The Rockies have made a lot of roster moves with regards to their pitching staff this season, but none has had the impact of the exchange of mediocre Jason Jennings for his dazzlingly effective identical twin Jeremy. Today only a Todd Greene throwing error kept Jeremy from shutting the Cardinals down entirely. No ripping on Greene, though, because he hit the second of back-to-back homers in the 4th. Dustan Mohr hit the other. Todd Helton didn't start against the lefty Mark Mulder, leading to much hilarity from the TV announcers regarding his role as a defensive specialist when he entered the game in the 8th.

Mohr flubbed a sacrifice attempt in the 8th with two on and nobody out, popping out to the catcher, but the Rockies ended up not needing the insurance runs. After Jennings' seven innnings (6 hits, 3 walks, 4 strikeouts, no perfect innings but only 1 earned run), Jay Witasick and Brian Fuentes shut it down proper.

It's wonderful to get a win any time we can, but besides Jennings and Matt Holliday (2 for 4), the major contributors in this game were marginal veteran guys who aren't the foundation of our theoretical future success. Clint Barmes and Brad Hawpe and J.D. Closser need to get it going. Eddy Garabito did get his first major league hit tonight, so good on him.

Measured answers to pointed questions from Troy E. Renck. The best question is the last one -- why does Hurdle keep giving Desi Relaford and Todd Greene starts when the Rockies' won-loss record is clearly just an academic question at this point? There is no good answer to this question. Hurdle (apparently) doesn't have to win to keep his job. Also, further Preston Wilson speculation. I am backing off this topic until I see a rumor mentioned in more than one place.

Another story everyone is sick of: the Wayne Hagin-Todd Helton conflict. The Rockies' brass have apparently asked Hagin to avoid Helton at all costs during this series, which seems like needless escalation to me. One imagines Hagin is as anxious to get this ugly situation behind him as Helton is. Well, the newspapers have to run something in between all the car dealership spreads, I guess. A St. Louis columnist gives his readers a fairly accurate reading on the state of the Rockies, although the musings about steroids he brings in towards the end are completely silly.

It'll be at least a week until Aaron Miles tries any baseball activities...Matt Anderson, step right up...Jason Jennings can set a dubious record tonight...two big names are out of the draft at the last moment...Purple Row wants your opinion on to whom Colorado needs to hang on. My list: Francis, Closser, Barmes, Hawpe, Holliday, Carvajal, Sullivan. Oh, and Todd Helton. He's good.

Well, it's Buddy Bell in KC. I am Jack's complete lack of interest and/or surprise. Royals owner David Glass was adamant (registration required) that the team hire someone who had managed in the majors before, and he gets his wish. Of course, the teams Bell managed (Detroit 1996-98, Colorado 2000-02) were all bad. The Royals will neither benefit nor suffer from Bell's hiring. He merely gives them another retroactive excuse for their pathetic play besides the fact that they don't spend any money on players and their minor league development system is predicated on drafting players too young and promoting them too early.

Colorado and Kansas City are the two worst teams in the majors right now, but I see some hope for the Rockies that the Royals just don't have. Colorado has shown the potential for being at least a strong mid-market team, assuming they can first put a core of young players capable of finishing at least .500 together first. Were the Rockies ever to become a consistent contender, they have a whole untapped region to conquer. The Royals are stuck with a crummy TV contract and the much more alluring Cardinals, their competitive payroll, and their impending new stadium in the same state. Kansas City as a host for an MLB team has always been a shaky proposition. The Athletics didn't post a winning record their entire sojourn there (1955-67). The Royals had some great years in the late '70s and early '80s, but that was during an era of admitted collusion on the part of the owners to keep payrolls down.

You don't have to spend $200 million to make the playoffs. There is, however, a floor somewhere. The Devil Rays, the Royals, and possibly the Pirates are under it. The Brewers and the Blue Jays are toeing the line. The Rockies are not. Sensible signings, good drafting, and a canny trade here and there, and it's a new day for baseball in Denver. The Rockies kept Todd Helton, while the Royals had literally no chance at retaining Carlos Beltran. A new day isn't coming in Kansas City. Will it come in Portland or Las Vegas?

