Real Colorado Sports Opinion

If you read what I have to say about the Colorado Rockies, you would notice the talk getting more negative. The most recent post earlier this month, All but out, I wrote how the Rockies were all but done for the 2010 season. They were seven games out of the Wild Card, double digits out of the N.L. West, and the season was swirling out of control. Then, the turn-around. During the current success of the Rockies, I have not said a thing in fear of the jinx.


Here I go and here comes the Rockies. Winning when needed and winning in late inning heroics. The latest win was on the shoulders of MVP candidate Carlos Gonzalez. Hitting a game winning triple in the ninth inning and shutting the door in the bottom half of the ninth on the road in San Francisco. We sit today 4.5 games behind the Wild Card leading Phillies. With a full month to play. The thoughts of Rocktober are still in reach.


Taking the lead early in games and shutting down threats from the opposition will be key to catch the Phillies. The Rockies have the ability and talent to blow away all who get in their way. It will take patients, support, and teamwork for the Rockies to accomplish another late season comeback to get in the post season mix. As we say in 2007, it is possible. (As much as I believe 2007 was a fluke.) It is still possible for a September come back. Lets fill Coors Field and watch the Rockies come back and get to the World Series.

Choking another player out and throwing elbows, just another day in the life of Nuggets player J.R. Smith. Not to mention is inconsistent mediocre play during the season. Smith is not shy when it comes to getting into fights and run ins with the law. Think back when Smith was involved in the fight with the Knicks, the same fight where Carmelo Anthony got a nice suspension for a sucker punch. Smith is a guy that can’t keep is cool. When someone up-plays him, out plays him, or anything better than him, Smith resorts to what he knows best—throwing cheap shots.


So what happened exactly at Pepsi Center a couple weeks ago. According to some eye witnesses, Smith was being out played and not on ‘his game.’ Which we all know is just jacking up three’s and hoping they go in. Anyways, according to this source, an international player playing in what was described as a pick up game, did something to set off Smith which lead to Smith to throw an elbow then try to choke the player. The victim in which we don’t know the name of then called the police where Smith was cuffed and placed in a patrol car.


Nothing happened with this until the story broke today nation wide. No charges were filed according to the Denver Police but this just goes to show Smith has not grown up to be a professional. Now the question is, what do the Nuggets do with this worthless thug. Yes, he is a thug, defined as an aggressive and violent young criminal. Sounds like Smith to me. Can the Nuggets even trade him for anything? Maybe, to a horrible team looking for that rare spark off the bench. If they are bad enough, he could be starting.


Either way, he has no right to be in Denver anymore causing his thuggery. If I am the Nuggets front office, it’s time for him to be cut and the Nuggets take the losses. He can not be on this team or even on this side of the Mississippi River. Look for the Nuggets to try for draft picks but don’t look for a line of teams wanting this cancer in their locker room. Stay tuned.

Checked the MLB standings lately? Of course you have. Do you see where your beloved Colorado Rockies are sitting? The Colorado Rockies that were suppose to run away with the NL West and challenge the Yankees in the World Series. That team is sitting 11 games out of first in the West and seven back in the Wild Card race. What can we blame this second half collapse on?


The Rockies have played well below their abilities on the road all season long. Most recently losing series to the Dodgers and the bottom feeding Diamondbacks. A road trip after the All Star break is what broke these Rockies. Is it the inexperience to play under the pressure of high expectations? We’ll never know, but it can probably be assumed that is the case.


Inconsistent bull pen and starting pitching has been a large part where the Rockies sit today. Walk off losses on the road, blown saves by Huston Street and the inability to hit with runners in scoring position. Injury after injury has also been an issue for the Rockies as well. Todd Helton, Troy Tulowitzki and Dexter Fowler just to name a few. Under performance by Aaron Cook and Brad Hawpe has also led them out of a job.


Looking for excuses from Manager Jim Tracy, I’m sure he could pull out the book of Clint Hurdle and tell you the same crap that Hurdle use to. He won’t, Tracy is better than that. He will however assure you that they have time to figure it out and make a run in September. False hope to fill the seats. All we want in Colorado is competitive baseball in September. The ownership still doesn’t realize that which is why the Rockies made zero moves at the trade deadline. For a team that needed something, ANYTHING, to get them over the hump, they did nothing and now look where we are. I’ll let you check the standing, I’m done with looking myself.

With players and coaches not knowing, or saying they have no idea what Carmelo Anthony is going to do with the three year contract extension he has yet to sign, I wouldn’t expect to see Melo finish out his season in a Denver uniform. All signs indicating that he most likely won’t sign the big $60 million contract and head to free agency for the 2011 summer. All of us assuming that Anthony will eventually sign with the New York Knicks. A Knicks team that have not been relevant for a decade. Here are some reason why Anthony would pass the money and head toward the spot lights.


