St. Louis – Speed has been the essence of the Rockies’ recent slick fielding.
Not speed chasing down a groundball in the hole, or gobbling up a bunt down the third-base line, but speed on the mound.
“It makes a huge difference when the pitcher is working quick,” first baseman Todd Helton said. “If there is too much time in between pitches, you kind of lose interest after a while. A quick pitcher keeps you on your toes. Nobody wants to stand around, watching the pitcher, doing nothing.”
Heading into Monday, the Rockies had not committed an error in seven straight games, their longest errorless streak since Sept. 20-26 last season. During the most recent streak, the Rockies’ average game time was less than 2 hours, 45 minutes, nearly three minutes below the National League average this season.
With sinkerball pitchers such as Jason Jennings and Aaron Cook inducing groundballs, Rockies fielders stay more alert and active. When Jennings beat the Houston Astros in a 5-0 complete-game shutout Saturday night, the game took a mere 2:14. Sunday, with Cook on the mound for eight innings in the Rockies’ 5-3 win, the game took just 2:32.
Coors Field used to be known for marathon games. But in the first 17 games there this season, games have averaged 2:45.39. That’s below the National League average (2:47.33), American League average (2:46.04) and major-league average (2:46.51).
“Keeping a quick tempo is something you like to be aware of, because it makes the infielders and outfielders better,” Jennings said. “I kind of go in phases, where I’m fast and slow sometimes. But I’m absolutely aware of the tempo. Plus, you don’t want to give hitters too much time to think up there.”
Catcher Danny Ardoin said it’s his job to push the pace.
“I think we have pitchers who attack hitters and get things moving,” he said. “B.K. (Byung-Hyun Kim) is a guy that we wanted to pick up his tempo. Last year, at times, he would get into a lull, but he’s made a conscientious effort to pick it up.”
Career on iPod
Before Monday’s game, Helton sat in the clubhouse checking out his hits on a video iPod. Not just from his recent at-bats, but all of his hits dating to 1998. He has organized his files so that he can call up the pitchers of each team and watch how he has swung the bat against them. He sees it all on a tiny screen that fits in the palm of his hand. Helton got the iPod this year. It has become his constant companion.
“I can watch it on the plane, the bus, wherever,” he said. “It’s pretty amazing, isn’t it? That little thing holds that much information.”
Rockies video coach Mike Hamilton stores all of the team’s at-bats on the team computer, and then Helton downloads the videos to his iPod, just as he would download music.
Footnotes
As expected, Jamey Carroll replaced Clint Barmes at shortstop Monday night and Luis Gonzalez got the start at second. Barmes had gone 3-for-31 (.098) in the previous eight games to drop from .284 to .235….Manager Clint Hurdle reiterated that there is no timetable for the return of reliever Mike DeJean, who is taking a break in his rehab to allow the inflammation in his shoulder to die down.
Rockies recap
According to Rockies manager Clint Hurdle, Cardinals first baseman Albert Pujols – 16 homers, 38 RBIs, .315 average – is the new Barry Bonds. So Hurdle is not about to let Pujols beat his club if there’s a way to pitch around him.
“If we have a base open, we are more than likely going to put him on,” Hurdle said. “We’ll definitely make the guys behind him beat us if we have the opportunity to do that.”
That’s what starter Jeff Francis did in the first inning Monday. With two outs and nobody on, Francis pitched ultra-careful to Pujols and ended up walking him. Then Francis struck out Scott Rolen to end the inning.
Pujols hit a one-out single in the fourth but was stranded. In the sixth, with men on first and second and one out, Pujols flew out to center. In the eighth, Pujols flew out to center to end the inning.
NEW DIGS: The Rockies made their first trip to the new Busch Stadium, leaving just two stadiums as the only active major-league parks in which the Rockies have never played a regular-season or exhibition game: Kansas City’s Kauffman Stadium and Chicago’s U.S. Cellular Field, home of the White Sox.