Well, I committed a cardinal sin last night (ha ha, little joke there) -- I went to bed before the game was over. Between the rain delay, the long road trip the day before, and waking up at 4 in the morning to drive my father to the airport, I just wasn't up for another loss. I saw Pujols' homer, and I thought "Well, there goes that one."

For those who didn't see any of the game, it was a weird one. Jamey Wright was effective. Desi Relaford reached third on a three-base error and scored on an overthrow by catcher Yadier Molina. The Cardinals picked up an unearned run right back on an error by Relaford. Then Colorado retook the lead on a Jason Marquis wild pitch in the 6th, and padded it on an infield hit that could have been called an error on shortstop David Eckstein. I felt fairly confident throughout that whichever team managed to first score a run with a solid hit would win it, and indeed Albert Pujols hit one where no Rockies defender could bobble it in the 7th, scoring Eckstein and Roger Cedeño.

The long and short of it is the Rockies are not going to win many games at Coors when they get only one extra-base hit (a double by suddenly potent J.D. Closser in the third). Brad Hawpe had a 2 for 4 day, and Todd Helton at least walked twice (remember, Closser started walking in bunches right before he started hitting a bit), but this offense has not yet shaken the rust of the brutal road trip off of its back. 1 for 5, Clint Barmes? You can do better!

I have nothing to say bad about Jay Witasick, who gave up Pujols' shot. Albert hit a very good pitch, and there's nothing anyone can do about it. Great hitters will hit good pitches sometimes. Matt Anderson sure didn't do much in his Rockies debut, though. As for Jamey Wright, well, even a blind chicken finds a kernel of corn every now and then. Onward!

It's way more fun to write about dysfunctional teams than good teams. Pointing out shortcomings is just more of a charge than admitting another's job well done. That said, Walt Jocketty has done an excellent job assembling a St. Louis team to defend last year's National League pennant. As I alluded to earlier, the Cardinals probably won't win 105 games as they did last year. A lot has to go right to win that many, and last year's Cards were lucky in terms of injuries and getting career years from starters like Chris Carpenter and Jason Marquis. This year Jason Isringhausen has spent some time on the DL and the great Scott Rolen is out for a while.

An article in today's Rocky Mountain News effectively outlines how St. Louis retooled on the fly. Woody Williams was replaced by Mark Mulder -- huge upgrade. Mike Matheny's job was given to youngster Yadier Molina -- not any better or worse, but a great deal cheaper. The old keystone combo of Tony Womack and Edgar Renteria gave way for Mark Grudzielanek and David Eckstein, a slight on-field gain for a huge drop in salaries. Womack (.616 OPS) is making $2 million for the Yankees (and playing left field), while Grudzielanek's numbers are .846 and $1 million. Renteria: .764 and $8 million for the Red Sox, Eckstein: .767 and $2.3 million.

Of course the guys who make it all go get paid the big money, but they do happen to be Albert Pujols, Larry Walker, and Jim Edmonds, and they deserve it. Reggie Sanders is having himself a good year, and John Mabry has been more than adequate in a super-utility role. The Cardinals lead the league in runs and OPS. Their pitching staff checks in at a very respectable fourth in the league to boot. In short, they're the class of the league.

Besides Rolen's absence, the Rockies will get no favors in this four-game series with Marquis, Mark Mulder, and undefeated Matt Morris set to start the first three games. Wow, that's a lot of M's. Jeff Suppan, a better fifth starter than a lot of teams have #2 guys, will go in the Thursday day finisher. Colorado counters, such as it is, with Wright, Jennings, Kennedy, and Chacon in that order. Marquis and Suppan have relatively swell Coors numbers in limited exposure, while Mulder and Morris haven't pitched there (at least since '02, which is as far back as ESPN's splits go).