1. Anthony is from the East Coast. – A Baltimore native and a former student of Syracuse. Carmelo Anthony looks at playing for the Knicks as a true home. Friends and family in his own back yard, Melo may look at that and take a pay cut to play at his home.


2. His wife is in the entertainment business. – Carmelo’s wife, LaLa, is in the entertainment business and New York is her home as well. No more long flights form New York to Denver, a more stable home for their son, and both of them being at one home, not a second home when not in Denver.


3. Chris Paul possibilities. -Paul said it himself at Anthony’s wedding, he wants to have a “Big 3″ like the Celtics have done and what Miami just put together. Chris Paul is a great point guard and with what Anthony has seen in Chauncey Billups and the plus side of great point guards, he could become the super star im sure he wants to be.


Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s completely idiotic for Anthony to not sign the extension with the Nuggets. He will not see this kind of money after the next bargaining agreement. Don’t be surprised if Anthony is traded mid-season. The Nuggets will not let him go for nothing. Anthony will not be welcomed back to Denver if he decides to leave. So just don’t leave Melo!

That’s what its going to take. Lots of winning on the road and against the NL west. A lot of road games upcoming for the Rockies and a lot of games against the division. In fact, the entire month of September is against the NL west with the exception of St. Louis Cardinals to end the season. There will a playoff birth be made? In September. Where will the season end in disappointment? In September.


Carlos Gonzalez didn’t have an All Star season, but is now having a MVP caliber season. With a .327 batting average, 35 home runs and 77 RBI’s fans at Coors Field shouldn’t be chanting “TULO!” but should be chanting “CARGO!” This guy is everything a team needs to get to the playoffs and advance in the playoffs. His bat and defense will be a key to the Rockies clinching their third playoff appearance in four years.


The pitching must stand firm and be dominate. Huston Street can’t be giving up walk off home runs to the Pittsburgh Pirates if the Rockies want to be a legitimate team in the NL. Ublado Jimenez can’t be going three innings in must win games. The all around effort must step up from hitting and pitching to managing the game perfectly by Jim Tracy. September will be either a month to remember or a month to forget.

Are you ready? Ready for some football? No, not the Broncos and Tebow-mania going on at Dove Valley. I’m talking about the boys up in Boulder about to kick off their final year with the Big 12. September 4, 2010 against the Colorado State Rams in Denver will start the season off with a sure to be great game. The Buffs will look to make up for their stunning loss to the Rams in Boulder last season.


The main talk about the Buffs these days is the change from the Big 12 to the Pac 10. 2010 should be the final season for Colorado in the conference and start of the Pac 10 schedule will begin next year. The Buffs will get a little taste of the Pac 10 in their second game of the season when they travel to play California/Berkeley. Also who will be the starter coming out of camp. All signs are pointing to Junior QB Tyler Hansen edging out Senior Cody Hawkins. Like we’ve seen in the past, the two could share time on the field. Either way, head coach Dan Hawkins is going to need a winning season.


This could very well be Dan Hawkins final season with the Buffs. He will need a very big improvement from last seasons 3-9 record. That shouldn’t be hard. Coach Hawk has the potential to be a good coach in Division 1 football but his lack of recruiting in state and out of state as shown on the field. Big transfers from USC and Michigan could be golden for the Buffs. Watch for my season preview and predictions for the 2010 Buffs later this month before the Sept. 4 matchup against the Rams.

The playoffs for the Rockies that is. One hundred games in, with 62 left, I don’t see the Rockies coming back from the current seven-game losing streak. A 2-9 road trip record with multiple walk off wins and other embarrassing losses. Troy Tulowitzki just coming back from a broken hand, Ubaldo Jimenez running on fumes, Huston Street getting hit by line drives during batting practice, and the inability to score runs in the late innings and with runners in scoring position.


Will the Rockies make a move? Probably not. Once again stuck in their ways of building within, don’t look for the Rockies to make a move for first baseman Derrick Lee, or staring pitcher Roy Oswalt. Do the Rockies need the bat and a gold glove first baseman in Lee? Yep. Do they need a veteran starter in the rotation? Yes. Will we see anything close to that? Not at all. So, instead we may see small, insignificant swaps at the deadline, but nothing to put the Rockies over the top.


Eight games out of the NL West. Five and a half out of the wild card. It’s going to take a major turn around and a wake up call on the dull bats sitting in the Rockies dugout. It takes more than just Jimenez on the mound to win the division. It takes scoring at least one run with a man on third and less than two outs. The small things that are costing the Rockies big games. Every game is big now. It’s time for Jim Tracy to be the manager of the year he was last season.

