In a strange, if not wonderful, turn of events, Carlos Gonzalez has been picked to hit lead-off for the National League in his first trip to the All Star Game. The honor to start the All Star game is something unexpected, hitting lead-off even more so. The only letdown, if there is one, is that the fans won’t witness his amazing talent in the field, with him being placed in the DH roll.
La Russa explained his choice of having CarGo hit leadoff to mlb.com, saying he sought advice from Carney Lansford who played for him with the A’s:
I asked him about CarGo, and he said he can hit all over…[Lansford] said last year when [the Rockies] really got hot, he hit at the top of the lineup and made things happen. I like that when Justin [Verlander] takes the mound at the top of the first, he looks over there and he sees some real damage right off the bat. He’s got all the weapons to deal with it, but I think these guys will get his attention.
Hopefully CarGo can shake off his current slump and really go out and have a great time. Perhaps the Home Run Derby will give him the batting practice he needs for the game.
Home Run Derby (July 9th | ESPN | 6:00 PM)
All-Star Game (July 10th | FOX | 5:30 PM)
MAN i am jazzed for today/tomorrow!!!
I’ve added chat here if anyone wants to talk during the HRD…
I have disappeared for a while; my wife was taken to the ER with the brain aneurysm a little over a week ago and now she is resting in neuro intensive care unit.
I haven’t been able to concentrate on the Rockies most of the time; I haven’t watched a live game since end of June. What I know about the Rockies come from reading the Denver Post articles. Today’s article (Kizla column) mentioned that the Montforts replied to a fan email about a need to change especially DOD. Sounds like they are finally at least thinking about it.
It would be nice when my wife gets back on her feet (weeks if not months away), she will be seeing a brand new version of the Rockies.
Oh Man RMH, that is horrible…i really hope she recovers without any lasting effects from this…let us RWO’rs know if we can do anything for you…
It sucks the team can’t be the escape you need from the stress…i did read that article (http://www.denverpost.com/kiszla/ci_21040429/mark-kiszla-fed-up-fan-fires-back-at) and found Monfort’s reply interesting:
“Got it, and if he (DOD) gets fired you will be perfectly happy?”
I read that two different ways: you won’t be happy if i fire him because you will find something else to make you mad…or… you are the fans that pay me, so if i listen and fire him are we good?
Hopefully it was the 2nd, in that he is listening to the fans anger and not just saying we have the best in baseball and manager for life he has been puting out there!
Best to you and your wife, rockymtnhigh. Life has its way of interjecting itself between us and our teams. Two years ago when my house burned down on Labor Day in Four Mile, the Rockies in September couldn’t really get through to me nor be my usual passion/diversion… (may be a lucky thing, there – it was a total crash and burn – pun intended?) I hope she recovers fully and quickly.
Best wishes to your wife and family RMH.
rockymountainhigh,
I get so worked up about the Rockies, but that’s not what important in life. Prayers and warm thoughts for you and your wife. As Jaredean already said, let us know if you we can do anything.
RMH, I can sympathize with you completely. In 1987 on the night before “The Drive” by the Broncos, my mother suffered a brain aneurysm which required emergency surgery. Her recovery was long and difficult, but she eventually lived a full life including the ability to drive her car. She occasionally mixed up words, and she could only do the checkbook in the morning as by the afternoon she was confused by the numbers. She traveled extensively. She passed away in 2010 and we felt that each day was on borrowed time for which we were grateful.
The point of all this is that I’m sure it may seem pretty bleak at times right now, but the brain can heal, albeit slowly. I will be thinking of you often and hoping for your wife’s successful and complete recovery. Please keep your friends here updated as I know all are concerned.
Yikes … sorry to hear. I hope nothing but the best for her and you and family.
Best wishes RMH, I’m sure the rest of the RWO “family” will send prayers and good karma your way.
AMEN!
Most wishes for yer wife’s recovery, RMH. If it’s ant consolation, my mom went through that probably 20 yrs ago. She’s now 82 and still completely independent.
And may I join the chorus I’ve heard and read elsewhere expressing disgust with ESPN interviewing two pitchers throughout Cargo’s at-bat? Bush. Not surprising to Rockies fans that our team and players are treated this way, nothing new; but not acceptable either.
Prayers and best wishes to your better half RMH.
