Haiku Wednesday

Backyard

Your outdoor domain

Dog and Kids have staked their claim

I have to mow it

Rox Talk

The Week That Was

A 4-2 week against the Phillies and Nationals. The Rox currently stand at 19-18. Three games back from division leading San Diego in fourth place. Currently 11-7 at home and 8-11 on the road, the Rox have outscored its opponents 179-152 (expected wins is 21 versus historical wins at 17). On pace for 83 wins with 784 runs scored and 666 runs against. Playoff indicator (Runs scored/Runs Against ratio) is 1.18 (>1.16 indicates high playoff potential).

Sometimes as fans we probably should be more realistic. Are the Rox where we want them? Perhaps when we think a team is ready to win the Division we tend to think the team should lead the race from Game 1. Not quite there after Week 6. But perhaps the glass isn't half empty...look above and Rox in previous years had 16, 15, and 15 wins. This year we have 19. Something to think about. Only 3 out of the top spot. A good start by Francis, the bullpen settling into their roles, and an offense that really isn't clicking. Throw in a wacky weather week with three rain outs, two potential doubleheaders, and binoculargate I guess we should be positive about the position our Rox find themselves in. I mean heck if we were leading the division we'd probably be whining that our team doesn't have a big enough lead. I'd rather come from behind then have the pressure of leading at the top.

Second Inning

A 162 game schedule can easily be broken into "9 innings" of 18 games a piece. Over the years I have tracked monthly averages and I am always amazed how similar the averages are. So this year instead of months I am simply tracking 18 game stretches to see if anything changes. The spreadsheet below shows the first and second inning.

Another 9 - 9 inning. Little more realistic record. Pitching staff allowed 15 more runs. Interesting to see we actually scored more runs on the road against our opponents especially considering the road trip was from San Fran, San Diego, and LA. Once again another glaring black eye for our bullpen which went 2 - 4. Jimenez continues to lead the way. Interesting to see Tulo jump up there with WAR. Wonder how much defense plays into that?

Comic Splat (8)

Siege #4 - Well almost 6 years has gone by since the Avengers Disassembled arc and this is where we stand. The Avengers as we know it are back. It will be interesting to see when this period is looked at from a historical view whether it will have moved the Avengers in a new direction or just sort of detoured it for a few years.

Dark Avengers #16 - Hands down the best mini-series ever. Talking about going into a dark alley and coming up with something as ballsy as this? Great book...too bad it wasn't meant to last...although interesting to see the Secret Avengers and where it goes...

Daytripper #6 - Can someone live?

Black Widow #2 - What a confusing character...so many stories so many angles...

Buffy the Vampire Slayer #35 - And so ends Season 8 and another surprise appearance (although probably not really)

Uncanny X-men #524 - Really you get rid of Kurt...come on now that is sad...slim the teams down don't kill characters off to make it meaningful...aghhhh

Birds of Prey #1 - Bought this purely for the artist...Ed Benes...great artist

The New Avengers Finale #1 - Love the full page spreads at the end...New Avengers started off well way back when but then I really think it got mired into crap. Hopefully Avengers new title stays fresh

Salt Lake City Bees

Nice little ball park. Beautiful view from behind home plate. Love the accessibility of minor league baseball. Hard to believe the kids playing are only a step away from the big leagues. Love that there mascot is a bee with a bat! Hey and there cheerleaders are called Honey Bees...

Haiku Wednesday

Vacation

A break from the grind
A chance to rest and unwind
Jobs are such a bind

Synthetic Biology

The parts registry is basically synthetic biology in a nutshell. Imagine taking life's pieces and parts, developed over a million years of evolution, and using these to make and do things. A biology engineer! Ahhh to be young again and be able to do it over again...

Rox Talk

The Week That Was

A 3-3 week against the Padres and Dodgers. The Rox currently stand at 15-16. Four games back from division leading San Diego in third place. Currently 7-5 at home and 8-11 on the road, the Rox have outscored its opponents 152-120 (expected wins is 19 versus historical wins at 14). On pace for 78 wins with 794 runs scored and 627 runs against. Playoff indicator (Runs scored/Runs Against ratio) is 1.27 (>1.16 indicates high playoff potential).

