Rockies becoming armed, dangerous
It hardly went noticed Wednesday night, but the Rockies reached a milestone in their game against the Oakland Athletics. As Nick Swisher almost single-handedly carried the A’s in a 3-2 victory to avoid a sweep, Colorado gave up its 300th earned run of the year.
Only three National League teams have given up fewer than 300 earned runs – the Mets, Marlins and Padres. And the Rockies’ pitching staff has the third-lowest ERA in the NL.
Last season, the Rockies gave up their 300th run 16 days earlier, on June 5. Jason Jennings and crew reached 430 strikeouts nearly a week quicker than last season.
Combine those marks with the staff’s five shutouts this season – the Rockies had four shutouts last season, and didn’t get the fourth until Sept. 24 – and, if it wasn’t already obvious, it is pitching that is carrying this squad. (The outrageousness of that sentence is hardly insignificant).
The true test awaits this weekend. Taking two of three from the streaking, AL West-leading A’s is nice, but it’s Texas that owns that division.
When the interleague series starts tonight at Coors Field at 7 p.m., with Jeff Francis (5-6, 4.13 ERA) going against John Koronka (5-4, 5.00), the Rockies will face a Rangers team that can score (they trail just the White Sox and Yankees in AL RBIs) and keep teams from knocking the long ball (second-fewest home runs allowed in the AL).
Tonight’s game airs on FSN.
Around town
First the NBA goes to Oklahoma City and now this? While Greeley isn’t getting a franchise anytime soon, the basketball league will take its traveling circus, known as the NBA Fair, to the cow town for the Greeley Independence Stampede, beginning today and running through July 4. Measure your hand and foot size with the biggest of basketball giants, play video games, chat up old players and rub elbows with Rocky, the Nuggets’ mascot. Rick Barry, an eight-time all-star and one of the NBA’s 50 greatest players, will be in attendance Saturday. Check out www.greeleystampede.org for info.
The couch
ON: Have you been tearing your hair out because the World Cup games air stateside during the work day and your boss has been very un-Ghanaian-like in not giving you a holiday to watch? The second round, when the drama really picks up, starts this weekend and should allow plenty of viewing opportunities. On Saturday, Germany takes on Sweden at 9 a.m. on ABC and Argentina faces Mexico at 1 p.m. on ESPN. On Sunday, England goes against Ecuador at 9 a.m. on ABC and Portugal plays the Netherlands at 1 p.m. on ESPN. All four games also air on KCEC-50.
OFF: Slackers unite! Then, once you’ve identified yourselves, make sure you stay away from the Slacker Half Marathon and 4-Miler on Saturday in Georgetown. Despite the name, it’s not for you. Organizers call the 8 a.m. race the “highest downhill half marathon in the country.” It starts at 10,630 feet above sea level at the Loveland Ski Area, then runs down a dirt trail to 8,400 feet, through forests and past waterfalls and wetlands, and ends in Georgetown. Check out www.slackerhalfmarathon.com for more information.
What we’d like to see
Major League Baseball should have gotten serious and leveled a more appropriate punishment of Ozzie Guillen. The Chicago White Sox manager laced columnist Jay Mariotti with a derogatory slur and hasn’t proven quite contrite, the latest in a string of embarrassments for the World Series champs. How about suspending Guillen from managing the AL all-star team? Maybe that would give him enough time to find a pair of industrial-strength pliers big enough to remove the foot from his throat.
Week in review
So the U.S. soccer team failed to get out of group play, mostly because it couldn’t score goals. Coach Bruce Arena kept the team’s most explosive scorer, Eddie Johnson, on the bench for much of the three games? Could there be a correlation here?