Oh yeh, the glorified batting practice known as the HRD. I tuned it in just after Trumbo was ousted. These derbies always bore me any way, so I’m glad I didn’t tune in the geeks on Ego Sports Preening Newts. Sure am glad MLB has their own channel and am looking forward to the next cable contracts so they can get away from those limited time look-ins of games.
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Sorry for the plug, but if you guys haven’t checked us out go to SABR.org. I helped form the local chapter of Rocky Mountain SABR back in 1990. If any one would like to know more about what we do locally, let me know.
Now back to the game. With the way this season is going we should have known Cargo would go 0-2, Holliday would pinch hit for him and drive in a run, and Ryan Braun would play great while the guy we all felt should have beaten him for the ROY in 2007 sits at home with a bum leg.
This one is off the charts. So what the heck, chime in!
So, an original idea for the ASG.
Borrow from little league… every inning, every hitter hits. When all offense guys have batted, take the field. Defensive starters play 3 innings, mix and match the rest of the way. Every pitcher pitches 1 inning. Have a fireman to rescue insane innings. Runs minus outs is the score for that inning.
OK that might mean 9AB, so split the squad into 2 or 3 units. Each guy gets 3 or 4 AB.
It might not be true baseball, but it might be fun!
Go ahead, smack me down! Or submit your amendments! ASG is all about fun, so in my comment, I’m just joining the party!
Reminds me of the time in Athens, OH where a budding sports writer described seeing a quadruple play in T-ball. Everyone batted and so outs didn’t stop at three. The last batter came up with the bases loaded. He hit the ball and all runners kept running. Result: 4 outs at home plate.
Who gives a crap what Matt Cain has to say? “Duh, I think every outfield wall should be at least 600 feet from home plate.”
RMH best to your wife on a full and complete recovery. We sit here and complain or not about baseball and many of us have “Baseball is Life” T-shirts, but of course it’s not. Our family has had a tough 7 months or so with both my parents passing away and a brother who had 3 brain surgeries in 3 weeks so I understand your feelings. To me watching ball (or whatever the Rockies call their brand of ball) is a diversion and even when they stink it up it helps keep my mind off reality even if it’s only for a few hours.
As for the ASG I thought it was fun even though it wasn’t competitive. Frankly I think the winning league shouldn’t have home field advantage in the World Series and that it should go to the team with the best record. Perhaps if or when Bud Selig finally retires we can do away with the sham.
By the way did anybody catch the Tim McCarver mistake when Cargo was up the first time? I’m sure he mentioned that this was Cargo’s 3rd ASG. I missed his 2nd at bat so maybe he corrected it. And maybe I “mis-heard”.
He did say that.
Thoughts go out to you and your family RMH…certainly wishing your family the best.
Bill- I caught that right away when he mentioned Cargo’s 3rd ASG…They sure went out of their way to talk about Chipper and Harper. Of course the classic moment was Harper looking up and clueless of where the ball was. I know they want to promote the up and coming stars and why not. But don’t treat others like an afterthought as they did with Cargo. He has forgotten more about playing the outfield than Braun or Harper…
IggyRox…interesting idea but give me this game as it is..sans fan voting determining the starters..always a joke. But shame on the Rox for not promoting the voting more. Teams were offering free tickets/discounted tickets..other perks for voting. Hell, I even logged into the Diamondbacks website and used those votes for some of our players and they offered me 2 or 1 seats….
Go Rox..1 series win in row baby!
The team with the best record may happen to have a weaker schedule during the season than their opponent, so that is not necessarily the best way to determine home field advantage. The ASG is not either. I propose this: The league with the best inter-league record gets the home field as it has demonstrated over all teams and all venues that it has had a superior season. I’m not talking about the team with the best inter-league record, rather all teams combined. Easiest way to see who wins that is by adding up all the wins and losses for each league, the one with more wins than losses has the better record.
BTW, today is Day 4 of 5 without a Rockies loss. So refreshing!
Also, take a look at the schedule on the Rockies website. Notice the result of the All-Star game is shown as “L 0-8″. Think there isn’t bias towards the “superior” AL? Geez!
So any talk about available Rockies players seem to have gone by the wayside … if you believe the national talking heads. Why? It is being alleged because of the continued high asking price.
Maybe because we think we’re going to make a run at the Division?
Sorry, a bad joke.
Oh my gosh, my prayers and thoughts are with you and your wife! Hang in there.