Old Denver Sports Zone Content

Rockies Draft

Every year around the beginning of June, the Rockies and all of baseball look to the future with the amateur draft. More so with baseball than other sports, this culmination of a year's worth of scouting is an absolute crapshoot. As opposed to football, where if a top ten pick flops heads will roll (citable examples include Ryan Leaf, KiJana Carter, &c.), baseball's top ten draft picks are lucky to yeild 5 decent major leaguers; and whereas a miraculous story in football is a sixth rounder like Ahman Green becoming a superstar, in baseball, it seems like a fortieth round pick is as likely as a first rounder to make it to the bigs (Piazza, arguably the most prolific cathcher of the 90s, was a 62nd rounder). The top ten picks of the MLB drafts from 1993-7 (guys who should be established by now) include the following notable players: Alex Rodriguez Trot Nixon Dustan Hermanson Jaret Wright Todd Walker Darin Erstad Kerry Wood Todd Helton Geoff Jenkins Chris Benson Travis Lee Braden Looper Mark Kotsay Eric Chavez Aside from the overall trend of top ten picks not making it to the majors, the other major trend is that the majority of those that became good major league players are positional ballplayers, not pitchers. Thus, the Rockies (and all of baseball for that matter) shouldn't draft pitchers in the early rounds, and should steer their strategy towards drafting big bats. The impact of altitude on baseball is undeniable, and the Rockies need to embrace it. A team that plays 81 games in such a unique climate should have the best home field advantage in all of sports. The Rockies should draft big bats early and often. The hits (no pun intended) would be of titanic proportion, as evidenced by Todd Helton, and the misses would be comparable to those of other teams. The bungling Rockies management had drafted one positional player in their history in the first round before the 03 draft: Todd Helton. Their first round picks had been comprised of an assortment of right and left handed pitchers, two of which are inconsistent starters on the verge of being banished to the bullpen (Jamey Wright and Jason Jennings), one of which looks pretty darn good (Jeff Francis), and the others aren't on major league rosters. After ten years of horrible failure, the GM appears to have changed his mind (although in all fairness, the previous regime made lots of those picks), with the selection of 3B Ian Stewart in 03, SS Chris Nelson in 04, and Troy Tulowitzki in 05. Fittingly, the picks from 03, 04, and probably 05, are being touted as the next wave of great players by those closely related to the team. The truly infuriating thing about baseball's draft is that the fans and management won't truly know about all of these players for quite some time, but from what we know, things are looking up. Sam P.S. Baseball America has Troy Tulowitzki rated fourth on the list of prospects, so the Rockies apparently got a steal with the seventh overall pick

A Tale of Two Opposites

Tonight's game (Rockies vs. Sox Take II) chronicles an amazing difference between two teams at polar opposites in terms of record and two other important stats: pitching and hitting. The Colorado Rockies have the best hitting in the league, with four players batting above .300, three in the .290s, and one who will be batting .300 by the All-Star Break. (there's my official helton prediction). The Sox, on the other hand, have the worst hitting in the league, with one player batting about .300 (albeit in just 52 atbats), and one in the .290s (the former Rockie, Juan Uribe). So why do the Sox have one of the best records in the league, and the Rockies one of the worst? It's because unlike what appears to be current-day sentiment, pitching beats hitting every time. I think the Sox's formula will finally force managers to realize that slugging isn't everything, but my question is, what took them so long? If the league had been paying more attention to our Rockies, the league could've figured that one out long ago. What am I talking about? The Sox have the best pitching staff in the league, and the Rockies have the worst. That should say it all right there, because Pitching is something that has always plagued the Rockies, from day one. Our ownership has never been willing to dig deep in those million-dollar pockets and sign a good reliever or two, despite contuining signs that pitching is really what matters. Of course, they weren't too worried back in the day, when the Rockies were still drawing 30K to the field night after night. But this year, with attendance dwindling even further, the only reason to go to the ballpark seems to be Todd Helton, who's deep in the worst slump of his career, and Clint Barmes, former rookie of the year candidate, who's going to be out of business for 3 months. What's so interesting about this game is that it brings all of these facts into focus. If the owners don't see the Sox with their terrible hitting and brilliant pitching with the best record in the league, and take it as a wakeup call that the Rockies need pitching, I don't think we'll ever see a good team under this ownership. But here's to the rest of this year! -Gabe

Luis Gonzales

With Clint Barmes' freak injury and Aaron Miles' less freaky injury, a player that has been deserving of playing time has begun to shine. If you don't know who I'm talking about, it's no. 4, Luis Gonzalez. This super-utility guy (he apparently carries something in the area of ten gloves on road trips) has shown that he has the ability to start in the bigs. He has performed admirably in the wake of the Miles injury and will get more playing time with Barmes out too. I personally believe that he should get the starting job at second base over Aaron Miles, given his power numbers. Gonzalez exceeds Miles' numbers in OBP, Slugging %, homers, and has legitimate power to the gaps. It seems to me that in Coors, a ballpark know for its inflated power numbers, every positional player for a team that plays 81 games there ought to have the ability to knock the ball out of the yard; thus, the Rockies should trade Miles or push him into a utility role (especially with Desi Relaford's revival, he should be starting every game too). Aaron Miles' hitting style would be ok in Coors if he drew more walks, but because he doesn't do that, his OBP is almost identical to his average, thereby decreasing his value. Many teams would be glad to have a contact hitting second baseman in Miles, so there would be some value in return. Keeping to the youth movement, Luis Gonzalez is the younger player as well, and thus should get the starting nod. Desi Relaford has shown something as of late as well, and the Rockies need to capitalize on that by trading him (if they are truly committed to the future). A team with two rising middle infield stars (Gonzalez, Barmes) has no room for a utility man that can hit .320. Normally the view would be that Relaford's stats are merely a reflection of Coors field, but he is hitting better on the road than in the thin aired hitter's paradise. Like Miles, Relaford is a contact hitter with little power, but in contrast to Miles, Relaford works the count and walks very often. This makes him acceptable in Coors, however, the Rox should exploit his rising value by trading him and consequently free up space in the infield while acquiring a good prospect. The following playoff-competitive teams are probably interested in a veteran middle infielder hitting .320 (some have players to give in return): Padres (Loretta down, Xavier Nady is a solid prospect) Marlins (Alex Gonzalez is hitting only .278) Mets (Kaz Matsui is no good) Brewers (loaded farm system, starting SS has .182 BA) Mariners Twins (Loaded farm system, may need a veteran to anchor the infield) Yankees (but who would they trade...) Orioles (badly need infield depth) Blue Jays Don't take this as hostility towards either player, I really like Desi Relaford as a player and Aaron Miles is pretty good too. That said, the Rockies, if they are to stick to their future first philosophy, need to trade Relaford and Miles. I guess the original whizzinator didn't work for Onterrio this time... -Sam

Helton

Though I didn't want to get into this discussion, the good folks over at Purple Row have wondered about trading star Todd Helton, or at least tried to start a conversation on that hot topic. As our disclaimer at the bottom says, he's not for sale, and the rumors are just rumors - but just in case you've really got a case of the giggles about this, here's why we shouldn't, and won't trade Helton. -He's the only reason less-than-diehard fans have to go to the ballpark now that Barmes is out. -He's a good veteran mentor for the kids in the clubhouse, and really ties a young team together. -There's no decent replacement. -Management doesn't want to eat the salary from the 9-year deal he got a while back. -You shouldn't trust our management with any player we might get for Helton. They'll probably end up getting nothing for him anyways. But most of all, Helton himself has said he doesn't want to go, and likes anchoring this young team.. Even though he's in a bit of a slump, there's no reason to dump him like we did to Juan Pierre, who had a bad month, and went on to anchor a Florida team that won the world series. So there's no argument there. Plus, I think Helton will be out of his slump by the all-star break. Anyhow, if you're still not convinced that we shouldn't AND won't trade Helton, you're probably a Dodgers fan or a moron. Or both. But don't take my word for it, please tell me why I'm wrong. Gabe

Juan Pierre vs. P-Dub

In response to my co-blogger's comment that the Juan Pierre trade was the wrong move, consider this: Juan Pierre is one of my favorite players in all of baseball, the guy works harder than anyone I've seen or heard about in baseball; he is baseball's Rod Smith. Like Smith, he has magnified his positives in such an extreme way that the negative aspects of a his player type are almost invisible. Enter Coors Field. Blaming Coors for the Rockies' failures is moronic, but blaming Coors' voluminous outfield for Juan Pierre's "failure" in Colorado is entirely acceptable. In the sense that JP can cover ridiculous amounts of ground in very little time, he is well suited to the mammoth center field of Coors, however, when he was getting the ball back into the infield, the single most pressing weakness in his game, a subpar arm, was unmercifully displayed. Next, Juan Pierre doesn't hit for power, something critical in Coors Field. Every Rockies' player should be able to sock dingers with regularity given their playing environment; small ball isn't what a Coors team needs. JP's gift for stealing bases was rendered irrelevant because so many doubles are hit in the Rockies park, and in addition, outfielders are forced to play farther back, allowing many players to go from first to third on a single. Simply put, Pierre's strengths (contact hitting, ridiculous speed, good range) were mostly irrelevant at Coors, and his weakness (arm strength) was put on display. This is not to say that Pierre was a bad player, but he is tailor-made for any park that isn't Coors. What the Rockies needed was a Tori Hunter/Andruw Jones type, a guy with great range and extraordinary arm strength. Since those guys both are franchise type players, the Rox went for someone comparable, but not quite the same (although range was compromised a bit for power): Preston Wilson. Wilson had 20-40 jack power and hit for about .270 in his first couple seasons, plus he had good range and an above average arm, so the Rockies were indubitably interested. Also, at this time Mike Hampton flat out sucked. After his great half season for the Rockies and sucky season and a half that followed, the Rox desperately needed to dump his ridiculous contract. Florida/Atlanta presented the opportunity they needed. Granted, taking on Charles Johnson's contract was unwise, but the trade accomplished two things: they got an extraordinary power hitting center fielder that lead the league in RBI during his first season in Colorado, and they got rid of Mike Hampton. Frankly, the Rockies and Marlins got the best of that trade, although the Rox ended up with the burden of CJ's contract, which perhaps tilts it towards Florida. The Rockies need to retain Preston Wilson; he is the only power hitting center fielder in the organization except for the iffy AA prospect Jeff Salazar, whose power numbers have been dipping (five HRs on the 54 game old AA season)...that is, unless they decide to make that Luis Gonzalez' position... P.S. The Rox could make this homestand an successful overall if they do well against the so-so Tigers. sam

A Complete Game: Rockies 2, Tigers 0

The Rockies' main problem this year hasn't been starting pitching. Sure, the starters have had their fair share of bad outings, but every pitcher, and more importantly every rotation has a few bad days. So far, if we can say one good thing about the Rockies' pitching, it's that our starters have not even come close to being the worst rotation in the league. And this has all come without Aaron Cook, who was supposed to be our ace this year. No, the problem for our beloved Rockies has occured well beyond when the starters have been pulled, in the realm of middle relief, specifically in the dreaded 7th inning. Rockies middle-innings pitchers have struggled all season, and their failure has been the defining point of another loosing season. Not so tonight, however, and most of that credit goes to Mr. Wright, who pitched 7 and a 1/3 scoreless innings, and dropped his ERA below 6 with this outing. If there's one weakness with our starters, it's been durability. The five starters average a mere 5.74 innings, which means more games than not, the Rockies have had to break into the bullpen early, forcing pitchers like Dohhman (ERA 18.9) to throw. Jamie's stellar, lengthened performance tonight behind a mere 2 runs of offense allowed the Rockies to cut past some of their not-so-successful relievers, and go straight to 8th-inning ace Jay Wotasik, and the recently dynamite Brian Fuentes, both of whom pitched well, allowing no runs. What I'm getting at here, is that for the first time that I've seen this season, the Rockies may just have played an all-around complete game. Though they didn't get much offense, they didn't have to, because behind stellar defensive play from the likes of recently-hot Garret Atkins behind solid, prolonged starting pitching carried the team to victory. The main component behind Rockie failure this year has been the un-timely error, coupled with bad middle-relief. Today, the Rockies avoided all of that in a tight game, and were able to pull a tight one out when it counted. How many times have we been able to say that this year? Overall, I'm beginning to like the way the Rockies have been playing, even against the White Sox, who swept them. In all three Sox games, the starting pitching was great, and the score was close going into the later innings. I'm also seeing the Rockies' hitting develop. Though the White Sox incredible staff seemed to shut us down, we're getting timelier, clutch hits from people like Corey Sullivan, and our outs are getting more productive too, with guys like Dustin Mohr hitting groundballs to move a runner to third. Though the Rockies may not be putting everything together nightly yet, they played a good series against the league-leading White Sox, and looked like a Major League team. I've seen plenty of other series where it's looked like the Rockies are a AAA team trying to hang with teams not nearly as good as the Sox. Whatever the result of the season, our young faces are finally coming together into a baseball team, and based on the latest ballgames (which have been really good games), I think we're going to enjoy the rest of the season. At least, it's looking better than this Monday. Gabe

Rebukery!

Sweet mercy I love baseball arguments, and as such, I will respond to The Good, The Bad, and the Barmes. Preston Wilson will not be retained by the Rockies. Frankly, I'd be surprised if he makes it through June as a Rocky. I think that if the Rockies can retain the guy, that'd be a very good thing, seeing as I have a Coors Field philosophy that would make John Kruk's oversimplifying butt extraordinarily happy; the Rox need power at every position, at almost any cost. When I say almost any cost, I mean, you guessed it, the outfielder must have good range and a good arm. Having Andruw Jones or someone like him is not a luxury at Coors, it's a necessity. On every other spot on the diamond with the exception of short and catcher, I agree with Bill James: screw defense, let's hit, however, Coors' outfield is more double friendly than, um, some kind of..double country club?. "It's nice to have guys like Andruw Jones and Torii Hunter who can get to seemingly anything hit their way, or a catcher like Mike Matheny who gobbles up balls in the dirt and controls the running game, but if they can't hit, they shouldn't play." I agree that baseball "purists" put too much of a premium on defense in most situations, but Torii Hunter has hit close to 30 homers in every season he's played a decent amount of games, and Andruw Jones hovers around 35 homers as well. Point is, the two guys I mentioned as perfect Coors center fielders can crush the ball as well as play stellar defense. I'd like for the Rockies to keep Preston Wilson over the next couple of years (roster spot created by cutting Dustan Mohr) because I think he can regain his form speed and power wise, seeing as he had no spring training this year, but the Rox management doesn't quite agree with me I'd assume... If we trade him, the Rockies better be damn sure that Jeff Salazar is the five tool player that they've marketed him as, because Corey Sullivan can't be the every day center fielder if he doesn't start walking more or hitting more homers. Either that, or somehow get a hold of Torii Hunter, Andruw Jones, or more realistically, Corey Patterson or Carl Crawford. Where catchers matter is in calling a game. Danny Ardoin and Jamey Wright were in complete rhythm together against the Tigers, and Ardoin caught him beautifully. I like seeing Ardoin throw out runners, but yes, the pilfering game is long outdated as much as I hate to admit it. Where the defensive catchers matter is in the framing of pitches and in the calling of a game. This is why the Boston pitching staff loves Varitek: he may not be able to throw many guys out, but he calls a great game and instills confidence in the starter. Like that, Ardoin's primary focus is defense--getting the other team's hitters out. While some catchers, most notably Jason Kendall, are always thinking offense, Ardoin is all defense, totally devoted to the pitcher. If you're asking "are you stalking danny Ardoin," I understand, but my evidence is in that almost every defensive catcher in the bigs lives for the mission of helping out the pitcher as much as possible. And as adressed previously, I don't think defense matters except at three places: catcher, short and center. You need guys with good range and arms at center and short, and you may have to compromise offense to do it. Ever wonder why everyone loves Torii Hunter and Andruw Jones? It's because they're the best athletes in the league, they play the most important position in the game (besides the pitcher, in my opinion), but they also can hit the ball, and not just singles, but doubles and homers. A catcher doesn't have to have a spectacular arm, he just needs to be entirely devoted to defense; framing pitches and calling a good game aren't god given talents like a strong arm, they are products of sheer effort. The shortstop fields a whole lot of balls and has a lot of ground to cover, and unlike the second baseman, he's got a hell of a long throw once he gets to the ball. Whether it's a freakishly strong arm or a quick transfer from glove to hand, the shortstop has to get the ball over there damn fast. I'm a little worried about Clint Barmes at the position, but feel like he can be coached into better play--he's got to avoid panicking if there's a fast guy running to first and either eat the ball or learn to harness his arm strength. I'm tired, so I think that's it. Sam

Rebukery!

A Farewell to P-Dub

With Preston Wilson's trading being considered inevitable by all parties, this is a good time to look back, and look forward, upon Preston Wilson's future and the Rockies' center field future. In his lone full season with the Rockies (again, his trading in the summer of 05 is a foregone conclusion), Wilson was spectacular. He put up the power numbers of a true Blake Street Bomber: .282 BA, .537 SLG, 36 Homers, 141 RBI, and 43 doubles. Oh yeah, one more Blake Street Bomber stat: 140 Ks. Sigh. Truly Galaraga-esque... If you ask me, the trade with Florida in which we acquired Preston was a good one, given the Rockies' old misguided philosophy about not paying attention to the farm system. By the way, shout out to Andres Galaraga. He didn't get Lance Armstrong's press for coming back from cancer, but he has a special place in every Rockies fan's heart. His number ought to be retired at Coors, in my humble opinion. Back to business. Preston Wilson is going to become a rental for some team that's a legitimate contender in the second half of '05. Whereas most of the Rockies' trades of established veterans were salary dumps, they're in a great position here because Preston is still in the prime of his career. The Rockies have a great opportunity to bolster their farm system in a Preston Wilson trade, having decided that they need to free up center field for younger players. While the minor leagues tend to be murky in terms of career speculation (see old article), top flight AA or AAA prospects tend to make an impact in the bigs. The Rox need to get one of these guys. Where on the diamond they should be looking at in terms of prospects is somewhat unclear, but 3b, SS, 1B, and apparently CF (unless Jeff Salazar isn't the real deal) are pretty much set. While the Rockies' Rookies (yes, that's also the name of the kids fan club...not so ironically...) are performing adequately this year, none of them besides Clint Barmes and Brad Hawpe look like impact big leaguers to me, but the season ought to be wrapped up before we judge them all. The point is, if almost all veterans are unacceptable on the roster, then there shouldn't be opposition to bringing in more unpolished rooks in a trade. Don't joke about the Rockies bringing in prospects--the one they get for a very solid player in Preston Wilson may be ready to make an impact next year. The teams that are contending this year are: Atlanta Chicago Cubs Chicago White Sox Anaheim Angels Boston Red Sox L.A. Dodgers Arizona D-Backs Florida Marlins NY Yankees NY Mets Philly Phillies SD Padres Texas Rangers Minnesota Twins Washington Nationals There's got to be a good player in there somewhere... Sam

Welcome to Good Baseball

Watching the game tonight, I was reminded once again of just how good our team could be, and it made me think of a day when Coors Field might again be as ecstatic as Campden was tonight. Before I go any further, let me touch on just that: noise. Atmosphere is a huge part of any sport. In Europe, soccer games draw screaming crowds who shake stadiums, and make the game fun to watch, even on TV. One of the reasons why nobody goes to Rockies games may be because nobody goes to Rockies games. When a ballpark is full, and fans are screaming, it's a totally different feeling. It makes fans appreciate the game, and it drives players to compete even more. It's what makes playoff baseball great even when your team isn't in it, and the atmosphere at Campden Yards tonight made the game so exciting, that I skipped most of dinner to see it. But onto the game. Despite being a win against the division-leading Orioles (which, coincidentally, I've been in Maryland for the last week, hence my lack of posts), a number of good things fell into place. First and foremost, Todd Helton finally got a homerun, his first since May 14th. While one hit may not seem like a big deal, consider this: Currently batting .253 in about 200 at-bats, the difference between Helton at .253 and Helton at .300 is only 6 hits. In fact, throughout an entire season, the difference between an average .270 hitter and a great .300 hitter is only 15 hits - but those 15 extra battles are so tough, only the best make it. Tonight, going 1-3 with a walk, Helton showed that he's still a great hitter - and hopefully he'll continue with a little confidence, especially with the homerun coming to the oposite field, against a good pitcher and good team, in a packed ballpark. Everything is in place for him to go on a tear. Secondly, all pitching was solid, for perhaps the second time this year. What I liked especially was that even though two of our pitchers got in big trouble, they pulled it out in front of screaming fans hoping the worst. Jason Jenning's sixth inning-ender double-play groundball was obviously a terrific performance, but what pleased me more was Brian Fuentes coming back from allowing a run with no one out to put the stomper on and close up the game. After the run scored on a close play at the plate, the crowd went nuts, and Fuentes looked more nervous than I've ever seen a professional athlete. But you've got to give credit to him for ending the inning by striking out Surhoff (keeping him on track to have more strikeouts than innings pitched) and getting the dangerous Mora (batting .310) to fly out to Corey Sullivan, the same man who may have thrown out the ultra-quick Eli Marrero two plays earlier on a close play at the plate that started with Sullivan making a head-first diving catch on a line-drive off the bat of catcher Fasano. It looked like Ardoin had his foot underneath Marrero's slide, and speaking of which, let's talk about a guy who isn't getting nearly enough credit. Everyone always talks about the pitcher who gets it done, but what about the guy behind the plate? Besides being an excellent catch-and-throw guy (he proved that with three baserunner throughouts in his first two appearances), Danny Adroin seems to be a guy that pitchers like. With all due credit to JD Closser, calling a ballgame and recognising what pitches to throw against batters is something that Danny seems to have. Recognising the hard slider as the pitch that struck out Slammin' Sammy Sosa three times during the game is a testament to the fact that Ardoin may have the gift of calling the game. But don't take my word for it. In the last month, in the six games featuring Ardoin (minus the 15-5 Chicago effort which was largely Matt Anderson's fault), Rockies pitchers have allowed just 19 runs. In contrast, in the just three games with JD closser, pitchers have allowed 21 runs. Even though the team has gone just 3-4 with Ardoin behind the plate, this is more due to offense than pitching. The Rockies lost a 2-1 game to the league-leading White Sox, and a 7-6 game to Cleveland. Plus, Ardoin is batting a respectable .250, whereas Closser is well below the Mendoza line, at a mere .188. What I'm getting at is that there's more to catching than blocking a ball behind the plate, and Ardoin has it. He knows how to call a game, and he has some hitting potential. I'm wondering why management chose Closser to ascend the ranks instead of Ardoin, and I will not be happy if Ardoin is cut when veteran Todd Greene returns for the DL after pulling a hammy in a tough play walking across home plate. Overall, we could be a really good team, but I don't think all factors have clicked yet. We're winning games with EITHER good pitching OR good offense, but not both. Once Helton pulls out of his slump (and I maintain that he will), and the clutch hits start coming from a few other guys, I think this team is ready to go on a tear. The question is, who will be there when it happens? -Gabe Back from Maryland, en route to Lawrence, Kansas. P.S. - If someone wants to buy me MLB.TV for the next five weeks (I'll be away) and somehow remove blackout restrictions on my Denver registered account, please e-mail me at potterhead4@comcast.net . Thanks.

Premature Speculations

So some in the baseball community may have been too quick to jump on the BK bandwagon. By the same token of thoughtful decision making, we should continue looking at the sidearmer as a good starter--his less than superior performance on Friday night was an aberration, not the dependable 2-5 run start that Denver fans had become accustomed to. According to coloradorockies.com, it was a one pitch game. BK had nothing except his fastball, which still lacks the velocity to be a dominant pitch, resulting in a less than satisfactory start. If people still watched the Rockies, there would be all kinds of clamoring on radio shows and real writers giving this column inches in the paper to this issue, but alas, the fan-starved franchise's consituency is apathetic, long having accepted losing as a foregone conclusion. Some still care, and they should be wary of hasty and rash decision making on the part of the Rockies. The outstanding opportunity presented in having, let's not lie to ourselves here, a bad team, is the ability to play whoever whereever with no measureable impact on the team's record (Marcos Caravajal is a good prospect, but do you want him starting?). Just like they ought to embrace Coors, the Rockies have an opportunity to give lots of guys second chances if they embrace their suckitude. They're doing this for about five of nine positions on any given night, so for once, the management might just be doing the right thing. The fact that they're in the position to play anyone wherever whenever speaks to management's problems, but oh well, you've got your team allegiances set by the time you're ten, so what're you gonna do? Speaking of pitching, why do the Rockies place a premium on raising their own bullpen pitchers? It makes no sense. The vast majority of effective Rockies relievers have been brought in from other teams. The best example of this is the Rockies pen of 1995, the best in Rox history, (see some other blog's article for the reference to this that reminded me of it...if you're the author of that blog, leave a comment...) which was composed entirely of guys taken from other teams in the expansion draft. Even now, the most successful relievers in the bullpen, Brian Fuentes and Jay Witasick, are a traded good and a journeyman respectively. Relievers are pitchers who didn't have the stuff to start (leave closers out of this for a while), so they were stuck in the pen to be brought out for an inning or two in about one game out of three. Considering the Rockies consistent starting pitching failures, we should have quite a bullpen, huh? Kidding aside, it doesn't matter where bullpen pitchers come from or go, they just need to get the job done. Sam

Astros Etc.

After a decent series against one of the best clubs in baseball, the Rockies are off to Houston's semi-new yard Minute Maid Park. Formerly graced with the fine name of Enron, the hitter's park underwent a name change with the downfall of the corporation and now is affectionately reffered to as "The Juice Box." The team has disapointed this year, but that could have been predicted, albeit not to this extent. With one half of the Killer Bees out for the season, former CF Carlos Beltran in another city, and slugging 2B Jeff Kent lost to the Dodgers, the 'Stros aren't the team they were last year. Even with those losses, however, there is no excuse for their paltry 28-39 record. They have two legitimate aces in Roger Clemens and Roy Oswalt, not to mention an extraordinary closer in Brad Lidge (a Colorado product, of CCHS). They seem to have struggled finding a fifth starter from the statistics; there are four pitchers with 80+ innings so far this season, but the next largest total is the aformentioned closer, who has 31 innings on the year thus far. A bright young spot on the struggling 'Stros is CF Willy Taveras, a speed guy who has 17 SBs on the year. He was included in a Baseball Weekly article about the return of stealing as a major strategical component of a winning team. 28-39...Guess not, huh? Other than that, Morgan Ensberg has provided exceptional power, but no other positional player has posted an eye popping stat line. The Rox, according to the depth chart on MLB.com, are due to face Pettite, Clemens, and Backe. Look for righties Preston Wilson and Dustan Mohr to capitalize on the famously short porch in left against the southpaw Andy Pettite. Sam

Oh God! No Mohr!

~Sorry about that pun. I agree with Rox Head's analysis of this guy. He's no good. While he's most likely being kept around because of his power potential, he's never been on pace to hit more than 20 homers in a season, and the guy needs to learn some plate discipline. If you're a .188 hitter that's taking up a precious outfield spot, you need to be cut. The Rockies should unload him for whatever anyone is willing to give them and call up one of the Sky Sox OFs as long as a winning season is a lost cause. Buchanan has intriguing power numbers, and Choo Freeman deserves another shot before being dismissed as a fizzled out prospect, so for the love of gen-R, get rid of this fossil of a 29 year old and bring in the youth. ~Free agency. If the Rox want to be major players in the bigs, they should focus on raising their own pitchers so as to brainwash them with the Coors Field "bulldog" mentality. If the past years have taught us anything, high profile pitcher signings work out to be horrible for the club and its finances, and low to mid profile positional player signings (aside from Dustan Mohr) work quite well. Examples of the pitching failures need not be mentioned, but the positional acquisition sucesses should be noted. Jeromy Burnitz. Vinny Castilla. Todd Hollandsworth. Andres Galaraga. The list goes on... The Rockies, once they have a respectable record, or even if they don't, ought to be in the running for the premier positional free agents in the coming years. They shouldn't jump at every one, but they should make a legitimate effort to pick up exceptional free agents for this team. Sam

Disorganized implies that there was once order

"The Rockies had a chance in six of the games. But habitual clutch miscues help explain why Colorado's road record (5-31) is one of the four worst in history after 36 games and the overall record (22-48) is the worst in baseball this season." Yeah, what he said. Jason Jennings pitched exceptionally well through the first six innings, allowing only a three run jack to Morgan Ensberg up to that point. In the seventh, JJ imploded after a single by Chris Burke. Something switched in Jennings' head after that unfortunate single much like something switched in his head after Biggio leaned toward's his inside pitch in the third inning. It would be convinient to blame the psychology of the thing on traffic, but although he retired something in the area of 11 straight in the game and thus kept the bases clear, he's pitched well in his past few starts with plenty of men on base. He worked out of two bases loaded jams in a game just last week en route to a 2-1 victory, and the one run wasn't his at any rate. More and more pitching appears to be a psychological excercise once a guy has reached the bigs. Sure the pitching coach may have something to say about something or other, but overwhelmingly, most major league pitchers (even Rockies guys) have the stuff to pitch in the majors, and being successful is just a matter of harnessing it. The examples that come to mind are Jamie Moyer and Greg Maddux, still viable starters though their velocity is in decline. J.D. Closser was stolen on twice yesterday, and indeed was the goat of the game with his throwing error after a not-so-wild pitch. The eloquent George Frasier remarked that JD's towering throw to second base on one of the steals was 'at least on line,' despite being so high that there was no chance of getting the runner. In his frantic scamper to try to save a run, Closser tossed a ball allegedly aimed toward Jennings past the troubling starter, allowing one more run to cross the plate. This is the future. Gen-R at its finest. Closser, though, has made up for his subpar defense with stunning offensive numbers. His stellar average of .203 and OBP of .321 more than make up for the 2 for 25 on stolen base attempts. Actually, Closser's eye consistently inspires speculation that his "slump" is over: he is second on the team with 21 walks. His OBP is better than Aaron Miles', too. Speaking of OBP, Helton's isn't half bad. While it isn't that of a superstar, it definitely affirms everyone's suspicion that he isn't getting any pitches to hit, given that his average is around .250. Don't confuse this with an indictment, 'cause it's not, but why do you think the media hasn't jumped on this story as potential steroid use. Think about it, a slugger's numbers drop huge amounts after steroids are banned. Again, I don't think he did 'roids, I just wonder why the media doesn't, given that the national media is removed from the situation and doesn't have a good explanation for his numbers. The Rockies scored 22 runs over nine games on the road trip. Yeah... Hawpe got some birthday presents from the Astros, but the Rockies didn't capitalize on the free run he errored home in the third. Sam

Woo!

After a second-rate performance by the Rockies on Monday evening, they appeared to be delivering another after the fifth inning on Tuesday in which Morgan Ensberg socked a grand salami off of JJ. It was eerily reminiscent of a three run dinger Ensberg hit off of Jennings just last week in Houston, when JJ was ahead in the count but ended up hanging a pitch like a nineteenth century criminal. If Joe Kennedy has the one inning disease, JJ appears to have the one pitch disease, an ailment of importance for someone pitching at Coors. After the fifth, it looked like the Rox were in for another miserable game in which the late innings become a mere formality. In step...Danny Ardoin? Yes, the "defensive" catcher got things started in the Rockies' five run frame. After various singlings and walkings by Rockies hitters (including Todd Helton's RBI base hit), Atkins socked a dinger over the left field wall with the bases juiced to put the Rox up by one. And up by one they stayed, despite some wild pitch strikeout woes in the ninth. This game was markedly different than others this season because the Rox made a comeback. Probably the most memorable come-from-behind this year besides that of opening day and the San Fran Lead Span Elimination Plan (8 run inning, still lost) (www.rhymezone.com) involved the Rockies hottest hitter as of late, Garrett Atkins. The fact that Atkins doesn't have a nickname is troubling, but not as troubling as Dustan Mohr's postgame antics, which make me really like the Mendozaesque (only in offense) outfielder. I can't let that get in the way of me disliking his average. Here's the deal. We've got to find something to call him. Submit suggestions, and don't rule out the possibility of Atkins Diet jokes. You know, meaty joe, the G-train, and so on. Also, who's the last, and maybe only, player to hit two grand slams in one inning? Senor TGTBATB should be all over this one. Sam

I'd Like to Give a Shoutout...

Well hello, everybody. Been a while. I'm just here proving Sam wrong by blogging tonight, because I ended up getting MLB.TV, so I was able to catch the highlight reel, even though I don't have much time to blog. I've also watched a few games but like I said, I just don't have much time. Anyhow, aftert showing up my co-blogger, I'd also like to congratulate Sam for calling it perfectly a few days ago in his analysis of Brad "Leather" Hawpe (Oh God! No Mohr). Tonight, Brad really showed everyone how to play in the outfield with two stunning catches and one damn good one. Plus, Hawpe had two RBI's on a respectable 1 for 4 night. It's was just an all around good game, and it's fun to see him maturing defensively. Now there's just no justification for putting Mohr out ahead of Hawpe for anything else than the very rare break or to relieve someone else in the outfield. Some other notes about the game that I had: Todd Helton is heating it up. 3 for 3 with a double and a run scored? I think he's finally feeling it, and I still hold my position that he'll be batting .300 by the All-Star break, which brings me to my next point: Who in the hell is going to represent the Rockies in Detroit? If you'd asked me a month ago, I would've said Clint Barmes for sure, but barring another ceremonial nod for Helton, who's gonna be "representin'"? The only people I can justify going to the game are the newly hot Garret Atkins (who isn't even on the list), and perhaps Brian Fuentes, but you can hardly claim that he's one of the top five closers in the league. If anyone has some ideas, please let me know. Finally, I'd like to say congrats to J.D. Closser, who got another home run tonight. 3 Down, 72 to go. Seriously skipper, what did Danny Ardoin ever do to you? Give better defense and better offense a chance. I'm out. -Gabe

Taking Care of Business

Just to let you all know, the reason the post down from this is probably a long time away, is because we're still updating our archives from the old site. (You can read all bout that on our About Page) Anyhow, while you're here, please enjoy the articles that we have up so far. Thanks, Gabe

Nyah Nyah

In the wake of a big victory for the Rox, the newspaper had a very disheartening story. The Rockies are so depleted in terms of starting pitching, they won't have a fifth man until two weeks from now. If there were a nyah-nyah category, I would file this post under it. If you look back at my Shawn Chacon post (and virtually everyone else's Shawn Chacon posts), it was pretty clear that I thought the move was bad. Boy was I right. The Rockies are now starting Jamey Wright as the number four starter. The guy with the 5.85 ERA ISN'T the one sitting out for two weeks, but rather is starting every fifth day. Ok, so there were some injuries. J.J. was unfortunate. Then again, the team should have some kind of backup plan that doesn't involve trading your best starting pitcher for two fringe AA prospects, right? It's a tremendous difference having four solid starters (Chac, Cook, Francis, JJ) and one iffy fifth guy (Kim, Acevedo, Wright, Day, Kennedy etc) and having two decent starters and three iffy guys like they have now. It's really baffling how the true impact of these deals escaped me until now. Chac: traded for two AA long-shot prospects, JJ: injured. Doesn't seem like a big deal, but when you think about it, despite the fact that the Rox lack true Ace material, those were are two most consistent pitchers. Now the Rockies are dependent on inconsistent rookie Jeff Francis and just-rehabbed Aaron Cook to anchor a rotation made up of second-hand pitchers. And I thought they had a shot at 70 wins...how naive of me to think that management would keep a pitcher with a 3 million dollar salary around. Now were stuck with waiver junk, trade throw ins, and a throw it at the wall to see if it sticks mentality that doesn't usually lend itself to solid starting pitching (it works for our bullpen though).

