kershaw has a history of not pitching very good at Coors Field. He usually manages to get off the hook for a no decision.
This offense has more fight in them than they’ve had in a long time. They would have lost this game 7-0 last year.
So I haven’t lost all heart in them.
But this rotation particularly Chacin and Guthrie is horrible. If not for them giving up huge innings we’d be a few games over .500 right now.
I’m not a fan of MMJT, but I have to agree with keeping Chacin in. MMJT is desperate for innings from the starting rotation. After the first inning Chacin settled down just enough to give us some innings.
I wonder why we didn’t go after Lilly when he was available. We play the Dodgers 18 times a year, so Lilly gets about 3-4 starts per year against us. So not only do you get the pitcher (and whatever objective value that adds), you also avoid having to face him. Which in the Lilly vs. Rockies case is worth quite a bit.
Alex, I’m thinking Ubaldo is almost done as an effective starter. The Rockies may want to start thinking about what they’re doing with their young pitchers. Its looking to me like they fried Ubaldo’s arm, then possibly Chacin’s, and well on their way to watching Pomeranz blow up (although to be fair they haven’t had enough time to screw him up, so something else may explain that)
I’ve thought about that, too. The similarities between Jimenez and Chacin are pretty compelling. Chacin has now won three of his last 21 starts, which HAS to concern management.
Probably too early to say the same about Pomeranz but the whole pattern is definitely disturbing.
Ubaldo’s line tonight…4.2 innings, 7 runs (4 earned), 6 walks, 2 homers, 105 pitches.
Can’t imagine the Indians are very happy with his results the last nine months.
White is pitching for CS tonight, so it would be pretty easy to swap White and Chacin. I suppose Chatwood is the other possibility, but I don’t know when he last pitched. I wouldn’t call up Friedrich. I think that it’s important that he develop some confidence at AAA before being called up.
The Rockies’ starting rotation is bleak. I suspect we’ll see at least 10 starting pitchers before the year is out.
Tough luck last two losses…two deepl flies in ninth on Sunday; then tonight, Helton crushed one to the deepest part of the park in the eighth and then Ellis makes an excellent play in the ninth to keep the tying run from scoring.
The comeback was outstanding but that 7-0 hole Chacin put his team in was just (barely) too much to overcome.
This team battles! Several weapons
I gotta say, if we gotta lose then I’d rather lose like that. CarGo at the plate. Although I sat here and called it. Slider away to get two strikes and back-foot slider to strike him out.
I’m not a stats guy,just an old box score/lists guy but these simple stats from Sundays Post say it all.After Sat.ROX were 2nd in NL in BA and RBI’s and tied for third in HR’s,yet stuck at .500.I expressed my doubts about the rotation at the end of ST,feeling we had no proven starters[exception Gutherie if you ignore his w/l record] and we were all buying into “blue sky” because we are true believers and love our Rockies.Well,it is still early,and truthfully .500 at the end of May would look better than last year.The offense has been as advertised,as has the bull pen.so it all comes back to the 5 guys who honestly aren’t cutting it.Even if DLR comes back and pitches like Cy Young[unlikely] two other guys have to be able to win more than lose and all have to pitch deeper into games PERIOD! Chacin has to go down,and Moscoso too if he has a repeat performance.If we are to experiment, now is the time to rotate guys in/out until we find two that can keep the team in the game until the offense does it’s thing.I’ve felt all along that this is a rebuilding season,so lets see what we’ve got to build with and maybe we’ll catch alittle fire to ignite a run this year.
I thought coming into the year 500 would represent a good season. Not that the first month is complete, I stand by that assessment. Not only that, but finishing 500 will be a real challenge.
Chacin needs some significant Minor League time. That move should be made today so that we can bring up a relief pitcher for the next few days until Chacin’s spot is due up again. Then bring up a starter.
In December of 2006…yes,2006…TED LILLY signed a 4 year 40 million dollar deal with the Cubs.
He currently has a 3 year 33 million dollar deal w/LAD.
FYI
Fowler will be in CF Wednesday.
He’s 11-26 (.423) off of Clayton Koufax…I mean Kershaw.
I don’t think Fowler gets to the ball that Junior got to on the diving catch. Mainly because Fowler would be loping over to play it safely on a hop.
Was very dissapointed in EYJ’s strike out to lead off the game and another 1-4 performance. That is not enough of a statement that he needs to make. However, 3 out of the four were hit hard and could have been hits.
I like Scutaro much better in the 2 hole and I still think EYJ is this teams best leadoff hitter, offensive threat, which makes him the best starting CF!
Think about how much more dangerous EYJ’s 1-4 is than Fowler or Colvin. He has shown this year when he gets on base, he will score. This team has enough swing and miss, wanna be power hitters. Colvin is better as a pinch hitter. EYJ NEEDS TO START!
I was hoping I would say this after a 4-4 day but oh well, JUNIOR FOR CENTER FIELD IN 2012!!!
How about this. Move Scutaro to third, EYJ to 2nd base. That way you can keep Colvin/Fowler as the CFs.
I wish the Rockies would give Junior a start at second base once in a while.
Prog, Pooter — my thoughts exactly. Nelson is the weakest link. I’d prefer EY at 3b but his arm isnt adequate. So why not slide Scutaro to 3b — he’d be very good there — and let EY play at his natural position, where he’s looked acceptable defensively? What you lose in defense at 2B you gain in defense (Marco over Nelson) at 3B. Plus you get EY’s speed into the lineup instead of Nelson’s 0 for the road.
I agree that Nelson is the weak link. I prefer Johnny at 3rd – I think he needs to be given multiple games there to give him a chance to fill that gap until Arenado comes up. Keep Scutaro at 2nd. Defense is good and he’s coming alive at the plate. Fowler is at risk of losing CF and I would like to see Colvin and EY2 duke it out for the starting job. That’s a huge step for me to include EY2 in a game plan! I no longer cringe when he’s in the lineup. He had two awesome catches last night – has definitely shown progress defensively. And while I’m at it, it’s time for Giambi to go. I’m tired of him taking up a spot. I realize this is unlikely to happen but I can dream.
After today’s walkoff, I will amend the above to say maybe just maybe Giambi has contributed to the team!!! What a great illustration of the ups and downs of baseball!