Dodgers at Rockies series thread

[Roxpert]

I see that Finley is rewarded with a start since he hit a homerun last night, and gets to lead off. Plus, Torrealba starts again, and Chris Iannetta gets the "Cooler treatment". Has Chris lost his job as the starter? That's no way to develop the kid, but we are off to a fast start as Finley doubled to lead off the bottom of the 1st. The worm is turning!

[GoldGlove]

If we can't beat the lineup that the Dodgers have thrown out there tonight, that would be quite a shame.

[hiaspire]

Gotta love that 0000000ffense, led by Todd Helton and his lusty .241 average

Lusty .353 now (.467 OBP coming into the game going up). Not that April numbers should matter much either way, but the description is more fitting now. Can't put too much into April numbers anyway for anybody, and especially for historic slow starters. It's a long season. Got to like him hitting well early, though, with his usually best months still ahead.

Helton's gotten a lot more critics in recent years than he really deserves IMO. I believe he'll be more like himself now that he's physically back to health and ready for a big season to silence the doubters. Keep it up 17.

[Roxpert]

I see that you kept on-topic with the series thread, HiAspire. You just trying to get a reaction out of me or something? I'm not biting.

[indianadrew]

hiaspire,

you obviously were trying to elicit a response. roxpert you did show some restraint.

go hawpe

[indianadrew]

looks like tulo had some patience in the box this time around

[hiaspire]

What the hell?!?! Todd Helton just gets a big hit to drive in a run and I can't comment upon it? Or how well he's doing? People sure as hell can comment about his "lusty" .241 average when he doesn't come through... right?? Or maybe that's just for you and nobody else. I'm not out for a reaction (though gawd forbit there be any reactions on a message board for goodness sake), just some fairness and balance. If people can talk about his April numbers when he's going bad, others can talk about the exact same thing otherwise. And you did that also in a series thread. Don't cast stones in glass houses.

Go Todd!

It is YOUR reaction Roxpert that is completely off-topic and personal as always. I'm reacting to the game and Mr. Helton coming through for us.

[Heltonfan]

Tulo has looked a lot better at the plate the past few days. I'm still not particularly optimistic about him contributing this year, but it's definitely a good sign.

[Roxpert]

I know that Corpas has been ordained the "8th inning guy", and deservedly so, but does Hurdlle HAVE to use him in a game that we lead by 5 runs? Most other managers might hold back their 2nd best reliever from such a game, even though it is the 8th inning.

It used to be that no lead is safe at Coors Field, but these days, against THAT Dodgers lineup, I think the lead would be safe even with Affleldt, or Hawkins, pitching the 8th.

Now watch Fuentes get a low-leverage 9th inning in.

Oh, and did someone comment about Helton's big hit tonight earlier when cutting and pasting a quote from one of my posts from a week or 10 days ago? Seems I missed that one. Seemed like less of a game comment than a swipe at a "prematurely negative comment", or some such.

[BigRapidsJackass]

Kind of hurt to see Tsao throwing well tonight, didn't it.

BTW, I have no complaints about Hurdle's use of the roster tonight, or yesterday for that matter. Finley? Sure, why not, beats the heck out of Tavares the way he's going. Torrealba? Yeah, he's been hot and Iannetta looks like he's in a funk. Iannetta's development won't be harmed by catching 1/3 of the time instead of 2/3 of the time.

The Rodrigo Lopez thing is kind of worrying, particularly if Brian Lawrence is really gone. Maybe they could've held onto Lawrence to see if Lopez is ready to go?

One final thought: I really like the Rox taking the extra base on the Dodger outfielders. Even when it's bad strategy (Hawpe trying -- and succeeding -- at stretching a single into a double with 2 outs), it's going to put pressure on the Dodgers and probably make them do something stupid like signing Karim Garcia or some such thing. Or maybe I'm just a Jackass (!) and I just like seeing a player's weaknesses rubbed in his face, kind of like when teams ran all over the diamond on Todd Greene.

[BigRapidsJackass]

Oh, and did someone comment about Helton's big hit tonight earlier when cutting and pasting a quote from one of my posts from a week or 10 days ago?

I think Aspire is probably getting a subpoena right now for the archives of the old board so he can quote me dissing Paul LoDuca in December 2005.

[BigRapidsJackass]

LaTroy Hawkins, $3.5 million garbage time man, will probably throw a perfect 9th inning tonight ...

[Roxpert]

I hereby commend Clint Hurdle for using LaTroy Hawkins in the 9th inning of a 7-2 game instead of Brian Fuentes. Sometimes, even I'm pleasantly surprised.

(BTW, I still ain't biting).

[hiaspire]

Originally Posted by BigRapidsJackass

I think Aspire is probably getting a subpoena right now for the archives of the old board so he can quote me dissing Paul LoDuca in December 2005.

It's against the law here, right?? Unprecedented indeed, HF.

There are lots of baseball sites where people can spout off whatever unintelligent rant they want and forget about it the next day. For frustration release or whatever people called it related to yelling at the manager. Is that what we "aspire" to?

Or is it something else more "intelligent"? That isn't moving toward scientific theory, though. Is it? We all have supposed intelligent theories about the game and player values. For a scientist like myself, theories about the game should be analyzed and proven out over the course of time with data collection.

Not too many scientists I know support just chucking their theories in the trash and forgetting about them with virtually no collection of information except for some extremely early results. That's most like the arguement you'd hear from a drunken fan spouting a rant that he'd like to pretend he never yelled while sleeping off a baseball hangover. Who would have thought I would be the one preferring that more scientific approach instead of all the others with that supposed focus.

[Roxpert]

Eeeek. Soon, I will have to use the "ignore" option.