Winning at Coors

How to win at Coors, eh? It isn't exactly a one post type of topic, but I think the one word answer I saw over at PurpleRow may be as close as a succinct answer can be. The Rockies need talent. At no point during the Rockies' history as a franchise have they had a roster good enough to win. The convenient answer was to blame the ballpark, but that's just not fair to Coors. I challenge anybody to show me a team that could've made the playoffs if they'd been playing in, say, the BOB. Can't do it, can you? It's not the ballpark, it's the players. If the Red Sox trotted out an opening day lineup with three rookies, one sophomore, and one terrible second baseman (I can't work that into a major-league experience term), and lost eight of their first nine, the default answer wouldn't be "it's Fenway Park." The answer would be "the players aren't very good." Oh right, the Red Sox would also trade away their starting center fielder with no legitimate replacement ready, resutling in a fast guy that can't hit starting in center, and then two very slow guys trying to cover the expansive outfield of Coor, er, uh, Fenway Park, when the Red Sox realize that Corey Sullivan stinks as anything besides a defensive sub, pinch runner, or bunter. Then the Red Sox would get fed up with their best starting pitcher and his wacky antics, such as wanting to get back to the majors quickly after injuring his leg, and ship him away to another team for two unspectacular AA pitching prospects that weren't in the top ten of the worst farm system in baseball. The starting pitcher was an All Star two years ago, by the way, but the Red Sox decided to turn him into a closer for some reason, but then they changed their minds. If the Rockies retain their good players instead of trading them away (Preston Wilson trade wasn't terrible, admittedly, but they really should've had a replacement in line. Salazar isn't ready, so I'll stop you before you start, Dan (O'Dowd)), they could probably do a little more winning. Just because they aren't trading Todd Helton doesn't mean they aren't trading away everything else that's good. If the Rockies bring impact players through the system and have them reach the majors (and don't trade them), they could probably do a little more winning. So far we've had three proven impact guys come up through the farm: Helton, Chacon, and Jennings. Yeah. If the Rockies have players with decent power, the air at Coors ought to amplify their power, and they could probably do a little more winning. This year's rooks look like a mixed bag; Hawpe has very promising power just because he hasn't learned to turn on pitches yet and pull the ball, but he's hitting dingers to the opposite field regularly. The real power guy that makes everyone salivate is Clint Barmes, though there are (rightly) concerns as to if his performance in early 2005 was a fluke. The point is, if the Rockies should have decent power from every position, shortstop is probably the hardest position to fill in that regard; Barmes, hopefully, is the diamond in the rough that the Rockies usually never find (they usually don't find diamonds in the diamond store, either, though). Atkins has bad power for a third baseman. There, it's been said. Some like his nonchalant demeanor, and so would I if he was hitting the ball out of the park, but he's not. The guy has gap power from a home run power position. On a side note, if Atkins was supposed to be a stopgap while waiting for Stewart, the Rockies should've just payed up for Vinny. He wasn't making anything outrageous, especially for an NL RBI leader, and he could've done wonders for the respectability of the franchise. Also I like him. Luis Gonzalez shows power on a regular basis and has earned more starts over the abysmal Aaron Miles. He could be a long-term solution at 2nd base if somehow all 94 of our first round middle infielders crap out (likely). So here's the thing. Most of the rooks aren't that good. The Rockies can't go entirely home-grown because Dan O'Dowd isn't Billy Beane, yet because of their scamtastically cheap "philosophy," they're only going to pick up bullpen pitchers. More likely is that they'll go after bullpen guys that will start the season with another team, get put on waivers, and then they will claim them and have them succeed beyond everyone's wildest dreams at Coors. Good players, folks. Good players.

Birthday Wins All Around

It's Todd Helton's birthday today, and I think it's only fair that we take this moment to wish him the best. Also, he went 1-3 tonight with an RBI, a walk, and a run scored, pushing his average to .303 on the year. I'd say he's back to his old form. Now let's take a look at the actual game. Aaron cook, who's been fairly streaky of late, went seven full innings (is that legal for a Rockies starter?!), with only one walk (isn't that against the 2nd law of Rockies thermodynamics or something?), but no strikeouts. Nonetheless, he allowed just one run on seven hits, which is spectacular, especially considering he allowed seven hits. Having only pitched in five games this year, I think it may be taking Cook a while to get used to being a starter again, but if you look at it, he's pitched three fantastic games (allowing 1, 2, and 1 runs respectively), one mediocre, and only one totally blowup game, which is more than we can say for most Rockies pitchers, even if we did take just the last five games of their season. Overall, the reason why Cook's record is only (2-1) with only 3 decisions is the completely the Rockies offense. When a starter gives up 3 or less runs in 6 or more innings pitched, the Rockies should be winning the game every time by the time that Pitcher leaves. Also, this marked the triumphant return of Todd Greene, who went 0-3...but, he did pitch a better game, and I'll contend that he too should be catching ahead of JD Closser, because he has some power, and doesn't make the ballpark look like a dog track. Yeah, Closser may have been hot offensively of late, but he's still batting .246 vs. Greene's 275, and at some point we have to face the fact that he needs some major work on his arm. Time for an offensive rundown, but get ready for the second to next complete sentence after this one. It's really going to be a shocker. I mean, you really won't believe it when you hear it...Wow. Dustin Mohr is the most powerful hitter on our team. There, I said it. He jacked another one off of one of the hardest-throwing pitchers in the world tonight, one former rookie-of-the-year, Kerry Wood, giving him 14 homers, the most on the team. AND, the guy went 2-3, with 2 rbis, a run scored, and a walk? Is there some kind of power he has that we just didn't know about because he's been saving it for some kind of non-existant pennant race? In the past two seasons, in 238 combined at-bats, Mohr has 17 homers. This year, in just 80, he has 14. Now, I realize that the only reason I'm making a fuss about it is because he leads the team (pitiful, Derek Lee has 30+ at Wrigley!) in dingers, but I still want to know where this sudden burst of hitting is coming from. Now, he's obviously not great or anything all of the sudden, but he certainly has made up a lot of ground. Back in mid-July, he was batting sub-.200, and now the guy is 30 points over. You don't get that by chewing bubble gum all day. In other news, Helton continues to be hothothot without strikeout, posting a 1-3 game with a run scored, an RBI and a walk (as mentioned above). Holiday also continues to be a baller, with the highest average among starters, and only one of two hitting above-.300 (Helton). Holliday's not being consistently powerful yet, but unlike earlier in the season, he is being consistent period. Bigbie had another miserable game, and I believe my next piece of analysis deserves a new paragraph. Sullivan should be our starting center, for better or for worse. When you don't have a true CF, go with your best. Sullivan is speedier, hits better, and plays better baseball period. Sullivan is a baseball player, over and out. No, he doesn't have homerun power, but he's batting .266, and he's lightning fast. He striked out a lot, but so does Bigbie, who coincidentally struck out today in his only at-bat, and while Sullivan struck out in one of 3 at-bats, he did have a hit, and is a much bigger distraction when he gets on base than his counter part, due to very good speed. Guys, let's face it. Neither guy is gonna be P-Dub, but Sullivan, at least, can fill a little more of those gigantic shoes than Bigbie. Finally, I want to move onto DeJean and Fuentes, because I saw more of this part of the game than any other. DeJean seems to be settling down a bit. Before you say, "woah there", I do know that he got into and barely out of a bases-loaded 1-out jam, allowed a double to Derrek Lee, and a run. BUT, he got out of the jam. This year, DeJean has been a dude who's hot when he's hot, but who really blows up when he lets a guy or two on. The guy has nasty stuff when he wants to, but when he's just been scored on and there's a tear in his eye, he tends to lose control. This didn't happen today, so I think he is settling down. As for Fuentes, well, what is there to say? The guy has proven himself a dynamite closer so far, striking out Nomar and allowing just one, fluky bloop hit to Todd Walker, former Rockie. Plus, Fuentes got the best hitter in the league, Mr. D. Le, to ground out to b-day boy Todd Helton. What I like most about the way Fuentes pitched to night (and the way Ardoin called the throws), is how consistent he was in not giving hitters anything juicy. Todd Walker golfed a pitch low and inside into the outfield that might've been caught if Larry Walker was still commanding right field, and D. Le's only chance at a hit was one he clubbed from a few inches off the dirt. Sometimes, Fuentes does exaggerate spots a little bit, but I don't mind at all if he throws a ball ocassionally because he threw a pitch asked for on the inside corner a little too far inside. He's not the WP type, so it doesn't worry me. What he doesn't do is miss that pitch in the other direction, serving up a fat juicy one that can be smacked. The guy knows how to hit spots on the hands, in the dirt, and up and outside really well, and he doesn't miss in ways that would lead to a hit or a wild pitch. And did you see him serve up a two strikes right away against D. Le? A 75 mph change, followed by a 73 mph change, followed by I think a hard slider in the dirt on the inside that was around 85. Then, he threw a few 90-93 mph fastballs before getting him on a pitch high and away. I'm really, really loving watching Fuentes pitch, because it's exciting stuff. He made Lee look like a kid who just stepped of a merry-go-round on that second change, and anyone who can do that to the guy George Frasier incessantly calls "the most disciplined hitter in the game" is probably worth something. In a quick Former Rockie Update: Chacon shut out the very good Chicago White Sox today with 8 innings pitched and 5Ks, earning his second win in pinstripes as the Yankees took the game 5-0. Anybody who still thought that was a good trade raise their hand........that silence there is the sound of failure, Dan O'Dumb, failure. -Gabe P.S. - Sorry about the lack of posts. Working on the site + school = less coverage. But we're still gonna hang in there with you guys. Promise. P.P.S - The Rockies official website is serving up worse box score titles every day. "Rockies Cook up spicy dish for visitors"? Ha ha...that's almost as bad as the Rocky Mountain News's, "El-Yay!" after the Broncos won the superbowl for the first time...and that was after they won the superbowl, so they're allowed to do something semi-cheesy.

Fuentes vs. Lee Take II

Okay, so Lee won this one...so did Ramirez. So did Barret. As it turns out, thanks to a 3-run Jorge Piedra homer, who now has 4 dingers in his last 20 at-bats, it didn't matter too much. But, after I go through all of the trouble and hard work to compliment Fuentes, and let everyone know that he only misses spots in a good way, he goes and throws two big fat ones over the middle of the plate that were called for down below the ankles by Danny Ardoin. Nonetheless, after a fairly shaky start, he seemed to relax and with a little lucky reflex-redirection, get out of it okay with a nice K against former Rockie Todd Walker, who seemed to be seeing the ball from center field through the wrong end of the binoculars. (How could anyone think it was outside...oh right, a lefty facing another lefty with a weird delivery...I never could hit against lefties). I can't stay long (Much Ado calls...), though I will make a few comments: Though Francis did not have a great game, newly-acquired Sunny Kim came in and won the game, thanks in large part to homers off of all of our power guys, including Mohr, Holliday and recently hot Jorge Piedra. Atkins also showed some power, blasting his 9th, but he also went 3/4 with a RBI and two runs scored. Helton cranked a double to stay hot, and with a walk and a sacrifice managed just one official at-bat, but his average keeps climbing. No one knows why Dustin Mohr is so hot of late, but then again no one really knows how gravity works, either. Meanwhile, my flyboy Corey Sullivan....went 0-3. But at least he had a sacrifice and didn't strikeout...oh well, we'll see what Bigbie does in the next few days and re-assess. On the other side, D.Le had another monster game, going 2/3 with a homer and two walks...The waning Garciaparra adjusted his gloves alot (though this isn't a surprise) and managed a double in a 2/5 day, but also had two strikeouts. I think we're all beginning to feel that his days in hot dog land are limited. Overall, it was a throwback game to the ages of the bombers, with eight homeruns total, and it was a very nice way to take two out of three from the Cubs, who have skipped being bruised, and gone straight on to lying on the floor bleeding in a red-soaked twitchy tanrum. The game was also significant in that it ended Greg Maddux's perfect 8-0 record at Coors Field (aww shucks). Nice series, boys, and way to go Rox Girl over at Purple Row for calling the series perfectly. I couldn't have done it better myself. -Gabe

Stuff and the Things

Okay, okay, so it's been a while. Please bear with us, as we're having some, erm, legal issues, which hopefully we'll all be able to discuss candidly soon. But, just in an update: The Rox lost their first series in 4 tries in the last week of August, dropping the series to the Giants 1-2. The good news: we won a game. The bad news: it looks like my high hopes of...not getting last aren't going well. At 7 games back with 1.25 months left, it doesn't look good - but, least we'll have a shot at them in a series later this month, where maybe, just maybe we can pull some magic off. And, inexplicably, we're only 14 games back in the division...yeah, I know, but if we keep winning two out of three, and everyone else stays constant, and haley's comet comes 50 years early, and the moon's full...well... Anyhow, Helton homered 2 times tonight, and Atkins continued a renewed hotstreak. Meanwhile, Aaron Miles has quickly climbed up to .284...yeah, I know he's still 1 point behind Gonzo, with a worse slugging percentage and OBP, but at the very least, it must be noted that Miles has been hitting much more consistently of late. Also, note that my flyboy Corey Sullivan went 1-3 tonight, somehow managing to score 3 runs, though he struckout twice. Corey's also been hitting slightly better of late, and I hope you'll agree that he should get the nod in center for the season. But the big news seems to be the return of rookie phenom Clint Barmes, debuting in his first game since June 5th, and well, outfielder Brad Hawpe, who went 2-4 tonight with 1 RBI and 2 runs scored. Barmes went 0-5, but you can't blaim him, because those meat-carrying injuries are tough, keep you out for a long time, and it takes a while to get back in the groove of things. I'm sure P-Dub can tell you a thing or two about that, god rest his soul. Anyhow, like I said, the aforementioned legal issues are keeping us from making any regular posting, but hopefully that'll be resolved soon. I believe in the Rockies ability to at least maybe sorta make it a close race for...last place in the NL West. -Gabe

Closing it up

Hi folks, I know we at RDR kinda dropped the ball here during the home stretch, but I couldn't let the season go without a final post before the playoffs end and the wheeling and dealing starts. Overall, this team surprised us all in the second half of the season by playing .500 (or thereabouts) ball all the way through. If they had duplicated that performance over the first half of the season, they would be in the playoffs right now - and that's exciting! This team showed a bit of greatness in the second half of the season, and I hope the core stays in tact and plays together next year. We can only get better at this point, and with a few holes filled in, I think we have a real shot at the division, which I can't see making any major improvements. I see a lot of promise for these guys next year, but there's still an offseason checklist that we have to look at, which will be the subject of this post. Offseason Checklist: 1. The elusive fifth starter. We've got to find someone who can be our fifth next year and be consistent. Sunny, BK, Francis, and Cook proved good down the stretch - even Francis pulled it out at the end. Is one of these guys going to be our fifth when JJ comes back, or do we need another? 2. The middle reliever. Dejean played great at the beginning of the season, but then let up big time at the end, blowing several games. Dohmann was never the answer, so what is? Do we have any call-ups who could fill the roll, or do we need to trade for someone who we know will be a solid middle reliever? For the first time, the closer and setup roles were solidified in the last part of the season, and barring any idiotitc trades, that'll be true next year. So the only real gap that I see in the bullpen is the 6th and 7th inning guy who just shuts people down. 3. Second base. Okay, so I was wrong here. Gonzo came in and played well, really well down the stretch. But he's supposed to be a lifetime utility man, so is he a bonafide second baseman, or do we need to find someone else here? 4. Center field. Corey Sullivan showed that he's can hit, and damn well, if he wants to. He doesn't have a lot of power - yet, but he's the perfect center for Coors defensively, as he's scary fast, and has a great arm. He's also a big time steal threat if he ever gets on. He needs to learn how to walk (obp only in the .340s with a .300 avg), but keep in mind this kid was a rookie. I'm leaning towards keeping him as the starting center - especially seeing what he did at the plate when he started getting consistent starts. But, you may have other ideas, especially considering his power, which at the moment is only gap power. But, obviously Bigbie didn't show Hurdle anything more special than Corey Sullivan, who was getting rave reviews from the TV booth towards the end of the season. 5. The offensive catcher. We have our defensive catcher in Danny Ardoin. He's shown he can handle pitchers wonderfully, and he's got a killer arm - creates outs. He also hits .240 and has real home run power, but that's borderline for an 8th hitter. Closser, who's the best field day for opposing teams since the first day of training camp, is not the answer, especially because he didn't even show that he could hit .240. My guess is bringing Greene back as the offensive catcher, and dropping Closser altogether. True, Ardoin is older, but for the meantime, he's great behind the plate. 6. Ryan Shealy. Okay, he's not really a hole, but he does deserve to be on the checklist. He plays a good defensive 1st base, but we know that can improve given how Helton started, and how much he's improved. Plus, in his sting playing in place of Todd Helton, he tore up the majors much like he ripped through the minors, going .348 in 14 games (I think). This guy is gonna be a real star somewhere, but the problem is, he can't play anything but first base, at a relatively slow 6'+. And the Rockies already have Ryan Shealy playing 1st base - his name is Todd Helton, who's under a huge contract until something like 2011. So what do we do? I say trade this kid to someone who really needs a first baseman for some real major league talent - maybe one or two proven middle relievers and another gonzo-type utility man? I think having Shealy, who proved he's more than ready to play the majors, may be our ticket to filling a few of these holes. So in the end, yes, we have holes - but not ones that are simply gaping, and we're actually doing surprisingly well compared to last year, and even compared to what some NL west teams will face this offseason. We've finally filled in the shortstop position for the long haul, as well as 3rd base (it seems), and 2/3rds of our outfield. Plus, most of what I've identified isn't even asking who we're going to get, but whether what we have now will be sufficient for every game. Overall, I'd say we're in pretty good shape for Gen R+1.

Farewell Mr. Canada

Sir Lawrence Walker has retired, and I'm sure we're all sad to see him go. For years, Larry was a star on this team. Member of the Blake Street Bombers, MVP, and incredible right fielder. I'll always remember a play in 1999 at a ballgame I attended when Walker through out a guy who was trying to go from 1st to home to end the inning from the corner of right field. One hop to Brent Maine and boom. But he did it so many times, who doesn't remember one of those? We'll miss you in the highlight reels, and I'm personally sorry that you never got your ring. You're one of those ones who deserves it. In other news, there's the same old trade rumors coming out of Boston..but I'm telling you, Ryan Shealy is our ticket to middle relief. I think he can be traded and we'll be okay, because he is going to be a starter somewhere, and we don't have room for him in that type of position. BUT, if we're going to trade him, we need to fill our biggest hole, and that hole was in the middle innings.

We're honored...

...to be named a runner-up (Silver medalist is what I think they call it) for Deadspin's Best of Blogdom award for our Rockies coverage. Congrats also goes to our co-silver medalist, The Good, the Bad, and the Barmes, and to the real winner, Dan of Up in the Rox, who's outstanding player-by-player 2005 season breakdown was, well, outstanding, and really impressed the people at Deadspin. Yes, this award did go out on 9/9, but I just got wind of it, so that's why the post is today. But, I personally think all of Rockies bloggers are fantastic, so be sure to check out all of the blogroll, especially the ones I just mentioned, and another one of my favorites, Purple Row, where Rox Girl's fanatic coverage of the Rockies minor league system should be classified a world wonder. In Rockies news, there is none yet, besides Dustin Mohr and Greene being let go of, even though that happened a while ago. That means that we're gonna have to find another offensive catcher, because I'm not going to accept JD Closser as a reliable backup for Danny Ardoin. GGGGGOOOOOO....well, it's hard to root for anyone in this World Series. I think both teams deserve it...but I really like the idea that the Sox, who I believe had one player finish the regular season above .300, could win a world series soley on pitching and insanely good play from their third baseman.

Belated news...

I'm just gonna do a quick run-down of recent Rockies news.. We did not pick up Todd Greene's option...though this news is from October 5th, I'll talk about it like it's new. Greene batted .254 in 38 games and 126 at-bats last year for the Rockies. After the call-up of defensive star Danny Ardoin following Greene's hamstring injury, he was out-performed by career minor-leager Ardoin and was reduced to the third catcher role. The Rockies release says that they'll be looking for offense at the catcher position elsewhere...but where they're finding it, based on the next player, I have no idea. In comes Miguel Ojeda, a defensive catcher who batted an abysmal .147 last year for the Padres in only 102 at-bats in 59 games. This move is slightly surprising, because it's really offense the Rockies are missing at the position, not defense. I'm speculating that this is a move to force backup JD "Please don't run" Closser to play better defense or lose the 2nd position. We still need offense at the catcher position, however, so look for that move in the offseason. The Rox also dropped backup right-fielder Dustin Mohr, whose main attribution to the team was as a veteran clubhouse guy. He was terrible this year for the Rox despite a flury of late home runs, going .214 on 266 at-bats in 98 games. With Rookie stud Brad Hawpe coming on late in the season and ending a .262 average and a flury of fantastic defensive plays, Dustin won't be missed mutch. Hawpe's shown he's very, very strong defensively, and he does show some promise at the plate. He was injured much of the year, only playing in 101 games, so we'll see if a more continuous season will do him good at the plate. Matt Holiday's option was also picked up, no surprises there. Matt posted a .307 average last year in 126 games, and played well defensively. He also showed late power, finishing the year as the Rockies leader with 19 homeruns. The rest of the news is only rumors, so I'll just mention them briefly. Dealin' Dan promised to hold on to Brian Fuentes, our soon-to-be-superstar closer, and we certainly hope to see him back next year. Fuentes picked up 31 saves last year and posted an ERA of 2.91. Though he did play 78 games, only 36 of those (I'm pretty sure) were in save positions, and he only blew five saves. Another impressing figure: Brian posted 92 strikeouts in his 78 appearances, and only 34 walks. That's impressive. The other rumor-mill involves Ryan Shealy, bonafide major-league stud currently playing for the Sky Sox. He batted an astonishing .330 in 98 major-league at-bats this year, and posted 16 RBIs. There's no questioning this guy is a star. The problem: Ryan, at 6-5 and 240lbs, can only play first base. There's talk of getting him in the outfield, but that's a stretch...the good news is, prospects like these make for excellent trades. There have been rumors about trade with the Indians, but my best guess of where to go - no, let me put it this way: if I were Dan O'Dowd, I'd be looking to fill our weakest spot right now: Middle relief. We were terrible this year. Especially in the second half, the middle innings were where we lost most of our games, so that's what we should improve. A GM would have to be dead for 6 months to not put Shealy on his list for replacing your old first baseman, so I think we should be able to get some REAL middle talent for him, something that we need REAL BAD. Anyhow, that's the news for now...I'm happy that I, you know, took the time to post this. Makes me feel like I'm doing my job...yup, doing the job...

Why You Shouldn't Care About The World Baseball Classic

Alright, people. It's getting dangerously close to pitcher workouts, and we're freaking two months away from baseball season. I'm pretty pumped. Major League Baseball, to try to quench my thirst for baseball (and take my money) has created the first ever World Baseball Classic. Don't support it. As tempting as big-league baseball in March may sound, let me assure you, it is not going to be big league baseball. The starting pitchers for team USA are going to be fantastic. Dontrelle Willis, C.C. Sabbathia, Tim Hudson, Andy Pettite, and most likely one of Roger Clemens, Ben Sheets, or Roy Halladay. The problem is that they're going to keep them on pitch counts Now, Buck Martinez has some hazy justification for this crap, namely that the USA has ridiculously good relief pitching, but frankly, we're being gyped. Look at what it's marketed as. The players are supposed to be playing for national pride. Is 50-60 pitches and an early trip to the showers national pride? To quote my freshman year English teacher, that is crap. MLB, get it straight. If it's about national pride and being the best you can be, then don'tkeep guys on pitch counts (except Roy Halladay--he's scheduled to pitch (162x9) innings this year, so resting him is cool). Have a look-see Pitchers in the first round of games, scheduled from March 3-10, will be limited to 65 pitches. The amount rises to 80 pitches for the second round, set for March 12-16, and 95 for the semifinals on March 18 and the championship March 20. A 30-pitch outing must be followed by one day off, and a 50-pitch outing must be followed by four days off. No one will be allowed to pitch on three consecutive days. Some of the blame should be placed on the players, too, for not speaking out against this crap. Instead, Johnny Damon is saying something about how the US isn't getting the respect they deserve. Let's hope it works out better for us than it did for the Patriots. Note, that's not a comment about Johnny Damon sucking, it's a comment about how he's the only player that's said anything about the WBC, to my knowlege. Don't watch the games on principle, people. This is crap.

Josh Fogg

So according to sources, the Rockies are battling the Giants and one other unknown team for Josh Fogg. The Rox are offering a guaranteed roster spot with a little bit less cash than their foes, and Fogg may be able to help them late in the rotation or in the pen if he is signed. His agent says, "he's not afraid to pitch at Coors Field." Fogg is a soft thrower that rarely tops 90 with his fastball, and has previously had problems keeping the ball in the park. This seems like a good fit for Coors, eh? Seriously though, it's better that it's Josh Fogg and not Kevin Millwood. At least if Fogg screws up, we won't have to pay him ridiculous amounts of money.

Fogg Signed

So the Rockies have signed mediocre to bad pitcher Josh Fogg. I guess all we can hope for is that he is the next Byung-Hyun Kim. In a good, non-choking way. Speaking of athletes, Shawn Chacon just signed a 3.6 million dollar contract with the Yankees. Way to stick with your home-grown talent, O'Dowd. Way to stick with it. Please re-view my anti-anti-Shawn Chacon diatribe here. Baseball's almost here.

Brad Hawpe

Well, because of my strong desire not to do anything related to school, I have decided that we here at RDR will be doing some evaluation of last year's rookies, seeing as the Rockies free agent pickups have thankfully been not ridiculous and minimal. I was also inspired by an article over at Bad Altitude about Detroit sucking that referenced Dmitri Young. To be blunt, I believe that the cieling for Brad Hawpe is something resembling Dmitri Young, which is not half bad, actually. Young, over his career, has hovered around .290 in terms of batting average, with roughly 20 homers a year and an OPS of about .820. Hawpe, in his first year in the league, had an OPS of about .745, would theoretically average about 20 homers per season, and batted .262 last year. Now, given that he probably won't progress past Young's numbers, the question becomes: assuming Hawpe gets there (which he may well not), are Dmitri Young's numbers enough for a right fielder called part of the foundation of the Rockies? Looking at Young in relation to the rest of the league in 2005, he was 69th in OPS, which is not so hot, and was 65th in homers, with 21. Young circa 2000, though, would have finished the same in homers, but would have finished at about 50th in OPS. So, what we have here is a situation in which Brad Hawpe looks to be, at best, a middle-of-the-pack outfielder. The advantage of developing him yourself though, is that you won't pay him 8,000,000 dollars like the Tigers are Young. In light of this recent discovery, the major league viability of a Rockies team with Hawpe in one of the corner spots is dubious. In a hitters park, or any park, for that matter, you want to have offensively outstanding corner outfielders, either OBP or slugging-wise, but Hawpe looks like he will develop into a guy that would simply occupy a lineup slot with simply average offense. It should be noted that my prediction is based entirely on another prediction, which is that Hawpe will end up as a Dmitri Young type, which is not necessarily true. He could very well learn to pull the ball with power and hit 30 homers a year and prove me wrong, but as it stands right now, he has yet to prove that he will be anything beyond average. Cheaply average though.

The Gyroball?

I read an article over at yahoo sports (link) about some sort of ridiculous Japanese-made pitch. It is apparently better and more efficient that American pitches, much like Japanese cars, watches, etc. The point is that this pitch has the potential to change baseball--if it exists. The whole thing is about how there are rumors about the thing, but nobody's caught it on tape. Now call me a ridiculous racist, but every time I'm on vacation and a tourist site, Asians are conspicuously eager to take photos and videos. The same thing happened at Coors when Gabe and I were there. This group spent the whole game taking pictures of them with Coors in the background. With the advent of cameraphones and videophones, I find it highly unlikely that this pitch exists but hasn't been captured. I don't know the state of televising in Japan, but if the pitch is that good, I'd assume it has been used in a televised game. A pitcher on the Japanese team said something about how he might use it in the WBC, and frankly I'm intrigued.

Sort-of-Rockies-Related Post 1--MVP 2006 NCAA Baseball. It is a game preview/summary?

Note: I'm probably going to refer to the game MVP 2006 NCAA Baseball as all of the following in this entry: MVP, MVP 2006, 2006, NCAA, NCAA 2006, the game, etc. So let' s just be clear I'm talking about MVP 2006 NCAA Baseball. In February every year, after the Pro Bowl and before the combine, I come to the realization that baseball is rolling back around again. I also come to the realization that it won't start for another month and a half in all of its full glory, and I demand a fix. This hold-me-over is usually a couple of fantasy baseball magazines, and more importantly with regards to this "article," a baseball game of some sort. In doing my research on the games every year, it's almost always the case that EA turns out the hands-down best product on the market. It works this way for football, too. Unfortunately, EA didn't make an MLB game this year because 2k got an exclusive license from the league, so they did something incredibly ballsy; EA decided to make a college baseball game. College baseball has a pretty small following on the coasts, if I understand it correctly, and here in Colorado, there's virtually no mention of it though the UNC Bears are apparently pretty decent. It's only in the thick mid-section of America that NCAA baseball has any sort of legitimate followers. I've heard stories of just how awesome the college game (not the video game) is and how fun the College World Series in Omaha is, but really beyond some ESPN2 viewing, I had no idea about NCAA baseball. The 2k6 game isn't going to be released until about a week before i get out of school, so I bought NCAA for the price of 30 dollars. Smart move by EA; I wouldn't have bought the game if it were fifty or so, but the lower price compelled me to give the game and NCAA baseball a shot. The first thing you will notice in your first game of NCAA is the intro. They pretty much just found clips of Major Leaguers playing college ball (Helton is pretty much the first guy you see, so hoo-rah) and put them to a soundtrack. Not bad, but from the beginning, you kind of get the feeling that EA knows that NCAA baseball as an independent entity doesn't have the legs to stand on its own, but rather must lean on stars that rose from its midst. This is evident in that they used the same basic system as last year's MVP MLB 2005 game, which isnt a bad thing. The second thing you'll notice is that you have the option to either give the players fake names or leave them as just numbers. I opted for fake names because I don't know who any of the players are anyway, and it's pretty funny to look at pitchers named Hollandsworth and a second baseman named Closser (I guess they used MLB names rather than just a normal database for some reason...?). For diehards, this might be a turn-off, but I'll wager dollars to donuts that someone will go ahead and make named rosters for download like they do with NCAA football. The point is that with the high turnover rate in college baseball, names are only important for four years anyway. The game itself is really spectacular. I haven't fooled around with dynasty mode, preferring to just play individual games and mini-games until I'm good enough to not drive the Tennessee baseball program into the ground. EA made a few pretty big changes this year from last year's MLB game, and the most important is the new Load-and-Fire batting system. The Load-and-Fire batting system is a bit tough to get the hang of, but fooling around for an hour or so in the batting mini-game makes you a viable hitter. Rather than last year's system which relied on the left analog stick (where do you want to go with the ball) and the A button (X on Playstation 2, I think), this year's is dependent on the two trigger buttons and the right analog stick. It sounds complicated, but it's not. When the pitcher releases the ball, you pull the right analog stick down and when you want to swing, you push it up. Up and to the left is a pull swing for a righty, up and to the right is an opposite field swing for a righty, and straight up is a straight swing, if there is such a thing. To go for power, you just hold down the left trigger while swinging, and for contact, hold down the right. Pretty complicated-sounding, but once you get the hang of it, it's fairly easy. You can also go back to last year's system if you so desire. The new batting system brings the game to a new level of reality. Because you can load and then wait to swing (though this diminishes your power) , it's possible to bat like a brainy player, rather than like Andres Galaraga. When will his number be retired? I demand action. Anyway...this batting system is very realistic. If you want to pull the ball, you've got to be really quick with the stick, because most of the time you'll swing late and send a lazy fly to the infield. This system makes it pretty damn clear why you can never miss with a change or a curve on the inner half. If you try to hit for power to the opposite field, it will end poorly, as you have to wait longer in your stance on the pitch and your power potential is diminished. Pitching is the same as last year, and as I mentioned before, you will be punished for screwing up. CC Sabbathia can miss with a fastball on the inner half and get away with it, but Moyer can't. Note: I am using these names rather than "That tall Florida pitcher with the 94 mph fastball" because I still don't know any of their names. Even the fake ones. Fielding is pretty cut and dried, and as usual, there is a huge quantity of spectacular plays made each game. One infuriating part of the game is the errors, which come in bunches, and at the most inconvenient time possible. You've got to be careful how hard you throw the ball, because overthrows are common. So, in conclusion, the game is sweet, and until 2k6 comes out, I'd suggest playing this one, as it's only 30 bucks.

The Debate: Freeman and Sullivan

With the Choo-over-Corey campaign well under way over at Baseball With An Altitude, I figured it was time to step in and give an opinion. As anyone who followed the blog last year (read: no one) will know, I touted Cory Sullivan, despite all the controversy, as the true choice for starter after Preston Wilson left town. He was hitting fairly well, and he's very fast - a perfect choice at least defensively covering the huge Coors (center) Field, and perhaps a candidate for the leadoff hitter. Immediately after making this statement known, my decision was immediately stripped of all authority - Cory went on to bat .254 from June to July, with a sub-.300 OBP. But he was still playing well in the field, and in September, he went on a tear - batting .387 to bring his season average to a respectable .294 - overall, he had a fairly good year. Now, to be fair to Cory, it was his rookie year. Things were shaky, he wasn't playing every day, and as the TV kept telling me, "he has great baseball instincts." Perhaps that's what I liked about Cory - he always seemed to know what he was doing out there. Enter Choo Freeman. Once a top Rockie prospect, Freeman has never had success in the majors. In a lifetime 112 at-bats in the majors, Freeman has a stunning(ly bad) .204 average. I know he hasn't had much major league experience, but when you think about it, neither has Cory, and Mr. Sullivan has already proven that he CAN be a very effective hitter. Give Cory a little time to mature, and I believe he will be a .300 career hitter. Choo, on the other hand, has no proven hitting ability, and the only thing he has going for him is that he is just as fast, and maybe a little faster than the +22 lbs. Cory that showed up at training camp, but that's about all he has going for him. So when you sum up the two, you look at an average center fieldman who has the potential to be an above-average hitter, in Cory, and a big fat question mark in Choo. When I look at this team, the one thing I like is that there are no giant questionmarks like there were last year. I think Cory can be a sufficient starter for the meantime, and put up a near-.300 average and 10-20 home runs in a good year. He may not have as much power potential as Freeman, but even for Coors Field, that's not what you need in a leadoff man. I'm a firm believer in seeing, for one of the few times in the past 11 years, a Rockies team that is vaguely recognizeable as the same team that took the field a year ago. For one of the few times since the era of the ever-changing plans for re-birth, it looks like this could actually happen, and I'm excited. They say if it ain't broke, don't fix it, and Cory is far from broke.

Opening Day!

After ever so long, and even a rain delay to interrupt the fun last night, baseball has begun in truth. No more ridiculous batting averages and pitcher-yanking. This is the real thing. I ended up at the game courtesy of the moms, which meant I got to eat a hot dog on someone else's dollar (well, dollarS, really), and also had to do the thing which I secretly love, which is explain things to noobs. The ma' isn't really a noob, but anyhow...The game was not what one expects at Coors Field. Last year, the combined run total was about 20, and during most of today's game, it looked like it was about to burst into being a slam-fest again. Somehow though, pitching prevailed. Early on, Jennings looked shaky, walking a guy in the first inning and giving up a run. He regained his composure and more importantly, his pitching, though, and then ended up pitching several innings of solid ball. Jennings worked seven innnings of one-run ball in the win. That's pretty much what the Rockies need to be a better team this year besides, you know, more offense. Working out of jams was a central theme in the game, as JJ did it repeatedly, as did pretty much every reliever in the game. Two new bullpen acquisitions performed semi-admirably in the game. Ray King, the lefty from St. Lewis, allowed one run in two thirds of an inning, but considering he was the victim of a throwing error that put men on second and third with none out, it was pretty impressive. Jose Mesa came in to face righty Chad Tracy, who grounded in an out, but then ended the inning smoothly. In the ninth, he allowed two baserunners, then left the game with one out and runners on first and second. Closer Brian Fuentes entered the game and brought the Rockies to the bottom of the ninth with the score still tied. In the eleventh inning, with Hawpe up to bat and Matt Holliday at third, the sophomore right fielder grounded the ball to second. Holliday, running on contact, sprinted home and beat the throw from (edit) Connor Jackson with a head first slide to the outside of the plate. Traffic was hell, pedestrian and auto, but it was worth it. Shot thoughts (as in bulleted): -The relievers despite numerous opportunities, did not blow the game like they usually did early on last year -Coors Field is huge. Lots of deep fly balls stopped on the track during the game for both sides. -If the Rockies starters can work into the sixth or seventh, it looks like the bullpen will be able to keep the team within striking distance or maintain the lead -Hot dogs are expensive -A lot of people must ride RTD to games, because there's a strike on and this was by far the worst opening day traffic I've ever seen -Opening Day is awesome. Even if you're not that into baseball, it's just amazing. It's something uniquely American and I hope it's still like this when I'm seventy -This is non-polititcal, but rather just an observation: being an Iraqi civilian would be scary as hell. during the flyover, I almost peed myself. We were in the third deck, and good God those planes are loud, fast, and filled with weapons. Baseball's here!

So far, so the same.

