NLCS: Rockies Scouting Report
by MattTheRock on Oct 8, 2007 12:47 AM EDT
18 comments
So SouthByTheBorder had a decent idea. Since we both have a mutual, if somewhat begrudging, respect for each other's teams, he figured that we spend a little time in these couple of off days getting to know each team in depth. You guys post the Snakes report over on Purple Row, we post the Rocks scouting report here. At the very least, you caught my attention, even though I consider myself somewhat informed about you bums...
But yeah, so I'll try to update this everyonce in a while, because like hell if I'm doing this all at once. And Silverblood, if you're around, help a brother out please.
Just go through the likely order:
2B Kazuo Matsui: My boy. Waiting for him to get a contract extension. Basically, your goal should be to keep him off of the bases for this series if you don't want an incredible headache. He's better from the left side than the right, but keeping him from reaching base is the key.
SS Troy Tulowitzki: The Rookie of the Year, and I won't have any argument on this. Great power from a SS, basically owns Steven Drew right now. Has had the most chances in baseball to commit errors, and hasn't committed too many all year. What's even better is this kids attitude. If you want to credit one player with changing the Rockies clubhouse, you can give it to Troy.
LF Matt Holliday: MVP. Not great defensively, but still average to slightly above when you grade him against the rest of the dogs in the league. Byrnes has him beat defensively, but everytime he comes up be afraid. Oh, and don't make him angry (HBP). He has a bad habit of hitting in 450+ if you tick him off.
1B Todd Helton: OBP machine. The eye is still there, the bat comes and goes. Didn't have a great series offensively against the Phillies, but still is Todd. Best defensive 1B in the league, rallying point for our run. His walkoff blast against Saito all that time ago started this beautiful run.
3B Garret Atkins: Started off terribly, but is still a tough out when he's on, and he's been on since... June. His defense, well, needs some work. Frankly it's an adventure. Not a Ryan Braun adventure, but an adventure nonetheless.
RF Brad Hawpe: Highly underrated. What's even scarier for opposing teams is he's starting to hit lefties. Has a cannon from right, so taking an extra base doesn't happen that often. He's not really the guy you want to see with runners on and two outs, since some ridiculous number of his RBI's come that way (70+ out of 115+).
CF Ryan Spillborghs- To think at one point we had Steve Finley on the roster over him. Streaky hitting, decent defense. He's in depending on what happens with Willy T. I'll get to the bench and others later. As usual, he's come up big for us this year. Might have the best AB music in the bigs.
C Yorvit Torrealba- Has taken a lot of flak from us on the Row because of Hurdle's insistence on playing him almost everyday. But it's paid off, so there you go. Hits much better at Coors, isn't great defensively (we saw what you did to the Cubs), but handles pitchers really well. Granted, our young guys have a ton of talent, but Yorvi is always talking to the pitchers when they start flying open and such, calming them down and getting them back to form. Deserves a lot of credit for our run.
I think that's good for now. Go ahead and post us a scouting report over there if you'd like. If you want deeper details, let me know. I'm writing this right before bed, and I tend to be a bit lazy with the stats.
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What's Spillborgh's AB song?
by DbacksSkins on Oct 8, 2007 1:36 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs
I'm SouthByTheBorder, by the way.
by DbacksSkins on Oct 8, 2007 1:49 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
"The Sweet Escape"
You'll hear the entire crowd get into it, and then they'll continue when the music stops. Highly amusing, very quirky, and perfectly fitting for Spilly.
by SlamDunkTheFunk on Oct 8, 2007 3:59 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
It's great...
"Woo-oo... WOO-OO!" Just goofy as hell, but it's hard to make people laugh that much at a game.
by MattTheRock on Oct 8, 2007 12:55 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
I hate that song...
by Azreous on Oct 8, 2007 11:08 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Here's my take on the Rockies
Overall the Rockies led the NL in hitting. And we set an all time MLB record for defense (fielding percentage)
1B: Todd Helton. Isn't the power hitter he once was. Not the hitter either. But he fouls off pitches, until he gets a walk. OBP is still up there. Great D. Should win another Gold Glove, and he's a BIG reason the Rockies set the all time record for fielding %
2b: Kazuo Matsui. Has been reborn in Denver. He has great range defensively. He hustles on hits. He makes good contact, runs well. Switch hitter, a little better from the LH side. Average ok from right, but no power. The Mets run him out town..we have a Matsui fan club! "It's hard to rock a rhyme that's right on time...It's Tricky!"
