Haiku Wednesday

Soil

An earthworms delight
Essence is part of us all
We return to it

Rox Talk

The Week That Was

A 4-3 week against the Braves and Tigers. The Roxs currently stand at 18-25.  Eleven games back from division leading Los Angeles in fifth place. Currently 7-10 at home and 11-15 on the road, the Roxs have matched its opponents 212-212, second week in a row(?) (expected wins is 22 versus historical wins at 19). On pace for 68 wins with 799 runs scored and 799 runs against.

Helton got his 2,000th hit!  And a winning record for the week.  Rox finally return home, having played the fewest home games of any MLB team at 17.  This is either a good sign (?) or not since they are 7 - 10 at home this year.  Teams seem to come into Coors just assuming they will hit.  I wonder if players have a tendency to hit better when coming to Coors.  I mean pre-Humidor this was a no-brainer question but since the ball doesn't seem have the same get-up-and-go it once had do players disregard this and still hit better?

Here is a table of the number of hits the team had 3 games before Coors, at Coors, 3 games after Coors and their season average (Giants is the average of only two games).  In hindsight doing this table really has too many variables.  A lot probably depends on what team they were playing before the Rox, after the Rox, on the road versus at home, and some of these games were played at Houston and San Diego.  I guess the only meaningful number is the bottom line where teams scored about 7.2 and 7.7 runs before and after Coors and averaged about 10.7 hits while at Coors. Is Coors worth about 3 more hits to a team?  If you figure teams get about 33 at bats per game then a team is hitting about .075 better at Coors.

And runs score...

Pitching was key for Week 7 with both the starting and relief pitching getting on the positive side fo the WPA curve.  Looking at the graph the pitching is just up and down.  No consistency and you have to have some pitching week in and week out to be successful.  Maybe I shouldn't be so hard on Hurdle and perhaps we should be calling for Apodaca head?

Haiku Wednesday

Good Byes

Finish a chapter
Prelude for the next hello
Look to the next page

Leonard Mlodinow - The Drunkard's Walk

Another book in a series of books I'd like to call, "Educating the Masses or Things That Make You Go Hmmmm or Read This it Will Make Feel Stupid".

This follows Wisdom of Crowds, Tipping Point, and Blink.

Some thoughts:

"In fact, in recent years psychologists have found that the ability to persist in the face of obstacles is at least as important a factor in success as talent. That's why experts often speak of the "ten-year rule," meaning that it takes at least a decade of hard work, practice, and striving to become highly successful in most endeavors."

"That might sound like a largely technical achievement, but on the contrary, it represented the triumph of a great principle: that much of the order we perceive in nature belies an invisible underlying disorder and hence can be understood only through the rules of randomness."

"Why is the human need to be in control relevant to a discussion of random patterns?  Because if events are random, we are not in control, and if we are in control of events, they are not random. There is therefore a fundamental clash between our need to feel we are in control and our ability to recognize randomness.  That clash is one of the principal reasons we misinterpret random events."

I decided to Mind Map it:

Rox Talk

The Week That Was

A 2-4 week against the Astro and Pirates. The Roxs currently stand at 14-22. Ten and half games back from division leading Los Angeles in fourth place. Currently 7-10 at home and 7-12 on the road, the Roxs have matched its opponents 183-183 (expected wins is 18 versus historical wins at 16). On pace for 63 wins with 824 runs scored and 824 runs against.

Oh hum a pretty uneventful week.  I was hoping Helton would get his 2,000th hit and add some good news to this season but of course Hurdle has to sit him on Sunday with him sitting on 1,999. For God's sake man what are you doing...get him in the game let him get his hit! Oh well something to talk about next week.

Up down, up down what maddening inconsistency our Rox are showing this year.  No rhyme to reason for what is going to show up week to week.  Management has got to settle in on a everyday line up.  Through 36 games the Rox have had 33 different batting lineups.  Everyone says that having daily consistency helps a ball player so I can only imagine the frustrations especially with Atkins.  I mean Atkins looks like a rookie.  Can't play the field, can't hit, and the sad part is that if he was at least hitting he'd have some trade possibilities but at this point he isn't worth anything.  Throw in the fact the Holliday has fallen off the baseball offense world you can pretty much expect that our players; regardless of what they do, is worthless for any trades. The Rox just can't seem to win in any aspect of the game.

The Weekly Diamond

Very good piece by Rox Girl at Purplerow.com.  You know I kind of forgot about the whole GenR promo that got shoved down our throat for a couple of seasons.  You know management basically said screw it and let the kids play.  Well they got their chance and all in all they did make it to the World Series.  In sort of a bizarre Florida Marlin way we let them play and they proved their way to a NL pennant.  Only problem was the players were neither all that young or all that impressive and the team thought they could keep them around and make another run.  As Rox Girl says that core is done and needs to move along.  The problem I see is how does Management spin this one?  At least with the Marlins they make it pretty apparent when they have decided to jettison one era for the next.  Do Rox fans really want to see GenR redux?  Kind of frustrating to think we might have to wait another 2 - 3 years before we can become competitive again..