This does not bode well for the Colorado Rockies. I was optomistic after Monday's opener. I hoped they could string a few together to start the season, unlike last year where opening day was the only game they won in the next 9 outings. Okay, I take it back. This was a little better than last year in that the game seemed to be within reach until late in the game, and the bullpen didn't let the game get out of hand - but it certainly was similar in that offensive production seems hard to come by. Let's first get a few facts straight: El Duque can still pitch. He was excellent, allowing only 1 ER in 5 innings pitched. That said, the Rockies couldn't seem to get anything off of him. Cook pitched well too, but a shaky first basically cost them the ballgame - as it would turn out, the Rockies would be able to only match the D-backs first-inning, in nine innings of effort. Not a good sign at all. The only good thing that happened for the Rox was that Todd Helton continued his hot streak. Helton's outlook is especially bright given that this years start could not be different from last years. He has three hits in two games - all of them doubles. Two have yielded RBIs - and the Washington Post wrote that he's "untradeable" due to slowing batspeed...right. Still, the Rockies could not pick up a game that by all means, was in their hands. The good news is that for once, the problem was not pitching. Two fielding hickups, one a ball off of Todd Helton's usually perfect glove, and another Matt Holiday's miss-play of a Chad Tracey single-turned-double, cost the Rox two runs - crucial mistakes for a team that so far has managed 5 runs in two games. I'm still willing to attribute this less-than-stellar defense to early-season shakiness, but it seems to me that the Rockies are still finding ways to lose ballgames, not to win them. The good news is that it's becoming harder and harder to find these bonehead excuses, now that pitching appears to be fairly solid. If we can steady up our defense and get another decent pitching performance, I'm looking for the offense to finally show up tomorrow. If it does, it's a good sign for things to come. The two teams play tomorrow for the series capper. Francis, who was solid for the first half of last year and then fairly mediocre in the second, will go against the veteran Batista - stay tuned for another pitching duel. The biggest surprise of the year so far: No home runs in two games at Coors Field. Go figure. One last thing. I'm going to make an un-wise and ill-founded prediction: If the Colorado Rockies can bounce back and win tomorrow's game, they will go on a tear and win the division. If not, well, we'll see what happens, but it'll certainly look far too much like last year.

Eeeeeeek.

I thought our name was going out of style after two relatively close Rockies games. Man did I have no reason to worry. Last night's game was a true disaster - the Rockies offense did not show up, as I had hoped - the defense continued to be poor, and for the first time this season, the overall pitching was atrocious. But let's get to some details. Francis did not pitch well, allowing 5 runs in only 4 and a third innings. Unlike last year's hot start, he did not seem to be hitting spots from the gate, allowing two runs in the first inning, including one that he walked home - one of six free bases on the night. Batista for the Diamondbacks, on the other hand, was sensational allowing only 2 runs in seven innings. His performance included eleven punch outs. The problems started with pitching, but they certainly weren't limited to it. The offense didn't show up until far too late in the game, when Holliday corked the first Rockies homer of the year in the sixth inning, driving in two (Helton had walked in the previous at-bat). Before that, the Rockies had several opportunities to keep the score close, including a Barmes triple and an Atkins double (one of two in the game - man is he on fire), who advanced to third with two outs, but could not be driven in. What was the problem in this game? Unlike the last two, I think we can pretty much pin it on pitching. Any time when your starter can't manage four innings, you're going to have trouble - but the bullpen did nothing to help, allowing six more runs. The thing that worries me is that this definitely shows the weak depth of the Rockies rotation. Hopefully, Francis can get it together and start pitching well, but if he's our third man, I can't wait to see what four and five look like. Speaking of which, tonight, Josh Fogg will take the mound for the first time in a Rockies uniform. He's a career under five-hundred pitcher hoping to get a new start with the Rockies, and he can make significant strides to that end with a decent performance tonight. Hopefully, the productive end of last nights' game will carry over, and the Rockies will be able to take a real lead for the first time this season. The only good news: Holliday finally cranked one, and Atkins and Helton continued to stay red hot. Atkins now has three doubles on the year (including two last night), and Helton went 1 for 2, scoring two runs, with two walks. In 8 official at-bats, Helton now has a .500 average. That's pretty good for a guy who could barely hit the ball early last year.

Two games later...

The Rockies are over .500 again, for the second time in the young season. That's a 50% increase over last season! Let's look at how it happened. -The offense finally found themselves...at Petco Park, of all places. The Rockies have outscored the Padres by a combined margin of 22-8 in two games, two ROAD games, mind you...everyone has hit so hot these last few games, I don't know who to touch on - okay fine. Eli Marrero went 4-5 in the first game of the series, replacing an ailing Matt Holiday, and Corey Sullivan had a 4-5 game in the second matchup. Even though it's come against the dregs of the Padres rotation, this is what the offense is capable of - and hopefully it'll lead to some confidence, because Peavy takes the mound for the Padres tomorrow. -Starting pitching has been, while not stellar, not bad. Fogg and Day both got wins with decent outings - yes, they had a lot of run support, but I look at it this way: If their late-rotation guys allow 12 runs a game, and ours only 4, even if they do have shaky starts, we're going to be able to win a lot of ballgames. Of course, we'll see what happens against the top of the rotation tomorrow. Stay tuned for a good one: Jennings (0-0, 1.29) v. Peavy (1-0, 1.29). I'm getting excited just thinking about it. -The bench has also been excellent. Eli Marrero filled in in star fashion for a sick Holliday, Jason has come through in place of Gonzales' injured wrist, and how about Ojeda - debuting for the Rox with a home run. Cheers to those boys. -The bullpen, the shakiest part of last years' season has been nothing short of spectacular. In fact, on the season in 15.2 innings of work, the bullpen has allowed just 9 runs, all but two of them coming in the one blow-up game of the season in the rubber match against the D-Backs. Disregard that game (which was already out of hand after Francis left in the fifth), and you have a bullpen which has allowed two runs in four games. That's good work. Overall, this is what this team is capable of, and they ought to be telling themselves that. They can hit, they can make their pitchers comfortable. We saw this both with Fogg and Day, both of whom allowed four runs - but as the Rockies gave them support, both were able to settle down and grab wins. If we can keep getting the bat on the ball, I think solid pitching will follow. Stay tuned for the real test tomorrow as the ace throws for his first win of the year, and the Rox go for the sweep against the venerable Peavy. It's gonna be tough to have another 7-run first, but hopefully we can start strong and keep riding the boost of confidence these two games have to have given these young players.

Bloggaloggin

I just added a few blogs to our blogroll that until recently I had forgotten about or had no clue existed, except that I was looking at our referrals list, and they were on it. Please check out Coors Effect, formerly doing business as Tap the Rox (sorry Tom!), and LoDo Magic, a new one in what has become a HUGE blogging community. Also, I finally got around to changing the name of Mark Donohue's excellent blog, Bad Altitude, so check that out as well. Meanwhile, I encourage you to also take a look at all of our other friends in the blog-oh-sphere (conveiniently located in the right-hand navigation bar), especially the folks over at Purple Row (if you've ever wanted to know something about the Rox farm system, that's where you go) and the ubiquitous Dan Lucero at Up in the Rockies. Man, that guy is EVERYWHERE. Meanwhile, it's only three hours until the series closer, and my mouth is watering for the Jennings v. Peavy matchup...I'll now be taking suggestions for what to do to pass the time that doesn't involve cleaning. Seriously, I'm gonna be reloading the page like every ten seconds looking for comments.

Good gravy

Medic! Medic! SOMEONE GET BANDAGES FOR THE PADRES' BUTT It was an afternoon when I sorely needed a win. I spent the whole morning mulching, and if you've ever mulched before, you know that you want baseball and food afterwards. If you're not familiar with this activity, you pretty much just move stuff from one pile to a garden. It's not much fun, except for making jokes about my brother. So the game. It looked pretty bleak at the beginning. Jennings gave up a run in the first inning, though it could've been more had the baserunner cut down at home with two outs not been Mike Piazza. Still, with the Rockies down 1-0, Jennings looking shaky, and Peavy on the mound, I was a little depressed. Luckily, the Oreida fries were extra crispy, as advertised, so I found consolation therein. Anyhow, the Rockies came back with two solo home runs against Peavy in the fourth, but the Pads' Khalil Green homered in the bottom of that inning with a man on first to put San Diego up one again. In the fifth, all hell broke loose. In a good way. Rockie after Rockie smashed the ball against one of, if not THE best of all pitchers in the National League. It wasn't all Peavy's fault though. Termell Sledge and Dave Roberts collided in the outfield to give the Rockies a free out in addition to a double, and later Sledge fell down in pursuit of a fly ball, giving Corey Sullivan his second triple of the inning. Rather than do a comprehensive thing of all of the scoring action, here are some highlights: -Jason Smith, aka that guy who I don't really know about, hit two homers in consecutive innings. -Garrett Atkins made a nice throw from beyond the foul chalk during the area in the game when fielding still mattered. -I feel terrible for Termell Sledge -It feels like Matt Holliday is pressing a bit. -Clint Barmes really hates hitting popups to the infield. -Once again, JJ had a tough time early on and then settled into a great performance. The win was as pleasing as those crispy fries.

Off Day: Damn the Torpedos!

Ladies and gentlemen, I want to take this off day opportunity to tell you all some extremely discouraging news. Earlier in the week, I explored the possibility of getting press passes to better cover the Rockies. As it turns out, Major League Baseball has a complete, national ban on giving press credentials to all websites not affiliated with a major news source. I was naturally shocked by this, as I know that most major sports leagues do not have such a policy, but usually relegate the decision to local teams to decide who to give credentials to. This is the case with hockey, where there are several cases of bloggers gaining credentials, and I know a personal example of a blog covering Boston's MLS team, the Revolution, which received a press pass to cover the team. I believe this policy is unfair and unfounded. I'm certainly not arguing that any Joe and Sam (sorry, Sam) should be granted credentials, but there is no reason to just put a blanket ban on all websites. There should be an evluative policy by which legitimate and productive blogs can bypass this restriction. This is especially true considering that baseball has a gigantic blogging community that not only covers the sport in many cases better than local daly papers, but also provides great energy and excitement about the sport. Given the rapidly dropping attendance across the league, where many teams are unable to fill a stadium on a daily basis, offering bloggers access to the teams they cover can only help the league. If you tend to agree with me on this issue, and want to see baseball blogs offer better coverage in the future, please help us. I've set up a website with a few simple steps outlined to help us advance this issue. Please visit and follow a few simple steps which will greatly help us. Like I said, the baseball blogging community is huge, and we can put a lot of pressure on MLB to reverse this policy. I think we should. If you have a blog, please consider putting a post up about this and encouraging your visitors to help out as well. If you have a website, we'd also appreciate you linking to the site, which is below: http://fairpress.denversportszone.com Thanks.

The Series: Arizona Take Two

Tonight, the Rockies will embark on their second series of the year against Arizona. Cook will get the start tonight against El Duque, who was excellent in his first start of the season, getting the win over the Rockies, 4-2, in the second game of that series. This time, however, a seemingly different team will be entering the (formerly) Bob in Arizona, looking to duplicate their success at (formerly) Petco Park in San Diego, where they swept the Padres, scoring ten runs in each of those games. The Rockies bats are red hot after lighting up Jake Peavy for seven runs, and they're looking to ruin another good pitcher's ERA tonight. The one improvement from last series that could come out of this one is not giving up any runs in the first inning. The Rox starting pitching has allowed a run in the first inning of every ballgame so far, so hopefully the second time through the rotation will be where that trend ends. Cookie was excellent in his first outing, allowing just three runs in seven innings, but a first-inning donut would be nice (Cook allowed a run in the first inning of his first start). Projections If the bats remain hot, Arizona just won't be able to keep up. In San Diego, the Rockies totally relaxed with all of the home-town pressure off of them. They've hopefully proven to themselves that they can hit anyone in this league hard, and if they continue to just go out and play ball, they'll be fine against the (arguably) worst team in the West this year. As far as pitching goes - Francis should now be able to settle down as well, knowing that he will have run support behind him even if he isn't fully settled down early. He's had the only bad start of the season for the Rockies staff, and he'll get a chance to turn that around tomorrow against Batista. Arizona's pitching staff is no less hittable than San Diego's, so it's up to the Rockies to prove that their California success wasn't just a fluke series. If they can extend the streak here, I think they've earned a trip to those delicious In-and-Out Burgers that have now made their way into cactusland. Mmmmmm....In-and-Out Burger....

They won it, and that's all that matters.

It wasn't the prettiest of wins, but it was still a win. The Rockies have now won four games straight, on the road, two of those games against tough pitchers. With the Giants game postponed due to rain, the Rockies are now all alone atop the NL West. Are you kidding me?!?! The last time this happened: 1995, a 5-1 start. This year, the Rockies are 5-2, and the only teams in the majors hotter are Cleveland and Boston. What's the secret? Since they left Coors, the Rockies don't believe in stats. Good pitchers are just batting practice tossers to them, and they're playing exactly how a young team should: one game, one at-bat at a time. Now, unlike the previous three games, this game was not the easiest of wins. It was a fight, from the very beginning when Sullivan struggled with nine pitches before he finally got a single. A good, tough at-bat for the up-and-coming Corey Sullivan. After Helton's first homer of the year, the Rox lead 2-0, and were off to yet another good start in the ballgame, attacking opposing pitchers good and early. Now, we all know the D-Backs staged a comeback in this game off of an awful fifth inning by Cook. But that's not the point. The point is that Cook left with the lead (and got the win, improving to 1-1 on the season), but more importantly, that the Rockies found a way to scratch out another, what turned out to be very important run, in the seventh. After that, what's been the most encouraging part of the early season, the bullpen, did their job well. King and Mesa pitched back-to-back zeroes in the 7th and 8th innings, and then Brian Fuentes came in in the ninth with a two run lead to get his first closing opportunity of the young season. Fuentes was definitely a little rusty coming out of the gate, allowing a homer to Green on the first hitter he faced, and a single after getting a pop-fly for the first out, but again, that's not what matters. Fuentes buckled down, striking out Clark and getting Counsel to fly out to end the game. He didn't blow it, and for a young team like this with a closer who's had little work in the past few days, that's all you can ask. For now, the team should celebrate: They're playing like they got nothing to lose, and nothing to worry about. And the truth is at this point, they don't. If they keep going out there and just playing and having fun, I don't think anyone else is gonna have a lot of fun playing the Rockies. Next up, the Rockies will ask Francis to find his groove and pitch against Batista, who had an excellent outing against the Rox just a few days ago. Expect the confident bats to come out swinging against Batista, who had it easy last time as the Rox pressed for hits. Also expect a more confident, relaxed Francis, knowing he'll have run support if he can just get a few good innings.

If you've got to lose one...

Last night's 6-5 loss to the D-Backs should be, for the Rox, one of those game's that if they had to lose it, they'd like to do it that way. The loss was a good one because the Rockies were in it the whole time, and because even though relief pitching lost it (for the first time this year), the pitching wasn't to blame. Jeff Francis had a fairly good start, but an excellent recovery considering his previous performance against Arizona a week ago. Ray King, the man credited with the loss, threw three excellent pitches in the bottom of the seventh that all should have been outs. On the first, a groundball hit just at super-slow speeds just between Helton and Gonzo, bizzarely perfect placement cost him an out. On the next, a 20-foot roller that King flipped to Ardoin, the normally solid catcher lost the handle on the ball and Byrnes, who took off on contact, touched home safely. It was a tough play for Ardoin, but one he should make. What's worse, is that King did exactly what he needed to do to induce a groundball, and still couldn't stop the run from scoring. The final missed out of the inning was on the only ball that left the infield - a Luis Gonzales (theirs, not ours) line drive that Hawpe mis-judged in right. As the ball sailed over Hawpe's head to the wall, so did the lead the Rox had worked so hard to establish. The bats couldn't get it going against the Diamondbacks closing team, but the boys did not lose a game because of what plagued them last year, middle relief. They lost the game because the D-Backs got incredibly lucky, and the Rockies missed a couple of tough plays. This should be a constructive loss. It should tell the Rox that they have to be able to fight back in the lating innings, but also that it took a hell of a lot of luck for the snakes to pull it out. It should also be encouraging that the Rockies lost the game partially because of something they have complete control over: not pitching, defense. Tonight, Josh Fogg looks for his second straight win as the Rox go for their second road series of the season, an unprecedented number for the Rox this early in the campaign. Fogg clearly can't expect the same double-digit run support he got in San Diego, but after seeing the performances the Rockies have put up in terms of run support in the last few days, he should come out relaxed. Hopefully, we'll get another quality start and seven or more innings to contemplate the man's ridiculous sideburns. They are so ridiculous.

At the ballpark

In the past 3 games that we've missed here on RDR, the Rockies are an amazing 2-1. After winning the rubber match against Arizona (and their 2nd straight road series), the Rox have returned home to Coors Field...which has looked a lot more like Coors Field. The first game against the Phillies, a pretty stacked team, went like this: Zach day got bombed for 5 runs in three innings, and then Sun-Woo Kim's (why not just give him a game somewhere here? He's clearly having trouble out of the pen) 30+ ERA was like doubled when he allowed a Chase Utley grand slam. But the Rockies rallied back in the ninth - until Jason Smith was thrown out at third base trying to go first to third on a short single. Hurdle was furious after the game, and the players were mad at themselves too. How did they respond? Enter the tickets. I went to Coors last night to catch the game, and there is one thing I noticed that I may not have on TV - the players really responded to Hurdle. Their base-running was crisp, cautious, and near perfect. You could see a visible effort not to get thrown out. On to the game, JJ looked quite tense throwing in the first few innings, and I quietly telling him under my breath to relax, calm down and just throw. I'm pretty sure he heard me, because right after that he got two K's to get out of a dangerous jam - and two innings later (albeit after Jennings was pulled for King to finish off the seventh), the Rockies lit up the board with five runs. Lieber, on the other hand, looked darn good until the seventh - even though he allowed four runs, he had good command, and gave up no walks, to a team that generates quite a few. In the seventh however, the story is really the kids. Helton only had one hit in the game - an RBI single in the first inning. Otherwise, it was all Holiday, who het for the better part of the cycle, and had 5 RBIs including a solo shot and a base-clearing triple. Barmes also hit well, going 3-5. He who broke the tie with an RBI single in the seventh. Everyone hit pretty well. Even Danny Ardoin, not a guy noted for breakout speed (or any speed, for that matter) managed a triple on a ball that on most nights, sails out of the park. The combined average of the team's first 6 hitters is now .350. The combined OBP is .405, and the combined slugging percentage is .616. This entire lineup is one that no one wants to face right now, which is very, very good. For one of the first time since the bombers left town, the Rockies now have a lineup that is always in the game. This means that the real key is going to be starting pitching. Our long-innings bullpen men are not the greatest in the league, but our 7, 8, and 9 men are among the best staffs. If our starters can go just six solid innings every game, I think we have a good chance to win a lot of games...including the one tomorrow. Cook (1-1, 4.85) takes the mound against Myers (0-0, 5.40), at 1:05, who clearly hasn't had the best of starts. Whenever Cook can put in a solid game, I'll pick the Rockies any day. If he puts in a third good one today, I'll take them twice - coincidentally on (Easter) Sunday. Speaking of which - happy easter from DSZ. We're all a bunch of jews, but we like candy, and generally feel okay about large furry animals.

Wow...

Cookie made one bad pitch, Myers didn't. That was the difference in today's rubber game between the Rockies and the Phillies. So the Rockies drop to 7-5 on the season, losing their second series on the year. Still, I'm not dissapointed. Cook had an excellent outing, allowing just one run in eight full innings. Myers just had a better one. The hot Rockies bats were silenced by good pitching. The Rockies couldn't cash in on ralles in the seventh or eighth, and that's that. Am I worried about this team? No. I think they got stumped by good pitching, and I think it's something that won't happen often as the season progresses. Given what this team has done so far, I'm not worried that they'll be able to bounce back and pick up the bats against the Padres, who they of course had their storied sweep against a few weeks ago on the road. Another sweep would be very nice, but all that really matters is that they win series against NL West opponents. This may be a defining moment in the young season. They can't let San Diego come in here and be over-confident after what they did to them at Petco, lose 2 out of 3 ballgames, and drop to 8-7 on the season after a second straight series loss. If they come out swinging again, on the other hand, and can grab two victories, they'll be in great position to get a firm hold on the division lead as the Giants come into town on Friday.

Grave and dire predictions

I think the Rockies have two must-win games coming up in the next two against the Padres. I hate making these kinds of statements this early in the season, but this is a major turning point: After losing two games in a row, the Rockies are in a tough spot, sitting at 7-6. If they lose another game to the Padres, at best they'll finish the series with a total record of 8-7, probably putting them a few games behind in the early division race. If, on the other hand, the Rockies can bounce back and win the next two, they'll be 9-6 and in great position to capture a demanding division lead when the Giants come in to Coors Field to end the homestand. The good news is that the next two games against the Pads will be against pitchers the Rox toyed with back at Petco - and Josh Fogg, who has pitched pretty well, will get a chance to go for his third win tonight. The bad news is that those pitchers want more than anything to prove that those embarassing performances were just flukes. Looking at the games the Rockies have played so far after that series, it looks like it was the type of performance we can expect on the road - but maybe not at Coors Field. Why? Are the kids feeling a little hometown pressure? No one really knows the answer - but what we do know is that they should have a ton of confidence against the Padres, given what they did in Petco - and that tonight's game could be the rallying point to producing as well at home as they've done on the road. And they badly need something like that to happen. So look for the Rockies to grab the win tonight. If they don't, we could be in a lot of trouble - and even if they do, they'll have to be able to get the series closer as well as Zarcharias Day, who struggled in his last start, looks to rebound for his second win of the season.

RDR's Month in Review: April

So we here at the DSZ may have dropped the ball late, but we're gonna come back strong. Meanwhile, here's what we had to say about the Rockies in April. The club finished 15-10, their best start since 1997. On Opening Day: "The relievers despite numerous opportunities, did not blow the game like they usually did early on last year..." Reflections: Yeah, I guess those relievers ended up being a pretty good acquisition. On losing game #2: "If the Colorado Rockies can bounce back and win tomorrow’s game, they will go on a tear and win the division. If not, well, we’ll see what happens, but it’ll certainly look far too much like last year." Reflections: Okay, so they didn't bounce back in the next game...but they did in the next, and the next, and the next. So I wasn't too far off... On Winning 2 Straight Against San Diego: "The Rockies are over .500 again, for the second time in the young season. That’s a 50% increase over last season!" Reflections:And they never looked back. On Sweeping the Padres: "The win was as pleasing as those crispy fries." Reflections: Many more pleasing wins were to come. On Major League Baseball's Press Rules: "I’m certainly not arguing that any Joe and Sam (sorry, Sam) should be granted credentials, but there is no reason to just put a blanket ban on all websites." Reflections: Man, this thing has caused a lot of turmoil - and I love it. On Their Explosive Lineup: "The combined average of the team’s first 6 hitters is now .350. The combined OBP is .405, and the combined slugging percentage is .616. This entire lineup is one that no one wants to face right now, which is very, very good. For one of the first time since the bombers left town, the Rockies now have a lineup that is always in the game." Reflections: The team seems to have settled down - but what's amazing is no longer that they're scoring, but that the other team isn't. This last game against the Braves is a bit worrying, but otherwise, when the Rox have carried a tie ballgame or a lead past the 7th inning, they've won all but one ballgame. They've won every extra-innings ballgame. All this lineup has to do is score enough runs to get a lead - and we'll hold it. On the Second Padres Series: "So look for the Rockies to grab the win tonight. If they don’t, we could be in a lot of trouble..." Reflections: They got one of two, but not the rubber match. Still - they went ahead to win the SanFran series 2-1, and then split with the Phils and swept the ~~Phish~~ Fish. Even though they were swept in a short two-game set by Atlanta, their play was pretty damn good in both games, but they had just the second letdown in relief pitching of the season. If the relief wins 15 out of every 17 when we carry the lead into the 7th, it'll still be a fine season. Looking Ahead: May brings the NL Central into the mix, including the red-hot Cincinatti Redstockings. It'll be a real test for the Rox, as it'll be the first time they've had to play a really good team outside of the division all year. Also look for the first set against the Dodgers - hopefully we'll be able to rough them up like every other NL West team. If we can win a majority of those divisional games, the division win doesn't seem to be too far away.

HOLY CRAP: Rockies sweep defending NL Champs

It was a pretty fine weekend for the high-flying Rockies. After winning a lucky one basically on Astros errors on Friday, Jason Jennings was set to pitch on Saturday. Coming off of his worst start of the year, the question was simply: How would he respond? As it turns out, the answer was well. Jennings went the full 9 to turn in his first complete-game shutout of the season, as the Rockies took game two of the series 5-0. Jennings after the game:

"It's not real easy."

Thanks, kid. Meanwhile, the Rockies tore up Wandy Rodriguez, scoring 4 in the first three innings. In the final game of the series, Aaron Cook decided not to be left out from the pitching success. He went into the ninth giving up only two runs. Fuentes gave up a run in the ninth, but got his 7th save on the season, and the Rockies won it 5-3. Lost in all of this was the swing that gave them the Run: With runners on first and third, Todd Helton was up just trying to get a run in with a sacrifice...and his sacrifice attempt sailed 400 feet for his second homer of the season on a 1-0 changeup. Helton on his home run pitch:

"I had no idea what was coming, he just hung a changeup."

So that makes the Rockies 19-13 going into a three-game set with Albert Pujols and the St. Louis Cardinals. The Cards haven't been fantastic this year, but they are 20-12 after winning three in a row against the abysmal Marlins. With a fifth of the season now over, the Rockies are still 6 games over .500, and leading the division by a game. Last time any of this happened: September, 2001. There's a long way to go in the season, but I think the following quotes give a pretty good summary of what's gone right for the Rockies as they enter their first series with the Cardinals this year.

On Offense: "We're finding ways to get things done. It's coming from different spots." - Clint Hurdle

On Starting Pitching: "I saw [Jennings] go out and do what he did last night. [Kim] pitched a great game the first game against Houston. Francis and Fogg [6 1/3 innings, five runs] pitched great this last homestand, too. Everybody just catches it. We've got guys that go out expecting to win, and we don't settle for anything less." - Aaron Cook

John Kruk sucks

As Mark Donohue rightly pointed out, John Kruk has a problem with making intelligent comments. Today on Baseball Tonight, after the "a-team" cracked a number of humidore jokes while covering the Rockies' convincing defeat of the St. Louis Cardinals (more on that in a moment), Kruk had this to say about the humidore, which is about the first time he's dared to talk about the Rockies, well, all season:

It's a joke. The Padres should call Bud Selig and ask him to cork their bats because they can't hit home runs at PetCo.

Clearly, Kruk has never pitched at Coors Field. Nonetheless, the Rox finally did get some Baseball Tonight coverage, including a little post-summary discussion about the humidore, during which Kruk was literally laughed off of his seat after suggesting that the humidore is like the Padres asking to cork their bats. Oh, and Brad "Leather" Hawpe got the #1 web gem with his second-inning sliding grab. Even the national media is starting to realize that they have to pay some attention to this team. Speaking of which, the Rockies officialy become the sixth team to break the 20-win mark tonight, behind only the Reds, Mets, White Sox, Tigers, and yes, the St. Louis Cardinals. How did they get here? The theme lately has been all starting pitching. In the last three games (coincidentally, all Rockies victories), the starters have averaged over 8 innings pitched. Francis had an excellent game tonight, allowing just one run in 7.2 innings. The team ERA is way down near the 4 mark, and the starting staff's ERA: A mere 4.056. This is by far the best pitching this team's ever had, and they're doing it by constantly attacking the strike zone. Francis' biggest knock last year when he started to struggle was that he tried to do way to much. In the last four starts this year, he's located pitches down in the strike zone, and pitched out of a lot of innings because he's keeping the ball on the ground. These guys are learning that they don't need to strike everyone out, especially with as good of a lineup as they have hitting behind them, and a bullpen that's going to successfully close out every single game. So what have the Rockies' starters done successfully? Go back to basic pitching - and it's worked big time against two of the league's top lineups. Next up, the Rockies can capture another road series tomorrow with another win from the Cardinals. But it's not going to be easy. Chris Carpenter and his magical 2.35 ERA takes the mound tomorrow, against Josh Fogg. Fogg is coming off of his worst start of the year after he naively shaved his ridiculous sideburns. It's the opposite of the Mench effect: Josh Fogg trimming down his 'burns was a huge mistake. I think we all knew those were the only thing keeping him afloat as a pretty good pitcher in his first few outings.

Bradlee Van Pelt--2005 Broncos Backup QB

Weh-heh-hel. Looks like this party is getting started, the party being the Broncos’ season and the website. Yeah it’s a party. Based on his playing style, and who are we kidding, also his solid performance in the Broncos’ first preseason game, Bradlee Van Pelt looks to be the no. 2 guy for the Denver Broncos. There are three main candidates for the job: Matt Mauck, BVP, and Danny Kanell. Both Mauck and BVP spent last year on the practice squad, but they are drastically different players. Mauck, the former LSU Tiger that lead his team to a pseudo-national championship, is a pocket passer. He does not have good mobility, and seems content to stand behind the undersized o-line and simply make throws. He probably will throw fewer picks than BVP, but looks like a career Trent Dilfer (if that). The guy will take care of the ball, but won’t wow you with his legs and will need to be surrounded with spectacular players to succeed. BVP is the other former practice squad player and he stands in sharp contrast to Mauck. He’s constantly on the move, gets out of the pocket regularly, and seems Jake Plummer esque in his decision-making ability. Unlike Jake the Snake, however, Van Pelt is just breaking into the league; his mental lapses are typical of rookies. What remains to be seen is if the former CSU Ram can throw accurately with any sort of consistency and if he can cut down on the mistakes. His legs are what really make him an intriguing option. In the first preseason game, Van Pelt ran for 40 yards on a quarterback draw, making a safety miss and speeding down the field. He’s got such good footspeed, Sonny Lubick wanted to turn him into a halfback at CSU. As the Snake said earlier this week, BVP is a faster, bigger, and younger, version of no. 16. The third option is Danny Kanell. He is essentially Matt Mauck, but a few years older. He’s got more savvy than the rookie Mauck, he’s figured out the NFL. Kanell is the safe way out for the backup QB spot–you know what you’ve got. It’s not spectacular, but he’s not going to throw six interceptions, he’s not going to fumble snaps, and he’ll take a sack if he has to. So, what’s the right move? Van Pelt ought to stay at no. 2. The Broncos run an offense that depends on a mobile quarterback, and neither Kanell nor Mauck has the ability to gain yards on a rollout if the recievers are covered. No matter how much Plummer gets bashed, it’s undisputed that if he goes down, the Broncos are in serious trouble. That’s true in almost every situation around the league with the exception of Pittsburgh and maybe Minnesota. So you’ve got the choice of throwing Danny Kanell out on the field and running a very conservative, punt all the time/hope to God the running game is spectacular offense, or you can put Van Pelt in the game and hope to catch lightning in a bottle. Van Pelt has the ability to change the game with his legs, and if you’re almost certainly going to lose anyway when the starting Q is out, why not give Mike Vick lite a shot? If the defense keeps the game close, the Broncos will just run the ball, which takes care of the interception problem, and if the Broncos are down big, do you want Kanell throwing six yard slants or do you want BVP scrambling for 5-20 yards.

Like Nailing Jello to Jello This "Winning" Thing Is.

As the national media has taken to saying repeatedly, the Denver Broncos were the only team in the top of the league in all major team yardage categories. Statistically, these guys are great. They left out one stat: turnovers. In the 2004 season, the Broncos' turnover margin ranked them 24th in league, amongst perennial powerhouses such as San Fransisco, Miami, Oakland, Dallas, and Chicago. Without turnovers, teams don't win. In 2003, the San Diego Chargers were ranked 28th in the league in turnover margin. Their record: 4-12. The next year, along with an out-of-nowhere tight end superstar and an out-of-horrible-first-round-failure-status quarterback, a third-ranked turnover differential lead them to a 12-4 record and an AFC West division title. Here's the beauty of it: the Broncos made the playoffs last year, so a dramatic change in rank isn't really necessary for a return to legitimate contention. A turnover differential rank of 10th-15th could spell a birth in the AFC championship game for the Broncs, and maybe even a trip to the Super Bowl. What's wrong with the red zone offense? Too many turnovers and too many field goals. Jake Plummer's ill-advised fade audible lead to a drastically different playoff scenario for the Broncos; imagine if the Broncos had played any team except the Indianapolis Colts. If the Broncos cut down on their habit of extremely untimely turnovers and start making other teams commit them, they'll be in business. The offensive aspect of the turnover game is all on Jake's overly giddy shoulders, for better or worse. Probably worse. The point is, if the ASU alumus can reduce his pick total substantially (3-7), the Broncos will have a much better playoff situation, and will most definitely fare better in those postseason bouts. If the Broncs want to win the Super Bowl, they've got to cause and avoid turnovers on the defensive and offensive sides of the ball respectively. The Broncos' ineptitude at causing turnovers is almost as damaging as their tendency to commit them on offense, in case you didn't realize it. The defense that was fourth in the NFL in yards allowed per game was also 28th in the league in turnovers caused. They had 20 defensive takeaways in all of 2004. By contrast, even the lowly Cardinals had 30 turnovers. Remember the old adage? "If the Cardinals can do it, so can you. Yes you. Roc Alexander, even you." So how do you cause turnovers? The main way to do it, because most starting RBs know how to hold onto the rock, is interceptions. What are the two components of interceptions? Solid secondary play and an excelent pass rush. Lenny Walls? Solid. Champ Bailey? Solid. Lynch? Slow, but solid nonetheless. Nick Ferguson? Well, yeah, question mark. The secondary isn't the problem, folks, it's the pass rush. As has been said repeatedly by myself and others with much more shiny credentials and actual salaries, the season rests upon Courtney Brown and Gerard Warren. If these guys can come through for the Broncos, they will be in the AFC championship game. With pressure on the QB and the top corner in the league in coverage (not to mention some of the best FS instincts in the league), the Broncos will most definitely cause more turnovers than the Cardinals. If they do that, they will succeed. So here is my non-unconditional guarantee: If Jake the Snake throws less than 15 interceptions and these D-linemen work out, the Broncos will be in the AFC championship game. I don't see them beating the Ravens, but the Broncos will be in the AFC championship game.

News-0-tron

Marques Anderson, formerly of the Raiders, is now a Bronco contending for the second safety spot. This move is part of a Bronco pattern in the pre-2005 offseason, that is, adding depth in the form of other teams' cast-offs. The Cleveland D-line, Jerry Rice, and now Marques Anderson. The thing is, it's smart. The former third round pick registered sixteen tackles against the Broncos last year in the 31-3 pants kicking Denver delivered to the Raiders and has Roy Williams-lite type of hitting ability. He has shown that he's overeager and suceptible to pump fakes and play action in the past, though. The addition of depth to this Broncos team can do nothing but help. He looks to battle Nick Ferguson and Sam Brandon for the second safety spot, and if he refines his play reading abilities he'll win the job. The only forseeable problem with the secondary is that the safeties, no matter who wins the second spot, will be run stoppers. John Lynch is getting slower every year, and all of the other guys are hard-hitting run stuffers by nature (not that Lynch isn't, he just was a more complete player as a Buc), so it's reasonable to expect a lot of downfield shots against Lenny Walls. As usual, it all comes back to pass rush--if the Broncos can get pressure on the quarterback quickly, then the safeties' speed won't be exploited. When you boil it down, though, the Broncos got something close to a staring safety for nothing.

Jacksonville and reflections

The Broncos won on the second of October for four basic reasons: 1. The Broncos controlled the run. -12 total rushing yards--it's just that simple. The Broncos defensive line controlled the line of scrimmage, while the speedy linebacking corps swarmed to the ballcarrier and tackled consistently and brilliantly. Gold impressed everyone with his speed and lateral agility on Sunday. 2. The Broncos established the run. -with two very special backs on the field throughout the game, the Broncs racked up almost 200 yards. Anderson's tough running style was put on display, but he showed bursts of speed that make him look like he's fresh out of college. Remember folks, he may be in his 30s, but he started at 27. Tatum Bell is looking like a very good change of pace back at this stage in his career, and his ridiculous burst was put on display on Sunday. I think this guy will be an impact Bronco by the end of the season (if you don't consider him one now). With all of the injuries that rbs sustain, it's not out of the question that he'll get 3-5 starts. 3. Jake didn't throw a pick. Along similar lines, he had a sweet completion percentage and two TDs to the best catching o-lineman in the history of football. When Jake isn't forced to win the game for the team, the Broncos offense isn't half bad. One could even call it methodical and effective. 4. The defense got turnovers. The defensive line's pressure combined with heads up play by the secondary resulted in two picks. Basically, when you rush the QB, turnovers will happen, and as we all saw, the two picks broke the back of the Jags, as did the fumble.

What is it with those former Broncos players being right?