The Rockies have had their two best series of the year at home against fairly hot teams (LA and SF), but St. Louis is a whole order of magnitude better than either of those clubs. I have been overly optimistic too much lately, with no good coming of it, so I'm going to predict a Cardinal sweep. We're in rain delay, so technically this preview isn't tardy.

No matter how short a trip lasts, it always feels as if you've missed something at home when you return. Such is not the case with the Rockies headlines, which are the usual lamentations. Whither the rotation? "We have been anything but consistent off the mound," says Clint Hurdle, who ponders replacing Jamey Wright as a starter with Byung-Hyun Kim. This in my view is sort of like standing over a raging campfire with a can of gasoline, thinking better of it, and chucking a can of bug spray in instead. Except I never weighed Kim vs. Wright at Boy Scout camp.

The Post profiles catcher-in-waiting Danny Ardoin, who is much older than I thought (30), and is therefore like recently recalled Eddy Garabito a complete waste of the Rockies' time. Mike Klis oddly describes the Cardinals as "gritty." The White Sox are gritty. The Brewers are gritty. The Cardinals have superior talent, a wonderful veteran core, the best right-handed hitter in baseball, and a Hall of Fame manager. I'll get back to them a little later today, when I explain why the Cardinals have a better team than they did last year, yet will win fewer games.

Todd Helton has no idea, either: "I am going to be all right. I just need to hit the ball hard for a change." He apparently feels that no curse of Wayne Hagin is in effect, as he does not wish to speak to the Cardinals' broadcaster who implicated him as a steroid user. "Now that's a really stupid question," Helton said when asked. Interesting note here (fourth item) about Colorado players' chances to win, place, and show in NL Rookie of the Year voting. J.D. Closser is not in the running but seems to be reacting well to the Rockies' weird decision to evaluate him on practically an at-bat by at-bat basis.

Clint Hurdle on the upcoming stretch of games against St. Louis and Chicago AL: "I look forward to it. We will be able to take a litmus test and find out where we are." Uh, Clint? You don't need a strip of funny paper for that. A regular one with newsprint will do just fine. You're 16 games back. Also, Tracy Ringolsby (second item) notes that Mark Prior and Brad Hawpe's paths have crossed before.

Well, at least the road trip is finally over. Mine and the Rockies'. Neither Jeff Francis nor Marcos Carvajal had their best stuff as the Cubs returned to .500 at Colorado's expense. At least Preston Wilson is heating up and J.D. Closser finally managed to hit himself a homer. Luis Gonzalez is making a bid for Aaron Miles' job, nudging his average up to .306 with a 2-for-5, 3-RBI game. Todd Helton avoided going hitless-for-Chicago by the narrowest of margins. Clint Barmes still looks lost out there. No one on the Rockies, with the possible exception of Jamey Wright, will be sorry to return to relatively friendly confines of Coors Field.

Driving back from Chicago afforded me the opportunity to retrieve most of my baseball reference library from my parents' basement. Maybe I will be able to track down the Eddy Garabito info I promised earlier now. I also have my extensive collection of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" literature with me at last. We'll see how I'm able to incorporate that.

Aha, here we go! From John Sickels' Prospect Book, 2003 edition, written when Garabito was in the Orioles' system: "He has little power or untapped offensive upside that I can see, but he does decently with the glove and can swipe a base, 25th man material." And the Watcher's Guide Volume 1 notes that Nicholas Brendon (Xander) played baseball at California's College of the Canyon and intended to try his luck in the pros until a broken arm detoured him into acting. Now that's some research.

As I was driving from Chicago to Grand Island, Nebraska (on my way back to Boulder), the beat went on for the Rockies. Early MVP candidate Derrek Lee homered for the third and fourth times in the last two days as the Cubs easily defeated Colorado. Todd Helton is still hitless for this series, and 2 for his last 42. Byung-Hyun Kim pitched as well as could be expected (5 innings, 3 homers, 5 runs, but happily no walks), but the Rockies' offense utterly rolled over for Glendon Rusch. Dustan Mohr, getting the start against the lefty, had two of Colorado's six hits. Luis Gonzalez chipped in another two, and Preston Wilson had the lone RBI.