This is pretty cool...

Umberto Eco - The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana

Or otherwise known as La Misteriosa Fiamma della Regina Loana is a book by Umberto Eco. Another translated book from Italian this time rather than my usual Japanese. Again probably something loss in the translation. Decent read although a bit long in the tooth. I enjoyed the pulp tributes and especially the Flash Gordon stuff but in the end I thought the book was a bit boring and uninspiring.

Haiku Wednesday

Denver Post Haiku

My weekly journey
Find seventeen syllables
Denver Post Haiku

Denver Post Haiku
Finger counting syllables
Five, seven, five, yeah!

Magazine Updates

Teller from Penn and Teller actually was a co-author on a published paper. How are brains want to be tricked...

Interesting tale of a professor who dabbles in a bit of everything. Craziest patients he deals with our those who don't like a limb and want to have it chopped off!

Rox Talk

The Week That Was

A 3-4 week against the Padres, Giants, and Marlins (oh my). The Roxs currently stand at 12-18. Eight and half games back from division leading Los Angeles in fifth place. Currently 6-8 at home and 6-10 on the road, the Roxs have outscored its opponents 146-143 (expected wins is 15 versus historical wins at 14). On pace for 65 wins with 788 runs scored and 772 runs against.  

As we are 5 weeks in and 30 games into it I think we can look at the fact that the one glaring issue staring at the Rox is the fact they have outscored their opponents and yet they have only won 11 of the 30 games.  One in nine in one run games is certainly an issue and a lot of these runs have been scored when the offense has clicked on all cylinders.  This team is not bad, it has some potential, but why is it that a similar team in the division does not meet expectations they don't hesitate to bring in something new?  How long is it going to take to determine that maybe the something missing isn't on the field but sitting in the dugout night after night making out the lineup card...I think if O'Dowd wants his job he'd better start making the tough decisions and find someone who can win on the field!

For a 3- 4 week the team on the field certainly did what it needed to, at least in respect to past probability!  And if only we could just simply rely on this simple metric...For Week 5 we had decent pitching and hitting and yet we could only drudge up 3 wins.  Perfect example of the past week was de la Rosa's 12 strikeout game.  You'd figure if you can manage 12 K's you should be in good shape...yeah not so for the Rox who proceeded to lay in egg in the batter's box and stranded de la Rosa awesome performance (a 77 game score...highest since Jimenez had a 77 in Game 162 of the 2008 season).

What a Week Means in the Baseball World...

May 6 Dave Cameron from FanGraphs announces that the Dodgers, a mere 4 weeks into the season, are already the NL West Champs...May 7, MLB announces Manny will start a 50 game suspension for taking a banned substance.  And what does this all mean...well the demise of the Dodgers didn't happen has the Rox actually lost a game in the standing last week but life without Manny might give someone in the division a glimmer of hope?  Realistically probably not.  The NL West has become dysfunctional again.  Case in point...Giants, no offense; Padres, no owner; D-Backs, fired manager; Rox, clueless management.  Heck in the big picture of things maybe Manny actually wanted to get caught...who wants to slog through 162 game season.  Manny will plop back into Dodger blue in July and only have to play 80 more games or so.  When October comes he will be just getting started against those hapless pitchers who had to play the entire season.  Heck a better punishment for Manny would be to stick him down in the minors in the South and make him ride buses around and sweat for 50 games so he doesn't come back fresh!

Anyway another nail in the steroid era of baseball.  At this point, as a fan, I am just ready to move on.  Mistakes were made, baseball was hurting, management and players got caught up with the almighty home run, and the game was given a blackeye.  Baseball much like America goes through these periods.  Hopefully we can learn from the mistakes and move on.  I have said it before every generation of baseball lovers grow up in era.  I will be stuck with the Steroid Era. Life goes on...arguments will continue but all in all we still love the game.  The interesting thing will be who will get the HOF nod?  Griffey certainly (please don't let the Kid be guilty!) and a slew of pitchers who faced juiced players day in day out.  It should be interesting to see how history will look back at this time.

David Copperfield - An Intimate Evening of Grand Illusion

I love magic...I love to be amazed. I have seen D. Copperfield a total of 4 times to include today. It has been a great ride. Every time it has been a fantastic experience. Today I have to admit it was a bit of a let down. Perhaps I have aged, perhaps he has aged but to see him is like watching an aging ball player and knowing he should have put the bat down years ago but the ego thinks he should continue. It was kind of sad.

Star Trek - The Movie

Saw the first summer's movie blockbuster.  And I have to say that it was a hell of a start for the summer.  If the rest of the summer's movies hold up to this then it will be the best summer ever.  

I wouldn't call myself a Trekkie.  I respect the franchise.  Enjoyed the TNG and Voyager.   Thought DS9 was a good experiment.  TOS was before my time but Wrath of Khan was the best in theatre.  Anyway I had no expectations but heard the good reviews and at least expected a decent go.  Paid the extra and saw it on IMAX because a big movie has to be seen and heard.  It was definitely worth it.  