A few weeks ago, I watched everyone but Shannon on CBS' morning NFL program give the chiefs the nod. "The Broncos have started like this before," "The Charges game was a fluke - they didn't run the ball". The next weekend at Jacksonville, I heard everyone but Tom Jackson on ESPN's NFL show tell me that the Broncos had to prove themselves, and the win over KC with a bad defense meant nothing. Skip a week to New England, Shannon was again the only CBSer to pick the Broncos. And they won all of those games. Now the pundits are picking the Broncos to win over the Giants, finally. And here's three reasons why I think they're right: 1. Gameplan. For the first time since the end of the Elway era, I think we're actually seeing really good gameplans from the coach. I remember last year when we couldn't see any difference from one week to next, but this isn't the case. Mike Shannahan is right now one of the best coaches in the league in planning to beat another team, and it's paying off nicely. Even though at the end of the New England game he got too conservative, Shannahan set up the first two deep passes of the year, by running down the gut, and then giving Jake a bootleg to throw long on, which lead to 14 points. He took advantage of a damaged Patriot secondary by exploiting it over the top, but doing it in the best way Jake Plummer can. 2. Tatum Bell. The guy is speedy, shifty, and knows how to run. Sure, you still use Big Mike for 3rd and 2 situations, but since the return of Tatum Bell to featured back status, he's had 2 100-yard games, and is much more of a scoring threat than Anderson, which helps even more to set up the bootleg. We noticed at San Diego that the Broncos had trouble setting up the bootleg, but with Bell getting the fakes, I think we'll find it all too easy. 3. The D-Line. Okay, this is obvious, but what I want to talk about is how these acquisitions relate to Coach/GM Mike Shannahan. SInce Elway left, basically, Mike Shannahan has been criticized and slapped around for his unability to be both the GM and the coach. Nobody thought he would ever pull a Terrel Davis again, especially after letting Shannon Sharpe go, and having year after year of draft pick busts. Now, after the D-Line moves and the drafting of Darrent Williams (law troubles aside) and Damian Foxworth, everyone's back on the Mike-as-GM bandwagon. But for now it seems, Shannahan has "manned up", as my cohort Sam would say, to the criticism, and made a bunch of stellar moves, importing the defensive line from Cleveland only one of them. We're now getting outrageously good pressure on every QB we face, which as we saw against New England is causing bad passes and incompletions. Not to mention we've been able to shut down good running games. 12 yards for Fred Taylor? Unbelievable. To finish this post, I'd like to give a shoutout to my cousins in Boston, who facetiously suggested after the loss at Miami that we rename the blog from "The Orange County" to "Broncos Disaster Report" (see Rockies Disaster Report). Well guys, I'm afraid that's not going to apply here right now, but if you're starting a Patriots blog in the next few weeks, I've got a couple of suggestions.

The game was in their hands

They just had to put it away against the Giants. They just had to put it away. But for the third week in a row, Mike Shannahan's play calling was too lax once the Broncos got the lead. They needed to go out and keep scoring, instead of trying to defend the lead with half a quarter left against a very potent offense. Once again, all they needed to seal the deal was more score, and once again, they couldn't get it done. Yes, Jason Elam missed a field goal that would've secured the game, but it was from 49 yards out with the wind against him. Even though he got the distance, I agree with Jim Nantz. The ball may have been so well kicked that the wind actually hooked it right at the last moment. But that's not the point. The point is, when you get an interception with 5 minutes left, you ought to do something - and instead, the Broncos are super-conservative, and get knowhere, forcing a punt that lead to the game-winning, last-second drive by the Giants. And on the drive that set up the missed field goal, the Broncos had a first down, but it was called back. Here's the thing: The Broncos are going out and squarely beating opponents until the fourth. But so far, the coaching staff hasn't let the offense move late in the game, and this time, it cost them. Now, I said that if the Broncos could win one of these next two games, they'd be in great shape heading into the break. But now, they absolutely must win against an Eagles team with a knack for.....pulling out games in the fourth quarter, as we saw this week in their win against the Chargers. So if anyone is reading this, here's the deal: If the Broncos go out, secure a lead, and then putz around for the second half of the game, they will loose. T.O., McNabb & Co. are too dangerous. If the Broncos go out and never stop trying to score, they'll win. It's as simple as that.

If you call this hand it's all over baby

I said a few weeks ago that if the Broncos could take one out of these next two toughies, they would be in good shape going into the bye. Well, they couldn't get it done against the Giants, and if you don't know why they didn't get it done, scroll down one post. The point is, they have got to come out victorious today against the Eagles, who pulled off a win against San Diego last week that looked remarkably like what the Giants did to the Broncos. So the tables are set. What are the Broncos keys to the game? I'm glad you asked, I'll give'em to you: 1. In your face. The Broncos line has been great at generating pressure on opposing quarterbacks...until the Broncos are ahead and the other team needs to have a lot of time to throw the ball downfield. Then the line gives the other quarterback plenty of time. The key to today's game, especially given the arm and mobility of Donovan McNabb, even if he's not the 100% McNabb, is to get pressure on him early, and keep it up for 60 minutes. I'm not worried about McNabb running that much with all of his injury troubles, but I am worried about giving a great arm too much time. If we can minimize his looks, we'll minimize his effectiveness. 2. Penalties. Last week, the Broncos were driving with 3 minutes left. They were at about the 50 on a third and four, and Mike Anderson galloped for about 15 yards down the right side to get us near field goal range, keep the clock running, and get the first down. The problem is, on that play George Foster, who was nowhere near the ball, got called for a 10-yard holding penalty, giving the Broncos a 25-yard (that's 1/4 of the field, folks) reversal and giving them 3rd and 20 from about their own 40. This happened again and again for the Broncos last week, and this week, it simply can't. If we stay clear of the yellow flags, we'll be much more productive. 3. Don't sit back. In the last 3 wins, the Broncos have let the other team make it close at the end. How have they done this, you ask? By sitting back, stopping all attempts to gain yards on offense, and giving the defense no time to rest. I believe that Shannahan has been thoroughly out-coached in all times when the Broncos have had the lead. He's called short-yardage running plays, and let the offense sit back into a stupor and go nowhere. This week, we need to keep shoving it down their throats, no matter how far we're ahead. Do NOT let the best receiver in the league score a few points late and make it closer than it has to be. Let him score a few points and have no hope because the Broncos are so far ahead. Well, that's all for this game preview, and here's to a Broncos win.

I was there!

I attended this game with co-owner Sam, and let me tell you, I am still recovering from the cold walking back from Invesco through the rain, waiting for a train to pass the sportswalk, and then finally getting to the car. It was not fun. But the game was. There are only a few things that I wanted to point out, because overall it was just good football. The first is I told you so. I was damn scared in the 3rd when the Eagles were within 1 touchdown of tying the game at 28 a piece. Shanahan had been sitting back, letting the offense fizzle, until we finally got out of it with a couple of nice runs and a Tod Devoe touchdown. Sound familiar? I thought so. But on that very drive, the Broncos made me look really smart when they took a holding penalty after a 3rd-down run by Anderson that gained about 10 yards. I also looked good when we stopped getting to McNabb until we finally sacked him twice in a row to force a punt. But, the Broncos did not lose the game. When they had to, the defense stepped up and got two sacks. The offensive drove and put the game away. And what I really liked, was when Shanahan just went for the TD with only a minute left, even though the Broncos were way ahead. I hope that this is a sign that he has got it into his head not to sit back and try to hold a lead.

Corners Corners Corners

When the Broncos drafted three cornerbacks in the glimpse of the NFL we all pine for in spring, I was a little bit peeved. Why spend all of our picks on the position that has been legislated against repeatedly over the past two years? Why not draft Vincent Jackson so that we can complete passes? Rhetorical questions aside, the point is, I was skeptical. Boy was I wrong. Let's go over the speedy acquisitions.... Darrent Williams: I thought that this guy was too small. All you have to do is look at decent sized corners play against big recievers to see that size is a huge factor. A cornerback that stands at a generous 5'8" is an invitation for big plays, or so we thought. Up to this point though, Williams has proven that he makes up for his short stature with ridiculous speed and zeal. This guy likes to tackle, something that never really was in fashion in cornerback play. Deion Sanders didn't tackle, but he was the best cover corner in the game for an entire decade. Darrent williams is making plays against the run and isn't afraid to throw his body around. I'd also like to mention that he's performing well on the blitz, another unexpected advantage. With his speed, he can get to the quarterback before he can get the ball out, or at least disrupt the QB's throwing motion or judgement. While Darrent WIlliams isn't the next Dante Hall, judging by his performance so far, it is safe to say that Darrent Williams returning kicks and punts delivers more excitement than Rueben Droughns. Thank god Rod Smith isn't still returning punts. God was that embarrasing. I give this guy an A, and officially appologize to the Broncos for my hostility towards this pick. Domonique Foxworth: Obviously, his interception against the Eagles was impressive. That's the biggest play I've seen the Broncos make this year aside from Ian Gold's deflection of Mark Brunell's two point conversion pass attempt. He also had that gift interception against Jacksonville, but give him credit for being in the right place at the right time. More impressive in that game was his fumble recovery, and any time you can be a major player in two turnovers on defense, you know you're good. He hasn't been as noticeable as Darrent Williams for some reason, but he has 34 tackles through eight games--not a bad total. I like that this guy graduated high school early with a very good GPA and in general is extremely cerebral. I give him an A as well. Karl Paymah: The jury is still out on this one, because he hasn't much action with the logjam at CB. The only impression I have of this guy is that he had a BS holding call against him in the Redskins game, and he delivered a spear that made me cringe right afterwards that lead to another free first down. I have no choice but to give him a D, but really, there's insufficient game data to get a serious conclusion. I'm still mad we don't have vincent jackson, but hey, at least we can cover him.

Mike Shanahan Should Wear Glasses

Mike Shanahan should probably be wearing glasses. The kind with big black rims and two inch thick lenses. He is smarter than we all thought. In the game against the Raiders, all of the offseason moves for the Broncos payed off--big time. The first was from a couple of seasons back. Champ Bailey and (essentially) Tatum Bell for Clinton Portis. Champ has caught a lot of grief for getting manhandled by big recievers, but during the game, he had a big pick and played excelent coverage. Every pass completed was in front of him, not behind him--he never got burned. The second was from the offseason, when via any number of trades and free agent acquisitions, the Broncos came to have the entire Cleveland Browns line. These players, along with Trevor Pryce, amassed four sacks in the game. More important than the sacks, though, was the constant pressure they applied to Kerry Collins. Collins, a guy who absolutely despises pressure in his face, lost his composure and security in the pocket because of the vicious four-man rush that the Broncos had As has been mentioned in innumerable posts, a good pass rush leads to hurried throws, and hurried throws mean more interceptions. Granted the Bailey pick was just a horribly thrown ball, and the Ferguson pick was pretty much the same thing, but the Darrent Williams interception was born out of a hasty decision by the Q. It was absolutely fantastic to so the Broncos defense making plays on the field, and the impetus for the game-breaking plays was a pass rush. Finally, the draft. In my last post, I talked about how I really like Darrent Williams and Domonique Foxworth. Well, Williams came up with a gigantic punt return all the way into field goal territory, and then later in the game, jumped a route and took an INT all the way to the house. He had a spectacular game, and gets my vote for the Broncos player of the week. Foxworth was beaten in the end zone by Randy Moss, but he got a hand on the ball and it was really only the ridiculous catch that Moss made that made it a pick. We're talking about the best reciever since Jerry Rice (in my humble opinion) in Randy Moss, so it was only a matter of time. So get that man some spectacles.

Word.

There are those wins which are close and nail-biting. There are wins which are unsure until a team puts it away. There are wins where both teams play well, and one just gets lucky. There are wins where one team is clearly behind, but is very close to being right in the game. And then there's what the Broncos did to the Jets on Sunday. It was as close to a true sholacking that you'll ever see in the NFL. It was one really good team beating up on a really bad team. The 27-0 score reflects this. I laughed when I remembered that the wonderful CBS analysts called it a trap game for the Broncos. But let's look at what really counts: The thing that clinched this game for the Broncos was the first two offensive drives for the Broncos. After holding the Jets to three and out, the Broncos offense took off down the field - in slow motion. It looked like one of the great superbowl teams of the Elway era marching gracefully down the field - you just weren't going to stop them. And more than that, the Elway offenses kept the defense off the field and let them rest for long periods of time. I'd call the two drives the Broncos had spanning 19 minutes exactly that. Now let's not get too far ahead of ourselves - this Jets defense was a bad shell of a very injured defense. However, the complete domination on all points of the Denver offense is not something that you get in ANY game from an offense that isn't confident and very well established. And the Denver offense is that. I believe that they can (and for the most part, have) play like that against any defense in the league. And if they do that, they can beat anyone. Of course, the defense also had a say in the shutout. The biggest impact on that side of the ball was time of posession. Obviously, the Jets didn't score any points, and that usually means the offense isn't holding the ball very long. The defense did an excellent job getting a combination of Bollinger and Testaverde off the field, holding them to only 17:32 in total posession time - less than the time the Broncos had the ball for their first two drives. Two interceptions by Lynch and Bailey helped with this immensely, which was another key to defensive play. The defense has been fantastic thus far this year, holding normally very good quarterbacks to terrible stats. This is largely because of the pass-rush Denver built in the off-season, as Sam noted below, making Shannahan look like a god of acquisitions so far. It's so funny hearing local commentators praise Shannahan's moves after hearing years and years of them questioning his abilities as both a GM and a Coach...that's right Sandy, I'm talking about you. But I got off track. Overall, the Broncos improve to 8-2 on the season, and with San Diego and Kansas City posting wins on Sunday, they stay two ahead in the so far hotly-contested division. The Broncos, with games coming up against Dallas and Kansas City on the road, have an excellent chance to secure the division. I believe Dallas on thanksgiving should be a winable game - but Kansas City is always tough. If we can silence the critics in KC like we did earlier in the season on Monday night, I think we're well on our way to winning the division for the first time since Elway left. Notes The only real bad thing to come from the game was Tatum Bell, who had to leave early with a chest injury. We're due to find out more about this tomorrow, so stay tuned. Jason Elam, who was rumored to have been injured in practice, seemed to kick fine. He had two field goals for the Broncos on Sunday.

Put it away, now.

In the NFL, road games in general are tough. Crowd noise, weather, hostile environments, etc. make for a daunting challenge to any visiting team, any given week (just ask the Bucs about their trip to San Fran). That being said, some locales tougher than others, and chief among these death traps is Arrowhead Stadium., home of KC Chiefs. If your offense can't use silent snap counts in Arrowhead, you're dead, because when those red Chiefs fans get riled (basically on every play), ain't no one hearing nothing. Not to mention that the Chiefs have won 15 straight at home in the month of December, and considering that the Broncos are 1-12 in their last 13 December trips to Kansas City, history gave the Broncos daunting odds for victory in last week's game at Arrowhead. Factor in the fact that the Chiefs playoff hopes were riding on that game, and all the hype and energy both Chief players and fans were pouring into that game, and the Broncos had themselves one monster of a challenge. The Broncos had a chance to establish themselves as the premier team in the NFL behind Indy, but in games like these, previous stats and performance really don't mean anything, and they sure didn't in the Broncos' loss. Offense dominated the game, and both units seemingly moved up and down the field at will, with each team only punting twice. Yardage was ridiculous, the Broncos gaining 388 yards and the Chiefs 421. Once the dust, or rather, frost, had settled, the Broncos found themselves on the wrong end of a 31-27 shootout. Here’s why they lost: 1. They could not contain Larry Johnson. 140 yards and two TDs allowed by what was the league’s best rush defense was the decider. Chalk that one up to Johnson, the NFL’s hottest back, and to the hyped home crowd. 2. The Bronc’s secondary had huge lapses. I mean huge. While L. J. was running wild, the Broncos’ secondary just couldn’t get it done again T. Gonzales and E. Kennison, allowing the Chiefs to rack up quick points on big plays. On at least four occasions, Chief receivers were completely uncovered, resulting in two touchdowns. Blame it on the Chiefs shifty offensive formations, or whatever, but the Broncos secondary was just flat confused. If it comes down to a match-up with the Colts in January, the Broncos better figure what happened, or Peyton will destroy them. I can see him salivating over that game tape, already. 3. What happened to the Broncos pressure?? When the Broncs embarrassed the Chiefs in week 3, it was because they were able to consistently hurry T. Green, and force him into making shoddy throws. But this time, Gerard, Trevor, Courtney and the boys on the D-line just weren’t able to get much penetration, and the Chiefs were able to consistently pick up both Williams on the corner blitz and Lynch on the safety blitz. Chalk this one to the return of KC’s all-pro lineman W. Roaf, but the Broncos’ line wasn’t able to get much pressure in the Dallas game, either. Here’s hoping this isn’t a trend, and they can get it back to early season form, consistently pressuring opposing QBs. Again, if the Broncos are to beat the Colts, this has to get better. 4. Finally, Jake made, well, mistakes. Especially the one in the Chiefs end-zone in the first quarter, that was huge. Now don’t get me wrong, Plummer has had a fantastic season and I’m no where near getting off the “No Mistake Jake” bandwagon, but maybe the Chiefs game was a reality check: The interceptions came when the Broncos running game was bogged down, forcing the Broncos to rely on Jake to make big plays. And as all Broncos fans know, when that happens, mistakes/interceptions follow. As we were reminded, that tendency in Jake hasn’t gone away. This game was huge for the Chiefs, but pretty big for the Broncos too. Instead of basically locking away the AFC West, they hold a scant one-game lead over San Diego and KC, both of whom are playing their best ball of the season and riding long winning streaks. Had the Broncos won, they would've put themselves in the driver seat for the #2 seed in the AFC and a first-round bye and home field advantage. Now, things get more interesting. At 9-3, the Broncos hold the tiebreaker for #2 over the 9-3 Bengals on the basis of a better conference record. However, of the Bengals remaining four games, (Cleveland, at Detroit, Buffalo, at KC), three are against teams ranked in the bottom 10 in ESPN's power rankings, meaning that if they can beat the Chiefs, they're probably winning out. While having a mostly easy remaining schedule themselves (Baltimore, at Buffalo, Oakland, at San Diego), the Broncos' trip to San Diego will be tough, and they likely can't afford another loss if they hope to keep that #2. So the Broncos need to get down to business this week, win a game they're supposed to win against a bad Ravens' team, and put away not only the AFC West, but that #2 seed. If the Broncos are to put themselves in great position to make a playoff run and beat the Colts, these next for games are huge. The next three are must-wins. Now is the time.

Ravens game scouting report

Trends: The Broncos lost a heartbreaker at KC last week, 31-27, while the Ravens were soundly defeated at Cincinnati, 42-29. Other than losing two tough road games (at NYG and KC), the Boncs have been rolling, especially at home. A one-point win over sugar-puff Houston and a three-point OT victory against a sliding Steelers club are the lone bright spots on the Ravens last seven games. Advantage: Broncos. Decider stat: The Broncos are a perfect 6-0 at home, and the Ravens are an opposite 0-6 on the road. Enough said. Advantage: Broncos. Infirmary Status: Baltimore will have a slew of important players in sweats this week, most notably linebacker R. Lewis, out for the season with bum hamstring. Losing the best defensive player in the NFL is a heavy blow. Ravens Questionable: corner C. McAlister, offensive tackle J. Ogden, defensive end A. Weaver. The Broncos are in good shape. With Tatum fully recovered, the Broncos now have all three backs at full strength. C. Bailey continues to stay healthy. Broncos questionable: defensive end C. Brown and linebacker K. Burns. Advantage: Broncos. Potential tar-pit: The Broncos have been embarrassed in their last four meetings with Baltimore, losing by an average margin of 17. Remember, both times this season the Broncos have gone into situations where traditionally do poorly (at Arrowhead, at Miami), they came out with losses. The Broncos are a much better team, but they need to get this monkey off their back. What to look for: The Broncos need to get better on third down, especially on third and long situations. At times, Jake has been able to scramble and complete some gritty first-down passes to the likes of J. Putzier, but more often than not, Denver has found itself stuffed in these situations. Currently, the Broncos convert on third down 33% of the time, 29th in the NFL, a far cry for a team touting the NFL’s sixth best offense (363 yards/game). The five teams ranked ahead of the Broncs in offensive yardage have a third-down success rate of 43%. The Boncos need to get better. See if the D-line can to get back to pressuring opposing QBs. They’ve been a little lax these last couple of games. And what happened to Ashley Lelie?? Remember him, the guy with a break-out 1084 yards, 7 Tds, and league leading 20.1 yards per catch? So far this season, he has netted a total of 559 yards and one lousy touchdown, with no 100-yard receiving games. C’mon Ashley, you had a great training camp, live up to expectations already. In 2004, it seemed like Lelie was good for one huge deep-catch a game. We haven’t seen that from him much at all this year (I remember him having one deep completion in the Patriot’s game, and not much else). See if Lelie can’t finally rack up some big yardage, especially if the Ravens stack the line against the run. Overview: This should be an easy win for the Broncos. Being undefeated at Mile High, Denver should be motivated to bounce back and play solid ball, and smoke the -14 spread in the process. Full steam ahead to 10-3.

Kyle Boller Broncos defeat Ravens

It wasn't one of those pretty games, but we still won. We still won. Just keep telling yourself that, and it'll all look better. The Broncos did not start well. B.J. Sams of the Ravens returned the opening kickoff 87 yards to setup a first and goal, but the Ravens are the Ravens. After three plays, they were minus one yard, and forced to kick a fieldgoal. Minutes later, the Broncos answered with one of their own from Elam. The game stayed that way for a while. A long while, during which the only thing that happened was a trip inside Denver territory for the Ravens, where Kyle Boller promptly pulled a Kyle Boller, and threw the ball away to Nick Fergeuson in the end zone after Boller slipped in the backfield, got up, ran, and threw off of his back foot. The interception turned into a late second-half field goal for the Broncos, making the halftime score a stunning 6-3. Sound familiar, Broncos fans? Kyle "Plummer" Boller threw two interceptions on the day and fumbled the ball while scrambling. No-mistake Jake, on the other hand...didn't make a mistake.

Ravens coach Bill Billick gives quarterback Kyle Boller one hell of a nasty look after throwing a pick off of his back foot late in the second quarter. The interception turned into a Denver field goal to end the half. (AP Photo/Bill Ross)

That look would give me shivers if it were directed at me - or Jake Plummer from Mike Shannahan. Fortunately, neither is the case. Continuing with the summary, at 6:16 in the third quarter, on the Broncos' only real drive of the game, Jake Plummer hooked up with fullback Kyle Johnson for one of only two touchdowns in the game on what was admitedly a rather bad decision by Jake. Nonetheless, it counted, and though Elam missed the PAT for the third time in his 13-year career with a doink off of the right upright, it wouldn't matter. The Broncos were playing too bad a team.

Wide receiver Rod Smith and running back Tatum Bell celebrate with fullback Kyle Johnson after Johnson's 7-yard TD pass. Though it was the only touchdown in the game for the Broncos, it was enough to beat the suffering Ravens. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

At this point, with the Broncos up 12-3, the Ravens got the weird idea in their head that they could drive down field. Inside the ten, Boller decided to throw a floater to the "Sure-Handed" Todd Heep (Steve Burlein, a member of CBS' game coverage D-Team let us know he was sure-handed about thirty times) that instead ended up in the arms of Champ Bailey. The ensuing posession for the Broncos led to nothing. With the game all but wrapped-up, the Ravens again decided to make it interesting. Driving down the field, Boller suddenly realized that you're trying to throw it to your guy for the touchdown, not the other teams'. He hooked up with the Ravens' only impact player for the day, receiver Mark Clayton, for a 39-yard score.

The Ravens' Mark Clayton stretches out for their only touchdown on the day. Clayton was by far the best player for Baltimore, gaining 105 yards and one touchdown on seven receptions. Though the Ravens did make the extra point, it was not enough to take out the Broncos. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

And this was pretty much it for the game. The Broncos were able to run out the remaining clock on an end-around from Ashley Lelie after Billick decided to kick the ball away after faking the onside kick. The story on the game was plain and simple that the Ravens beat themselves, or more correctly, that Kyle Boller beat himself. The young quarterback threw two weak interceptions and lost a fumble, all while trying to do too much. It was as if him and Jake had switched places. Meanwhile, Mr. "No-Mistake" continued his exceptionally perfect play, recording no interceptions, but one touchdown and 236 yards. Jake was 19/33 on another good day for his stats, if not for the Broncos as a whole. The weak performance for the Broncos did not make anyone in Denver very comfortable, but the good news is that they got past a trap game against an underrated opponent with a win. The Broncos now advance to 10-3 on the season, and after losses from both San Diego (21-23 against Miami) and Kansas City (28-31 in a bizarre finish against Dallas), one more win in the division (they have two games coming up against Oakland and San Diego) will pretty much lock up the division. Two more wins on the season, and the division, as well as one home game (and most likely a first-round bye) is locked up. The Broncos have what should be an easy one next week at Buffalo, and a second all-but-gauranteed lock at home against Oakland the following week. If they can win those two, they win the division, and get a home game. Realistically, I think they can win out (the final game is in San Diego, who despite playing well, should not be as tough as Kansas City was at Arrowhead) if they play well. That would make an excellent season, and gaurantee us a bye into the second round. And if that happens, we have to like our chances against anyone to move into the championship game and face the so-far lossless Colts. What a monster week for the Broncos.

Bills Game Scouting Report

What do J.P. Losman and Hurricane Katrina have in common? Both were in New Orleans, neither were very productive for those close to them, and neither will be on the field for the Broncos-Bills match-up on Saturday night. Just when the Bills season really couldn’t get any worse, it got better when J.P. got hurt. Seriously, when was the last time a team benefited from losing their starting QB? Put it this way: this season, venerable K. Holcomb, who will be starting Saturday in Losman’s stead, has a completion percentage 18.1 points higher (67.7 compared to 49.6), and a passer rating a meager (by meager I mean huge) 34.3 points higher (91.2 v.s. 64.9) than the second-year Tulane rookie. And this Losman joke was starting? Yeah, J.P. was “unintentionally injured” during last week’s game against the Patriots. The real story: Bills coach Mike Mularkey hired a hit man to “take care of Losman,” just to give the Bills a chance to somehow finish the season with a record better than 4-12. In this he may have succeeded, the Bills are a better team with Holcomb at the helm. But as for the Game: Self-explanatory stat: The Bills are the second-worst team in the NFL against the run, giving up 141 yards/game. The Broncos are second-best in the NFL running it, rushing for 157 yard/game. Whheeee. Injuries worth mentioning: As mentioned, for the Bills, Quarterback J.P. Losman will not play. The Broncos may be living by the timeless cliché “take it one game at a time,” but you know Mike Shanahan (and every Bronco fan west of Speer) is having nightmares about facing the Colts in January. Hence, corner D. Williams is being held out of this game, and most likely will be held out for the rest of the regular season. If a playoff match-up with Indianapolis ever happens, the Denver is going to need D-Train at full speed. Sink-hole: As always, a road game in the NFL is no sure thing. Also, the Buffalo forecast for Saturday night is snow, wind, cold, basically an average night in Buffalo, but it could make the game a tad more interesting for the Broncos. Overview: Yet another game the Broncos have no excuse to lose. Win and Denver can lock away the AFC West and keep their spot as the #2 seed in the AFC. E. Moulds will be back for Buffalo, and W. McGahee will likely play, and as mentioned, the Bill’s best quarterback (HOLCOME!!!!) will be on the field. But it won’t matter; if the Broncos keep it simple and keep pounding the Bills in face with Anderson and Bell, they will come away with a W.

Oakland as expected

Well, it was a trouncing at Oakland. I mean, good healthy team hits really bad, injured team. 22-3. I don't think there is much explaining to do about this one, but I will say a few things: -I'm happy that they stuck with the run. It seemed like the running game wasn't going anywhere - but at the end of the game, both Anderson and Bell averaged 4+ yards/carry, and we had over 150 yards. Shannahan has really been good about not abandoning the run like he did early in games last year, and it's paying off. As everyone knows, when the run's setup, Jake Plummer can do his famous roll-outs and do real damage. Look for Shannahan to continue sticking to the run in the playoffs. -I'm not happy with the time Kerry Collins had in the pocket to throw. He was making 7-yard outs all day long, and though we had a few blitzes that worked out, reverse a few dropped passes down the field to wide-open receivers, and this could have been an entirely different game. Ultimately, we're going to have to beat the Colts to go to the Superbowl, and don't look for any of their receivers to drop the ball down the field. -One other note is that the offense, though they didn't need to points, did stall a few times in the Red Zone yesterday. And that can't happen against good teams in the playoffs. Although, they did do a good job taking tons of time off the clock in the end of the game. So that's it for the game. Now let's look at the playoff picture. With the Bengals loss to Bufallo, the Broncos wrap up the 2nd seed, a bye, and a home game in the second round of he playoffs. This is really good, because the Broncos have dominated at 8-0 at home this year, and you have to like their chances at home against anyone in the playoff picture. Not to mention the fact that they don't have to play the first game of the playoffs against the Colts at home. But let's look at the teams that the Broncos could play in that second round, assuming that the billion things the Chiefs need to get into the playoffs doesn't happen. New England They got off to a bad start, and all 5 losses came fairly early in the season. With a healthy offensive line, New England is much more of a threat than when the Broncos faced them early in the season. However, the Broncos have always matched up well against the Patriots. Corey Dillon, though a very good back, runs behind a big, but slow O-line. Look for the speed of the Broncos defense to prevent any big runs by Dillon. Meanwhile, Brady is a pure pocket passer. The key here is to limit the run, and fluster Brady. On defense, the Patriots don't have a brilliant run stop, and we should be able to run against them, especially if we stick with the run and wear them down like we did earlier in the season. I look at this as two good, fairly even offenses going against two good defenses. But I think Denver has the advantage with three great corners and big John Lynch in the secondary, plus the front four which should be able to generate pressure that will have much more of an effect on Brady than any pressure by the Patriots will on Plummer. Pittsburgh Now with a healthy Ben Roethlisberger, the Steelers seem to have recovered from their late-season skid. The breakdown goes like this: A great run defense vs. Denver's great running game, but an offense that lies mainly on the shoulders of a pocket-passer should be stopped fairly easily with consistent pressure from the ~~Cleveland~~ Denver front-four. I don't look for Pittsburgh to be effective running, and I don't think Big Ben can win the game alone. Cincinatti This is one that I'm very worried about. Carson Palmer's savvy passing attack hits the Denver defense at its weakest points - down the field in the middle. Cincinatti doesn't have a brilliant defense, but this could turn into a shootout quick if Denver is unable to contain Palmer. I look for the Denver running game to take control of the clock, but will it be enough against an extremely potent passing attack, and one of the best secondaries in the game. Jake MUST continue his streak of being very smart, especially with the AFC's leading interception man in former Bronco Deltha O'Neal sitting back in the secondary. Jacksonville We beat a healthy Jacksonville earlier in the season in the heat of Jacksonville, and did it handily. They have a good running defense, but we wore them down - meanwhile, their offensive line is weak, and I anticipate the Broncos shutting down Fred Taylor like they did earlier. And I don't think that Leftwhich OR Gerrard are going to be able to do anything with the time they're going to get from their offensive line against a defense that wouldn't leave Leftwhich alone earlier in the season. So that's what I see looking to the playoffs. Like I said, I like us against anyone at home, and then we'd go to play the Peyton Manning show at the RCA Dome in Indianapolis. But that's a bridge we'll cross if and when we come to it.

There will be Raiders, There will not be a Game, and Here is the Scouting Report

Snore. When the Raiders make their trip to Denver this Christmas Eve, don’t expect of repeat of last-year’s snowy debacle. Expect a debacle, but this one’s going the other way. To be honest, games like these are a nightmare to scout because there really is, um, not much to say here. Well, just to do my job: Infirmary Status: Corner Charles Woodson, who beat out Peyton Manning for the Hiesman all those years ago, will sit this one out, making the Reindeer’s already porous defense that much more porous (can’t find my thesaurus, sorry). Oakland RB LaMont Jordan is doubtful, making an already porous Raider’s offense that much more porous. Broncos corner Darrent Williams will sit this game out, probably as he will until the playoffs. However, rumor has it that his rehab is going well, and he may be ready to go for the Chargers. If true, that would be like Christmas in late December for the Broncos hopes of hanging on to the AFC #2 seed. Self-Explanatory Stat: Broncos: Undefeated at home. Reindeers: Terrible, and mostly terrible. Potential Tar-pit: An actual tar-pit spontaneously develops at the twenty-yard line in Mile High, engulfing Jake Plummer and most of the Broncos first team offense. Broncos would probably win anyway. Recap: As said, snore. This game will be fun to watch for no other reason that it’s on Christmas Eve, but don’t expect any suspense. Moss has had a lame year, Collins has been terrible, and the Broncos finally got their offense back on track at Buffalo last week. Mike Shanahan will continue to rub his genius in the Raiders faces, Norv Turner will enjoy his last views of the front-range as Raiders head coach, and Denver will be able to focus on a crucial game against San Diego next week.

One more thing...

Just to emphazise what Gabe already mentioned, I'd like to personally thank every memeber of the Cincinatti Bungals organization. If Carson Palmer were in the room I'm in now, I would shake his hand while crying and saying, "Thank you so much. God bless you, Carson." After an ridiculous season in which the Bengals rebound from the bottom-feeder fanchise to the League's hottest team, the Bangals figured out a way to snach defeat from the jaws of victory and lose at home to the Bills. Rember, this is the Buffalo team the Broncos just beat on the road last week. Gabe is worried about the Bengals as a potential threat in the playoffs, but if we face them at home, I'm just not convinced. And with Denver clinching the AFC #2, that game would be at Mile High. Yeah, I'm not to worried. But I am worried about our lethargic pass-rush. I've said it about 20 times, and you'll hear it 20 more before the playoffs, but if we are going to go up to the RCA dome and beat Peyton's Colts, WE HAVE TO PRESSURE HIM ALL GAME. Look no further to the Chargers to see how effective that is. They were able to consistently pressure with a variety of blitzes, and they held on to win. Can you believe that the Colts (13-2) could end up with the same record as the Broncos (12-3)?

Meaningless games are fun

Don't expect to see any Bronco first-teamers in what is basically a meaningless game: the Chargers will not be going to the playoffs and the Broncos have the #2 seed in the AFC wrapped up-thanks to the philanthropic Bengals. Plummer and the rest of the boys may play for a few series, but only to keep the rust off for the divisional game in two weeks. It will be interesting to see the likes of Dayne and Van Pelt, because they are a couple injuries away from being the stars of the Denver playoff show. Also, I wonder I Shanahan will give Bell enough carries to reach 1,000 yards on the season, he needs 131. That would make Denver the first team in forever to suit two 1,000-yard rushers in the same season. Denver is going to lose this useless game, but whatever, no fan West of Speer is thinking about anything less than a Super Bowl anyway, or at least the Colts. Fun Fact: If the Broncos somehow win, and the Colts lose, they’ll end up with the same 13-3 record, meaning that Denver was a blown lead in New York away from total home field advantage. Shoulda Woulda Coulda. Well, at the beginning of the season, and even after the stunning loss at Miami, I predicted the Broncos to go 12-4 and reach the AFC Championship game. Looks like both have a great shot of being realized. Until Cincinnati, Pittsburg, or New England.

The Buck Stops Here, Denver Will Prevail

The Patriots have won 10 post-season games in a row, including the last two Superbowls. Tom Brady is establishing himself as the best quarterback in post-season history. And the patriots are also playing their best ball of the season, winning 5 of their last 6 games, including last week's 28-3 demolition of the Jaguars. And might as well forget the last time the Broncos faced them back in October, the Patriots are a brand new team. Bruschi, Seymour, and Dillion are back and healthy, and the Pats' D-line has been rejuvenated since the October contest. Bill Belichick retains his reputation as the NFL's true mastermind coach, the best there is at both pre-game planning and in-game adjusting. For these reasons, the Patriots have become the real golden boys of the NFL, the standard for what a playoff team should do, and what a dynasty team should be. Maybe this also explains why in polls such as ESPN's SportsNation Pulse, fans are overwhelmingly expecting a Patriot victory. But what has been surprising is how pessimistic Denver fans themselves have been. Where is the expectation of Bronco dominance?? Are Bronco fans letting the Pats recent post season dominance get under their skin? Are they disbelievers because this team doesn’t score 42 points a game like the Bronco teams of 1997-1998? Whatever the reason, its time for Bronco fans to get over themselves, and see that, healthy Pats or not, the Broncos are putting a superior team on the field, have a little bit of momentum themselves, and, not to mention, will play at a home field where they have yet to lose this year. It won’t be a 28-3 first half mangling, but the Broncos are going to win this game. Remember this is the Bronco team that won 13 of 16 (should’ve been 14), and dominated in most of those 13 games. This is a Bronco team with an underrated defense that is much better anything they had in ‘97/’98. This is a Bronco team that continues Shanahan’s tradition of dominance on the ground, almost becoming the first team in 20 years to boast two 1,000-yard rushers. Most importantly, this is a Bronco team with a tough quarterback that can play efficiently, throwing only 7 picks en rout to over 3,000 yards passing in a run-oriented offense, all without missing a snap due to injury. Yes, Jake Plummer is this quarterback. He will be able to guide the Broncos past New England in this game. What more does he have to prove? A solid 61% completion percentage, +11 TD/INT ratio, and a stellar 90.2 rating, all equaling a very solid, Probowl quarterback. In 1998, John Elway threw for fewer yards, was picked off more often, and had a lower completion percentage than Plummer in 2005. Not to cheapen the intangibles John brought onto the field every time he suited up, but please, accept Jake already. He’s earned your trust. As always, Tom Brady is the standard for post-season dominance. He can single handedly lead the Pats over most opponents, and ramps it up in the fourth quarter. However, the Broncos secondary, while only ranked 29th in the NFL overall, is not nearly that bad. The Broncos were thrown against more than any other team in the NFL, largely thanks to a dominant rush defense, and is third in completion percentage defense. But Brady has the ability to exploit weaknesses in the Broncos secondary, given that Darrent Williams will show rust from his 4 weeks off and the Broncos will often rely on their other rookie corners. Brady will find open receivers and Denver will give up some passing yards in this game. The key is shut down Dillion/Faulk and prevent big plays. As seen back in October, if the Broncos can shut down New England’s ground game, the Pats offense becomes reliant on Brady to generate points. Dillion, still not fully recovered from a calf injury, should not be able to run against Denver. If the Broncos’ secondary can keep New England from quick-scoring drives, Denver should be able to win a war of attrition with their ball-hog offense. For the Broncos offensively, New England’s front 7 is healthy, but the Bell/Anderson combo should be able to rack up yardage and grind the clock anyway. If the Bronco backs can get into the secondary, they have potential for some huge runs against an undersized Patriots secondary ranked dead last in the NFL. Bell was able to bust-off some huge runs in the last match-up, and will be threat to do so here. Denver's passing game, usually converting more mid-to-short yardage plays, will have a chance for some big plays here. Lelie is a threat to take it to the house on every play against this secondary. If the Broncos can establish a strong running game, and Jake Plummer can initiate the play action roll-outs in which he is at his best, the Patriots are in serious trouble. Brady’s offense will not be able to keep pace with the Denver if they have to rely on their secondary the whole game. However, don’t underestimate Belichick’s uncanny ability for in-game adjustments. Anyone who watched the last Patriot-Broncos game saw a 28-3 blowout quickly move into a 28-20 scare fest. But don’t underestimate Shanahan ether. He’s had a long time to prepare for this game, and he’ll have his team ready. The Broncs are motivated, and will not be intimidated by the Patriots past post-season success.