Before the game, the Cubs reacted quickly to the loss of Mark Prior, dealing useless reliever LaTroy Hawkins to San Francisco for two fairly interesting young guys. Giants' GM Brian Sabean said the high risk was worth it for Hawkins: "We're in desperate need to rearrange the bullpen. We followed (Hawkins) for the better part of May. I believe he needs a change of scenery. He'll fit in nice in our seventh and eight inning." Just don't boo him, San Franciscans, he's sensitive like that.

Clint Hurdle returned to the Rockies Friday, and it sounds like his daughter is going to be OK. I guess that means I can go back to advocating his firing. Neifi Perez: "It bothers me to not have been [in Colorado] my whole career. It's still a painful subject." Perez claims he called his shot in Friday's game as well. Clint Barmes, hitless today, turned an ankle Thursday and that's why he missed the game I attended. The ugly Todd Helton feud with broadcaster Wayne Hagin will be revisited this coming week with the Cardinals in town.

It's never too early to start talking about whom the bad teams will trade. SI fantasy writer David Sabino repeats what we already know about the Rockies: Preston Wilson will go, Todd Helton probably won't. Speaking of bad teams, here's a Royals managerial search update: Art Howe and Buddy Bell interviewed, Jerry Manuel and Terry Collins scheduled. But is Kansas City moving too fast?

For some reason when I go to Cubs games, momentous things happen. In 2002, in Milwaukee, I saw Mark Bellhorn hit home runs from opposite sides of the plate in the same inning. In 2003, at Wrigley, I saw Sammy Sosa ejected from a game when cork was found in his bat. This time around, I saw Brad Hawpe break Mark Prior's arm with a line drive that had the sound and effect of a gunshot. If this is what the Rockies have to do to affect a pennant race, I don't want to see them lead off SportsCenter again this season.

The game itself was nondescript, although a few good defensive plays brightened what was otherwise a dull blowout. Todd Wellemeyer came in after Prior's injury and locked the Colorado offense down, allowing nary a hit in 3 2/3 innings. Meanwhile Joe Kennedy got pounded, although only three of his seven runs were earned thanks to a Garrett Atkins error in the fourth. None of the Rockies' pitchers fared particularly well as Neifi Perez, Corey Patterson, and Derrek Lee homered, Lee connecting twice. Once again Kennedy couldn't avoid the big inning and the Rockies' offense was ill-equipped to bail him out.

Preston Wilson did homer, boosting his trade value. He was busy in center as well, as we could see from our vantage point in the upper bleachers. J.D. Closser was hitless but drew three walks, which I'm taking as a good sign. Todd Helton's struggles continued with an 0 for 4 day. Luis Gonzalez was the only Colorado hitter to have a multi-hit day, with two singles in five at-bats. Clint Barmes took the day off. Eddy Garabito pinch-hit for his major league debut.

Even if the bleacher fans are occasionally abusive to park patrons in out-of-town colors, Wrigley Field is the best place to see baseball games in the world. It's a credit to the Cubs' fans that they have 38,000 people every home game, even weekday day contests. Today was Cubs' radio announcer Pat Hughes' 50th, so I joined in singing "Happy Birthday" for him. Northern Illinois' football coach sang "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" during the seventh-inning stretch. I yelled "Rockies" as loud as I could at the appropriate time, but it didn't seem to much help.

All is revealed: you wouldn't like Jason Jennings when he's angry; an experiment gone awry turns him into effective starter and S.O.B. Jeremy Jennings when his ire is raised. "I heard on TV how they were talking about how they were going to sweep us like we are everyone's homecoming game. It's personal." A slight change in his delivery may have helped as well. Meanwhile, Jeromy Burnitz would have loved to stay with the Rockies, but they disrespected him by not giving him a huge raise he didn't deserve. Also, Shawn Chacon won't make his scheduled start Saturday and Aaron Miles will see some DL time. As expected, Byung-Hyun Kim will sub for Chacon.