SS: Troy Tulowitzki. Hard to even know where to start. GREAT defense. Range up there with Jose Reyes/Jimmy Rollins. Cannon for an arm. He makes plays that I've never seen been made. Has been a solid hitter, especially in the 2 hole when Willie T (avares) went't down. Has gotten better all year as a hitter. Set record for HR's for a rookie shortstop.
3B: Garret Atkins. He's a pure hitter, with a swing that is unslumpable...which went into a 2 ½ month slump. Has been hot since. He's not a power hitter, but a line drive, gap, solid contact, hit it were it's pitched guy. The most under-rated guy in the NL in my opinion. Defensively his stats are average...but he's inconsistent, and a little stiff. Brooks Robinson he ain't..
C: Yorviet Torrealba. Great leader and handler of the pitchers. A smart catcher, he's a big reason for our staff's success, especially the young Hispanic kids. His bat is ok for a catcher, but he's been HOT during this run, and has the knack of getting the big timely hit. He has a candy arm. I could steal on him. He's Josh Bard bad. It doesn't help our pitchers don't hold runners well.
RF: Brad Hawpe. Has a lot of pop. Very streaky power hitter. Couldn't hit lefties at all...then when forced out of a platoon when Willie T went down, and Spillbourghs was forced over to CF...he started to KILL lefties. Doesn't take great routes to fly balls, but makes up for it with a Cannon Arm. (lead NL OFs a couple years ago in assists..now no one runs on him much)
CF: currently a Righty/Lefty platoon of Ryan Spillbourghs, and Corey Sullivan. Spilly is a nice 4th OF type. Nice bat, good range, good arm. Has gotten cold with playing almost everyday. Sullivan, is a great defender, plus range, plus arm, but thought he was Dante Bichette..now he's more of a contact hitter. Willie Tavares may be back for this series. He has/had a quadriceps injury. Speedster...slap hitter, bunter, covers lots of ground in the OF.
LF: Holliday. He's a stud, an All-Star. What do you say about the guy that lead the league in average, and 2nd in RBI's? Defense is ok. Still takes bad routes to balls at time.
Bench:
C: Chris Iannetta Rookie Catcher. OK D. Bat is unknown commodity still.
1b/3b/OF Jeff Baker. 1st choice for righty PH. Has some pop. D is shakey at best.
2nd/SS/3b/OF Jamie Carroll (not JIMMY ESPN!) great year in 06..bad year hitting in 07. Solid D with plus range but not spectacular, has been a defensive replacement for Atkins lately. Hits ok (barely) no power.
OF Seth Smith Lefty PHer. Was in AAA until Sept. 15, late call up due to injury. Sorta-big time prospect corner OFer. Hot as a PH got him on the post season roster.
Not sure who will be left off roster if Willie T does come back. Could be Sullivan, Smith or Baker.
by Redhawk on Oct 8, 2007 10:46 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs
LF
by nihil67 on Oct 8, 2007 10:48 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Which is more entertaining?
Byrnes was a Rockie for a very short period a couple of years ago. This was due to a 3 way trade that the Red Sox backed out on at the last moment, leaving us "stuck" with Byrnes. Bastards...another reason I hate the Boston Red Sox.
by Redhawk on Oct 8, 2007 11:31 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Missed the point
by nihil67 on Oct 8, 2007 5:41 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
My less-then-serious Take
STARTERS
2B Kazuo "Kaz-Mat" Matsui - For some reason known as the Purple Dragon on Purple Row. My mom says he has "great cheekbones." Doesn't speak English, so he has a translator named Yoshi Ono. One time we were getting autographs before a game (it happened to be my friend's birthday) and we asked Kaz to write Happy Birthday on the ticket, but Yoshi wasn't around so he just smiled and signed the usual Kazuo Matsui #7.