What a Difference Home Makes

What Broncos fans have been waiting for for 7 years, well, wait no longer. John, your shadow is free to go. Jake, your shadow is cleared for future landing. And national media, you are now allowed to eat you’re words and feel scummy for succumbing to hype. The Broncos just won a playoff game 27-13. It was our defense. It was Champ, on one of the most bizarre plays of the year, picking off Mr. Brady and taking it back… It was our defensive front, shutting down Dillion while keeping him scrambling most of the game… It was Lynch, Gold, Williams, and Al, for helping with that pressure… It was our defense, that, just as it had all season, bent, but never broke, and got the big plays when it needed. Our defense won the game, be clear on that. Offensively, the Broncos never really committed to the run until the fourth quarter, and then only to chew the clock. Passing on first down and letting Jake take his shots downfield were common, not to mention the corner floater on 4th and one at the 2. I imagine that Shanahan was trying to exploit a lousy Patriot secondary, but not too much offensive production. The warm Mile High crowd had this to say in greeting of the defending champs: “That’ll be four false starts, a forced last second time out and one flustered Brady. Order Up.” The ball was bouncing the Broncos way, and they were happy to oblige. 5 patriot turnovers, 24 Denver points. What a difference home makes, indeed. And they have another one coming. Of note: It continues to astound me how little respect the broncos continue to get. Absolutely absurd, any Broncos fan should be steamed at this: http://proxy.espn.go.com/chat/sportsnation/polling?event_id=1971 Shove these stats down those east-cost snobs throats, I say. Steelers report on Weds. For now, party it up Denver, you’ve waited 7 years.

This is the AFC

In what may be the game of the decade thus far for the Broncos, Pittsburgh, Wild-Card Pittsburgh will head into Invesco on Sunday for the AFC's most important game of the year. Last week, the Broncos defeated the national media's golden boys, the Tom Brady (he is handsome, I gotta admit it...) decisively in a defensive effort (see below). More on John Clayton's secret love affair with Tom Brady later. This week, the Broncos face Big Ben and the mighty Steelers, coming off of an impressive win against the AFC favorite Indiannapolis Colts. Despite the New York Times' fascinating article on the "battle of the beards" between Jake Plummer and Ben Roethlisberger, (George Foster believes Jake's is better, by the way), this game is really looking to stack up as, "battle of the nearly identical teams." Let's take a look at how the game will match up, unit by unit. D-Fence! Dum Dum! D-Fence! The Broncos are coming off of their most impressive defensive performance of the year - and so are the Steelers. Against the Patriots, all scores save one touchdown for the Broncos came off of the five takeaways they managed to strip from Brady and Company, and Brady's first-half production was awful. Meanwhile in Indy, the Steelers managed to severely limit Payton Manning's production by keeping him and his offensive line offgaurd with their creative blitz packages that even Mark Schlereth was struggling to find names for this week on Sports Center. So who has the edge? Probably the Broncos. They are the second-best run defense in the league against a team that relies heavily on the run, and unlike Manning and the Colts' O-Line, the Broncos should be able to pick up Blitzes, and Jake Plummer is mobile enough to escape pressure. Plus, the Broncos' play-action game feeds right into the overagressive blitz game that Pittsburgh brings. Offense Pittsburgh was impressive last week, cashing in their opening two drives for touchdowns, and later in the game severely running down the clock by running it down the gut. Meanwhile, the Broncos offense didn't have to be good against New England - all they had to do was cash in on all the opportunities, which they did effectively. At this point, the Steelers are looking good, though it's a close call. Pittsburgh doesn't have the best passing game in the league, but the Broncos don't have the best secondary, and the run defense has been susceptible all year to powerful backs. Look for the gameplan to be similar to what Kansas City did late in the year: lots of Jerome Bettis. Special Teams Undeniably, the Broncos have the edge. Jason Elam is as accurate, and as good under pressure as ever, and Tod Sauerbrun had his best game of the year against the Patriots. He had numerous punts that forced the Patriots to start inside their own ten, which made the field position game very difficult for the Patriots to overcome. In fact, the new punter may have made the overall difference in the game - not only did he win the field position game for the Broncos, he also stopped what seemed to be a sure touchdown on a runback late in the game, a la Big Ben's stop late against the Colts. Overall, it's going to be a great game against two similar teams. Look for a defensive struggle to open the game, but for the game to be broken open after the first quarter and a half. What are the keys? Both teams have numerous things they'll have to accomplish to be successful. Denver's Keys: -Establish the running game early and make Pittsburgh's superfreaky blitzes look dumb because of overcommitment to the run. If we can run it well, Pittsburgh's defense should bite right into the patented Plummer Boot. -Contain Bettis. You won't be able to completely shut him down, but forcing Ben to throw on Third down will be key. -Keep the pressure up. Tom Brady was frazzled from the get-go. Do the same to Big Ben and keep his effectiveness down. Pittsburgh's Keys: -Stop the run. If Denver gets a running attack going, it'll open up the pass, but not the other way around. If you stop the run and force Plummer to beat you, you've got a much better chance. -Keep the crowd leaning back in their seats. The Mile High crowd can be ferocious as we saw last week, so if you keep them calm, crippling false starts that plagued New England will likely not be numerous. -Give your offense the ball. A lot. The mountain air is tough for any team to play in. If you give the offense the ball, the defense will stay rested and the Broncos big running game, which managed to churn 92 yards against a stacked Patriot defense will be less effective. My prediction is a Broncos win. Who cares about the damn score? I've got to like them at home against anyone, and if I had to wager, I'd bet on it being a late blow-out.

Clayton and Brady sitting in a tree...

As promised, here's the tribute to John Clayton's ridiculous love affair with Tom Brady and the New England Patriots, which is turning into a love affair with Ben Roethlisberger and the Pittsburgh Stealers. He, and a lot of the other knuckleheads at ESPN are predicting Big Ben to beat the Broncos simply because they're the Steelers, and for no real good reasons. The lack of in depth analysis is so tiring, and John Clayton's mug so ridiculously weird, that we've decided to offer this tribute to John Clayton, for no real reason of our own. And now, in primetime for the first time, is John Clayton as a garden gnome, courtesy of our very own Alex Wilson, who writes for us over at B3. Hope you enjoyed that.

Why We Lost

Yeah, I said we. I identify with the Broncos more than I'd like to admit, but as most of the people victimized by my presence on a daily basis know, when the Broncos lose, I become surly and lash out frequently. On to why we lost... All season long, the Broncos blitzed. They got beaten over the top sometimes, but these were rare instances, and TO's two yard hitch play didn't burn so badly after Donavan Mcnabb barely completed a pass in the first half of the Eagles game. It's a risk-reward type of thing, and in the first 17 games, the Broncos usually ended up on the reward side. Not this time, though. In the first quarter, the Broncos blitzed as they always had, and they got blocked. My god did they get blocked. Big Ben had time for a cup of coffee, nay, two cups of java, sitting in the pocket while seven Broncos toiled futilely at the line. The Steelers offensive line was too good. When you committ seven guys to the blitz and not one of them gets in the face of the quarterback, it's unreasonable to expect that the four DBs can contain the recievers. This is how the first quarter went. For the next two, the Broncos got no pressure, having given up on the ineffective blitz, and Big Ben tore them to pieces. During the second and third quarters, it was painful to watch the Broncos D sit back and let Roethlisberger toss the ball around the field like there were no defenders there at all. On the biggest stage of the year, the front four looked like an absolute joke. Props to the Steelers O-Line. They won it for their team. Oh right, and the picks. Jake Plummer had been having a good year--none of the ridiculous left-handed passes, none of the ridiculous right-handed passes. Everyone was waiting. Everyone was making the statement I just did on national shows, and Plummer did not dissapoint (the various analysts eagerly awaiting fresh bad decision meat). At the end of the first half, the Broncos had a shot to drive down the field and make the game much more hopeful, make the lead more surmountable, and yet Jake Plummer pulled what I always do in Madden--he threw a pick trying to force things before the end of the half. No restart button on this one. That was a serious back-breaker. Instead of going into the half 17-3 or 17-10 (or 17-6), the Broncos ended up down. Way down. 24-3 at the half is not a good thing for a running team. The other pick had an arguably greater impact on the team because it swung the momentum as hugely as the kickoff return that preceded it. Adams' runback to the Steelers' 40 set the Broncos up to launch themselves back into the game, in a fashion that wouldn't require an onside kick. Then Plummer, ignoring the back in the flat that had 20 yards of open field in front of him, threw to a reciever across the middle and had his low-flying pass picked off. Fantastic. A special thanks to Phil Simms for pointing out the back that was wide open on the right side of the field. I'm not done with the defense. Nick Ferguson had a chance to make a game-changing interception at the end of the first half, but he blew his shot (as well his team's). Roethlisberger was just throwing one up there in the back of the end zone at the end of the first half, and Ferguson had the ball go through his hands and into Hines Wards' immediately afterward. You can't not make that play. It wasn't just the missed picks, though--the Broncos D couldn't stop the Steelers all game long in the air anyway, and there's no excuse for that. The blame can be spread to all players with the exceptions of Mike Anderson, a Bronco that looked truly ready for the game, and Ashley Lelie, who came up clutch twice on deep balls. Even trusty Rod Smith missed a couple of passes. The Broncos' offensive line couldn't stop the quick linebackers coming in on the Q from the edge, and the tight ends had some dropped passes as well. the linebackers didn't tip Roethlisberger's passes or harrass him when they got the opportunity to blitz, and I've already mentioned the safeties. And the coaches. Shanahan abandoned the run far too early. Mike Anderson only had nine carries in the whole game, and frankly, Plummer's not a drop-back guy. Without the bootleg functioning effectively, the Broncos' offense is at a gigantic disadvantage; the linemen aren't heavy enough to pass protect as well as you'd like, and the Broncos lack a third reciever of any worth. All around it was a dissapointment, and the Broncos leave us here wondering what might have been. The draft is April 29th.

Empty weekend

So there's no football this weekend. I guess the question on everyone's mind is "will there still be Ccountdown on from 9-11 on ESPN?" The answer, of course, is that a one hour edition of Countdown will air from 9:30-10:30 AM, but the obvious thing to do is to watch the NFL network's Super Bowl NFL Films Marathon. Set your alarm for 3:45 AM, make a pot of coffee, and then watch NFL Films Super Bowl shows for the next 17 hours. The Broncos Super Bowl victories will be on at 9:30 and 10:00 PM. God Speed.

NFL Offseason--Free Agency

Around this time of year, when we languish for super bowl success that is no longer possible, the NFL draft steps in, a glowing light at the end of April that allows teams to simply pick players that they want on their team. It's easy to get excited about top-ten picks, but the beauty of the draft lies in the middle rounds, when none of the country knows your draft pick, and then they break out and become a solid player on the team. Yes, in the draft lies hope for the future and a disregard for the past; quarterbacks that threw interceptions in college are described as "high cieling" guys, and slow wideouts are just "Hines Ward types." So, in our post-defeat pain, let us rejoice in the draft. Let us say, amen. Before the draft, though, there is free agency--a shot to fill team needs with players that have proven themselves at the NFL level. The problem is, of course, they cost a whole lot of money, so the only ones that the Broncos will most likely get their hands on are the ones with felonious pasts (Jamal Lewis), clubhouse cancerous pasts (TO) or mediocre playing ability. The Broncos need a lot. When you take a look at this team, does a second consecutive AFC championship seem likely? Going into next season, they look to me like the third or fourth best team in the AFC, trailing Pittsburgh, Indianapolis, and either Cincinatti or New England (whichever one's crippling injuries heel more quickly). This stems from a lack of speed at safety, a lack of a veritable stud at defensive end, and a lack of a third reciever. One other position is suspect as well, which is very out-of-character for the Broncos. Don't hate me, but I'm worried about the running back situation. The tandem thing worked out last year, but could you imagine the Broncos' offense with a premier back behind that offensive line? It would be absolutely ridiculous. As it stands, we've got a guy that can carry it 15 times a game and be at his most effective in that capacity, and then another guy, who despite constantly getting it done for the team, is in his mid 30s. In the free agent period, there are three premier backs availible: Sean Alexander, Edgerrin James, and Jamal Lewis. Realistically, the Broncos have absolutely no shot at the first two, but the third is intriguing. It may be worth the risk to take a flyer on Jamal Lewis, whose stock has dropped a whole lot since that whole cocaine imprisonment/bad season thing that happened in '05. The running backs aren't the primary concern, in my view, however. Safety is where the Broncos need the most help. John Lynch is slow and Nick Ferguson, while a compotent player, did not make any big plays this season. One of them needs to be replaced. The two candidates that look most attainable and generally good are Adam Archuleta and Corey Chavous, of the 2005 Rams and Vikings respectively. Either one of these guys is good for 70-80 tackles and 1-2 INTs on the year, unless Chavous has another 8-pick season like he did in 2003 The scale is tilted slightly toward Archuleta in my mind because he's two years younger than Chavous, and aging happens frighteningly quickly in the NFL. The Broncos flat out have no money to pursue a defensive lineman in free agency--everyone always ends up overpaying by about fifteen million dollars for a pass rusher on the free market. John Abraham is out there, as well as Kimo Von Olehoffen, but the best the Broncos can do with their cap situation is R-Kal Truluck. And of course, the reciever situation...TO visited the Broncos on Monday, January 30, which means we could be in trouble or immediately in contention for a Super Bowl. The Broncos, if they sign him, will finally have a guy that will make other teams drastically alter their gameplans. Instead of facing a secondary leaning towards stopping the run, the Broncos could face safeties that are horrified at the prospect of getting burned by the most flamboyant reciever in the NFL. If you can fit him under the cap (without cheating, a-la 1997-8), by all means the Broncos should sign this guy. No disrespect to Rod Smith, but TO really would take the Broncos passing game to the next level. There will definitely be a more comprehensive TO post later...

Well...

1 1 2005-08-17 00:23:35 2005-08-17 00:23:35 Sakic, check. Blake, check. Hedjuk/Tanguay, check. David A., check. Up-and-coming star Marek Svatos, check. Almost everyone else, check. Footer... Foppa... Uh guys, where'd all the grit go? The Avalanche this year seem to be in pretty decent shape after a rockem' sockem' offseason filled with stars coming and going like the NHL is a major Nebula with some really good whiskey in it. With the almost-great David A. between the pipes, veteran defensive leadership from Blake combined with the up-and-coming star John-Michael Liles, and perenial scorers Tanguay, Hedjuk and Sakic, we're looking pretty good. I just see one huge, gaping hole: nitty, gritty, roleplaying types like the long-lost Adam Deadmarsh and Mike Ricci's of the world. Now, I believe that we've been suffering from this lack of mucking-men for quite a while, so the loss of Foppa and Footer may not be what caused this at all, despite what my excitingly witty intro suggests. But is the loss of these two players gonna hurt in that respect? You'd better believe it. Footer, a defenseman as solid as they come, was perhaps a little tougher than Blake, and drove wingers crazy with fearless hits that paralyzed offenses on any give ntrip into the Avalanche zone. But his loss is nothing compared to Foppa, who was coincidentally both the teams grittiest and most talented player. Forsberg's pure playmaking skills aside, the guy's incredible strength, balance, and physical style of play drove otherp layers so crazy that they had to resort to doing nasty things like grabbing, holding, obstructing, and rupturing the poor guy's spleen, to the point where Foppa nearly decided to skip the NHL altogether and stay with the "MoDo" hockeyclub in his hometown of Örnsköldsvik, which has nine consonants in its name. Putting pure skill aside once again, so far only one off-season acquisition will make up any ground for the "grit gap" that has been missing for some time. And it's name is Brad May. May, a 33 year-old veteran joins us from our ~~cheery friends~~ ultimate rivals, the Vancouver Canucks, where recently-reinstated Todd Bertuzzi will be playing again. But it gets completely ironic when you remember that May, who was quoted as saying, "I have a tremendous amount of respect for the guys on this roster and I’m looking forward to playing with them" when he signed with the Avs just a few weeks ago, was the player who called for the Moore assisination attempt in the first place, causing Bertuzzi to quite possibly ruin the man's career. All that aside, May will add grit and talent to a roster that desperately needs it. The question now is, will it be enough? And to attempt to answer it, or at least make some sense of it in the first place, we'll first have to take a step back and look at the playoffs from more than a year ago. The teams that made it the furthest in the closest series (Tampa Bay, San Jose, Calgary) all had one big thing in common: they all had good gritty scorers. For San Jose, who beat the avs directly, former Avalanche Mike Ricci did a lot of muck-work for them during the season and in the playoffs. Ricci was +8 with 19 pts. on a very untypical season, and was only one of a number of gritty players on the team. For the Flames, another former Avalanche, Steven Reinprecht, had a wopping 30 pts, going +1 with a total of 23 assists. Finally, Tampa Bay's Dave Adreychuk had 39 points, and though he was -9, he still was an extremely effective player. So what's all of this telling us? These gritty, talented guys who get in the goltender's face are people who help the puck go in when they're on the ice. Brad May had 11pts. last year, and was -8. So overall, do I think May will help fill in a void? Maybe partially. But I still don't think we have the kind of player out there that all the good teams seem to be craving right now: the guy who always gets in people's way. -Gabe

Nothing New...

There's nothing too new to report except that John-Michael Liles signed his qualifying league-minimum offer, which is good because it means the Avs are that much less strapped for cash. This was pretty much expected, but his sacrifice this season gives us another peak into his character. Liles, who was stellar during his games last year, wa sout for a big portion of the season with leg problems (I think). He is a great young defenseman and should have another brilliant year, especially under the leadership of Veteran Rob Blake, who's still with us. I expect Liles to be a star defenseman in the league, and many consider him one of the top defensive prospects in the league. He's a rough position man who has a sixth sense for jumping into a play in the offensive zone. -Gabe

The season

So the NHL season has begun, and so far, I like it. The average for goals in the opening 15 games (every team got a game on Wednesday) was 6 goals, way way up from the last time the league met. Ottowa won the first ever NHL game-deciding shootout, and overall I think everyone likes the new look. I'll comment on some of the rules and then get to the Avs. Smaller goalie gear: Having played as a goalie myself (albeit in roller hockey, sam can tell you more about ice hockey), I can tell you that this will have some effect, but it won't be huge. Pads will shrink from 12 to 11 inches, but most of being a goali involves positioning your body and pure athleticism. An extra inch will make a small difference on some saves where a goalie is out of position, but it's not like they're taking the goalie's pads away. Overall, it may take some time to for goalies to adjust, but once they do, it won't be any harder to make an easy save, they'll just have to be a little quicker and a little more athletic to make the tough ones. Two-line passes: It used to be super tough to get the puck into the offensive zone. You had to pass out of your zone, skate across the mid-line, and dump or pass it into your zone. Now, you can pass it anywhere out of your zone, and that's going to make a huge difference. It will have two effects: 1, making scoring and transitions easier, and 2, having fewer wistles. It will also do a lot to eliminate the dreaded trap which St. Louis and to some degree Detroit used successfully for a long time. And because the trap is gone, it means the game will be much more exciting for fans. Expect all the incredible passers (your Forsbergs, Limieux's, etc) to absolutely shine with this rule, and it will also make great transition defensemen (Blake, Liles, Pronger, and Borque if he was still around) a much bigger asset to the team. Goaltender puck-handling: The goalie can no longer come out of the net and handle the puck behind his own goal, except in a trapezoidal "restricted" area. I'm personally mixed on this one, because on the one hand, it will make it easier for teams to dump it in and win a race for the puck, creating more offense. It also gets rid of the goalie as a defenseman, which means teams can no longer rely on the protected goalie to get out and win a race to the puck. On the other hand, it eliminates a lot of offensive, quick turnaround plays that superb handlers like Patrick Roy used to give their teams. In this case, the NHL may have done more to eliminate offense than to increase it. Increased offensive zone: I really, really like the increase of the offensive zone by 4 feet, and the decreasesof the space being the net by 2 feet. This has made it very hard for teams to get the puck out of their zone, whoch means more cycling, and more offensive opportunities for the team controlling the puck. This also makes the power play much more valuable, because defenseman can use the extra space going side-to-side, and it's just incredibly hard for the penalty kill to ice the puck. This rule, more than any, has lead to a lot of offense. Player changes after icing: This rule, which doesn't allow a team that ices the puck to change players (except on the PP), is aimed solely at less whistles. It penalizes teams who slow the game down, and anything that does that will help. However, the NHL has to protect their players, so we'll see as the season goes on whether this really has an effect on rotations during a game because of extra-tired players that had to stay on for an extra shift. It does make getting a whistle to make a no-pressure change very difficult, and that may not be a good thing. Tag-up offsides: Allowing players to tag up when they're offsides but not involved in the play is good. It will make the game more continuous, and it will make it easier to score. There really are no downsides in a league that's looking for offense. 'Nough said. Fighting penalties: Some people watch the NHL for the fights, but it's not a boxing league, and the brawling has turned off a lot of fans from the game. In Europe, fighting at any time is an automatic game misconduct, and it means more continous play, less injuries from fights, and less complaining from fans. In the NHL, most fights take place in the last 5 minutes of the game where teams don't care about penalties anymore. The NHL has upped the ante on these fights, making them a misconduct, a one-game suspension, and a fine. It will get rid of these fights, but I think the misconduct rule should be applied to any fight at any time. If the guys want to go, they should go - for the entire game. More officiating "points of emphasis": The league has always said, year after year that they're going to take a "no tolerance" policy with obstruction, hooking, etc. But with all the serious changes that were made to the physical aspects of the game, I think the refs are actually going to do it this time. We're going to see a lot of obstruction penalties until players get it. I also like the new emphasis on the delay of game rule for any position player who flips the puck over the glass intentionally, though once again, it will have an effect on no-pressure line changes. Finally, the shootout: Subject to much debate, the shootout is still very much controversial. The arguments against it are mainly centered around strategy, because some people believe that teams will play conservatively and just wait for the shootout to make their moves. However, with all the new rule changes geared towars more offense, I believe it makes the kind of boring, defensive trap playing that everyone talks about virtually impossible. You're just not going to be able to outright stop teams from scoring anymore, so I think that that problem will be eliminated. What the shootout really does though, is eliminate ties. Let's face it: a lot of America just doesn't have time for four columns. We want to see wins and losses, straight up. Though there's still going to be an overtime/shootout loss column (where teams are awarded one point), I think it will help clear up a lot of confusion that some fans experience just trying to look at the standings. And let's face it, despite what some GMs say, it will never get boring seeing a pure scorer (like Jagr, Sakic, Forsberg, Limieux) get a one-on-one chance with a goalie. Shootouts are exciting, and I don't think they'll ever lose their splendor, especially if players make it their business to be good at shootouts and create new moves and more ways to fool a goalie. Now onto the avs: The Avs lost their debut to the Edmonton Oilers, who really aren't a great defensive team despite the acquisition of Pronger, playing sluggishly and overall looking like a bored team. I thought Sakic skated well, and helped setup a goal (though no points), but he was one of the few. The newcomer Vaanenan had a goal, but the team just didn't play well as a hole. Edmonton came out and looked excited and fast, while the Avs were depressingly behind the pace. They took too many offsides calls, and overall just came out flat. I don't know what happened, but Edmonton was just the better team. Aebischer played extremely well, I thought, and really kept them in there. One of the most interesting observations about the game I thought was that even though the avs played poorly, they scored 3 goals and kept it close, whereas two years ago I don't think they would've been able to muster 2 goals. This is probably a reflection of the new rules, and is something that we'll keep track of across the season. Have the new rules made it easier for teams who come out flat, but have a lot of talent to score? It will be especially interesting to watch this phenomenon in the playoffs, where emotion used to be one of the main determinants of who won a game. In the second game at Dallas, however, the avs came out and looked excited and ready to go, possibly spurned on by their embarassing play the game before. Sakic had a goal and an assist, and as Mike Hanes commented, his wrister is as sharp as ever. Man, that goal was a laser. Sophomore Marek "Speedy" Svatos, who's going to be a star for this team if you don't think he is already, also scored a goal. Though they still haven't gotten offensive faceoff wins stable, they played well and played like a true playoff contender. They showed they can pull one out in the stretch, though they did have a 7-minute powerplay to work with. If the avs play like this every game, they'll win a lot of them. I'm still looking for a contribution from Tanguay, who hasn't played extremely well so far, but Turgeon has been a very nice acquisition so far. Also, John Michael-Liles played superbly with an assist on Turgeon's goal, and I believe will continue to grow into a star defenseman. He could definitely grow to take Footer's place, but it's too early to say. Well, that's really all there is for me to say to date. Don't agree? Let me know, that's what the comments are for. Welcome back hockey, and go Avs!

Hats were flying...

At the Avalanche home opener. I was there, and let me tell you, the fans are still great after a year's hiatus. Even though we scored 7 goals, the intensity was the same on every one of them. We even remembered to boo Darren McCarrdey (sp) every time something happened with him, like getting a game misconduct. But here's what I liked most about the game: 1. When the Avs really come out strong, they're going to be tough to beat. 2. Rookies! Wolski and Svatos both played with something to prove. Plus, Svatos now has 4 goals in three games (though getting the hatty helps a little). 3. The entire team skates well. We don't have any more dunces, we just have a lot of talent. 4. Abby makes savs when he has to. I admit that that first goal wasn't exactly one of those unstoppables, but by that point we were ahead by 5 goals so it would be a little unfair to criticize for that. Plus, when Calgary really came out in the beginning, he stoned them cold. Anyhow, we'll see if we can keep this kind of play up, but if we can, I think this team has too much talent in a league that is now geared to highlight those teams. Just a few more notes: May was a healthy scratch, anyone know about him? Is he afraid to play here or something? Also, I am officially taking credit for coining the term 'trapezone' to describe the zone behind the net where the goalie can handle the puck. However, I will let you use it free of charge and without credit. The only requirement is, when your buddy says, 'oh, trapezone, that's great! I'd like to pay the guy who came up with that a bunch of money' you let them know that this is where it came from. KThanks. Gabe

Welcoming...

I'd like to Welcome a new writer to B3, Alex "Alejo" Wilson, who'll be helping to cover the Avs, so welcome aboard. In other news, the Avs took two from our arch-rivals, the Canucks...I wish the second one hadn't gone to overtime and given Vancouver a point, nonetheless, it the Avs scored a beautiful goal just off the penalty kill in the second with Tanguay making a super-star move on a bouncing puck to just push it past Auhld. Then Ian "I'm not a goal scorer" Laperierre put it past Auhld on a breakaway for his second game-winner in as many games. There's been some debate as to whether the goal was five-hole or not. Did anyone see for sure? Anyhow, the Avs are looking good, and what I like is that they're using the new rules to their advantage. They're getting more powerplays for using their skill to break in past defensemen (can you say Svatos?), and they've learnt how to really press and get goals when they need them. Now I just want to see a game where they keep skating instead of sitting on a lead. Because as we've all seen, that doesn't work. Nonetheless, the ship appears to have righted for the Avs with (I believe) 4 straight wins, 3 coming at home. If they can get 2 out of 3 on the rest of this homestand, they'll be in great shape returning to the road in Vancouver in 11 days.

Season Reflection

Yeah, so the season has been mediocre thus far, big deal though. Teams with big expectations are floundering, Mario and the Pens are off to a nearly winless start, while Kiprusoff and the Flames are last in their division (even though it may be the toughest division in hockey.) And on the other end of the spectrum, the New York Rangers are leading their division over the Flyers and the Devils. Things still have time to even out. Focusing on the Avalanche, the season thus far has been bittersweet. They've made a few comebacks and have utterly dominated teams, and they have let 3 or 4 goal leads get away. At a solid 6-4-1 right now, I don't think there's too much to complain about. The young guys have been producing, with Liles (4 goals, 10 assists), Svatos (5 goals, 6 assists), and Wolski (2 goals, 4 assists) certainly producing, even though you can expect Svatos's point tally to slow down with the return of Hejduk, and Wolski being sent down for a while. Not to mention our new back-up goalie, Peter Budaj, who certainly has played his first three games with enough skill to prove he can be a presence when Abbie can't. The vets haven't been a letdown either. Turgeon has 11 points, Laperriere has 9, and is also a plus nine on the season thus far, and Konowalchuk still has a solid 6 points to his credit. Aebischer was struggling earlier in the season, although he seems to be doing better, throwing three straight wins into his record and allowing no more than three goals in any of the games while doing it. Also, his stellar play against the Canucks in the first game of the two game series, stopping 40 of 42 shots and only allowing one goal in the 23-0 shot pounding the Avs recieved in the third period With a 5 day break before he takes on the Ducks on Thursday, Abbie should be well rested enough to put on another show. One valid concern I have though is our late-game play. It's almost the same as watching the Broncos. The Avs just seem to be losing all momentum as the game winds down. Dropping leads to Nashville, Edmonton, and L.A., the Avs need to pick it up. The 6-2 victory over Vancouver was great, but the Avs still displayed their tendency to drag in the last 20 minutes of the game, allowing Vancouver to have 23 shots and having none themselves. Thanks to a strong performance by Aebischer, they didn't blow it. On a final note, the Avs have shown that they still have what it takes to compete in the new NHL. They just need to learn how to hold a lead. Had we held the leads we should have held this year, they'd be 9-1-1 and leading the division. If Liles, Turgeon and company can keep scoring, and Hejduk, Tanguay, Sakic, and Blake can stay healthy, we should be in for an entertaining season. -Alejo

Anaheim Preview

The Avalanche will be taking on the Ducks at 7pm MST tonight. The Ducks are 7-5-1 and tied for second place in the Pacific divison, falling behind only the 9-4 Kings. A formidable opponent, at the least. As is the rest of our homestand, who, in total, combine for a 20-15-3 record. If anything, these matches should be fun to watch. Aebischer will assumedly start for the Avs after a nice break since the two hard-hitting Vancouver games. Jean-Sebastien Giguere, who seems to be looking like the all-star goalie of two seasons ago, is 6-2-1 with a 2.55 GAA, which is quite low compared to the 3.1 GAA average for the league. He also sports a .914 save percentage, one of the highest in the league. He should pose a threat to the usually high scoring Avalanche team we have been seeing in the last 11 games. We wont be seeing the former Avalanche player, Sandis Ozolinsh tonight, as he is out with a fractured rib. However, we should expect to see the generally dissapointing Avalanche right wing from a season ago, Teemu Selanne. Teemu is looking much stronger this season with the Ducks, with 9 goals and 7 assists already, leading the Ducks in points and goals, and second in assists. While the Ducks and the Avalanche's records may look similar, the home/away differences for each team could prove to be the difference. The Avalanche are 4-2 at home, while the Ducks have recorded a 1-4 record on the road. The Ducks are also playing their second in two back-to-back games, coming off of a win against the red-hot Predators, 4-1. On the other side of the spectrum, we should be seeing a well-rested Avalanche team, as they haven't had to play since Vancouver on Saturday. All of these factors in mind, I believe the Avalanche will come out victorious tonight, however we may not see the high-scoring team we have seen in the past eleven games. If the Avalanche are to do this, they are going to need to grab the lead early, and hold it. They need to prove to the fans that they stay strong for 60 minutes, rather than the 40 we have seen in the past. Third period penalties need to be kept to a minimum, and Selanne needs to be tightly covered. I will take the Avalanche over the Ducks, 3-1.

11/3 Anaheim Game Summary/Analysis

Colorado Avalanche (6-4-1) vs. Anaheim Mighty Ducks (7-5-1) Pre-game analysis: Danny Hinote is back! Hinote returns after being out for multiple games, and adds an element to the game that the Avs love and their opponents can't stand. He adds a certain grit and hard-working attitude. He also draws penalties, and in this new NHL, powerplays and special teams are huge. Giguere will not be starting tonight as the Ducks want to rest him for their game tomorrow against San Jose. Instead we will see Ilya Bryzgalov who is 1-3 on the season. The Avalanche should be able to take advantage of the young goalie and continue their high scoring ways we've been seeing as of late. Another thing to keep an eye out for is the 500th career goal for Pierre Turgeon. I'd also like to correct a mistake I made in my previous post. This game is not the second of a back-to-back series for Anaheim, however, it is the first of two. I'd also like to add that Sergei Fedorov is also injured and will not be playing for the Ducks. Without Ozolinsh, Giguere, and Fedorov, the Ducks look slightly less threatening. In order for them to win, they are going to need big games from Bryzgalov, Selanne, McDonald, and the Niedermayer brothers. Period 1: Sykora scores one about seven minutes into the game off of Pahlsson and Kunitz making it 1-0. At this point the Avalanche were looking a little sloppy, losing control of passes, not picking up idle pucks, and playing mostly a defensive game. The Avalanche have never been down two goals at home, and this period would be no different. About seven minutes later, Rob Blake puts one into the net off of a wicked pass from Tanguay in the corner. This would extend Tanguay's point streak to ten games, and it's Blake's 2nd goal in two games. Hejduk would also pick up an assist. The Avs got two powerplay chances and the Ducks had one, niether could convert. With about three minutes left in the period, Antti Laaksonen stuffs one in off of a pass from the on-fire Laperriere. Making it 2-1 for the Avs. The Avs end up outshooting their opponents nearly 2:1. Period 2: Nearly two minutes into the period, the Avs come out strong with a goal from super Joe, off the post, making the score 3-1. Hejduk and Brisebois pick up the assists, Hejduk's second of the game, and Brisebois second in two games, as he had the assist on Laperriere's game winning goal against the Canucks on Saturday. The first penalty of the period comes about halfway through the period against Anaheim, however the Avalanche cant turn the red light on, putting them at 0/3 on the powerplay. Not a minute later, the Avs would go on the powerplay again off of a holding penalty on Salei. Turgeon keeps us on edge by throwing all sorts of shots at Bryzgalov, and even ringing one off of the crossbar during the powerplay, but the Avs still can't add anymore goals to their tally, dropping their PP to 0/4. With a minute left, Blake would go off for holding the stick, giving Anaheim a chance to mount a comeback. With only 11.8 seconds left, Lupul would do just that, scoring his 7th, making the score 3-2, and the Anaheim powerplay at 1/2. Both of the Niedermayers would get the assists. That goal just left a bad taste in my mouth, and memories of late game lead losses come flooding back. The third period will give the Avs a chance to fight the criticism they've recieved for their late game defense. We cannot just sit on this lead. The Avalanche have to play as hard, if not harder, than they have for the first two periods. 3-2 is hardly a lead in this new NHL, and I would be comfortable with nothing less than a three goal lead going into the third. Period 3: Woah, scary moment to start it out as a Duck shot the puck at Abby and it somehow managed to slither past him and slowly inch towards the goal line, but as if God intervened, it would stop suddenly on top of the red goal line, and Blake would sweep it away. Just over five minutes in, Petr Sykora is called for holding in a controversial call. Here would be a good time for the Avs to put a goal in and reverse the current momentum that the Ducks seem to be gaining. We get chances, and Tanguay gets a point blank shot, but nobody can score and our powerplay woes continue at 0/5. Ten minutes have passed, and all bullets have been dodged thus far. After a good 20 seconds of 6 on 5, the Avs get their 6th powerplay and a chance to all but put it away. A minute into the powerplay, Tanguay gets another point blank powerplay shot, but Bryzgalov stones him again on a seemingly identical play to the last powerplay. No goals though, 0/6. Fourteen minutes in, good ol' Brad May would go off the ice, giving Anaheim a prime chance to tie it late in the game, and perhaps a false sense of security on the ice. Antti Laaksonen would break out with his notorious speed, past Sykora and score shorthanded on a breakaway, all but sealing the deal. The penalty would be killed off, and all hope almost killed for Anaheim with a 2-goal deficit and slightly more than minutes left. To add fuel to the Avalanche's fire, Sykora would go off for interference, giving the Avalanche an insignificant powerplay, but a chance to break Anaheim's perfect penalty killing. But Alas, Anaheim would return the shorthanded goal with 55 seconds left with a wicked wrister from Niedermayer. Technically, five skaters were out on the ice for both teams, but Bryzgalov was on the bench. In a last minute effort, the Ducks would pull Bryzgalov again, but this time it wouldn't be as effective. Avalanche win the game, 4-3. Post-game analysis: Despite an extremely weak powerplay performance by the Avalanche (0/7), they managed to squeeze out the two points, and to pass Minnesota in the standings. Since the Oilers did manage to win tonight, the Avs are technically tied for second in the division, but the Oilers have played two more games. The Avalanche held off the Ducks in the third, but their play was marginal. Through the first 15 minutes or so, the Avalanche seemed to be at least even with the Ducks as far as their play, and the shorthanded goal by Laaksonen seemed to seal the deal. However, the final 5 minutes weren't so stellar, as they allowed Niedermayer to match Laaksonen's shorthanded goal with under a minute left. The game would end with the Ducks pushing the puck at Aebischer in a huge crowd in front of the net, but to no avail. Not a perfect third period, but they kept their win, and that's what matters. My player of the game would go to Antti Laaksonen who scored twice, got the GWG, and scored when it mattered, proving himself defensively as well with a +2 plus/minus. In the division: - Edmonton comes out with a suprising win against Detroit, 4-3 in OT, ending Detroit's 9 game winning streak. - Calgary comes from behind in the third to take the struggling Blue Jackets, 2-1.

