Perception must be powerful.
How else to explain how well-meaning, well-informed national baseball writers and commentators continue to believe Coors Field is a pitchers’ abyss.
As Rockies pitchers and catchers wandered into Tucson last week, burdened by last-place predictions, a thorough ESPN scribe opined on local radio a few days ago that Colorado should return to the Blake Street Bombers model because pitchers just “get their brains beat in there.”
Problem is, that’s no longer true because of the humidor.
There were 67 quality starts – six innings, three earned runs or fewer – at Coors Field last year. The Rockies accounted for 34, opponents 33. That means a staggering 41 percent of the time baseball’s standard measure of success was met.
But what about all those cheap home runs? As stated repeatedly on these pages for four years, that Coors Field no longer exists. It has been replaced by Coors Light Field. Last season, there were 170 home runs hit at the park – shattering the previous low of 212 – which tied for 15th in baseball.
What does this say? That it is time, starting this season, to evaluate pitchers differently in Denver.
No longer can a 5.00 home ERA be accepted with shrugged shoulders. The Rockies produced a quality start 42 percent of the time a year ago, alarming frequency given ace-in-waiting Aaron Cook and former rookie of the year Jason Jennings missed half the season.
“We need to get to a point where ERAs regularly get below 5.00,” general manager Dan O’Dowd said. “What this shows is that if we put together a talented staff, you have a chance to be successful, where before it didn’t matter. But we need to see how the field continues to play.”
It’s not going to have a relapse. The humidor – where baseballs are stored at manufacturer’s specifications rather than drying out – prevents it. While not completely discounting decent starting pitching – few Rockies have ever pitched as well as Cook did last summer – saying the humidor is not a critical factor is to suggest Cindy Crawford graces magazine covers because of her intelligence.
“The biggest advantage that we have now is that we are finally putting a ball in play every day that’s fair,” manager Clint Hurdle said last week.
Thus the biggest issue facing the Rockies in their climb toward respectability is not their pitching, but their hitting. They need to score 100 more runs, minimum, this season to contend in the National League West. Colorado’s offense must be able to win 5-4 in the same way the Rockies’ best teams won by an average score of 7-6.
And in the process, perhaps, they will dispel the myth.
Seconds, anyone?
Alfonso Soriano’s time in Washington has gone about as well as the team’s stadium construction. He lost his arbitration case and continues to insist he won’t move from second base, where the Nationals have rapidly aging Jose Vidro, who can’t play another position. Soriano knows he will be a free agent next season, in which a 40-home run second baseman has more value than similar production from a center fielder.
However, at some point Soriano has to come to grips with the fact he’s a butcher at second, where he has committed a league-high 105 errors during the past five years.
Footnotes
With the United States the favorite, Vinny Castilla sees his Mexican team’s matchup with Canada in the World Baseball Classic as critical to moving to the next round. It’s possible Canada will hold back the Rockies’ Jeff Francis for that game. “We will have a good team. I like our chances,” Castilla said. …
The Cincinnati Reds got it right, giving overdue and overqualified Wayne Krivsky his first shot as a GM. …
Two reasons the Atlanta Braves’ 14-year division title run will end: No Leo Mazzone and no proven closer.
Troy E. Renck can be reached at 303-820-5447 or trenck@denverpost.com.