Great move, great characters, J.J. hit it huge...although not for sure what was up with the engineering section of the Enterprise (or should I say the LA Budweiser Plant). For God's sake you put the money in a great bridge, great special effects and the freakin Engineering section is a Bud plant...Ughhhh.  I wonder what other Easter Eggs were in the movie beside the Rambaldi red ball!  Ughhhh great movie except I wanted some Kirk kick assing and some Khannnnnnnn!

Haiku Wednesday

Graduation

Milestone event
Tremendous accomplishment
Enjoy the real world!

Wolverine TPB Marc Silvestri

Marc Silvestri brought me into the world of comics. I started innocently with an issue of X-Factor. Got my feet wet with the original crew. Just happened to to get caught up in the Mutant Massacre. While I didn't venture into the Uncanny world I only decided a few months later that I wanted more. Well that led to Uncanny X-men 218. Classic issue with Silvestri doing the pencils. Was it chance? or did I just happen upon classic art? Simonson was doing X-Factor and Silvestri was on Uncanny. Two fabulous artist plying their trade. 27 odd issues later he defined an era. He moved onto Wolverine and really provided a great story. While Lee really put the X-men over the top I think Silvestri's owrk really was the essence of what made the X-men the greatest book of the 90's. Fall of the Mutants was probably the last greatest cross over. Fall of the X-men in Dallas, the Brood return...great stuff. Anyway it was good to revisist his art and loved the Wolverine stuff.

Rox Talk

The Week That Was

A 3-3 week against the Padres and Giants. The Roxs currently stand at 9-14. Seven and half games back from division leading Los Angeles in fifth place. Currently 4-5 at home and 5-9 on the road, the Roxs have outscored its opponents 115-113 (expected wins is 10 versus historical wins at 9). On pace for 63 wins with 810 runs scored and 796 runs against.  

Fifteen percent of the season done and the Roxs sit 7.5 games behind division leading LA.  Not to panic but the Roxs are digging themselves a hole four weeks into the season.  Obviously last year the D-backs jumped to a huge division lead and ultimately fell back to earth so I don't think we should mail it in but the Roxs need to start playing with some urgency.  Winning some series is a start.  Winning at home would be huge.  The underlying positive to all of this is the Rox 115 - 113 run differential.  Having scored more runs than their opponents should indicate that the Rox should have 11 or 12 wins.  For this team to really be competitive the bullpen really needs to settle in.

April Showers Bring May Wins?

Looking at the April schedule before the season started it was certainly a difficult stretch.  I thought a 9 - 11 start would be a great April.  The team finished at 8 - 12.  Really a good start considering we went 1 - 5 against LA.  Unfortunately LA is playing lights out and put the Rox in a 5 game hole.  

Minuses

- Starting pitching has been inconsistent.  Cook took all of April to find his groove (we hope!), Jimenez showed some moments, Marquis earned his pay, and de la Rosa was hit or miss.  No real 5th starter although Morales did have one good game.  If Cook and Jimenez can get it together in May then hopefully we will see some changes.

- Bullpen has been awful.  Hurdle didn't seem to help things by having no defined roles out of Spring Training.  The bullpen just seemed out of sorts.  Street and Morales had a great first game and then just melted down.  Rox were 0-6 in one run games and if the offense wasn't scoring runs then the Rox weren't winning.

- The offense showed some brilliance but also found itself not being able to get runners in.

Pluses

- A 9 - 11 record with Cook and Jimenez not finding the plate.  A bullpen still in disarray.

- Offense doesn't appear to be missing anything without Holliday (5 runs, 18 hits, 1 HR, 12 RBI, .240 Ave) and Atkins, Tulo, and Iannetta haven't really started hitting

- Dexter Fowler

So hopefully May will bring some more wins.  Certainly will get more games at home.  Will the Bullpen settle in?  Street find his pitch?  Will musical lineup continue?

Kentucky Derby

The 135th running of the Kentucky Derby is tomorrow. As I have probably mentioned before it is the one place I would love to see live. Anyway below is the post. Love the name Chocolate Candy (I wonder if it is a black horse?). Also like Atomic Rain. I'm going with Dunkirk.

West Side Bernie 30-1
Musket Man 20-1
Mr. Hot Stuff 30-1
Advice 30-1
Hold Me Back 15-1
Friesan Fire 5-1
Papa Clem 20-1
Mine That Bird 50-1
Join in the Dance 50-1
Regal Ransom 30-1
Chocolate Candy 20-1
General Quarters 20-1
I Want Revenge 3-1
Atomic Rain 50-1
Dunkirk 4-1
Pioneer of the Nile 4-1
Summer Bird 50-1
Nowhere to Hide 50-1
Desert Party 15-1
Flying Private 50-1

Update, 50 - 1 Mine That Bird wins the Derby