11/4 Stars Preview and Division Updates

The Avs will be playing the struggling Stars, who have only won two of their last five. The Stars did play today, and walked all over the incredibly poor-looking Chicago Blackhawks who are only 4-10-0, but somehow still third in their division? Oh right, they also have the fearsome Blue Jackets and Blues to compete with... Either way, the teams both post similar records for the season thus far, the Stars at 7-5-1 and the Avs at 7-4-1 . Both teams are also in highly competitive divisions, with a maximum of a 3 point difference between any two teams in the same division. Neither can afford to drop this game. Especially the Avs, who need to take advantage of their home games while they can. Assuming Turco will play back-to-back games, we should see him in net against David Aebischer. Turco is a mediocre 4-4 so far this year, and 1-1 on the road. Aebischer, however, is 6-3 overall and 5-2 at home this season (not to mention 3-1 against Dallas for his career.) Guerin will be out for the Stars, complaining of back spasms, and, let's face it, for just being a general a-hole. As much as I hate the Stars and Mike Modano, Guerin is one of those guys that tally so many hate-points on my list, you'd think he was Chipper Jones. He was benched last week for taking stupid penalties, and I don't know if you recall the last meeting we had with the Stars, but Guerin was the one who retaliated on the clean (yet deliciously bloody) hit Hinote layed on Arnott, costing them the game. Who knows, maybe the Avs would have an even better chance if Guerin was out there to screw it all up for his own team. Again, I will pick the Avs to win this one, as the Stars will be coming off of a back-to-back game, and they will be playing on the road against a proficient home team. Turco's play hasn't exactly been stellar so far this season, and the 1 goal allowed against Chicago isn't quite so impressive, as the Blackhawks are 24th in goals for this season. I take the Avalanche, 6-3 in regulation. Around the division today, Vancouver beat Columbus, 5-3. and Edmonton picked up their 6th straight against a struggling St. Louis team, 7-2. This gives Edmonton sole posession of second place in the Northwest, however they have played three more games than the Avs, leaving plenty of room.

11/5 Avalanche vs. Stars

Pregame Notes -Budaj will start for the Avs in the place of Aebischer. Budaj is 1-1-1 so far this year. -Keep an eye out for Turgeon's 500th goal. Game Summary: The Avs start off the period with two quick powerplay chances. They couldn't convert on the first one, but Brunette scored on a pass from Turgeon on the second one, to make it 1-0 early. Unfortunately for the Avs though, Modano (or as I like to call him, Don John the Bastard) would score on Budaj just minutes after, tying it up at 1. But, as this new NHL dictates, the Avs would get another powerplay opportunity just after the goal, but alas, no conversion. Right off the bat, Tanguay would be called for tripping. This is Four penalties in just over 10 minutes, meaning that only two minutes of the first ten have been played at even strength. These kinds of numbers are all too common in the new NHL, and not quite so surprising as it would have been two years ago. In this powerplay for Dallas, however, the Avs would score, Konowalchuk with a shorthanded goal, with two seconds left in the penalty. Two to one, Avs. In the second period however, the Avs offense would begin to slow down. The only goal in the period would come from Lehtinen, making it 2-2. One reason for this could have been the disciplined play of the Stars, who did not allow the Avs to have any powerplay time, besides a short 9-second chance. The third period would prove to be the goalies' period. Neither goalie lets a goal in, and both look like seasoned pros. This sends the game into overtime. In overtime, the play would look even, until a penalty is taken by the Stars. The player had his stick caught in the jersey of Tanguay and went off for hooking. However, the Stars would step up to the occasion and held the Avs scoreless, and even managed to ring one off of the post. Nobody would score though, and the game would come down to a shootout. If you recall, the Avs' first shootout was against the Blackhawks a few weeks ago and the same face was in goal for the Avs. The Avalanche lost that shootout, and Budaj let all three goals in for the Blackhawks. This game would be no different. Zubov would net the first goal in the top right corner, above Budaj's glove. The next shot was by Hejduk for the Avs, but Turco managed to twist around and stop the deke by Hejduk. I believe it was Lehtinen next who pushed the puck past Budaj, making it 2-0. This would mean that Tanguay would have to score on his next chance, but Turco would prove strong again, with another cat-like save, ending the game. Final score of 3-2 for the Stars after the shootout. The number one and two stars would be Turco and number one and Budaj and number two, unsuprisingly, as despite a high-scoring first period, the game would come down to the goalies. Budaj has now allowed all five goals when playing in shootouts. This could be attributed to the fact that he is young and perhaps cannot handle the pressure of having an entire game on his shoulders. I've also noticed that Budaj likes to back up pretty quickly, leaving the shooter a bigger window to shoot into. Budaj cannot be blamed for the loss, but should be praised for keeping the Avs in it through the third period. Turco played excellently, making some incredible saves as well. We still pick up a point though, and that's better than the loss that was very possible were it not for Budaj. -Alejo

11/8 Avalanche vs. Sharks Preview

Colorado Avalanche (7-4-2) vs. San Jose Sharks (8-6-1) The game tonight will be the last of the Avalanche's longest homestand before heading to Vancouver on Thursday. They will be playing the San Jose Sharks, an 8-6-1 team. The Sharks have been plagued with goalie injuries from the get-go. Nabokov has been out for quite some time (since October 21st to be exact), and Toskala has just recently been reactivated on Saturday. Despite these problems, Nolan Schaefer has been playing incredibly well. He is 5-1 with a GAA of 1.94 and a save percentage of .916. His only loss coming on Saturday against Minnesota (of all teams.) It will be interesting to see whether the Sharks will continue with Schaefer, or start the recently reactivated Toskala, who has recorded an unimpressive 0-3 start, with a 5.08 GAA and a save percentage of only .826. Even though the Sharks have won five of their last six games, it is interesting to note that they have only won by a goal in each one of their five wins. This is not a team that is totally dominating other teams, and the 5-1 record in their past 6 games can be a little decieving. As far as injuries go, Scott Thornton, and former Av brute, Scott Parker are both out with injuries, and will probably not play tonight. The Avalanche should come out with all of their skaters, as they have no injuries reported. Interestingly, both teams are coming off of a snapped 5 game winning streak and niether team has played since Saturday. The Avalanche have been playing well as of late due to a well balanced team. The only teams that have more goals for are the Red Wings, the Flyers, and the Senators, and the Redwings have played three more games than the Avs. The Avalanche have 9 players who have amassed at least ten points, with the team leader for points sitting at 14. The only other team with 9 players with ten points or more are the Red Wings, who's point range is from 11-20, in contrast to the Avalanche's 10-14. By these stats alone, the Avalanche are arguably the most balanced team in the NHL right now. Not only are Blake, Sakic, and Tanguay in that ten point range, but the leader for points is young John-Michael Liles. Turgeon, Svatos, Brunette, Brisebois, and Laperriere are all also in this range. This demonstrates the elasticity of the Avs, and how recently unknown players to Avalanche fans are stepping up and playing to the Avalanche's level. In contrast to the Sharks, who only have three players in the ten-point or more range. Those players being Marleau, Cheechoo, and Sturm. This game should be a pretty even match-up between two strikingly similar teams. This game will give the Avs a chance to be tie the second place team in the division, and a Shark win would net the exact same result for San Jose. The Avalanche have played three fewer games than Calgary and Edmonton, and four fewer than Minnesota, so the fact that we are last in our division right now is incredibly misleading. Also, Edmonton and Minnesota will be playing tonight. Edmonton will be facing the Predators on the road and Minnesota will be playing Phoenix at home. -Alejo

11/8 Avalanche vs. Sharks

Tanguay picked up two goals and Turgeon got his 500th in a 5-2 victory over the Sharks. This makes Turgeon the 34th player of all time to reach 500 goals. The goal came on a 5-on-3 advantage for the Avs. The goal actually proved to be a crucial one, as it was on, effectively, the first Avalanche powerplay of the night, and brought the Avalanche lead to 4-2. Turgeon recieved a pass from Svatos and one-timed it right between the legs of Toskala. This game truly came down to special teams. The Avs held strong on the penalty kill, keeping the Sharks at 0/6. Once the Avs were able to get powerplay chances (not until the middle of the second period, and even then, it was only 9 seconds), they were able to capitalize. The Avs were 2/5 on the powerplay, with PP goals from Turgeon and Tanguay. Toskala had another rough game, and with San Jose's other back-up goalie playing so well, and Nabokov coming off of the injured reserve, it is very possible Toskala could end up in the minors. This game drops Toskala to 0-4, with 17 goals allowed in only 5 games. Aebischer, however, played excellently, allowing only two goals on 33 shots, and extending his winning streak to 6 games. He also picked up his first assist on the season. The Avalanche were outshot 23-33, and at the end of the second period, they were outshot nearly 2:1. Aebischer continued his hot streak, and kept the Avalanche in the game. The Avalanche picked up 11 out of the possible 12 points on this homestand, the best homestand of 5 games or more in Avalanche history. Goals for the Avalanche came from Tanguay (2), Turgeon, Svatos and Liles. Goals for the Sharks came from Cheechoo and Pressing. The second goal by Tanguay was another reminder of the new NHL. His goal came on a three line pass by Liles from one side of the ice to the other, setting him up for a breakaway, which he put away to the right of Toskala. It also seems that the Avalanche habit of laying back and sitting on third period leads has been put to rest. In this game, the Avalanche played possibly the strongest third period they have played to date, outshooting the Sharks 2:1 and scoring twice without allowing a goal. Maybe Quenneville finally told the team that this NHL is not the same NHL it was two years ago, and sitting on leads during the third period just doesn't work anymore. It's also been a good day for the Avalanche outside of the Pepsi Center. The Predators beat the Oilers in a nailbiter, 3-2. Minnesota also lost, 4-2 against the Phoeniz Coyotes. This means that the Avs jump from 5th in the division to 2nd in one night. They've also played three fewer games than the Flames, Oilers, and Wild. They are also only 4 points behind Vancouver, who has played 2 more games than the Avs.

11/10 Avalanche at Canucks

Colorado Avalanche (8-4-2) at Vancouver Canucks (10-4-2) The Colorado Avalanche look to continue their 6-game point streak against the Vancouver Canucks, who are coming off of two straight losses to Calgary and player-of-the-week Kiprusoff. The Avalanche are already 2-1 against Vancouver this season, and account for half of Vancouvers's losses. But this time, they will be playing on the road in Vancouver, where they are 0-1 on the season, despite a third period comeback. It is also possible that goalie, Dan Cloutier, for the Canucks will be back on the ice after missing nearly three weeks worth of games, but it is more likely that he will play in the game against Detroit on Sunday. If Cloutier does not play, expect Alex Auld, who has been filling Cloutier's shoes for the past three weeks to play. Auld has been playing a solid game, with the same record as Cloutier, of 5-2-1, but with a considerably better GAA of 2.25 versus Cloutier's 3.54, and a better save percentage of .916 versus Cloutier's .873. Aebischer has been playing just as hot as anyone on the Avs as of late, winning the last 6 games that he's started, including two against the Canucks. In spite of a rough start to the season, Abby is now 7-3 with nearly a .900 save percentage. The Avalanche have scored more goals than the Canucks, and allowed fewer goals on the season. They are also less vulnerable to giving up powerplays, as they have fewer penalty minutes on the season as well. One thing that stands out in the new NHL is the importance of special teams, and boy have the Avs caught onto that. They're fourth in the league in powerplay conversions with 22.3%, and fourth in the league in penalty killing, killing off 87.6% of penalties. Vancouver falls considerably short in these categories in comparison with the Avs, placing 18th and 21st in each category, respectively. If the Avs can take this one, they will be within a win of first place in the division, and have the advantage in games played. Also, if Calgary loses to Phoenix that same night, the Avs will have sole posession of 2nd place.

11/10 Avalanche at Canucks Summary

I wasn't able to actually watch the game tonight, although I did hear it on the radio. The Avs won in an important road game against the Canucks, 5-3. Goals came from Marek Svatos, Joe Sakic, Ian La-freakin'-perriere, Karlis Skrastins, and Antti Laaksonen for the Avs. The goals for the Canucks came from Ed Jovanovski, Todd "I'm A Fatass And Nobody Likes Me" Bertuzzi, and Richard Park. This win for the Avs brings them to 9-4-2 and tied with Calgary for 2nd in the division with a few less games played. It also broke a 7 game winning streak for the Canucks at home, and brings the Avalanche to an impresive 3-1 season record against Vancouver. The Avs started out very strong, ending the first period with four goals, and a comfortable lead going into the second. Sakic's goal was his 548th of his career, tying him with Michelle Goulet for all time goals. After the second, Vancouver will have netted two from Jovanovski and Bertuzzi. During the third, however, Aebischer held strong, killing off four consecutive penalties including a potentially disastrous two-man disadvantage. Karlis Skrastins padded the Avalanche lead with a shorthanded goal about 7 minutes into the third. Park would score with under two minutes to go in the game, but it wouldn't matter as the Avalanche take it, 5-3. Calgary beat Phoenix tonight, 4-3, and Edmonton will be playing Columbus tomorrow night. The Avalanche's next game will be against Calgary on the road, and it seems Calgary has picked up their game since they last met, when the Avs demolished Kiprusoff and Calgary, 7-3.

Healey Recalled from AHL

Left wing, Paul Healey has been recalled from the AHL after being sent down some days earlier. Healey only played two games for Colorado this season so far, and hasn't had a single point as of yet and 14 penalty minutes. In the eight games he played with the Lock Monsters, he recorded 2 goals and 3 assists.

McCormick Recalled From Lowell

Some slightly (2 day) old news for you... Cody McCormick was recalled from Lowell on the 13th. He played 44 games with the Avalanche last year, netting two goals and three assists. Expect him to get a hat trick tomorrow against Phoenix, one on a pass from Ossi Vannanen, one on a pass from Kurt Sauer, and here's a surprise, expect one on a pass from Healey. Anything less and send him back down to Lowell, I say.

I Heart Ian Laperriere

Coming Soon.

11/16 Avalanche at Coyotes and Season Analysis

Colorado Avalanche (9-6-2) at Phoenix Coyotes (9-9-2) Quenneville and the Avalanche played for the first time this year against Gretzky's Coyotes in Phoenix on Wednesday night. After a slow start in the first, the Avs were able to pick it up in the second and third periods, the times when the Avalanche are struggling the most. They rode the two goals by rookie, Marek Svatos, to a 3-1 victory. Peter Budaj, Aebischer's shining backup, was in net for the Avs against Phoenix's veteran goalie, Curtis Joeseph. Coming into this game, Peter Budaj's win-loss record wasn't looking like anything special at 1-2-2, but while he may not be picking up the wins, he is keeping the Avalanche in games and playing extremely well. Budaj's GAA is floating around 2.40, the league average is 3.00, and his save percentage is above the NHL average of .899 at .909. While Aebischer may be picking up the wins, with a record of 8-4 this year, he is lacking in GAA and save percentage. His save percentage is below average, at .878, and he is allowing 3.44 goals per game. At this point, it's safe to say that Aebischer is lucky that the Avs have such a high-scoring offense this year. (AP Photo/Tom Hood) On the subject of hot rookies, let's talk about Marek Svatos. He scored twice last night against the Coyotes, including the game winner. While niether goal was especially "pretty", they exemplified the kind of goals the Avs need to be scoring. Ian Laperriere comes to mind when he said during the loss to Edmonton that the Avs needed to get some dirty goals. This doesn't mean playing cheaply or cheating, but to shove in rebounds and to not go for that "pretty" goal every time. Both of Svatos's goals were exactly that type. One came on a puck that was floating around behind Joeseph that Svatos was in perfect position to shove in, and the other game off of a rebound that popped straight out between the circles, and that Svatos put away with a well cocked slapshot. Svatos has just as many goals as the superstar rookie, Sidney Crosby for the Pens. The win for the Avalanche tonight brings their record to 10-6-2, four points behind red-hot Calgary and luke-warm Vancouver. Calgary has played three more games than Colorado, and Vancouver has played one more, meaning there is still a cushion. Calgary won last night against the Red Wings, and Vancouver defeated San Jose. Edmonton plays tonight against the Red Wings, and if they win, they will be a point ahead of us in the standings, with significantly more games played. The Red Wings have recently lost to Vancouver and Calgary, but for the Avs' sake, lets hope they beat Edmonton. In other news, I read in the sports section of the paper the other day, where a writer voiced his opinions regarding the Avalanche's options with Aebischer. He suggested that the Avs unload Aebischer to a team with serious goaltending problems (Patrick Lalime and the Blues come to mind) in exchange for a strong defenseman, an area in which the Avalanche are sorely lacking right now. This suggests that we start Peter Budaj, and while I admit he looks fit for the job right now, he hasn't played enough yet this season to prove that he can start for the Avs for years to come. Honestly, I still think it's too early to pass off our defense as unadequate. We are only through about a fourth of the season, and players are still not fully adjusted to the new NHL. Quenneville needs to do all he can to train our defense to fit the new NHL. More importantly, the man who is supposed to be the backbone of our defense needs to step it up. Rob Blake currently is -6 on the season, the worst on the Avs. Briesebois, Vananen, and Liles are all far above Blake at +7, +5, and +4 respectively. Blake needs fixing. Speaking of players who seem to be in a rut right now, how about Milan Hejduk. In his last five games, he only has two assists, and is -2. If the Avs are going to compete for the cup, they are going to need 100% from every player, especially the big ones like Sakic, Tanguay, Blake, and Hejduk. Thankfully, players like John-Michael Liles, Antti Laaksonen, Ian Laperriere, and Pierre Turgeon have all stepped up their games from their previous years, and are all on pace to score more goals than the year before. But the question is how long they can keep it up. If the Avs want to be serious contenders for the cup, their highest paid players need to be playing for what they're worth.

11/13 Avalanche at Flames

Colorado Avalanche (9-4-2) at Calgary Flames (9-7-2) Not one of the better games for the Avs this year. They allowed three goals in a span of just over two minutes in the first period. Iginla scored first with 7:06 left in the first, then Amonte shoved another one in, making the score 2-0, and finally, MacDonald scored a third with 5:01 left in the period. Going into the second, the Avs were down 4-0, but experienced a brief comeback. Clark scored one on the powerplay, and Tangay scored two, one off of a penalty shot, making the score 4-3 going into the third. The Avs couldn't keep it up though, and were held scoreless through the third, and allowing a goal from Ference, making the final score 5-3. I didn't see the game, so I'm not sure when, but at some point during the Flames scoring streak, Aebischer was pulled, ending his winning streak. This game also ends the point streak for the Avalanche, and places them in second place, behind Calgary and Vancouver who are both tied for first at 22 points. The Avs have 20 points, and have played one fewer game than Vancouver, and three fewer than Calgary. Edmonton is only a point behind the Avs at 19, and they will be playing the Avs in Colorado on Monday. Edmonton beat Columbus, 3-1 on Friday, and Minnesota lost to Detroit, 3-1, the same day.

Another perfectly bad monday ruined by bad hockey...

It looked pretty good after a late goal in the first. Even after two, with the avs trailing 3-2, there was hope. But as has been the trend of late, the Avs couldn't pick up the pace late against the Oilers, who went on to beat the Avs 5-2. To be fair, first-time goaltender Mike Morrison played a very nice first game. But when push came to shove, the Avs simply let down and let the Oilers expand a 3-2 lead. They came out flat in the third and were thoroughly out-skated. One of the observations I had was that the Avs were trying too hard to score coming out in the third. Ian "Not a Goal Scorer" Laperriere, who had a goal and is also quickly turning into a fan favorite, even said it: "We need to get a dirty goal." Unfortunately, the Avs tried WAY too hard to setup a goal, trying to skate into the zone and make beautiful passes every time. Sometimes guys, that just doesn't work...dump it and chump it, that's what I always say. In the end, it didn't work, and because the Avs tried too hard, they had two third-period goal scored on them. They didn't muck it out and fight, and as a result, they lost. This puts them in fourth place behind Vancouver, Calgary, and Edomnton, who now leads them by only one point. But it's a close division in a very early year, so we have time. We recovered from a tendency to lose leads early in the season, now we just need to learn how to grind a close one out. In other news, stay tuned for the first evar b3 fanpage, I *Heart* Ian Laperriere, due out sometime this week.

Avs at Ducks Preview

Note: This is a joint posting from Gabe and Alejo The Ducks enter this game having lost their last five games, two of those loses coming in overtime. Last time the two teams met, the good guys came out victorious in a 4-3 winning effort. The Ducks, who just traded ceter Sergei Federov to Columbus, are on a relative cold streak, with star winger McDonald on a crushing cold streak. Their leading scorer is currently Teemu Selanne, the Avs cast-off who had a mediocre year last time hockey played before returning to his former team this year. The Avs come into the game fourth place in the Division, only one win away from Vancouver, and a mere point behind the Oilers, who beat the Red Wings yesterday on a last-minute OT goal from Stoll. Everyone in the division has played far more games than the Avs in the young season, so the closely-contested division is still well within reach. With Budaj playing last game in a 3-1 win over the Coyotes, Abeischer, who's 8-4-0 on the season so far, will most likely start. Gigeure, who's 6-3-4 on the season. Look for Milan Hedjuk to have a breakout game. He's been cold since scoring two goals in his first game back against Vancouver at home. In the last five games, he's had only 2 assists, and no goals. Against a sloppy Anaheim defense, Milan should be able to tear it up. Sakic's also overdue for a couple of points, so perhaps the two of them can combine for a few points. With Budaj playing last game in a 3-1 win over the Coyotes, Abeischer, who's 8-4-0 on the season so far, will most likely start. Gigeure, who's 6-3-4 on the season. Look for Milan Hedjuk to have a breakout game. He's been cold since scoring two goals in his first game back against Vancouver at home. In the last five games, he's had only 2 assists, and no goals. Against a sloppy Anaheim defense, Milan should be able to tear it up. Sakic's also overdue for a couple of points, so perhaps the two of them can combine for a few points. Other notes: Dan Hinote is still out, and Pierre Turgeon came back last game with two assists after missing the last game. Marek Svatos is red-hot, posting his second multi-goal game of the season against the Coyotes with two goals. The Avs will have to play twice in a row for the first time this season, and they're both on the road, so look for the Avs to conserve their stars late for Saturday's game against the Kings.

Avs Sneak By Anaheim, 3-2

Colorado Avalanche (10-6-2) at Anaheim Mighty Ducks (7-8-4) The Avs took a second game in a row on the road against the Ducks last night, winning on a last (5) minute goal by none other than Marek Svatos. Svatos seems to be scoring GWG after GWG. In the words of Joel Quenneville, ""He's got the Midas touch." And as predicted, Sakic and Hejduk did have breakout games, ending their slumps, Joe with two assists, and Milan picked up his first goal since his return game a few weeks ago. Joe and Milan celebrate after Hejduk picks up his first goal in weeks. Both had breakout games against the Ducks. Sitting, dejected on the ice, are Anaheim goalie Bryzgalov, and former Av, Sandis Ozolinsh. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson) The other goal came from special teams master, Steve Konowalchuk on the powerplay. Hedstrom and Selanne picked up the goals for Anaheim. Peter Budaj started for the first time in back to back games, and showed that he can handle the job. Budaj stopped 31/33 of Anaheim's shots, and looked just as good as ever. The reason for Budaj starting twice in a row? Perhaps the Avs wanted Aebischer rested for the game tonight against the formidable Kings, or maybe it's merely because the goalie has been hot, and Aebischer has cooled down. Aebischer has only saved 22 of 30 shots in his last two games. However, I would expect Abby to start tonight against the Kings, as goalies rarely play two games in two days, and Abby is surely very rested. Brett Clark had a penalty shot opportunity in the middle of the second period, after he was tripped up by Scott Niedermayer. This was the first penalty shot Bryzgalov had to face, and Clark shot it left and high, over the crossbar. The Hejduk-Sakic-Tanguay line looked how it should. They combined for a goal and five assists, with a +/- of +1. Apparently Quenneville gave them a good talking to a few nights ago, and it payed off. Sakic declared, "For the three of us, it's been our best game in a while." The Avs will be playing the 13-6-1 Kings in LA tonight at 8:30 mountain time. The Kings will be without Robitaille and Bure, but that hasn't stopped them as of yet. They are 5-2-1 without Robitaille, and Bure has been gone since nearly the opening of the season. Since the Ducks appeared in 1993, the Avs have played six back-to-back road games against Anaheim and LA. They have never won both. In other news, the Flames lost last night against 8-11 Blackhawks, 5-2. (Can you say "choke"?) Also, two days ago, the Canucks lost to LA in a close one, 5-4. Edmonton beat Detroit in overtime on the same day. This puts the Avs in third in the division, only a win back from Calgary and Vancouver. Niether of those two teams play tonight, so if the Avs beat the Kings, we will be in a three-way tie for first place with Calgary and Vancouver.

Trade Rumours

"I know I can play better" The words of Avalanche goalie, David Aebischer, after the 4-3 loss to the Kings on Saturday. The old rumours of whether or not Aebischer's spot as the #1 goalie for the Avs is in jeopardy are back. Despite his recent winning streak, which seemed to have Abby's spot secured, he has played poorly for the past few games. His worst showing came against Calgary just days ago, when he allowed 3 goals on 8 shots. But back to what you might be wondering. Trade rumours? For who? A report on a Canadian sports TV network reported that the Avalanche were looking for a trade with Florida for goalie, Roberto Luongo. However, the Panthers denied this possibility, and the Avalanche had nothing to say. So this rumor is just that, a rumor. Does it mean anything? Maybe. Quenneville said he would be starting Budaj tonight against the Flames, accounting for his third start in four games. Only time will tell, I guess.

11/19 Avalanche at Kings

Another game I wasn't able to watch... seems the ones I miss, we lose. Anyhow, the Avs lost 4-3 to the Kings again on Saturday night. Demitra scored a hat trick for the Kings, and Sean Avery McDiveDive netted the other one for the Kings. For the Avs, goals were scored by Turgeon (2) and Tanguay. Turgeon also had an assist, and was +1 for the game. The Avs let the Kings score a goal with about three minutes left "to shoot" (thanks Doug) on the powerplay, to allow the Kings to take the lead, and that would end it. Vancouver also won today, meaning the Avs are a game behind the Flames, and two behind Vancouver.

11/23 Avalanche at Detroit Preview

The Avalanche will be playing the Red Wings tonight in Detroit. This will be Detroit's fist game back since teammate, Jiri Fischer, suffered a seizure and experienced momentary death, as his heart stopped, but was restarted by the medical crew. Both teams are struggling a bit, Detroit has lost their last two to Edmonton and St. Louis, and the Avs have lost 4 of their last 6, and also their last two games. The Avs are 5-4 on the road, and the Wings are 8-3-1 at home. The Avs could really use a win here to put them back in close contention for first in the division. Who knows what the effect of Fischer's situation will be on Detroit as they gear up against the Avs tonight. I would guess that it won't be much of a factor, as Fischer seems to be doing fine, and from experience, I know that when you're playing hockey, that is all that is in your head. Should be a good game tonight anyhow. NHL '06 says that the Avs will beat the Wings tonight, 5-3 with an empty net goal from Brisebois, and other goals from Sakic, Hejduk, Laaksonen, and Healey. Yzerman will pick up two goals, but it wont be enough.

NHL 06 lied!

I didn't get to see the game. But, as I understand it, the Avs couldn't fly with the Wings (PUN INTENDED!) The Wings played a highly emotional game after the collapse of teammate Yiri Fischer, putting the Avs away after breaking a 2-2 tie in the second with two goals, making it 4-2. After that, the Wings piled it on, with Williams, Samuelssen, and Franzen piling on goals to make it 7-3 before the massacre was over. Ian *Heart* Laperriere, JM Liles, and Andrew Brunette scored for the Avs. Though it was another big scoring game for the defense, it was all too little to late. With the loss, the Avs drop to fourth in the division behind the Oilers. The problem now is that they have played the same number of games as the Canucks, and yet they are still five full points behind Vancouver, who is tied for the division lead with Calgary, who has logged 24 games. Edmonton is just one game ahead with 27 points, and 24 games played. Glancing over the stats, the biggest discrepancy for the Avs is really in goals against. Both Calgary and Vancouver have limited opponents to 62 goals against, and though the Avs have a division-leading 84 goals for, they are last in the division, having allowed 75 goals in only 22 games. The Avs' next game is tomorrow against the Columbus Bluejackets, where the Avs will meet former defenseman Adam Foote for the first time since he left the team after the last NHL season. A big win against the abysmal Blue Jackets (10 pts and at the bottom of the central division) would bode well for the Avs, who will play three extremely important divisional games after facing the Bluejackets in Columbus. After tomorrow's game, the Avs will return home for a game against Vancouver, and then play Edmonton and Vancouver again on the road. If the Avs can gain some momentum with a thrashing of Columbus, and then pick up two games against Vancouver, it would put them right back in the race for first in what has so far turned out to be one of the toughest divisions in hockey. Another note is that the Avs have not had two-day break since the 16th, and will not have another one until the 30th of this month. In that stretch of two weeks, the avs will have played 8 games, meaning that coming down the stretch, they'll be extremely tired. Again, if they can pull off a few divisional wins, the division race plus the grinding it out in the stretch may be a huge motivator for this team. In only slightly less exciting news, the Avalanche and the fans at the Pepsi center set a world record on the 15th, yes a world record for....no, not most "Bertuzzi Sucks" chants in a 60-minute game, a world record for "simultaneous bell-ringing" on behalf of the Salvation Army. That's definitely worth being on the front page of ColoradoAvalanche.com for a few weeks. Totally. Also, Happy Thanksgiving from all the gang here at 5280sports. We hope you enjoyed stuffing yourselves silly and finally letting out your beer gut, and we want you all to know that we couldn't possibly post so incessantly unless we knew that some of you were out there clinging to or rejecting our every word. And for that, we're truly thankful.

Is Abei ringing his final bells in Denver?

Following up on the story my cohort Alex ran about a possible trade with the Panthers for goalie superstar Lunongo, I'm today looking at whether Abei should be the starting goaltender in Denver given his recent performance. Looking at history, the biggest benefit to Abei is that he has one. He's won 6 playoff games, and had a winning season last year as the starter - but recently, he hasn't looked so hot.

(AP Photo/Danny Moloshok) David Abeischer looks up at the score board while surrounded with hats after Pavol Demitra of the kings scored his third goal of the game for a hat-trick on Saturday. The Kings won the game 4-3. Is David Abeischer's play costing the Avalanche games?

The bottom line is that Abbei lets in goals. He's not performing in a brick-wall game-stealing way like he did in the latter half of the season and playoffs last year. Some might attribute this to the new rule changes, but Abei has posted a GAA of 3.49 so far, well above the 3.00 league average. He is one of he main reasons that the Avs have the worst team goals against in the division. While Abei does have a fair 8-5 record, he is not the exciting goalie he once was. It seems this year that instead of other teams having to force pucks by him, he's trying to force pucks to stop in front of him. He is not making the exciting, game-breaking saves. Peter Budaj is. Whenever you're talking about goalies, you have to talk about the replacement. Peter Budaj, the Avs' rookie backup, is an inexperienced, but unlike David Abeischer, highly athletic butterfly-style goalie. He's posted a .269 save percentage so far, and he's faced an average of 27.5 shots a game, whereas Abei has only faced 26.2. While this may be a small difference, it definitely takes out any gameday anamolies where another team doesn't get many shots, or the defense really steps it up. With this in mind, the only drawback to Peter Budaj is his record of 3-3-3. In 3 home games he's started in, games have been 2-2 going into overtime, and the Avs have lost it in the shootout. But the most important observation about Budaj is that in all three of those games, he's been the main reason why the Avs got to OT in the first place. If you'll recall in the last overtime game against the Flames, the Flames had well out-played the Avs until the third, when Budaj shut the door and dragged the Avs into overtime, kicking and screaming. The point is, Budaj is making the exciting, impossible save, and Abei is not. And the fact that Abeischer hasn't even played in an overtime game yet says that he wins big or loses big, an observation that doesn't bode well in a tightly-contested division. So, overall, am I advocating starting an un-tested rookie over a proven veteran? No. What I'm saying here is that Abeischer has so far not proven himself to be the same goalie he was just years ago. I realize that Budaj has given away a few games this year (see Detroit below), but Abei needs to step it up and start making saves in close games and propel the Avs to the win. Otherwise, the Abei's final bells might be ringing here in Denver.

Avs makin' me look good and bad

Right after I make a post that absolutely torches, I mean, just screaming flat-out says he's bad, David Abeischer has to get a shutout, doesn't he? Someone's been spending $10/night in Columbus to read us, because he played damn well. Thanks for making me look good, buddy. However, one of my predictions did prove dead-on. The Avs smoked the Jackets 5-0, in what should be a huge emotion boost after losing 3 straight. This is exactly what they needed to do, even if it was against a bad team. Now, to Abeischer's credit, it's not like he wasn't tested. He faced 35 shots and an absolutely buzzing (har har har) 2nd period from the Jackets, including new acquisition Sergei Federov. Since Columbus didn't do much in the way of, well, anything, let's talk about the Avs' accomplishments. Marek Svatos had another great game, with a goal and two assits. Ian *SIGH* Laperriere and Brad may both scored, and so did Sakic, on a beautiful pass from Milan Hedjuk, who might just be -- I mean, it's too soon to say it, but -- he just might be breaking out and re-gaining his magic hands. We'll see. Pierre Turgeon did get two assists, but he left in the second period with what looks like a re-agrivation of his groin. No news so far about the extent of the injury, but the Rocky Mountain News' Rick Sadowski did note that it's believed to be similar to what Turgeon suffered in training camp. Turgeon has been an impact player with the Avs thus far with a team-leading 25 points, so missing him for more than a few games, especially in the tough divisional games coming up, could be hard to recover from. The only other notes about the game are that Svatos, who registered his 11th goal of the season, now stands at third among rookies in points, assists, and goals. In the points category, Marek is tied with the Capitol's Ovechkin, and only 5 points behind the Penguin's Sidney Crosby. Unlike both Crosby and Ovechkin, however, Svatos is 0 on the +/-. Both Crosby and Ovechkin are -4 on the year. In goals, Marek is only one behind Crosby, and 4 behind Ovechkin. He's having a fantastic year so far.

Avs vs. Canucks Preview

At 7 o clock tonight in at the Pepsi Center, the Colorado Avalanche will be taking on their longtime rivals, the Vancouver Canucks. Being that it's at home, a new set of fans will be able to mock Bertuzzi (don't be surprised if this continues all season, Avs fans are PISSED). Anyhow, the Avs will be missing alternate captain, Steve Konowalchuk for this game, and the rest of the year. He has torn ligaments in his wrist during the game against Calgary a few days ago and will need surgery. The recovery time is supposed to be around 6-7 months, so that should do it for Steve. The Avs will miss him too. Konowalchuk had 6 goals and 9 assists before he was injured, and was a major contributor to the penalty killing line. In his place, Brad Richardson, a center, was called up from Lowell. This will be his first game in the NHL, he was the Avs' fourth pick in the 2003 draft. The Avs will also probably be without center, Pierre Turgeon, who hurt his groin in the game against Columbus two days ago. The Avs are coming off of a huge morale boosting victory over the struggling Columbus Blue Jackets, 5-0. This notched Aebischer's first shutout of the season, and as we all know, shutouts are now a rarity. Vancouver is coming off of a 2-1 loss to Phoenix. Vancouver's home record is certainly noteworthy, at 10-1-0 (the Avs giving them their only loss), but today Vancouver will be playing on the road, where they're only 5-6-2. The Avalanche are 3-1 against Vancouver on the year as well. Who's hot for this game? For the Avs, Marek Svatos. The rookie is up in the ranks of Ovetchkin and Crosby in scoring, and is proving that his early season fire was not just a fluke created by Hejduk's absence. Svatos is riding a 6 game point streak, in which he has 4 goals and five assists. Turgeon is also hot, riding a 6 game point streak as well, with 3 goals and 8 assists. Unfortunately, Turgeon will most likely not play tonight. The Avs are now in fourth place in the division, with 27 points behind Vancouver's 32. All hope is certainly not lost however, with plenty of season to go. The Avs need to continue this anti-Vancouver streak tonight and keep the point distance between eachother close.

