The Rockies earned the all-important tie Saturday against the Miami Marlins.
They are all even in their 23rd seasons — and deserve each other as adversaries.
The Marlins stink like a fish head in the south Florida sun. The Rockies smell like a slaughterhouse in northern Colorado.
Even though they are not real rivals, these two teams have been virtual conjoined twins, like Chang and Eng, since a National League expansion committee selected Denver and Miami for baseball’s newest franchises 24 years ago this week.
This is the oddest statistic of the season:
After Saturday’s game in LoDo — delayed by weather, as usual — the Marlins and the Rockies each have won exactly the same number of regular-season games in 22-plus seasons: 1,666.
Both have averaged 87 losses a year.
That’s not very sunny and warm.
Neither has won its division.
That’s rather dark and stormy.
In fish head-to-rock head competition, the Floridians possessed a 92-88 record against the Coloradans after splitting the first two games of the series. The Rox lost Friday night, then blew out the Marlins 10-5 on Saturday.
The Rockies have no advantage at 5,200 feet in 2015. The Marlins have one more home victory this season than the Rox, but they’ve never owned an edge at 9 feet above sea level.
The Marlins and the Rockies began their existences playing in football stadiums. The Rox did win the first game in 1993. Rox first-base coach Eric Young, then the team’s second baseman, went 2-for-3 and scored a run, and current bullpen coach Darren Holmes, then a relief pitcher, earned his first Rockies save.
Expansion teams are expected to reek.
But 23 seasons later?
In the Fish & Gamey Department, the pair combined have finished fourth, fifth or sixth 27 times.
Where’s the Broncos’ gas-passer tax jar?
Which club’s history would you take?
The Rockies do have the lead over the Marlins in trips to the postseason as wild cards, 3-2.
The Marlins do have the lead over the Rockies in World Series championships, 2-0.
Seafood wins.
Which team would you take this season?
The Rockies have a slightly better record, but are last in the National League West. The Marlins are fourth in the National League East. Neither team is planning to win the World Series or make the playoffs. In major-league power rankings by various websites, despite the Rockies’ recent surge, they rank 24-27. The Marlins are listed from 22-28.
The Rox are above the Marlins in team hitting in baseball (13-21), but behind in pitching (29-19) and defense (17-1). Advantage, Miami.
The Rockies have fallen under 30,000 a game to 14th in attendance, while the Marlins, who’ve never drawn a crowd, are third-to-last at barely over 20,000 per game.
The Rockies are considered to have a top-12 farm system, and the Marlins are in the bottom six.
The past has been dimmer for the Rockies than the Marlins, but the future would seem to lean toward the Rockies.
But, then, the Marlins have Giancarlo Stanton, one of the greatest power hitters in the game. He hit a nice little 478-foot homer Friday night. The Rockies responded Saturday with Wilin Rosario powering two home runs and Carlos Gonzalez one.
The Marlins have the thin edge in three starting position players, but they will have the serious difference in starting pitcher when Jose Fernandez (Tommy John surgery) comes off the disabled list July 1.
Fernando Alvarez and Matt Latos are down for a while. But veteran Dan Haren, whom the Rockies could have gotten a couple of times, is 6-2 with a 3.18 earned run average for the Marlins. The Rockies did get Kyle Kendrick, who is 2-7 with a 6.55 ERA.
A tie in lifetime victories for the Marlins and the Rockies seems only fitting, given the ownership.
Jeffrey Loria is an art dealer. Dick Monfort is a meatpacker. But they profess to know how to run a baseball team.
Loria has controlled the Marlins since 2002. Although the club has won the title twice, Loria is a joke of an owner and has torn the team apart several seasons. He has fired five managers (the latest this season), and two others resigned.
Monfort you know more than enough about.
Which owner would you want? If you’re in Miami, Monfort would be the man. They don’t know enough.
So, the Rockies and the Marlins are tied in mediocrity.
Woody Paige: woody@woodypaige.com or