SS Troy "tROY" Tulowitzki - Also known as the iceman for his tendency to come up big in pressure situations. Likes to hit the high fastball, especially on the first pitch. Troy is clutch, but his intro song is R. Kelly's "i'm a flirt," which is always worth a snicker.
LF Matt Holliday - The MVP, despite what you read about his home/road splits. Go read Purple Row for debate about that. Like people have been saying, you won't like him when he's angry. Several times this year he has followed an HBP with a monster home run. He's also extremely attractive according to some of my female friends, so watch out there.
1B Todd "Beard" Helton - He's the face of the team, and yeah, the line on him is pretty simple: a little streaky in his old age, but makes you pitch strikes, can hit for singles the opposite way and can still crush balls on the inner half. Every time he comes to the plate one of my friends says, "I hope he remembered to take his steroids today," but I think the power outage has more to do with age, the humidor and pitchers refusing to give him anything inside then anything else. I've grown to respect him a lot more this post season because, like the rest of the team, he's very frank in front of the cameras and modest as well. The home announcers have told us throughout the years that he doesn't like to talk about himself, but it's becoming very clear now that a little post season spotlight is being shined his way. Oh yeah, and beware the BEARD!
3B Garrett "Batting Title" Atkins - Also known as Fankles Batkins because Todd Helton said he calls him "fankles" because of Garrett's "fat ankles," and I guess silverblood at Purple Row or someone decided Batkins was an appropriate pun for the last name. I call him batting title because before the season I said he was a dark horse pick to win the batting title, and then he went on his horrible early slump and my friends constantly reminded me I had picked him for the batting title. They still text me to that effect when he comes up, but he's been hitting at a pretty ridiculous clip since after the All-Star break, so I haven't been completely humiliated.
LF Brad Hawpe - I'll say it if no one else will. His defense is iffy at times. He doesn't get down on balls on the ground like he should and sometimes it costs him. Otherwise, yeah, the arm is great and he's a good hitter. My friends and I like to pronounce his name like it's one word, which comes out like "Bradop" but is frequently extended when he does exciting things and spelled "Mmmmmmmmbraaaaaaadhawpe."
CF Ryan Spillborghs - Apparently he's a really weird guy. I can't find the link right now, but there was an article in one of the local papers talking about how he's very energetic, sports weird and changing hair-dos, listens to odd music, etc. So he's a very, dare I say, Brynesian character. The music (see above) is definitely the story here though.
C Yorvit Torrealba - Last season and early this season, he had the reputation of being a very good clutch hitter, but even that dwindled a bit in the latter half of the season, before picking up for the playoffs. Because of this my friends have found ourselves asking just how clutch a situation has to be for Yorvit to come through. "Runner on second in the bottom of the eighth with two outs in the play-in game? I dunno, might not be clutch enough for him."
BENCH
IF Jamey Carroll - Last year the guy was voted the player who got the most out of the least amount of talent. He's scrappy. I like telling people that Jamey will scrap his way on base. He also has the hairiest knuckles on the team (fun fact: Jose Mesa was second).
PITCHERS
RHP LaTroy Hawkins - 95 MPH. Flat. No good in pressure. We took this sign to a ballgame against the Giants when the Rockies were sucking and Clint Hurdle was under fire for some of his moves: "Dear Clint, Put in LaTroy, Love Barry."
RHP Ryan Speier - Our "Ace out of the Pen." Been up and down for a few years, but for some reason he's been great since his September call up, and one of the many guys who played a big roll in our big run.
LHP Brian Fuentes - Cardiac arrest time. Untouchable when he's on, wild and very, very hittable when he's not. Tito, he is called.
And that's it for my stories. I'm still waiting to figure out what happens with the rest of the guys.
by potterhead4 on Oct 8, 2007 6:27 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
Kaz and Willie T
by Redhawk on Oct 8, 2007 10:03 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
It's in the Beard...
I was at the game when Tulo hit is first HR last year, in San Diego. He monstered it over the left center wall, which is about 420 feet at sea level.