The second half of the 2010 baseball season hasn’t quite started the way the Rockies wanted. Seven games into a 11 game road trip, the Rockies are 2-5. The Rockies blew two wins against the Marlins in the ninth innings, perhaps preventing a 3-1 trip to South Beach. Other than Tuesdays 10-0 win, the Rockies offense is all but gone.


The need for Troy Tulowitzki is needed more than ever now. Now, the Rockies have Roy Halladay and the Phillies to look forward to in the final three games of the road trip. The Rockies struggles on the road has been a year long issue. The Rockies are eight games below .500 on the road with a 20-28 record. Not good for a team expected to make noise in October. Completely opposite of their home record, one of the best in the league at 31-16. Coors Field may be cozy, but winning on the road will make or break a divison in September.


Todd Helton will also be a good addition to the team when he is ready to come back. Although his bat has been quiet, the rest could benefit him when it comes to playing time in August and September. Helton’s defense speaks for itself and his late inning clutch hitting will also be key for the Rockies. The Rockies will need to make a move for a bat off the bench for them to have a shot at the postseason.

What more can be said about the 2010 Colorado Rockies except that this is the best team Rockies’ fans have ever seen in Denver. With first half 15-game-winner Ublado Jimenez pitching a Cy Young Award winning season, the Rockies expectations will never be any higher than they are now. With a huge June/July comeback after a forgettable first two months of the season, the Rockies look to catch the division leading Padres and run away with it.


The Rockies have a potential MVP candidate in outfielder Carlos Gonzalez who has done nothing but be the five tool player he is. CarGo leads the Rockies in average, RBI’s, runs scored, on base percentage and home runs. Nuff’ said. Ubaldo Jimenez, the 2010 National League All Star starting pitcher, is pitching the season other pitchers dream about. With 15 wins at the break, that is the most in Rockies history and is on pace to win at least 25, also a Rockies first. Success of the 2010 Rockies will be holding the World Series trophy up in October, all else will be an unsuccessful season.


Second half musts for the Rockies…


1. Tulo must come back and have a MVP caliber second half. The Rockies are winning without him, but the need for his bat in the middle of the lineup and glove on the field make the Rockies that much more dangerous.


2. Starting pitching needs to be addressed. This obviously excludes Jimenez and in my opinion, Jason Hammel. Aaron Cook and Jeff Francis will need to step it up or step aside. Aaron Cook has had a forgettable season thus far and since Francis’ comeback, he has not been the Jeff Francis of 2007. The Rockies need quality starts from both starters for the Rockies to win the division and go deep into Rocktober. Jorge De La Rosa is still pending with only one start since his finger injury. His power and longevity will be needed as well.


3. The bull pen with exception of Huston Street has been shaky. More specifically, Franklin Morales (currently in Triple-A Colorado Springs) and Manny Corpas. Corpas has blown more games than ever this season. Either he figures it out or the Rockies should cut their losses and trade or release him for anything. As of now, anything would be better than watching Corpas come into the seventh or eighth inning and burn Coors Field down. Hopefully Morales works things out in Colorado Springs and comes back up in September to give the Rockies a fighting shot.


Be ready for the best baseball Colorado has ever seen. No fluke winning streaks to sneak in, no face plants on a sac-fly, no sweeping into the World Series and swept out of it. The 2010 Rockies are legit to take down the Phillies, Dodgers, Padres, Braves and anyone who plans to get in our way. Im ready for a black and purple Rocktober parade.

Not only were they down and out, they didn’t have a chance at all to come back and make it close. Down 9-3 in the bottom of the ninth inning, the old LoDo magic came back to Coors Field helping the Rockies make their biggest comeback in team history.


Seth Smith and the surging Rockies made baseball history scoring nine runs in the bottom half of the ninth inning to come back and beat the St. Louis Cardinals on a wet and cold night in Denver. Carlos Gonzalez made his pitch to make the All Star game with a ninth inning hit and game tying run scored. Also hitting his team leading 15th home run.


It was the three-run blast from Seth Smith’s bat that was the dagger to the Cardinals giving the Rockies their second straight walk off winner at Coors. Only three other teams have scored nine runs or more in the final inning to win, and thats the in the history of baseball.


Aaron Cook will make the start for the Rockies tonight with All Star starter (hopefully) Ubaldo Jimenez going Thursday afternoon. The Rockies sit four games behind the division leading Padres after their loss. Come All Star break, the Rockies could be sitting atop the NL West.