Quick hits: Flashes of 2007
Jun. 14, 2009 | 5:14 pm
7 
By Steve Foster
- The Rockies matched the longest winning streak in franchise history with their 11th consecutive win. The team also equaled the longest winning streak in the major leagues this season, matching an 11-game streak by the Red Sox in April.
- Sunday’s crowd of 38,614 was the second-largest of the season at Coors Field. The Rockies drew 49,427 for their home opener April 10 against the Phillies.
- The sweep was the Rockies’ first home sweep since taking four games at home against the Pirates in July last season.
- The Rockies are 5-1 in interleague games.
- Troy Tulowitzki had a seven-game hitting streak snapped but still scored a run and drove in another.
- Todd Helton, who extended his hitting streak to five games, was 6-for-13 in the Mariners series.
- Ian Stewart was out of the starting lineup for the first time since June 2 and has his first full day off since May 30.
- Jason Hammel had his first hit as a Rockie with double in the fourth inning. Hammel now has two major-league hits — both doubles.
- Troy Tulowitzki, who drove in the Rockies first run with a sacrifice fly, leads the National League in sac flies with six.
Sac flies, sac bunts, and hitting to the right side are signs of a team that is playing together. I think we may one forming right before our eyes!
Tracy,
Peter Gammons was asked why the Tracy-led Rockies are performing so much better. He said Tracy’s lineup is superior defensively, even better than than the 2007 lineup. He said they’re probably better at 3rd, 2nd, left, and catcher. I think most people would agree Stewart and Spilly/CarGo are defensive upgrades. Do you agree that Barmes and Ianetta are defensive upgrades over Kaz and Torrealba?
Crisper defense is one part of the streak, but we know everything is better, including timing (Corpas gives up runs, ok, let’s get ‘em back and win). It’s just one of those inexplicable things, as Tracy wrote recently. No one thing explains this much improvement, just as no one thing explains how horrible they were/how many things went wrong earlier.
My two cents on the players: CarGon and Spilly are likely upgrades in LF though Holliday is underrated there because he occasionally misjudged balls (as he did in the WS)–all three are likely well above LFers. A healthy Matsui and Barmes are probably close, though I can see why people would see Barmes as an upgrade since Matsui so so rarely healthy. Barmes is good out there, and his shortstop’s arm is a big help on the double play. (FWIW, Matsui was also a shortstop in Japan.)
I think Iannetta is better defensively than Torrealba, but Iannetta has started just 5 of the 11 games (Bellorin started 2, Phillips 4).
I was at the game on Memorial Day and the game last night. It was like watching two different teams play baseball. Key hits (Ianetta’s was a thing of beauty at exactly the right time to put the game out of reach), and, of course, quality starting pitching. Hammel labored a bit in the first two innings then seemed to get stronger as the game progressed. It’s too bad that the weather stopped his performance; it would have been interesting to see him for a few more innings.
I would say they are both strong upgrades. Kaz was too inconsistent in playing time, bothced some routine plays and didn’t seem to have the range up themiddle. Barmes is a shortstop at second. Iannetta is one of the better defensive catchers in the game. I don’t see a defensive shortocming. Pitchers have always liked throwing to him. He has a plus arm. He moves well.
anybody notice the standings for All Stars this year?
Brad Hawpe isn’t even in the top 15 for OF votes. Whats up with that?
It looks like it’s largely going by team (3 Phillies and 3 Brewers OF’s in the top 9?). Perhaps there’s not as much compulsive voting on the part of Rockies’ fans, or maybe batches of votes are counted at different times, I dunno.
Unless he goes into slump, I would think Hawpe will be named as a reserve.
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