Avs eat Auld, Canucks alive.

The Avs took a big one last night against the Canucks, winning by a large margin of 6-2. The action didn't take long to start, as the struggling Milan Hejduk netted one 11 seconds into the first period off of a pass from Tanguay. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski) Only four minutes later, Andrew Brunette would score again with assists from Ian *sigh* Laperriere, and Antti Laaksonen. Just seven minutes after that, Joe Sakic would score on a fluke goal. Joe shot the puck from a ways out from the net, and defenseman Mattias Ohlund literally punched it behind Auld. The Avs' fourth goal of the first period would come from Marek Svatos on a breakaway on a powerplay. The second period was a little slower for the Avs, as they didn't score, but allowed Brendan Morrison to score on the powerplay. Other than that, the period was generally uneventful. The third would put a little bit of a jump in the Avs' step, as Bryan Allen was able to score 8 minutes in, making it 4-2. The Avs stepped up to the pressure of a possible comeback by the Canucks, by scoring two additional goals. The first goal would come from Dan Hinote, shorthanded, Laaksonen assisted. This is Hinote's first goal of the season. Hinote is not known for his goal scoring, but for his ability to play with 100% effort all of the time, even if he has three broken legs and a severed head, this guy keeps playing. His first goal came at a good time, as it ended any comeback hopes by the Canucks. To top it all off, less than a minute later, Sakic would score again, with assists coming from both Tanguay and Hejduk. The best thing that came out of this game, was the heightened play of the first line, Tanguay, Sakic, and Hejduk. They combined for three goals and four assists. This is important, as the Avs leading scorer, Turgeon, was out, and another key player, Konowalchuk, will be gone for the rest of the season. Since the play has been so well balanced between the lines, the lack of production from the first line has not been criticized. Without Konowalchuk, things could be different. Without Konowalchuk, the Avs depth chart is looking slightly different. The first and third lines will remain the same, but the second and fourth lines are changed up a bit. Minus Turgeon, the depth chart would look like this. LW - Tanguay || C - Sakic || RW - Hejduk LW - May || C - Brunette || RW - Svatos LW - Laaksonen || C - McLean || RW - Laperriere LW - Richardson || C - McCormick || RW - Hinote This is interesting, as May is moved all the way up to the second line with Svatos and Brunette, creating an interesting bit of chemistry. May, a hard hitting, but far from a high scoring winger, with the scorer, Svatos, who is small and fast, and then the ten year veteran, Brunette. I'm not sure I agree with putting May up on the second line. I would reccomend moving Laaksonen to the second line, Richardson or McCormick to the third, and May should remain with Hinote on the fourth. But I'm not coach Quenneville, so I lose. Moving back to the game, Aebischer played excellently once again, making key saves at key moments, and never losing his touch. He saved 38 of 40 Vancouver shots, and saved shots that most other goalies wouldn't have stopped. He looked like the Aebischer of two years ago once again. Another great game like the past two would at the least bring Abby's reputation back up. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski) This was also a key game for the Avs to win overall, as it brings them into a tie with Edmonton for third, with a game in hand going into tomorrows game betwen the two. They're also only a game out of second, with a game in hand against Calgary, and they are only a game and a half out of first, with a game up on Vancouver as well. This means that if the Avs win tomorrow against Edmonton, they will be a half a game out of first, behind Vancouver, who they will play on Wednesday for sole possession of first place, assuming Calgary loses to Nashville tonight. If Calgary does win, the Avs will share first with them. Whew.

Game thread: Avs and Oilers Tonight

The Avalanche will take on the Edmonton Oilers in Edmonton for the 5th time this season tonight. Newly re-energized starter David Abeischer will likely get the go tonight for the third straight game, saving rookie Peter Budaj for the second of the home-and-away series against Vancouver which will take place tomorrow. The Avs look to take the lead in the season series, as the teams have won two games a piece so far. The Oilers come into tonight in 4th place (by games-played only, they're tied in points with the Avs) in the hotly-contested Northwest, behind none other than the Avs. The Oilers are also coming off of a 3-game winning streak lead by their newfound rookie sensation, goalie Mike Morrison. So far, Morrison is a perfect 4-0 in starts, and lead the league last weak with a 1.58 GAA, and a .933 SV-%, and was named defensive player of the week. The Avs are also on a relative hot-streak, winning two games in a row by more than three goals. More importantly, they are chasing down first in the division. A win tonight and a win tomorrow against the Canucks garauntees them un-contested first place, for the first time this season. So the prospects for the game are exciting for the Avs, and a win tonight is very important. In other news, Pierre Turgeon was put on the IR retroactive to the 25h due to the groin injury he suffered against the Flames, and left-wing Paul Healey was recalled from the Avs AHL affiliate in Lowell to take his place. Healey was pointless in his first stint with the team this season, when he played in both of the back-to-back home games against Vancouver. Another observation of note that we've been waiting on to make certain, Avalanche play-by-play TV announcer, Doug McLeod, seems to be out of the booth for Altitude for the long haul. Longtime radio announcer Mike Haynes has taken his place, and Norm Jones is currently running a one-man show on the radio. We fully support this move, as we felt Doug was a terrible announcer, getting player names wrong, and lying about common plays, like saying a goalie made a save when a shot was clearly tipped wide. In other words, we don't miss you, Doug. But what do you guys think? We're also trying something new here in that we're making this a "game thread", meaning we invite all oh you to post your comments live as the game progresses. The conversation isx totally open, so feel free to comment on anything you notice, as often as you like. We'll be checking in periodically during the game as well, so we hope to see all of your best observations tonight! To make a comment, just click on the word "comments" below this post, fill out the form that brings you to (e-mail addresses are strictly confidential to verify poster validity - we don't even see them) with your comment, and press submit. It's so easy, your grandmother could do it while hip-checking Todd Bertuzzi.

Two-Day Division Heart-Stopper

Yesterday, the Avs played the Oilers for second place in the northwest, and beat them 3-2 on goals from Ian *sigh* Laperriere (9, 10) and Joe Sakic (10). The Avs were thoroughly out-played in most of the second and parts of the third, but David Abeischer had his third fantastic performance in a row, stopping 29 shots for his third win in as many games. For the first time this year, Abeischer may have stolen one for the Avs - and just in time. Calgary dropped to Nashville, which means the win puts the Avs in second place. Other notes about the game: Marek Svatos continued to play well. Though he didn't have a point, he drew a penlalty on a breakaway. Dan Hinote's strong play also drew a penalty, and Aanti Laaksonen had two assists, both on the Laperriere goals. The line of Laaksonen, Brunette, and Laperriere (all off-season acquisitions) has been one of he most consistent so far this year, and some people have even speculated that Laperriere may be stepping up to replace Steve Konowalchuk, who will be out for the season. Tonight's game (starting in just 20 minutes) is a completely different story. If you like watching the Avs play Vancouver on a regular night, you'll love watching the two teams square off for un-contested first place. That's right. With a win in regulation tonight, the Avs will be in un-contested first place in the Northwest. The Avs have won four games in a row against the Canucks, including the only home loss the Canucks have suffered this year, a 5-3 victory on November 10. In the last game of the season series between the two teams (which the Avs lead 5-1), the Avs got off to a 4-0 start in the first period, and didn't stop, eventually getting a 6-2 win at home. Todd Bertuzzi, the team's second scorer with 23 points, said he could offer no excuses for the start of last game, where the Canucks gave up four straight goals to the home team.

"No explanation for the start. Not at all. I don't have an answer. This is an embarrassing loss."

Bertuzzi is still being booed by Avs fans every time he touches the puck because of the cheap-shot hit against Avs fourth-liner Steve More at the end of the last NHL season. He and Markus Naslund have been held to almost no effect in all of the games against the Avs this year, something the players hope to continue tonight. Notes: After three straight wins for the Avs, goalie David Abeischer will likely rest tonight, giving the start instead to Peter Budaj. Budaj is 0-1 against the Canucks this year, as he allowed 5 shots in the only defeat the Avs have suffered against Vancouver this year. Still, look for him to play sharp as he has of late, even though he's been rested the last few games. On the season, Budaj is 3-3-3, but he has an impressive save percentage of .903, five points above the league .898 average. He also has a fantastic GAA at 2.69, well below the league average of 3.01. None of the other divisional teams will play tonight, so for the moment the Avs are tied for second with the Calgary flames (Calgary having played one more game) at 31 points, and only one point behind Vancouver, having played the same number of games. If the Avs can get past tonight in first place, they will have played one of their best stretches of hockey thus far this year - and it will have been during one of the toughest parts of their schedule. It's time for hockey.

Avs defeat Thortonless Bruins, 4-1

I orginally wrote a good sized article for this one, but it was just recently somehow deleted, and I frankly don't have time to rewrite it, but here is a link to the Yahoo! story if you are interested. Sorry. http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/recap;_ylt=AuAuhJG_HU5cGXiGGMUb2YdB2bYF?gid=2005120717

Belated coverage: Avs drop to Pens

Now this is a weird one, not because it was dubbed the battle of the rookies (the leading scorer for the Penguins, 18 year-old Sidney Crosby (13 goals) against the Avs 23 year-old Marek Svatos (14 goals)), but because the Penguins were without Ziggy Pallfy or Mario Lemieux. Despite this, the Penguins still managed to come up with a win. Not that the Avs didn't make it close. Recchi (who was the league's-worst -20 comint into the game) put in the first goal early in the first, but Hedjuk quickly tied the game at 1-1. After hat, Dick Tarnstrom and rookie Eric Christenson scored, making it 3-1 after the first. In the second, only Danny Hinote, one of the Avs' most energetic skaters all night, was able to score off of a rebound from a Blake Boomer. Marek Svatos tied the game at 3 in the middle of the third with one of his patented one-timers from the slot. However, only a few minutes after his goal, Penguins rookie Maxime Talbut scored off of a second rebound. Kolesnik made two great saves, but no one for the Avs was back to clear the puck. Even with this seemingly devastating goal, the Avs almost got the equalizer late in the third. A penalty was called against the Penguins with less than two minutes left, and Quennville decided to pole Vitaly Kolesnik, but despite several great chances, the Avs were unable to capitolize, and ended up losing 4-3. Speaking of Kolesnik, how about the rookie? So far in 3 NHL starts, he's 2-1, winning one in the shootout and making several impressive saves. My overall impression of him is that he's more exciting and more energetic than either Peter Budaj or David Abeischer - but he still definitely has some rookie kinks to work out, like effectively playing the puck. Overall, I'm inclined to go with him as the backup over Peter Budaj, especially the impressive performance to beat the Devils in the shootout, something no other Avalanche goaltender has been able to do this year. Kolesnik is more athletic, and has a better eye for shooters than Budaj - that's my up-front evaluation. I think the Kazahkstanian may be the future of this teams' goaltending, I'm that optomistic. Back to the game, the loss puts us tied for third with Edmonton at 35 points. With this latest east-coast swing, we've had no chance to gain any points on the rest of the division, which puts us three points behind Vancouver, and a full five points behind Calgary. We're still very much in the playoff hunt, but I don't like the streaky hockey we've been playing. I get the feeling the Avs still haven't settled into much of a groove this season. The next game is tomorrow against the league-leading Ottowa Senators. The Avs should come out fired up for this game after the tough loss to Pittsburgh, ready to prove their worth against the best team in the league. A win here could give them confidence heading into the next few games, where they will finish up their Eastern conference tour with a subway-series against both New York teams, and then return home to play the Minnesota Wild for the first time this year.

1/19 Avalanche vs. Blackhawks

Tonight at 6:30 MST, the red hot Colorado Avalanche will be taking on the mediocre-to-bad, Chicago Blackhawks. The Blackhawks are 15-25-6, which still manages to take third place in the failing Central Division. The Blackhawks are coming off of two consecutive OT losses to the New Jersey Devils and the New York Islanders. On the other end of the ice, the Colorado Avalanche have been on fire as of late, winning each and every game in 2006, eight straight. A win tonight would be their longest winning streak in five years. David Aebischer, who has started in seven of the last eight games will most probably be in net again for the Avalanche. Adam Munro will be in net for the Hawks in Nikolai Khabibulin's absence due to injury. Munro has started in the last three games for the Hawks and is putting up reasonable season numbers, especially in light of the lack of defense for Chicago, with a record of 2-0-2, a save percentage of .930, and a remarkable 1.92 GAA. Aebischer is just as hot, with a 5-0-0 record in the last five games, a GAA of 1.95 and a save percentage of .925. Assuming both defenses hold up, we should be in for a low scoring, goalie oriented battle. Also playing incredibly well for the Avs of late is Alex Tanguay. Tanguay has 8 points (4G, 4A) in the last five games, including a game winner, and is averaging 1.6 points per game. Svatos has scored 6 goals in his last five games, averaging just above a goal per game. Offensively, Chicagos main scorers this year have not been putting out as of late. Mark Bell has only 2 assists in the last five, and Tyler Arnason has just that plus a goal. The key difference in this game is not the defense, but the offense. Colorado scores the most goals in the Western Conference, and has Svatos, who leads the Western Conference in goals. Chicago scores the third least goals in the Conference, only ahead of Columbus and St. Louis. The goalies for each team are playing hot, but the Avalanche offense should be able to secure a victory for the Avs. Not to mention the home ice advantage, where the Avs are 15-6-3. I think the Avs will continue the streak, winning tonight, 3-1.

Happy B-Day, but the end of the streak

Yesterday was Ian Lapperier's 32nd birthday. We'd like to with him the happiest, since he's a great player, and everyone tells me he's a great guy. He's also one of our favorite players. I'm sure all of us would like him if we were lucky enough to get the opportunity to meet him - anyhow, happiest of days Ian. In other news, the Avs ended their 8-game winning streak, to none other than the Chicago blackhawks. The hawks outskated the Avs consistently, and their goalie, who's name starts with a K but is ridiculous to spell, played very well and made stops when he had to. We just didn't see the kind of energy we've seen from the Avs thus far in 2006. To recap the year so far: Avalanche 8, Everyone Else 1. It's still good numbers, and we're still only two points behind Calgary for the division lead. I think even though the streak is over, the Avs will continue to play good hockey, especially with the toughest portion of their schedule to date coming up. Next up: What promises to be an excellent game against former arch-rival Detroit. If any of the Avs fans that were in the building when Eddy Belfour (Belllllll-fffffffooooouuuuuuurrrrrr) and the leafs came into town are there for this game, it's gonna be a rocking place.

Super-ultra rival Red Wings come to town

Okay, so the rivalry isn't nearly what it was five or six years ago, back when Roy fought Osgood in the middle of the ice, and when Darren McCarty was most wanted in Colorado, but the fans have kept the rivalry alive, even though each team is essentially no longer the same team. The only players we have from the peak days of the rivalry now are Milan Hejduk, Dan Hinote, Joe Sakic, and Alex Tanguay. Just less than a fifth of the total team now. Let's face it, Colorado, our rivals are Marc Crawford (aka. Traitor McGee) and the Vancouver Canucks. So now that I have the state of the 'rivalry' settled, I'll note that it will be a great game to watch anyways (unlike watching the Avs get trounced by the third worst team in the conference.) It will be Saturday at 2:00 PM mountain time. If there is anything the Avs need to fix this game, its our powerplay. It seems like game after game we get two man advantages and it looks like a regular powerplay at best. We sure didn't convert against the Blackhawks the other night, and that needs to change. Not to mention chances during the Philadelphia game as well. This contrasts the fact that Detroit has the best powerplay in the league with 24.8%, and also have scored a goal or better on the powerplay in the last ten games. Therefore, a big key to the game for the Avs will be to keep cool and not take stupid penalties (especially delay of games and too many men calls.) However, Detroit has given up the fourth least penalty minutes this year, so it could be tough to even get chances. Both teams are hot. Detroit has won their last three, and five of their last seven. The Avs have taken an incredible seven of their last eight. If the Avs are to win this game, they're going to need to score, a lot. Detroit scores 3.69 goals per game, just above the Avs' 3.63. The Avs will rarely face a higher scoring team than themselves. They also haven't had great luck against the Wings this year, only winning one of the six games they have played. The Avs are going to need goals from where they are used to getting them. Hejduk and Sakic especially need to step it up and play like the scorers they are. Svatos can't keep putting away the garbage forever... Moral of the story: don't lose, Avs.

Mr. Canada continues to struggle against Red Wings

In the past 10 games the Avalanche have played, Joe Sakic has scored 0 goals. Mr. Canada is in one of the worst slumps of his career, and that didn't change Saturday against the dreaded Red Wings. Coming into own, the Wings were the best team in the Western conference, and they showed you why. They allowed only one goal on 8 powerplay chances for the Avs, including stopping 2 five on three powerplays, and they managed to cash in on their own five on three. After the game, Alex Tanguay said they needed to seriously work on their powerplay. David Abeischer had another fantastic game, making some of the best saves of the year in the first period, only to go into the locker room with the game 3-1. After the game, Rob Blake said that in the first period the Avs didn't have the puck for so long that when they got it, they panicked and made hasty decisions. The Wings had the puck for far too long in the first, and goals from Holmstrom, Schneider, and Datsuk put them ahead 3-1 going into the break. The lone Avalanche goal was from Ian Lapperiere off of a shot from John-Michael Liles. The good news about this game is the first period was by far the worst for the Avs. In the second, the Avs mounted one of their signature comebacks with a flurry of goals first from Brisebois and then from Brunette, to tie the game at three. Late in the second, however, both Brett Clark and Anti Laaksonen took penalties, giving the Red Wings a five on three. Unlike the Avs, Robert Lang was able to cash in on a pass from Pavel Datsuk, and despite a late third-period flurry by the Avs, the Wings were able to keep the score 4-3. Manny Legace got the win for the Wings, and David Abeischer lost his second straight after his personal seven-game streak was ended against the Blackhawks last thursday. What do we learn from this game? The Avs aren't quite up to the upper echelon of the league -- yet. The difference in the game was a lousy first period - other than that, the Avs played 40 minutes of good hockey and showed that they can play with the best teams in the league. There are encouraging signs from the Avs, and I believe that they can fix the gaps and be competitive by the end of the year. The next game begins the home stretch going into the Olympic break. The Avs will play all four division rivals in their next ten games, starting with division-leading Calgary on Tuesday night. They will also play these Red Wings two more times. It's going to be a tough, defining stretch of time for this team - but the good news is that if they're able to capitilize and start another hot streak during this stretch, they're going to put themselves in excellent position for the playoff rush that will begin after the break.

Defining stretch begins with Flames at home

The Avs have quite the schedule coming up, with three of four of their next four games being against division rivals at home, and it all starts Tuesday night with the Calgary Flames. The Flames took a win from division rival, Edmonton, last night, so this puts them 6 points ahead of the Avs, and two points ahead of the Canucks. The Avalanche cannot fall back another win, and need to win tonight to keep morale up and hopefully ignite some more home wins. Following the Flames game, the Avs will be playing Dallas, followed by Vancouver and Minnesota. It would be ideal if the Avs could take all four of these games, but I would be satisfied if we can take at least two of the three division games. This would put the Avs very much in the race for the division lead. The Flames have been hot as of late, winning three in a row and allowing less than two goals per game. Unlike the Avs, who have dropped both of their last two games, despite winning eight of their last ten. Once again, a big key to this game will be Joe Sakic picking up the pace. Super Joe hasn't scored a goal in ten games, and despite the Avalanche winning streak, remains -2 in those games. Calgary has taken two of three games against the Avalanche this season, the only Avalanche victory coming at the season opener in a blowout. The Flames are playing well. Jarome Iginla, the team's star player, has scored eight goals in his last nine games, much to the contrast of Sakic, the man who should be leading the Avalanche. Both goalies are playing exceptionally well as of late. Mikka Kiprusoff is has a league leading 26 wins (26-12-5) and also leads the league in shutouts with 6 this year. His save percentage and GAA are both much better than average for the league at 2.25 and .916 respectively. Aebischer has won seven of his last nine, and is 18-11-0 on the season. His save percentage and GAA fall way short of Kiprusoff, however, at .895 and 3.16 respectively. The most noticable of the Avalanche's shortcomings recently has been the powerplay. In the past two games, they are a lowly 2 for 18, and 0 for 3 with the two-man advantage. Being 0 for 1 with a two man advantage is unacceptable, especially in this new league, but being 0 for 3 is unheard of. The Avs need to, as Joe Sakic said, "find a way to put the puck in the net." Keys to the game: +Pick it up, Sakic +Powerplay percentage +Shut down Iginla, Kiprusoff

Sakic breaks through slump - goalie fight ends magnificent performance.

Yes, you heard it right. Phil Sauve, David Abeischer. Goalie fight to end the game. But that's not all. Joe Sakic broke out of the slump with 2 goals and an assist in the second period, Marek Svatos, scored his 29th of the year, and Alex Tanguay continued to be brilliant with a goal and two assists. The game opened with a relatively close first period. Goals from Brett Clark and Chuck Kobasew made it 1-1 after one. And from there, the Avs never looked back. The Avs badly needed a win to get back into the running for the northwest division. Boy did they ever get one. The difference was no doubt Joe Sakic, scoreless in his last 11 games. The second opened with two power plays goals from Super Joe, both assisted by Alex Tanguay, who now leads the team with 59 points. After a second Kobasew goal to tie the game at two-two in between the Sakic goals, the Avs wouldn't give up the lead again. John-Michael Liles, Anti Laaksonen and Marek Svatos (29) would all score in the second alone, making it 6-2 at the end of two periods. But the action didn't stop there. Calgary came back with two straight goals from Kobasew and Reinprecht to make it an uneasy 6-4. All the momentum looked to be in the Flames' favor before Alex Tanguay took control with a beautiful top-shelf shot to beat Sauve with less than eight minutes to go. Even though the scoring was over, the game wasn't. With 31 seconds left, David Abeischer got into a scrap with some Flames players who were poking at his glove after the whistle had blown on a cover-up, and Abeischer threw a bit of a punch. Phil Sauve, looking from the other crease, made a beeline for Abeischer, who promtply separated himself from the pack and took a punch before the two were separated. Abby had a great game again for the Avs, keeping them in the game before the flurry in the second, and then he stood up for the team and battled Sauve for all of thirty seconds. David Abeischer has more than turned his season around - his energy and fantastic goaltending in 2006 has turned the entire team around, and his play, and energy tonight showed that. The story on this game is simple: the powerplay, which was 2-18 in the past two games for the Avs, came through big time with two goals on eight chances. Penalty killing was superb, and Anti Laaksonen even had a short-handed goal in the second (which turned out to be the game-winner). Brett Clark and Karlis Scrastins, whom Joel Quennville decided to put on the ice for every Iginla shift, dominated Calgary's top line every time they touched the ice. The real key to this game, as Alex pointed out in his preview, however, was Super Joe. His goals were the difference between a blowout and a one-goal scraper tonight, and his play was really superb. He had numerous other chances, got an assist on the Liles goal, and had a record-breaking night, passing Guy LeFleur on the all-time scoring list with his 17th and 18th of the season. I predict that his steady contribution will be the final key that puts the Avs into the upper echelons of the western conference. Congratulations Joe, we salute you, and we hope you're finally out of this slump. Next up for the Avs, the struggling Dallas Stars come into town. With the win tonight, the Avs are still in third place in the Northwest with 59 points, a game behind the Canucks, and a full two games behind Calgary. We badly need to erase two bad losses to the Dread, Hated, Horrible, Terrible, Awful Red Wings and the Blackhawks, so a win here against a sinking team is really a must. If Super Joe can step up again, look for this team to rock all the way until the Olympic break.

Game three of five in home stretch, Dallas

At 7:00 MST tonight the Avs will be taking on the division leading, 32-15-2, Dallas Stars. The Stars are coming off of a shootout victory over the sorry St. Louis Blues. The Stars have been looking a lot like the Avalanche recenty, having won eight of their last eleven, much like the Avs who have taken eight of their last ten. The Avs just took down one division leader in the Western conference, and now it's on to the next. In fact, the Avs last three games have been against the three division leaders in the Western conference, winning one and losing another. Good teams have not been a problem for the Avs this year, as they lead the league in wins against teams with a winning record with 24. The Avalanche are a game behind Vancouver, and two behind Calgary. Both of those teams will play tonight, the Flames against Chicago, and Vancouver against Detroit. Best case scenario: the Avs win and both Calgary and Vancouver lose. This puts the Avs tied with Vancouver for 2nd and only a game from first. The last time Dallas and Colorado played was all the way back in November, where the Avs lost in a shootout. They also met a month before that in Dallas and the Avs took a close one, 4-3. (If you recall, it was in that game where Hinote layed a fair hit on a Dallas player, bloodying his face up, and causing Dallas to take a penalty, giving the Avs the winning PP goal.) We've only seen good games this year between these two teams, and expect another one tonight, as this game is very evenly matched. Amazingly, the Avalanche home record of 16-7-3 is matched well with Dallas's road record: 16-5-1. Let's just hope Sakic keeps his game up, the powerplay continues its reign from two nights ago, and Aebischer continues to make clutch saves, and how about another goalie fight, eh?

Avs drop another in the shootout

What is it with Budaj and 2-2 games? This is the fourth he's played in this year, and the fourth he's lost in the shootout. I haven't seen Budaj play well in the shootout yet, but you would think he would've learned by now. On to the game - the Avs cloberred the Stars early, controlling the pace of the game and dominating neutral zone play. Rob Blake picked up the first of two goals for the Avs on the powerplay on a play that was setup by Brett McLean, who has been playing very well offensively of late, and will hopefully be a permanent adittion to this team as a third or fourth-liner once Turgeon returns. Blake setup down low and didn't move until he got the goal. The second period was no different early on, as the Avs capitalized on the powerplay yet again with a goal from Alex Tanguay (22). But Marty Turco, who may have the best glove in the league, was making a lot of great stops and keeping Dallas in the game. And late in the period, Dallas came back with a powerplay goal from Jason Arnott. The period ended, dangerously, 2-1. In the third, Dallas finally started to play well. They traded scoring chances with the Avs, and both goalies seemed up to the task until Stu Barnes cashed in a funky bounce to tie the game with two minutes left. Then they went to overtime. Budaj made some of his greatest saves of the game late in the period, but it was Marty Turco and his magic glove who would be the real star. His pinnacle stop came on an Alex Tanguay partial breakaway where Turco made the initial save on a shot from the hash, and then plucked a puck headed for the top of the net out of the air with his glove on Tanguay's second try. He had been getting lucky and making saves like this all game. With Budaj successfully making a last-minute save to end overtime, it was time for the shootout. Dallas had not lost a shootout all year, and no one had scored on Turco in 9 tries. Zubov, a defenseman, scored first for Dallas with a deke that put the puck over Budaj's right pad. Then Marek Svatos sent a screaming wrister along the ice to the glove side of Turco for the first shootout goal let in by Marty in the entire season. Next, Jussi Jokenen, who has scored in all six shootout chances, scored again on his signature flip over the right pad. Sakic hit his fourth post in four shootout tries to make the shootout score 2/1 with Mike Modano shooting last for Dallas. He tried to go left side with a shot from the hash, and Budaj barely made the save. It was up to Alex Tanguay to prolong the contest, and he shot the puck harmlessly off of Turco's left pad to end the game. The problem for Budaj in the shootout has come purely from technique. He doesn't start out enough from the net when shooters approach, meaning shots get by him easier, and when someone does deke, he doesn't follow them back into the net enough. On both goals scored on him, the right side was left wide open because he didn't close back to the net, especially on the Zubov goal. This is the second time Dallas has come from behind to beat the Avs in the shootout this year - both times with Peter Budaj in net. So what was missing from this game? The scoring contribution from our big scorers. Perrenial clutch man Marek Svatos could not come up with a goal during the game, and super Joe didn't show any further breakout from his slump which officially ended last game against Calgary where he scored 2 goals. In the game against Calgary, the three combined goals from Svatos and Sakic made the game 6-4, instead of 4-3. In this game, the lack of those goals was certainly the difference. The good news for the Avs is that they do get one point, and are now only a point behind Vancouver for second place in the division (Vancouver lost to the Wings earlier in the night). With the next game against Vancouver at home, that puts us in prime position to take un-challenged second place in the division for the first time since November. And if we keep winning after that, especially with another game against Calgary coming up, the Northwest division seems well within reach.

Shootout proves deadly for Avs again

Okay, so I had a big long post about this game written...and then it got deleted when Firefox unexpectedly quit. So I'm gonna give you a short recap, using dashes. -Vancouver controlled the pace of the game for most of the time...they didn't dominate, and they didn't absolutely lead the tempo, but they didn't give the Avs much time around the puck. -Goals in order: Bougner, Ohlund. 1-1 after 1. Ruutu. 2-1 after 2. Kesler, Svatos (30), Richardson. 3-3 after 3. -The Avs really fought back hard late in the third, getting goals the ugly way - but taking out the trash in front of the net. I thought they were way too fancy until they got desparate. -Ian Lapperiere fought twice - Once with Kesler, once with Allen, and pretty much won both times. -The fans at Pepsi Center were great in their Bertuzzi-booing, but one guy got out of control and threw a freaking doll (the game's giveaways) at Bertuzzi from behind the glass. Great work, random fan, seriously. Get revenge by...almost hitting Bertuzzi with a piece of plastic when the Avs are down by two. I bet you wish they hadn't thrown you out when the Avs came back. -Unlike Budai, Abei actually knows how to play the shootout...Jarkko Ruutu's move was pretty damn good, even though he didn't mean to do quite that, and Abei stopped the rest. Meanwhile, no one from the Avs could score. Sakic, who's obviously been right there every time, hit his fourth post. He sees where the goalie is leaving the net open, he's just been a bit too accurate so far. I also think Tanguay should be moved into the fourth position instead of Hedjuk. Hedjuk's "moves" have been very weak this year, and he hasn't scored. Both at Dallas and yesterday, he just threw a weak one into the goaltender's pads. I think Tanguay is a more natural scorer. -So the Avs lose, but get the points, and are still only one point out of second place. In two days, they'll play Minnesota, who haven't been very hot of late. They just need to get points, and I think they're in fine shape going into the Olympic break. -Speaking of the Olympics, we'll be covering all of your Avs players right here. No Denver newspaper is sending a hockey writer, so find the best coverage of the Avs in the olympics - and there's a lot of them - right here.

Another game, another point gained...

The Avs lost last night to the Nashville Predators in overtime. Final score: 4-3 (OT). This marks the third time in four games that the Avs have lost after being tied through regulation. Overtime just seems to be a problem for the Avs as of late. Especially in games that they should have won in regulation, like last night and a week or so ago against Dallas. The Avs were dominating the game and keeping the Predators chasing to keep up during regulation. The Avs outshot the Preds a whopping 46-31. Nashville only has Vokoun to thank that it wasn't a blowout in the Avs favor. Clark scored the first for the Avs, but then Walker made it even early in the second period. Early in the third, McCormick would get his second goal of the season off of a rebound, only to have Sillinger even it up again 6 minutes later. But the lead would be the Avs' again, as Sakic pushes in a loose puck in front of the net. Then it would get tense. With only 4:30 left in the game, Richardson would take a high sticking penalty, giving the Preds a chance to tie it. And they would, with only 2:39 left in the game, and 9 seconds remaining on the powerplay, Scott Walker pushed it past Aebischer. The game would go into OT, and Steve Sullivan would break away from the pack and score to essentially end it early so the Avs wouldn't have to lose it in a shootout. But there were more consequences for the Avs besides the OT loss. Both Milan Hejduk and Ossi Vannanen would leave the game early due to injury early in the game. Hejduk will be evaluated friday, and it seemed to be some sort of problem with his neck. Vannanen, however, apparently broke his ankle, and if it is as bad as it seems, will most likely be out for the rest of the season. Guess this means that now is Kurt Sauer's time to shine... The Avalanche powerplay sucked, and hard. They were 0/9, and the lack of powerplay production may have cost them the game. They weren't able to score on the powerplay in the first period, despite the fact that during 12 minutes of the 20 minute period, a Predator was in the box. Even though they have lost three of their last four, the Avalanche have picked up 5 points in those four games, and are only a point behind Vancouver, and three behind Calgary. To conclude, Nashville is an overrated team. They are 14-2 against their own division (which includes Columbus, St. Louis, and Chicago), but only 14-10 against the rest of the western conference. Now don't get me wrong, they are a good team, but not nearly as good as their record would indicate.

Avs counter loss to Red Wings with three straight

Well, you have to say we countered well. After going on a streak of leading early and then losing in shootouts, the Avs have turned it around. It took an emotional loss to the Red Wings (the first time the Avs have been shutout all year, and in fact the first time they haven't scored two goals in a game) to finally get it turned around. Now the Avs have won two critical games in the division against Edmonton and Minnesota, and one against the struggling Blue Jackets, and are right back in prime position to take the division. After three good defensive efforts - especially against a scary Minnesota team - the Avs are only 3 points out of first place, with 70 points. Vancouver is in third now with 69, and of course Calgary has the lead with 72 points. Now the Avs have one remaining game - against guess who, the Detroit Red Wings. If the Avs can win four straight before the Olympic break, they'll have put themselves in great division to capture the division in the remaining 20-odd games. 72 points before the Olympic break should be our goal - and the emotion going out with a win against the Wings could be huge going down the stretch. Vancouver, Edmonton, and Minnesota will play today, meaning at the end of the day the Avs could be a point out of first or second place. Vancouver plays Minnesota (Go Wild!), and Edmonton will have an easier time against the St. Louis Blues. Speaking of the break, the Avalanche now have 10 players playing on 8 teams, and we'll be covering them all as the men's hockey tournament starts next week.

Not enough for Avs in Detroit

The good news is that we don't have to play the Wings again unless we meet them in the playoffs - because boy do they have our number. The bad news is that another disappointing loss to Detroit ends the first three quarters of a season. There'll be plenty of time to look back later - but for now, let's look forward. The Avs will now have 10 players representing 8 countries in the Olympics - and when they come back, they'll be in second or third place in the division, fifth or sixth in the conference (Pending tonight's Wild vs. Canucks game). They've had a good second half so far - beginning with a 7-game winning streak in January, and ending up winning 3 of the last four. They've played well, and put themselves in a good position to take the division coming down the stretch. I don't know if we could ask for much more at this point in the post-Forsberg, new-NHL era of Avalanche hockey, they've still managed to maintain the high level of hockey we've come to expect, and have certainly improved. For the next two weeks, expect the best quality coverage of the Avs in the Olympics possible. We'll be watching as many games as we can, and reporting on the rest. If anything happens over in Italy, come to us.

Sakic starts off tournament with two assists.

Avs players had a fairly good day in the first day of Men's hockey. Captain Joe Sakic had two assists for Canada, both seeting up Goals by Jerome Iginla. Sakic and his line helped lead the way to a 7-2 win over host-team Italy. Meanwhile, David Abeischer, who was backing up for Gerber in the Swiss game against Finland, replaced the 'Canes goalie after he allowed 5 goals in 2 periods. Abei made 12 saves out of 12 shots, but the Swiss still lost 5-0. Peter Budaj and Marek Svatos played for the Slovak team, helping to upset Russia 5-3. Budaj allowed 3 goals on 23 shots, and Svatos was shut out of the scoring, despite taking four shots. John-Michael Liles had an assist for the United States in their disappointing 3-3 tie with Latvia. Overall, a good day for Avs players. Stay tuned for more action from Torino.