Wow what a maddening team. Win one, lose one, they are maddeningly consistent. Scary thing is their run differential would suggest they should be 19 - 12 right now! Instead we are mired in 3rd place treading water and not doing much of anything. Injuries have certainly been an issue. Pitching has been exceptional and awful (8 games with a game score of greater than 70 and 9 games with a game score of less than 35 -- 50 being an average start). Offense pretty good although I do have to side with Kizla in his column on Sunday in the Denver Post. Not so much the big signing but moving Helton to somewhere else in the order. I think a CarGo/Tulo tandem would be huge. If Helton's power continues to elude him in May, my guess is that by June the dynamic duo will be setting up Blake Street Bomber Part II. It is always hard for the organization and a player to realize that time has passed them by. Just ask Boston about Big Papi. I mean it is hard but Helton has to realize that for the betterment of the team sometimes you need to move along. We shall see, the team really isn't hitting on all cycles right now perhaps as it warms up the ball will travel some more!

Stadium Records

Well last week it was all time records against opponents. This week we have all time stadium records!

Some surprises:

1) Maybe we should play in Mexico more!

2) Glad Riverfront was torn down

3) Didn't realize we had a losing record at Mile High.

4) We don't like MinuteMaid park in Houston.

5) Interestingly a lot of the newer parks don't play so well for us.

Super 8

JJ Abrams is at least the master of the setup. Cloverfield was the first now comes Super 8. Now whether Super 8 turns out to be any good is probably irrelevant. The marketing will at least assure a decent opening weekend.

Here is a link to the trailer

Updated 5/18/10 - First viral stuff. To read about the excitement this is a decent news site

Haiku Wednesday

Graduation

Big day, happy smiles

Recognize accomplishment

Just a stepping stone

Rox Talk

The Week That Was

A 2-4 week against the D-Backs and Giants. The Rox currently stand at 12-13. Four games back from division leading San Diego in third place. Currently 7-5 at home and 5-8 on the road, the Rox have outscored its opponents 126-102 (expected wins is 15 versus historical wins at 11). On pace for 78 wins with 816 runs scored and 661 runs against. Playoff indicator (Runs scored/Runs Against ratio) is 1.24 (>1.16 indicates high playoff potential).

Just an all around awful week. I think the 11 - 12 lost to D-Backs on Wednesday afternoon summed up the week for me. To give up the runs then come back and lead and then have it go to extra innings and lose...ughhhh! D-Backs have always been trouble (see below) and well winning in San Fran hasn't been easy. This is the first real trip through the West with games in San Diego and LA up on deck. Rox finished with a 11 - 12 record in April. I think that is what the Rox needed. Although they find themselves 4 games back I think the real contenders haven't shown themselves. May is the time to start playing better baseball. Nice start for Chacin. The depth of the team really is shown with the injuries and the fact that was reasonable players to fill in. A complement to the team and how it has been built.

All Time Records

During the broadcast back against the Marlins, a stat showed up to say that the Rox and Marlins were 72 - 72 against each other. I wonder what the other records happen to be. Below lists the records against all 29 teams.

Some surprises:

1) A winning record against the Padres and a miserable record against the rest of the NL West.

2) Worst record is against Atlanta, not a big surprise, remember we didn't beat them in 1993 an they were in our division!

3) Surprising we do so well against the AL

3) Can we move to the NL Central?

Helton in the Five Hole

Helton has gotten 75% of his plate appearances in the 3rd or 4th hole for the Rox. Over the weekend Tracy put Helton in the 5th hole. As Helton ages one has to wonder how long will we allow Helton to remain in his usual batting position? Helton had a nice rebound year last year but it has been pretty obvious that over the last few years Helton has not gotten the extra base hits he had in his early years. From 2000 - 2005 Helton extra base hits accounted for more than 40% of his hits since 2005 it has gone from 36%, 34%, 29%, 32% and 19% so far this year. The graph below shows Helton's on base percentage and slugging percentage over the years. Helton is my favorite Rox but when will he admit he might be better somewhere else in the order? He still is a hit machine...put him in the two hole!