Rockies and Marlins Play Old School Coors Game

    There's a game that took place Friday evening at Coors field that makes you think, 'has the concept of recording an out fallen through the cracks somewhere'? The Rockies beat the Marlins on Independance Day 18-17, and this is not the nineteenth century so there was no complete game pitched by any means. You only have to go back to 2001, the year before the Rockies humidor began to take effect, to last find crazy offensive games on a frequent basis at Coors feild in Denver. Pitchers didn't like it, but you could have been Cy Young or Walter Johnson and you still probably wouldn't fare so well in that park. If you are a pitching coach in colorado and if there is no humidor where your team is playing, well let's just say you won't be winning pitching coach of the year anytime soon. The humidor has obviously made some difference in how the ball travels in Denver, but this past Friday would trick people into thinking something strange is going down.

Ultimately what it comes down to is that chicks dig the long ball, and if you prefer a 1-0 pitchers duel over a 25-24 shelacking, then either you are an old school guy, you prefer to leave football scores to the game of football, or you just don't live for a great deal of excitement. The Rockies had to overcome a 9 run deficit, and seeing something like that first hand is some kind of spectacle- doesn't happen very often in the majors, although in pee wee leagues it happens about every other game. It would be hard to argue that the pitchers in Fridays game were constantly make poor pitch selections, or they were lazily throwing pitches, refusing to believe that what results from a good pitch will be the same as what results from a really bad pitch. It's Coors field, and pitchers know that they have to make an extra effort to not elevate the ball very much. By the way, how did Hideo Nomo pitch a no hitter at Coors? Was he shooting up shots of horse  transquelizers or some kind of animal stimulant? That park is meant for offense, just like the Metrodome is meant for circus performances, the Rogers Center is meant for Canadian football and Safeco field is appropriately meant for teams that will never win the World Series until Ichiro gets a better team built around him.

Former Rockies pitcher Shawn Chacon grew up in Colorado and did fairly well in his years with the Rockies, but if he were hired as Rockies pitching coach he'd probably just teach his pitchers taekwondo or jui jitsu or maybe he'll make up a martial art specifically aimed at choking high level executives. Come on Shawn- you can't treat your GM like that unless you are having a really good year. Good luck pitching for the single A bulldozers or whatever team you play for now.