One, two, three notes you’re out at the old ballgame. …
Where have you gone, Coors Canaveral? A nation turns its lonely eyes to you. Seven weeks into the season, the Rockies lead the National League in fewest home runs allowed at 35. Not only that, they had a higher ERA on the road than at home – 4.08 to 4.03 – going into Monday night’s game at Los Angeles. …
Nothing out of the ordinary about that near-4.00 ERA except that, going into Monday night, da Rox only had been under 4.00 after 29 games in their 2,087-game history – all in the first week of a season. …
Clint Hurdle, on the Rockies’ dramatic improvement: “There are people who are probably not going to believe it until the season is over, and that’s fine. We need to play well for an entire season. We’ve got a history of not playing well for an entire season.” …
More ridiculous numbers from the Rox: Going into Monday night, they had committed only two errors in May, giving them a major league-leading .997 fielding percentage for the month. …
It’s not just the Rockies. The Tigers in first place in the rugged AL Central? Not that it’s been awhile, but the last time the Tigers were any good, Berlin had a wall and Michael Jackson had a nose. …
How have the Tigers done it? Pitching, pitching and more pitching. They’ve already racked up nine shutouts and reeled off a seven-game winning streak, a six-game streak and two five-game streaks. Their starters’ ERA is 3.27, pushing a half-run better than the Dodgers’ starters, who rank second in the big leagues at 3.64. …
The Tigers are 30-14, the best record in the bigs. If they can eke out 14 more wins in their final 118 games, they’ll surpass their 43-119 nightmare of 2003. …
What’s wrong with this picture? Albert Pujols on pace for 81 homers, Manny Ramirez on pace for 75 ribbies. …
The good news is that the Rockies’ bandwagon, out of commission for most of the 21st century, was spotted cruising down Blake Street over the weekend. The bad news is that it’s the same color as Jose Mesa‘s glove. …
Add Mesa: Welcome to the club, my man. Dude turned the Big 4-Oh on Monday. …
Their names are Mark McGwire, Rafael Palmeiro and Sammy Sosa. All relative newcomers to the 500-home run club, all suspected steroids users, all had their careers cut short when their bodies hit the wall. Don’t you wonder if we’re seeing the same thing happen to Barry Bonds? …
The first manager to be toe-tagged? If, as a lot of people think, it’s Mariners skipper Mike Hargrove, he ought to send Adrian Beltre a thank-you card. …
Athletes and Beyond football clinic and workshop, Friday through Sunday at Montbello High School. Various area high school and college coaches, including Herman White Jr. and Sr. and Wyoming tight ends coach Harvey Patton. Open to kids 7-14. For more info, call Narcy Jacksonat 303-725-0811. …
How close has the Dallas-San Antonio series been? Take away the Mavs’ blowout win in Game 2 and the combined score for the series entering Game 7 was Spurs 497, Mavs 495. Five games had been decided by five points or fewer, the first time that had happened in the NBA playoffs since the Bulls and Jazz met in the 1998 Finals. …
More evidence of how closely matched the Mavs and Spurs are: According to Elias Sports Bureau numbers crunchers, the road team in the series had won 40 out of 80 games going into Monday night’s Game 7. …
He’s even more of a one-man team than you thought: The Cavs’ starters had two assists in Sunday’s 79-61 debacle at Detroit, and LeBron James accounted for both.
Catch Jim Armstrong from 6-9 a.m. during “The Press Box” on ESPN 560 AM. He can be reached at 303-820-5452 or jmarmstrong@denverpost.com.