Last year right after the Kaz Matsui for Eli Marrero trade my dad and I were at a game in Denver and went early to watch BP. It was Spillbourghs first game after his callup and this guy next to me kept hollering for Spilly to throw him a ball. He kept yelling, "Hey Eli, throw me a ball. Eli, how bout a ball huh?" Spilly finally got tired of him and yelled back, "I'm not Eli, my name is Ryan!" Then he walked over to where Matt Holliday and Garrett Atkins were talking and told them what happened and Holliday took one look at him, spit out some sunflower seeds and said, "hey, go shag some balls won'tcha?"
Many people don't know it, but Todd Helton's beard has magnificent powers. It works to not only hit balls into the opposite field gap but it also attracts errantly thrown Garret Atkins throws from third base. Also when Manny Corpas' gatorade-gyro ball isn't working Helton uses the power of his beard to bend pitches towards the outside corner of the plate (Ryan Howard hates this power and tries to overcome it with his strong eastcoast bias and strong addiction to Jarrod's Six inch subway samiches).
by Charlie77 on Oct 8, 2007 11:11 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
Pitcher notes
Rest o Bullpen:
Manny Corpas- Well, game's over. About the only trouble I've seen him get in lately has a lot to do with infield singles. Occasionally susceptible to a long ball, but not often in big moments. Did you see the first Philly game? There's no mystery, no doctoring here. His ball really moves like that.
Jeremy Affledt- Man scares the bejesus out of all Rockies fans, because he's used as a lefty specialist and he's really not. Was instrumental in the early part of the year, IMO got worn down and wasn't as effective. He's good, but it's all or nothing with him.
Matt Herges- Not sure how he's come back from the scrap heap, but damn are we glad he did. He's one of the long guys, one of the high pressure guys, basically he's done everything this year. Has had maybe one bad outing this season, but we would not be here without him.
Taylor Buchholz- Well, a turbulent season for him. Was in the bullpen, then in the rotation, then back to the bullpen, then injured, then back in the bullpen. Various levels of effectiveness, but he was incredible in game 163.
Starters
Jeff Francis- Crafty. Going to get some Cy Young votes, deservingly so. Not a true ace, more of a two or three, but can be downright frustrating.
Josh Fogg- Ah, Fogger. He's a less effective righthanded version of Doug Davis in my mind, but that might be underselling Davis. He battles, throws up any piece of crap he can, and comes out as a mediocre pitcher. But somehow it works.
Ubaldo Jiminez- You guys are going to hate seeing him for the next couple of years. Man can touch triple digits when he's pumped, and has some nasty breaking stuff. He's young, has some wildness, you'll see at least one curve slip out of his hand and directly at a batter's head.
Franklin Morales- Lovingly dubbed 'lil Johan' by some, again, just not a whole lot of fun to face. Plus he's a lefty. Has a higher ceiling then Ubaldo, and that's just sickening to think about. Imagine keeping some semblance of our offense together, then adding these young fireballers to the rotation... yeah, we'll be in this position again.
Aaron Cook- Complete wildcard. Gets pounded when he rushes his sinker, but is very capable, especially against your free swinging selves of having 5 pitch innings. Don't know for sure if he's even going to be on the roster.
Well, that's most everyone... any questions?
by MattTheRock on Oct 9, 2007 12:40 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs
I hate Jiminez already
by snakecharmer on Oct 9, 2007 1:33 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
My own take:
oh by the way, hello, I'm Squeaky from Purple Row. Friendly visitor.
Lineup:
Kaz Mat: What's not to like about Kaz? He's gone through a cold streak or two and been injured once or twice, but the Flying Dragon (no, I have no idea where that nickname came from) has been awesome for us this year. He's signed a ticket and a program for me. He doesn't say much b/c of the language barrier, but he seems really nice.
Tulo: Tulo is awesome. He is so awesome you must say his name three times: Troy! Troy! Troy! I say this because at photo day, with my two older sisters with me, Tulo introduced himself three times. I thought it was highly amusing. Also, the chant that Coors Field has going for him is incredible - on Saturday it was so loud you could hear it echoing from the other side of the stadium. I maintain it is all Tulo's fault the Rockies figured out how to win.
