followed me down the neck to D

i've been sitting on this post for like a half hour now. so let's talk some rockies baseball!

the rockies are playing out of their collective heads right now, and maybe o'dowd and hurdle are on to something. except why did hurdle take Fogg out of the game last night? colorado's starting pitching is freaky at the moment, with Jennings and Cook almost throwing back-to-back complete games, and Fogg pitching very well into the 8th last night. low pitch-counts, excellent ball-control, great catching, timely hitting -- these are all factors that have put your Colorado Rockies at the top of the NL West!

Garrett Atkins, Matt Holiday, Clint Barmes, Todd Helton, these guys are slugging with everyone else in the National League, and i think baseball is better for it. remember when Colorado was a new ballclub in the early nineties, and the Blake Street Bombers were raking homers like it was going out of style? Castilla, Walker, Bichette - hell, i wasn't even a Colorado fan and i knew of those guys. well this is not that team (although the aforementioned Four can hit the long ball when need-be) and that's not such a bad thing. home runs are fun to watch, especially when you're at the ballpark, but they won't buy you a decent run in the playoffs. a nice post-season is backed by good pitching - starters and the bullpen - and clutch hitting. what i mean by clutch hitting is not necessarily a walkoff home run, but a perfectly placed bunt, a long sac fly, a timely single with a man on second. the Rockies this year are not relying on the home run to help them win games, they're doing it by playing smart baseball and by getting the most out of their pitchers.

although when you play against the Cards, sometimes you'll get Pujols'd.