Theodore Trade

Some 10 years ago, Avalanche General Manager Pierre Lacroix turned to the Montreal Canadiens for a veteran goaltender when the Avs were having trouble in net. This year, the Avs have turned to the Habs once again for a netminder, as they did when acquiring Patrick Roy during their first Stanley Cup year. The Colorado Avalanche, looking for help in the crease as they near the closing stretch of the season, traded David Aebischer for Jose Theodore on March 8th. Whether or not Jose Theodore will go on to have the all time most wins record for a goaltender like Roy is foggy, but it is looking like a no. The Avs had trouble in net all year, from the beginning. It is not difficult to think of instances during the first month of the season in which large, three-goal leads were squandered due to bad defense and worse goaltending. The initial starting goaltender, David Aebischer, currently ranks thirty-first in the league in goals against average, allowing almost 3 goals per game. His numbers make Ty Conklin look good, and that’s when you know you’re in trouble. The Avs started playing backup Peter Budaj and Vitaly Kolesnik and benching Aebischer during the middle of the season, but neither of the young goalies consistently delivered success. There has been some debate about whether or not Aebischer should have been ousted, though. He is, above all, a very streaky goaltender, and he performed like his mentor Roy at the Olympics for the Swiss team. He was performing better after regaining the starting job directly before the Olympic break. Because the trade occurred during one of his good stretches, there was some dispute over whether or not the move was a good one. Theodore had a season similar to Aebischer’s. Lauded directly preceding the season as an outstanding veteran goalie, he did not perform up to expectations. The Hab’s former backbone (sorry, Saku) was not playing like the Vezina and Hart Trophy winner that he was. For this reason, the Canadiens benched him in favor of Cristobal Huet, who has been playing exceptionally and continues to do so for their team. All of these circumstances combined to make the trade a viable option, and as the trade deadline got closer, the Avs and Canadiens swapped their disappointing netminders. One large negative of the trade for the Avalanche was Theodore’s huge cap figure. He was an National Hockey League Most Valuable Player, and he still has the contract to prove it. The Hab-turned-Av makes a cool $5.5 million per year and has another season left on his contract. With the projected cap of next year around $45 million per team, the deal makes some sense; the Avs, with Theodore’s contract, have only 18.5 million of salary cap used for next year. Granted, they will need to sign Joe Sakic and Rob Blake, having declined both Sakic and Blake’s contract extension options, but they have money to burn. Theodore, out with an injured foot, will not likely return for two or three weeks. In the interim, Peter Budaj, the backup all season except for a short stretch, will start in net. Budaj has been impressive at times, and recorded his first shutout in a 3-0 win over the Flames on March 12. To be honest, nobody will know if this deal was terrible or fantastic for months, or even years, perhaps. Pierre Lacroix, who has made his living over rolling the dice at the trade deadline, is suddenly playing at much higher stakes than ever before. At first glance, the trade looks to be a horrible move for the Avalanche. First, they are trading a young, improving goaltender for an aging goalie that has not been able to get the job done this year. What may have a larger impact is Theodore’s $5.5 million contract, which will hamper the club’s ability to re-sign their captain and one of their assistant captains while also putting them at a disadvantage when trying to sign other free agents as well. The positive, obviously, is that Theodore might be able to regain his 2002 form. If this happens, the Avs become instant cup contenders, as goaltender has been a glaring weak spot for most of the season. In all likelihood, however, Theodore will end up a very expensive lesson for Pierre Lacroix: the Avalanche cannot continue spending as they did before the implementation of the salary cap. If they do so, they only will put themselves in a hole for the future.

Last of 5-game homestand: Minnesota

The Avs will finish off their homestand tonight at 7 PM MST against the division rival Minnesota Wild. The Avs are coming off of two consecutive shootout losses, an area in which the Avs sorely need to improve. The Wild are coming off of a close loss to Detroit, 5-4, after rallying to come back, but not getting enough in the end. The Avs are now fourth in the Northwest, but only two points out of second, and five points out of first. Minnesota is just floating above .500, but not playing well enough to be serious contenders for #1 in the division at the moment. Still, the Avs cannot take the Wild lightly. They are last in the division, but this does not carry much merit, as they are last in the best division in the league. The Avalanche are 2-1 against the Wild this season, and 2-0 at home and the Avs have thoroughly dominated Roloson. Roloson is 0-2-0 against the Avalanche this year with a GAA of 4.81. He's also in a slump, only picking up two wins in his last fourteen starts. For this reason, I would expect to see Manny Fernandez in goal for the Wild, as the last time the Wild beat the Avs, he was in goal. If there is anyone the Avalanche need to worry about tonight, it is Brian Rolston. Rolston is on a seven game point streak with four goals and seven assists. He leads the Wild in almost every category: points, goals, assists, SH goals, PP goals, plus/minus... and the list continues. Interestingly, the last time Rolston did not get a point on the road was the last time the Avalanche played the Wild on the road. So hopefully, we can employ whichever strategy shut him down last time. In contrast, the Avalanche are not a one man team by any stretch of the phrase. Tanguay has the most points and assists, Svatos the most goals, and PP goals, Konowalchuk the most SH goals, and Vannanen the best plus/minus. So if the Avalanche are going to win this game, they need to, A) shut down Rolston, B) take advantage of a possible Roloson start, and C) get help from everyone on the ice. ...and for the love of god, no shootout this time, please.

Also welcoming...

Terrence "Steel" Caldwell, another Nuggets specialist. He promises he'll follow the team closely and post excellent analysis from a true fan. We're honored to have him on board here at 5280sports.com. Terrence's achievements include being very sarcastic, and not washing his face enough. Welcome aboard, Mr. Caldwell!

What To Watch For

This NBA season looks like the most promising season the Denver Nuggets have had in a long time. Now that us Denver Nugget fans have something to look forward to let us look at a few key thing to watch as the season progresses. Melo: Carmelo Anthony has vowed to become an All Star this year and the Nuggets will need him to play at the level he is capable of playing and become not only an All Star this year, but for many years to come. If Carmelo plays at his highest level of play he is easily the best Small Forward in the NBA. The Nugs will need All Star like stats from Melo to be a serious championship contender. Nene: Nene will probably not be a Denver Nugget for long, since the Nuggets did not resign him before the October 31st deadline, which means if he stays healthy he could be trade bait for shooting guard talent, but while the Brazilian Bomber is still a Nugget he provides both offense and defense off the Nugget bench. Defense: George Karl has emphasized defense in this off season more than anything else, and with the signing of Earl Watson, and the resigning of Greg Buckner the Nuggets could be formidable on defense against both the perimeter shooters in the Western Conference as well as the talented big men in the West. Point Guards: The Nuggets point guard situation looks a little cloudy at this point, but the combination of the slashing and passing of Andre Miller, the defense of Earl Watson, and the offense of Earl Boykins the Nuggets could create some creative combinations at the 1 and 2 guard spots. The Nuggets also have the depth to be able to make a big time deal and include one of their PG's. So the 2005-06 NBA season should be interesting for the Nuggets both on the court as well as in NBA gossip.

Sifting Through the Trade Rumors

OMG girrrrrrrrlllllsssssss!!!!!!!!!!! I just had the best idea, let's have a slumber party!!!!! It'll be soooooooooooo much fun. We can stay up all night long watching the OC, braiding our hair, painting our fingernails and talking about all the hot new rumors; Nuggets trade rumors, that is. At the outset of the 2005-2006 NBA season, it was reported that the Nuggets were involved in ongoing trade talks with the Boston Celtics, trying to hammer out a deal that would acquire Paul Pierce from the Celtics in exchange for Andre Miller and Nenê. While this deal fell through, it had great hope of being resurrected at some point during the season because the Celtics have long sought to trade Pierce and if they're out of the playoff picture come January, they likely will do so. However one of the key components of that trade, Nenê, suffered a devastating knee injury in the first game of the season and is expected to miss the rest of the year. We have thus been virtually eliminated from the Pierce sweepstakes. Although the Nuggets may not land Paul Pierce, you can still expect them to pursue a big name player on the trade market. The Nuggets are loaded with talent this year and if Hodge and Russell see significant playing time, our rotation could extend 11 deep. Most NBA teams employ 8 or 9 men rotations because cycling through too many players can not only cause players to grow dissatisfied with sharing too much playing time, it can often prevent players from getting into the flow of the game. It would be logical, now that we have established a nice core of players, to package together some of our complimentary players in exchange for a big name player. Keep your eyes open, we might make a splash.

Portland Preview

The 0-2 Denver Nuggets play host to the 0-1 Portland Trailblazers tonight at 7 MST. The Nuggets have opened the season by enduring 2 consecutive heartbreaking 4th Quarter losses, falling to the Spurs 102-91 and to the Lakers 99-97, as Kobe Bryant hit a shot with 0.6 seconds left in OT to win it for LA. Portland's most potent offensive weapon is PF Zack Randolph, who averaged 18.9 ppg in 46 games last season, before losing the year to injury. Tonight's key matchup is undoubtedly Randolph vs. Kenyon Martin. Randolph is a pure post player and the Nuggets hope to stifle him on the block with Martin, one of the best low post defenders in the NBA. Also keep your eyes open for Portland SG Martell Webster, on whom Portland spent the #6th overall pick in the 2005 NBA Draft. Drafted straight out of high school, Webster was arguably the best pure shooter in the draft. He could eventually emerge as on of the top long range shooters in the NBA. Heres a bold prediction: In 3 years, Webster will rank among the top 5 scoring SGs in the NBA. Expect a fast-paced, high scoring game tonight. The Nuggets intend to run as usual and Portland PGs Sebastian Telfair and Jarret Jack thrive in the up-tempo game as well. Prediction: Nuggets 107, Portland 92

Nuggets Trample Blazers 107 to 68

The Nuggets welcomed back George Karl with a 107 to 68 trouncing of the Portland Trailblazers. Dominating every facet of the game from the get-go, the Nuggets emerged from the 1st Quarter with a 13 point lead and never looked back. Because of the nature of the game of basketball, you often see a team jump out to a comfortable lead, as did the Nuggets, and then the opposing team will put together a good run or two that the leading team would have to overcome. Not tonight. The Blazers almost never strung together consecutive buckets and the Nuggets strolled to a 107-68 victory. Marcus Camby led the Nuggets with 23 points, while amassing 17 rebounds and 6 blocked shots in the process. In the past two seasons, Camby has asserted himself as one of the premiere defensive centers in the NBA. Personally, I believe Camby deserved the NBA Defensive MVP award from a season ago, yet Ben Wallace edged him out by virtue of his reputation rather than his actual defensive output. Now that it has become known that Nenê 's ACL tear will likely force him to miss the remainder of the season, the Nuggets will have to lean heavily on Camby, which, in my mind, is cause for concern. Over the course of a game, big men obviously get more banged up than guards because they constantly collide while jockeying for position to snag rebounds. Camby is 31 and historically he has been very injury prone; he has missed at least 10 games due to injury in all of his 9 NBA season's. Tonight, Camby played for 32:14 minutes, leading all players from both teams in court time. The Nuggets will either have to give Francisco Elson an increased role, which I believe he is capable of fulfulling, or the Nuggets will have to acquire another big man because there is only so much wear and tear Camby's body can take.

Lakers Preview

The Nuggets are set to collide with the Lakers Sunday night in an attempt to revenge Wednesday's devastating loss. These teams have fought through numerous close games during the past 2 seasons and there is no reason to anticipate anything else come Friday. The key matchup in this game appears to be Carmelo Anthony vs. Lamar Odom. Odom has a reliable jump shot, but he's at his best when driving to the net. Melo has to play physical defense. In spite of Voshon Lenard's impressive game against Portland, I have to expect Greg Buckner to see significant playing time as the Nuggets' SG. Kobe Bryant is just too deadly and Buckner is unquestionably the most reliable and fundamentally sound perimeter defender on our team. When the Nuggets played the Lakers Wednesday night, we were unable to effectively use our frontcourt during overtime because it was hampered by foul troubles. When foul-free, our frontcourt could provide exploitable mismatches against the Lakers. If Melo and Andre Miller drive to the hole, if Camby makes use of his signature dunks, and if Martin gets the ball on the post, tell me, what will Chris Mihm and Kwame Brown do to stop them? Because our frontcourt is capable of dominating that of the Lakers, I expect the Nuggets to emerge victorious by a slim margin. But you never know, look at what happened Wednesday. Prediction: Nuggets 98, Lakers 93

Reflections of A Broken Heart

Plain and simple the Nuggets were left heart broken after two 4th quarter losses. I think that the first game against the Spurs taught the Nuggets a valuable lesson. The game taught the Nuggets what the difference is between a championship team and any other team. The Nuggets came out with intensity and soon were making the Spurs look like some Division II college, but the Spurs never went down by more than 10 points. They just consistently played their half-court motion offense, opening up jumper after jumper, and the addition of Nick Van Exel, and Michael Finley just added to the onslaught. In the end the Spurs stayed close, and then in the 4th quarter put the Nuggs down by 10 an insurmountable deficit when playing the outstanding defense of the Spurs. So, what did the Nuggets learn, they learned that each game has 4 quarters and in order to win you must play each quarter with the same intensity and never let off your guard, which is what they did against the Spurs. I think the Nuggets needed to lose that game to see what makes the Spurs the team to beat in the NBA, perseverance and focus, two things the Nuggets lack. The second game was completely different than the first. The Nuggets looked like the Nuggets of last year before George Karl, completely undisciplined and playing to the level of their inferior opponent. The game was just plain sloppy, there was a total of 46 turnovers between the two teams. I think the lack of discipline came from the absence of George Karl and his strict coaching style. Hopefully this game was just a temporary lack of discipline and the arrival of Coach Karl will not allow this type of game to happen again. A small note: Did anyone see Earl Watson in 6 minutes of play against the Blazers, the guy looks amazing, and if that game was any indication of what is to come the Nuggets should have no limit to the possibilities of their backcourt.

Kings Vs. Nuggets Preview

On November 9 the Sacremento Kings are set to collide with the Denver Nuggets. Both teams have struggled so far this year, The Kings are 1-2 and the Nuggets are 1-3 . The Kings starting lineup will look different this year with the additions of Shareef Abdur-Rahim, and Bonzi Wells, joining Mike Bibby at point guard, Peja Stojakovic at small forward, and Brad Miller. So far this year Peja leads the team with points averaging 20.3, Bonzi Wells leads the team in rebounding with 11 boards a game, and Brad Miller the center leads the team with 5.7 assists per game. Brad Miller is playing like a premier center this year posting above average numbers with 14 ppg, 7 rpg, and 5.7 asists. Mike Bibby has had a slow start to the year only averaging 10.7 ppg and 4 apg, but look for the numbers to increase significantly, as he is the center piece to their high powered offense. The Nuggets will counter the King with their own fast pace offense, so this should be a very entertaining, and up tempo game, scores in the 100's is very likely. Key Matchup: Look for the matchup between the two very good frontcourts. Marcus Camby, and Brad Miller are arguably the best Centers in the NBA at this point. Kenyon Martin and Shareef Abdur-Rahim are both two athletic Power Forwards who can score and rebound, and Carmelo Anthony and Peja Stojakovic can both light up the scoreboards, Peja with his shooting, and Melo with his inside post game. This game should be exciting as to struggling playoff caliber teams battle to get back on the right track, and start winning.

Nuggets Pull Away from Kings, 107-91

The Nuggets improved to 2-3 Wednesday night, as they defeated the Kings 107-91. The game was much closer than the score would indicate, yet the Nuggets managed to pull away in the 4th Quarter. Both teams relied on contrasting styles of basketball throughout the game. The Nuggets continually tried to push the ball and look for easy layups, while the Kings seemed content spotting up and firing from beyond the arc. The Nuggets outscored the Kings 54-30 in the paint and the Kings hit 9 shots from behind the arc while the Nuggets hit only 2. As the game progressed, it became more and more apparent that the Kings miss SG Doug Christie. Christie was a good perimeter defender; when the Kings played the Lakers in the playoffs a few years back, Bryant often had trouble driving against Christie and often had to spot up and force a long shot. Bonzi Wells (Christie's replacemnt) and Peja Stojakovic seem inept at stopping players driving with the ball and the Nuggets capitilized, as Carmelo Anthony often drove to the hoop unscathed. The Nuggets scored on alley oops and short 10 footers throughout the game and Stojakovic and Bibby were unable to hit enough big shots down the stretch to overcome Sacramento's defensive woes. Eduardo Najera played well for the Nuggets, scoring 15 points in 24:55 minutes of action. Look for him to see an increased role in Nene's absence. Wednesday's game was the first of two consecutive games between the two teams. The two teams tip off again Friday at 8 pm MST at Arco Arena. The Nuggets cannot get complacent because the Kings will come out with a vengeance. It has become apparent that Rick Adelman is on the hot seat and if the Kings don't snap out of their early season struggles soon, he will soon lose his job.

Not Impressed

I like many other Nuggets fans, was not impressed by the Nuggets play against the Kings last Friday. A few things I wasn't impressed with were: Shooting: The Nuggets shot a dismal 35.6% from the field, a flat-out ridiculous 14.3% 3 point percentage, and 76& from the free throw line. I'm sorry but you’re not going to win any games shooting 35% from the field, which is just embarrassing. The field goal percentage is terrible however I think it was just one of those nights where nothing went in and the more shots we missed the less confident we became, as evident by even Voshon Leonard's hesitance to shoot late in the game. This game was also an indication that we are still in need of consistent 3 point contribution from our guards. Coaching: As good a coach as George Karl is, I think he has a tendency to be way too conservative with his talented team. This weakness was revealed last year against the Spurs in the playoffs and is beginning to show again this year. The Nuggets have the ability to be an 11-12 man deep rotation, but George Karl limits it to a 7-8 man rotation. Why was Earl Boykins in the game when we needed defensive stops and defensive rebounds? I am not sold on Earl Boykins as a dependable point guard; he makes too many mistakes and turnovers and dribbles way too much, and is a defensive liability. Earl was shot over twice just as we were making a run at making the deficit only single figures. Why do we have Earl Watson? Watson would have been a perfect match against Bibby or Kevin Martin. Why were we going small when we were not shooting well and needed defensive shots? Instead of keeping struggling shooters in why not put in more aggressive defenders, and rebounders. George Karl's reluctance to maximize the potential of his bench has become one of his greatest weaknesses and he needs to turn his bench into his greatest strength. Intensity: The Nuggets as a team need to model the intensity of Marcus Camby and Eduardo Najera. The Nuggets cannot depend on Marcus Camby to make every defensive stop and grab every rebound, the team as a whole needs to increase the intensity on defense as well as on the boards. The loss to the Kings was in one word "ugly" we need to improve shooting and intensity. I was hoping for a more competitive game even though it was in Arco. Hopefully the game against the Wolves was a better indication of the future of our team rather than the game against the Kings.

Nuggets-Hornets Preview

The Nuggets hope to get their season on the right track tonight, as they head to Oklahoma City to square off against the floundering New Orleans/ Oklahoma City Hornets at 6 pm MST. It is hard to pinpoint the reasons for the Nuggets dismal start; the lack of team chemistry that plagued the Nuggets at the beginning of the season last year has not been a factor this year. I'd have to attribute our sluggish start to our subpar guard play. For the past 3 years, the most glaring hole in the Nuggets' lineup has been the lack of long range shooting, a weakness that was accentuated last year once Voshon Lenard was lost for the season. Melo has a fluid jumpshot and is more than capable of hitting from beyond the arc, but he has been painfully inconsistent. Lebron didn't become a reliable 3-point shooter until this year, and I expect Melo will refine his game to include a reliable long range shot as well. In the meantime, the Nuggets will have to run screens and complicated passing plays to get Lenard open looks from beyond the arc. Because defenses do not fear Lenard's ballhandling, they'll play him tight on the perimeter and it will be up to George Karl to get him open looks. Keep your eyes open for Hornets PG Chris Paul, the most NBA-ready of this year's rookie crop. Paul has averaged 15.5 ppg and 5.7 apg thus far. Last year New Orleans was one of the best defensive teams in the NBA but their stellar defense was overshadowed by their poor low scoring outputs. While Speedy Claxton and Chris Paul will attempt to run on us, the Nuggets just have too much talent and the Hornets do not have enough scoring threats to make this game close. Expect Denver to win in a low-scoring blowout. Prediction: Denver 93, New Orleans/Oklahoma City 78

What Went Wrong

After the devastating lost to the Dallas Mavericks last night I was left thinking what went wrong? The question was in fact not a very hard question to answer, actually rather easy, as I thought about how and why our 19 point lead was decimated. Its hard to blame a loss on one player when basketball is a sport where their are 5 players on one team at any given time on the court. But the more i contemplated the question what went wrong, the more one players face popped into my head. Who could this one player be that caused a 19 point lead to disappear as if by magic. Who could it be? I though hard about it until the two words spilled out of my head like a poison, Earl Boykins. After the two words came out I tried my hardest to use reason and be more fair to the little Boykins, because it just seems impossible for one person particularly that small to do something so horrendous, but the more i thought about the more it all made sense. Lets look at what Earl Boykins did Overdribbling: This was probably the biggest flaw of Earl's game. You cannot dribble the ball for 20 seconds straight and then expect to make a play with 4 seconds left on the shot clock. This is exactly what Earl Boykins did about 5 straight possesions. He dribbles in every single direction and goes nowhere with the ball. He either dribbles the shot clock way and tries to shoot himself or dribbles it away and passes the ball expecting one of his teammates to bail him out. A point guard cannot leave his teammates out to dry like that, and your best players should always touch the ball at least once every possesion. Overshooting: Earl shot .125% from the field and 0% from 3pt. If you are a point guard and your not shooting well, what should you do? Duh pass the ball. Earl must be exempt from this rule or he does not know how to pass because he fails to pass the ball when he is not shooting well. Well Earl in case you didn't know the role of the point guard is to set up his teammates so that they can score before trying to score themselves. Maybe Earl needs to watch guards like Steve Nash, or Jason Kidd, and take some notes. Maybe Earl also needs to be told that Carmello Anthony and Marcus Camby are the best players on this team, and that he should pass it to them instead of trying to be the star of the team. Underpassing: As i said above Earl Boykins does not know how to pass the ball. 2 assists in 25 minutes is not impressive for a point guard. Earl Boykins dribbles continously, and what makes it worst is that you would think while he was running around the whole world he would find someone open, nope he just runs and dribbles never even looking to see if anyone is open, only looking up to see if he has a good shot yet. I know it is harsh to blame an ugly loss on one person, but face it when the mavs where on their 13-2 run, the reason the Nuggets were not scoring was because Earl Boykins was wasting away possesions like an addicted gambler wasting away money. I then wake up Wednesday morning and hear some BS comment by George Karl saying that Carmello Anthony made a mistake that cost us the game, that Melo should have passed the ball or should not have driven all the way to the basket and switched hands on his layup. Well George Carmelo was not in when we were getting slapped around at the end of the 3rd and beginning of the 4th quarter, and in fact Melo had a terrific game and was one of the reasons we had the 19 point lead in the first place. George instead of that comment about Melo, maybe you could have adressed the play of Earl Boykins, and questioned yourself after you went another game without playing Earl Watson. The players on this team need to realize that Melo is the centerpiece of our offense and he needs to get the ball, because he has become a consistent playmaker, and scorer. The fact of the matter is Melo and Camby are the star players on this team and players like Earl Boykins need to play their roles in order for the Nuggets to win.

What Went Wrong

After the devastating lost to the Dallas Mavericks last night I was left thinking what went wrong? The question was in fact not a very hard question to answer, actually rather easy, as I thought about how and why our 19 point lead was decimated. It’s hard to blame a loss on one player when basketball is a sport where there are 5 players on one team at any given time on the court. But the more I contemplated the question what went wrong, the more one players face popped into my head. Who could this one player be that caused a 19 point lead to disappear as if by magic? Who could it be? I though hard about it until the two words spilled out of my head like a poison, Earl Boykins. After the two words came out I tried my hardest to use reason and be fairer to the little Boykins, because it just seems impossible for one person particularly that small to do something so horrendous, but the more I thought about the more it all made sense. Let’s look at what Earl Boykins did Over dribbling: This was probably the biggest flaw of Earl's game. You cannot dribble the ball for 20 seconds straight and then expect to make a play with 4 seconds left on the shot clock. This is exactly what Earl Boykins did about 5 straight possessions. He dribbles in every single direction and goes nowhere with the ball. He either dribbles the shot clock way and tries to shoot himself or dribbles it away and passes the ball expecting one of his teammates to bail him out. A point guard cannot leave his teammates out to dry like that, and your best players should always touch the ball at least once every possession. Overshooting: Earl shot .125% from the field and 0% from 3pt. If you are a point guard and you’re not shooting well, what should you do? Duh pass the ball. Earl must be exempt from this rule or he does not know how to pass because he fails to pass the ball when he is not shooting well. Well Earl in case you didn't know the role of the point guard is to set up his teammates so that they can score before trying to score themselves. Maybe Earl needs to watch guards like Steve Nash, or Jason Kidd, and take some notes. Maybe Earl also needs to be told that Carmello Anthony and Marcus Camby are the best players on this team, and that he should pass it to them instead of trying to be the star of the team. Under passing: As I said above Earl Boykins does not know how to pass the ball. 2 assists in 25 minutes is not impressive for a point guard. Earl Boykins dribbles continuously, and what makes it worst is that you would think while he was running around the whole world he would find someone open, nope he just runs and dribbles never even looking to see if anyone is open, only looking up to see if he has a good shot yet. I know it is harsh to blame an ugly loss on one person, but face it when the Mavs where on their 13-2 run, the reason the Nuggets were not scoring was because Earl Boykins was wasting away possessions like an addicted gambler wasting away money. I then wake up Wednesday morning and hear some BS comment by George Karl saying that Carmello Anthony made a mistake that cost us the game, that Melo should have passed the ball or should not have driven all the way to the basket and switched hands on his lay-up. Well George, Carmello was not in when we were getting slapped around at the end of the 3rd and beginning of the 4th quarter, and in fact Melo had a terrific game and was one of the reasons we had the 19 point lead in the first place. George instead of that comment about Melo, maybe you could have addressed the play of Earl Boykins, and questioned yourself after you went another game without playing Earl Watson. The players on this team need to realize that Melo is the centerpiece of our offense and he needs to get the ball, because he has become a consistent playmaker, and scorer. The fact of the matter is Melo and Camby are the star players on this team and players like Earl Boykins need to play their roles in order for the Nuggets to win.

A Tale of Two Point Guards

During the 2003 offseason, it was widely rumored that the Nuggets, coming off one of their worst seasons in franchise history, would sign PG Gilbert Arenas in order to add offensive prowess to a team that saw Junior Harrington and Kenny Satterfield see significant playing time at the PG position. Arenas said he would sign with the Nuggets if they met his asking price, yet in a move that has been second-guessed ever since, the Nuggets chose to go in a different direction. The Nuggets instead chose to sign PG Andre Miller, who had just finished a disappointing season with the L.A. Clippers. In retrospect, many NBA "experts" have been critical of the Nuggets for taking Miller over the offensively-gifted Arenas because Arenas averaged 25.5 ppg last year compared to Miller's 13.6. I will proceed to tell you why these so-called "experts" are wrong. Andre Miller is undoubtedly the glue that holds our team together. In his disappointing year with the L.A. Clippers, Miller was restricted by L.A's halfcourt offense, which was designed to allow Elton Brand to post up on the block and to create open looks for Cory Maggette on the perimeter. Miller is a saavy veteran who is the key to the running offense we have implemented under George Karl. Karl likes to push the ball down court and is able to do so because of Miller's extraordinary mixture of speed, good court vision, and crafty passing skills. Notice how our running game isn't as fluid when Boykins or Watson is operating from the PG position. Karl has also has had a noticeable fondness for the alley-oop and Miller has been able to deliever the alley-oop pass with perfection. The Nuggets are one of the best teams in the league at getting easy baskets, all thanks to Andre Miller. As the Nuggets host the Wizard's tonight, you will see Miller match up against PG Gilbert Arenas. Notice that Miller at times is a markedly better defender than Arenas and more of a technically sound player; he does not hoist up innumerable amounts of shots. Many Nuggets fans, however, will still wonder what could've been if offesive extraordinaire Gilbert Arenas was on our team. In the spirit of Thanksgiving, Nuggets fans should just be thankful for what they have. Prediction: Nuggets 110, Wizards 104

Bump on the Road

The game against the Detroit Pistons on Wednesday was just another bump on the rollercoaster road that has been the Nuggets season. The most one can say about that game, is hopefully it doesn't happen again. The Pistons came off of a 3 day break, and the Nuggets had come off a hard physical game in Washington. The defending Eastern Conference champions didn't miss a beat defensively, or offensively. The game pretty much ended in the 2nd quarter, when the Pistons started dominating offensively and defensively. The Pistons ended up with 7 players with double figures in points, and Denver native Chauncey Billups and Ben Wallace both posted double doubles. Marcus Camby had another solid double double game, but no one else from the Nuggets did that well with Carmello as the only other Nugget with double digit scoring. Now that that game is over the Nuggets will look to get back on track as they go up against the 9-2 Los Angeles Clippers, lead by Elton Brand, who is averaging 23 ppg and 10.3 rpg. The Clippers also added Cutino Mobley a shooting Guard who played with the Magic, and Kings last year, as well as Sam Cassel, who played with the Timberwolves last year. The Clippers look like a playoff contender, and could give the Nuggets some problems, however the Nuggets are 5-1 at home and will be looking to take their anger at the Pistons out on the Clippers on their home court. Key Matchups: The key matchups will be between Brand and Kenyon Martin who looks healthy after a short injury stint. Also the match up between Melo and Cory Maggette looks interesting, because both are very athletic and can score easily.

What the Heck Has Been Going On

Wow, seems like it has been forever, but first I'd like to apologize to all the loyal Nuggets fans who visit this website for the long absence, but sometimes you get busy. Well let’s update you as to what the heck is going on with the Nuggets: The Nuggets are currently 12-10, and are on a 6 game road trip. Thus far they have beaten Miami, and Charlotte, and have lossed to the Orlando Magic. Players: Carmelo Anthony has been on a tear averaging 30.8 points per game in the last 5 games, which include his 40 point performance against the Heat, and his career high 42 points against the Bobcats. He is now averaging nearly 23 ppg on the season as well as 5.1 rebounds per game. Marcus Camby is still the best center in the NBA averaging 16.8 points per game, he is also averaging a league most 13.3 rebounds per game, and is second in the NBA with 67 blocked shots. Andre Miller is averaging a double-double in the last 5 games with 15 points per game and 10 assists. He is now averaging 13.3 points per game and is third in the NBA in assists with 7.9 a game. Kenyon Martin has been fighting the injury bug. and for the most part losing the fight, he has not played much of late, but he did play well last night against the Bobcats. Trade Rumors: Rumors have surrounded the Nuggets all year, and it looks as if the Nuggets will make a move soon, involving Voshon Lenard probably for a big man, the talk has been mostly about Michael Doleac; however the Nuggets do not seem willing to take on the last two years of Doleac's contract. Rumors involving Earl Watson have simmered down a bit now that Earl Boykins is injured, but do not be surprised if they pick back up again once he returns. The Nuggets have also been rumored to be interested in Ron Artest the troubled forward from Indiana. The Nuggets will probably hold out awhile and try to make a big deal for a good shooting guard or big man. The two biggest names available at this point are probably Artest and Peja Stojakavic. So the Nuggets have been pretty average thus far and will look to pick up the pace as the season goes on. Carmelo Anthony and Marcus Camby are looking like sure bets to be in the All Star game this year in Houston, the two have made quite a dynamic duo on both the offensive and defensive sides of the court. The Nuggets will play Lebron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers tomorrow, who have lost 3 straight but are still 11-9. Lebron James is averaging 30.7 ppg, which is 3rd in the NBA. The Cavaliers added Larry Hughes from the Washington Wizards, Donyel Marshall from the Toronto Raptors and, Damon Jones from the Miami Heat in order to improve their offense. Key Match up: Melo and LBJ will square off in what will be superstar match up, both will look to put up big numbers however the most important stat is the win, and look for Melo to get that stat.

Spurs Clip Nuggets, 98-88

It’s been awhile, but I’m back. And more upset than ever. Watching the Nuggets last night, I flashed back to a time I am not particularly fond of; the Nuggets fell to the Spurs in exactly the same way as they did in their 4 postseason losses a season ago. A Nuggets-Spurs game, including the game last night, generally plays out like this: the game is close throughout, the Spurs confine the Nuggets to a halfcourt game, and neither team goes on any run whatsoever- until the end of the game, of course, when the Spurs always manage to pull away. I have to believe that Poppovich loves to see games to materialize in such a fashion. In the first 3 Quarters, the Spurs play a game similar to that of the Nuggets; they make a concerted effort to drive toward the bucket, and are in constant pursuit of easy buckets. This prevents the Nuggets from going on any sort of run, and keeps the game close going into the 4th Quarter. Then in the 4th Quarter, the Spurs open up their offense. They put Horry into the game, and he and Ginobili start firing from beyond the arc. The Nuggets, fully immersed in the flow of the game, are unprepared to make abrupt defensive adjustments. It is here that the Spurs always mangae to pull away. I hate Manu Ginobili, but for all the wrong reasons. In the 2004 offseason, the Nuggets were on the verge of signing him, but we decided to not meet his asking price and instead signed a more expensive Kenyon Martin. Hindsight is always 20-20, and as I watched Ginobili carry the Spurs through the playoffs last season, I couldn’t help second-guessing Vandeweghe. However, by watching the game last night, I can certainly see what compelled Vandeweghe to sign Martin over Ginobili. Martin is very strong, and he harnesses his strength to play tenacious defense. The underrated defender shutdown Duncan, who had 18 points going into the 4th Quarter-most of which were probably scored on Najera. Carmelo continued playing well and it’s nice to see that he his jumpshot is progressing nicely. He is finally becoming a multi-dimensional scoring threat. While the Nuggets fell in a tough game, they played well and the pieces finally seem to be falling in place. Fortunately, we play in the dismal Northwest division. If we finish the season a couple games above .500, we almost assuredly will find ourselves in the playoffs.

The Smoke Has Cleared

Triple Overtime, Buzzer Beaters, Taking a Beating, Giving a Beating, and beating the Spurs in San Antonio, the smoke has cleared and the Nuggets stand alone atop the Northwest Division. The Nuggets are finally starting to put together a little run, even though their defensive captain is still injured, and they still haven't made a deal, they are finally playing good basketball. #1 reason= Carmelo Anthony. I've been a Melo fan since the beginning, and I will remain one of his biggest supporters because he is the engine of this Denver Nuggets car, he has become a consistent superstar and deserves to be an all star, so please vote and try to get him in. Now let’s look at why the Nuggets have improved since the beginning of the season. Point Guards: We have got a 3-headed monster that has been hard to stop. Earl Watson has provided consistent 3 point shooting as well as a smart energetic guy who pushes the pace and increases the fast pace game that the Nuggets excel at (1st in the NBA in fast break points). Earl Boykins has provided consistent points off the bench and big shots in the clutch. Andre "The Iron Man" Miller is the only man on this team who has started every game this season, and he is 3rd in the NBA in assists. We have three guys who all bring something different to the table, and this team will continue to go as they go. K-Mart- He's back from all those nagging injuries, and he has improved the wound that was Marcus Camby's injury, he has picked up the rebounding, and defensive slack that was missing since the injury to Marcus Camby. He is the emotional leader of this team, and when he gets fired up this team gets fired up. Look for this team to continue to improve as the season progresses. Marcus Camby might be back by the end of this week so also keep your fingers crossed for that, with Camby back, and K-Mart becoming more steady injury wise look for the Nuggets to make a serious run and further distance ourselves atop the Northwest division. Please vote for Carmel0 to be an All-star at NBA.com he deserves it, he is carrying this team and is the main reason why they are number 1 in the Northwest.

Spurs Clip Nuggets, 98-88

It's been awhile, but I'm back. And more upset than ever. Watching the Nuggets last night, I flashed back to a time I am not particularly fond of; the Nuggets fell to the Spurs in exactly the same way as they did in their 4 postseason losses a season ago. A Nuggets-Spurs game, including the game last night, generally plays out like this: the game is close throughout, the Spurs confine the Nuggets to a halfcourt game, and neither team goes on any run whatsoever- until the end of the game, of course, when the Spurs always manage to pull away. I have to believe that Poppovich loves to see games to materialize in such a fashion. In the first 3 Quarters, the Spurs play a game similar to that of the Nuggets; they make a concerted effort to drive toward the bucket, and are in constant pursuit of easy buckets. This prevents the Nuggets from going on any sort of run, and keeps the game close going into the 4th Quarter. Then in the 4th Quarter, the Spurs open up their offense. They put Horry into the game, and he and Ginobili start firing from beyond the arc. The Nuggets, fully immersed in the flow of the game, are unprepared to make abrupt defensive adjustments. It is here that the Spurs always mangae to pull away. I hate Manu Ginobili, but for all the wrong reasons. In the 2004 offseason, the Nuggets were on the verge of signing him, but we decided to not meet his asking price and instead signed a more expensive Kenyon Martin. Hindsight is always 20-20, and as I watched Ginobili carry the Spurs through the playoffs last season, I couldn't help second-guessing Vandeweghe. However, by watching the game last night, I can certainly see what compelled Vandeweghe to sign Martin over Ginobili. Martin is very strong, and he harnesses his strength to play tenacious defense. The underrated defender shutdown Duncan, who had 18 points going into the 4th Quarter-most of which were probably scored on Najera. Carmelo continued playing well and it's nice to see that he his jumpshot is progressing nicely. He is finally becoming a multi-dimensional scoring threat. While the Nuggets fell in a tough game, they played well and the pieces finally seem to be falling in place. Fortunately, we play in the dismal Northwest division. If we finish the season a couple games above .500, we almost assuredly will find ourselves in the playoffs.