Holliday: Also awesome in stats. Not the greatest defensively, it's true, but he works really hard on it and he's gotten ten times better since last year. Nice guy, not the brightest, but that's okay. He has a temper - don't hit him, or he'll be tearing the cover off the ball on its way to Mars.
Helton: Everyone knows the deal on Helton's baseball, but my story is from when me and my sisters met him on photo day - it was the last picture on our camera, so we decided to take it with all three of us and Todd. He says "come here" and drapes his arms around all three of us. the picture turned out incredible.
Atkins: Offensively, he's been unstoppable since June. Defensively, he needs work, but not to the point Jamey Carroll should be subbed for him in the seventh inning of critical games. He's a natural first baseman. I don't have any stories about him...seems pretty quiet. Except that he and Holliday are always together and chatting.
Hawpe: Bradley. Heating up against lefties, decent in right. Not too many heartattacks. Ridiculously good with 2 outs. Also very sweet and very much a redneck. Heh.
Spilborghs: My personal favorite. Genuinely crazy and fun dude (bought dancing robots for the clubhouse, has Gwen Stefani as his walkup music). At photo day, when my sister and i were taking a picture with Atkins, Spilly pops up in the background with a very cheesy smile.
Bench:
Iannetta: True quality as yet undiscovered - been pretty buried this season. Fun fact: he's a math major and has read The Elegant Universe, and even admitted to reading it when I asked him - I've read it, too.
Baker: Hot and cold streaks often. Pretty good off the bench. Really fun guy, very nice. Most of these guys are, actually.
Carroll: Not as good as last year. Always, ALWAYS out signing. if I had him sign something everytime he was signing and I was there, I would have his autograph about six or seven times.
Pitchers:
Hirsh: not sure if he'll be joining the team for the NLCS, but I want to mention him because he's another really cool, outgoing, kind of crazy dude. And, to you "Team Jesus" people (I don't accuse anyone on here of thinking that), Hirsh is Jewish and said he has never met a more welcoming group of guys. So there.
---
Hmm...I'm sure I'm forgetting a few. I should mention Corpas is amazing, Fuentes is a daily adventure, as is Affeldt, Jimenez and Morales are the young fireballers and are called so with good reason, Redman is a rollar coaster every pitch....and that's all I can think of. Basically, these guys are fun, a little crazy, and they really root for each other, which is nice to see...kind of like the DBacks in their makeup.
by Squeaky on Oct 9, 2007 7:44 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
Rockies Scouting Report:
by oklahomasooners on Oct 13, 2007 2:56 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs
This is an extremely naive comment.
Second, if you had watched the Rockies before the playoffs (and they have been luckier than some in the playoffs), you'd know that they in fact got very unlucky at times during the streak due to consistently bad umpiring, balls rolling foul, etc, not to mention hundreds of infield and squib hits against us. In fact, a botched home run call nearly cost us our shot at the post season in the play-in game.
If anything is true about the Rockies' run, it's not that they're lucky, it's that they're playing more fundamentally sound and smarter baseball than anyone else. Sure, you can say it's lucky that Holliday was called safe, but if Barrett catches that ball, he's probably out. You can say it's lucky that the Rockies got Drew out at second two nights ago, but that safe call, which is an out 99 times out of 100, was actually working against us, and it's Drew's stupidity, not our luck, that cost the D-Backs that out. You can say it's lucky that Upton was called for interference, but if he keeps his head in the game instead of trying to get payback for an unintentional 77-MPH HBP, it's runners on first and third with one out. The Rockies haven't made these mistakes, so this kind of stuff doesn't happen to them. That's not luck, it's a good team playing really solid baseball.
Don't get me wrong - luck has played a part. But to attribute their success entirely to luck (and even though you say they're a good team, you do seem to be doing this) is very naive indeed. Fortunately (for Rox fans), the D-Backs seem to be looking at it this way too, and hopefully they'll implode because they aren't looking at what they can do better.
by potterhead4 on Oct 14, 2007 1:11 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
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