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Schedule change
The Arizona Diamondbacks announced that their game on Saturday, July 17 vs. Cubs has been changed to 1:10 p.m. to accommodate a potential Game 5 of the NBA Finals and ensure the ultimate daylong experience for Valley sports fans. The July 17 game time will remain at 1:10 p.m. regardless of the outcome of the first four games of the NBA Finals.
Right now, the Rockies have a 6-32 record on the road, after last night’s limp-off. That’s a W% of just .158. If that is sustained, it will be the lowest road winning percentage since the 19th century. The lowest full season at the moment are the 1935 Boston Braves, who went 13-65, for a .167 W%. To do better than that, Colorado would have to go 8-35 the rest of the way; that would give them a .173 W%. Of course, the all-time champions are the woeful 1899 Cleveland Spiders, whom we’ve talked about here before (in the context of losing streaks). They lost 101 games on the road, a mark which will never be broken, and won 11, for a .098 W%. The Rockies need just two more wins to edge past the Spiders.
Following up on a question from a little while ago, about the shortest-name pitching match-up, I wonder if tonight is among the longest? It’s Antonio Senzatela vs. Humberto Castellanos, 16 letters vs. 19, for a total of 35. Castellanos is certainly our longest-named starting pitcher ever, blowing past Madison Bumgarner and Armando Galarraga, who come in at a mere 16 letters.
Torey Lovullo notes
No major updates on the injury fronts. Bumgarner, Gallen, Clippard all threw as scheduled and reported no setbacks at this time. Kole Calhoun continued taking at bats yesterday.
Bullpen Churn and Relievers starting to settle into roles.
“I think we’re seeing some consistency from certain guys. We’ve been waiting for that... You can see when the starting pitching does their job and hands it off to the bullpen and there’s established roles when guys are getting outs it becomes a little bit more routine... We’ve had a lot of changeover because it needed to happen”
Torey addressed the fact that Noe Ramirez has been getting thrown into big situations since he got here. He said he had a history with him and confidence in him to get the big outs. He also spoke about Joe Mantiply becoming more consistent and making adjustments. He’s come in some tough spots lately and gotten some big outs with men on base. [Mantiply has only allowed 3 of 17, 18% of inherited runners to score]
Humberto Castellanos will be on a pitch limit, but the stress of the innings and the “up downs” will be taken into account too. Torey would not say what the number is but they have one in mind and will be careful once they get close to that number. [Jack’s guess: 70 to 80 pitches max]
Three catcher system and catcher match-ups with certain pitchers: Torey will try to line up when he’s able to with certain match-ups. “ Familiarity obviously helps... I haven’t yet figured out the 3 catcher system. I want them all to continue to catch but there’s only so many innings per week .”
Pitch Counts and Managing Workload: I asked Torey about the differences from when he first came up in the game in late 80’s to now that lead to pitchers having pitch counts limited. It was a rather long back and forth. You can listen from about 9:40 into the recording. He talked about how pitchers back when he was coming up went through a lot to get ready for their next starts. But also that more pitchers throw high velocity today and put more torque and spin on the ball than ever before, so the stresses today are greater than they were 30 years ago.