Jamie Quirk has enjoyed his brief managerial career: "A lot of the things the manager does, you've seen him do it but you're not involved in it. It's been an enlightening experience." Quirk may still be a long-shot candidate for the Royals' job, although Kansas City has publically said they want someone with major league experience. Jamie notes how it's difficult to leave an MLB coaching job to gain managerial experience at a lower level: "It's very hard to leave a major league job. Obviously, the money is better.... Just to go with no guarantees is kind of hard."

As soon as I find something written about Eddy Garabito, I promise you'll hear about it. Meanwhile in Chicago, reaction to the Cubs losing to the Rockies is dramatic: "The Cubs are such marshmallows that you hope they consider using steroids and corking their bats," writes Jay Mariotti. "Right now, we're just not a very good team, that's the bottom line," says Todd Walker (registration required). If they want to keep hacking away at every pitch they see the rest of this series, that'd be just fine with me and the Rockies' pitching staff.

Well, that was nice! A lot nicer than an hour-and-a-half delay at Denver International, anyway. Jason Jennings' good twin -- we'll call him Jeremy Jennings, in honor of the brothers London -- walked only two while pitching seven solid and allowing a paltry one run. Jeremy's pitch count was a tiny 87 as the Cubs persistently pounded first and second pitches into the ground, disproportionately often to Todd Helton. Meanwhile the Rockies' incredible shrinking offense managed to get to Carlos Zambrano, one of the toughest pitchers in the National League. You never know, in this game.

Clint Barmes looked like his old self, singling twice and walking once, even stealing a base for good measure. Preston Wilson and Todd Greene homered. Even Desi Relaford did a decent impersonation of a major league player, with a double, a single, and a walk. All the Cubs could do to answer was a Todd Walker RBI single and a Jerry Hairston tally on a wild pitch by Brian Fuentes in the ninth. And how about Jay Witasick's perfect eighth?

OK, the Rockies have to be having a pretty horrible season for me to be wildly excited about a single well-played road game. But they are having a pretty horrible season. Also, my relationship to the Cubs is that of a jilted lover. Tomorrow, Joe Kennedy is going to wipe the floor with Mark Prior! Well, perhaps not. But for the first time on this miserable road trip, the vestiges of a future winning ballclub were in evidence. Certainly Relaford and Wilson won't be around then, and probably not Greene or Jennings, but I love three-quarters of our infield, and it's a great twist that suddenly Colorado's most consistent asset is our bullpen.

It seems to come and go, but the defense looked awful solid today scooping up the barrage of Jeremy-induced ground balls. Hopefully Clint Hurdle will take a cue from Jamie Quirk and keep the running game an element as well. Matt Holliday had a swipe in addition to Barmes this afternoon. Yeah, we got wiped out on a double steal in the 5th, but it was a thrill just to see a double steal on in this day and age.

The Rockies may be talent-deficient, but the Cubs are severely dysfunctional. With Mitre and Rusch starting the weekend games, is it impossible to suggest Colorado might be on their way to their first road series victory of the season? Maybe I'm just lightheaded from breathing stale airport air.

My first Rockies road trip begins this evening as I fly east to Chicago. I've probably been to more games at Wrigley Field than any other major league venue (the Oakland Coliseum might be close), but it's still hard not to excited about a trip to the best place to see a baseball game in the world. Too bad the Cubs play there. Look for me on TV on Friday!

ESPN's new power rankings are up. We're down to #30. Seems to me for the rest of the season who claims this spot between the Rockies and Kansas City will be whichever team is on the road. Of course, the Royals are angling to trade Mike Sweeney and the only guy the Rockies will definitely move will be addition by subtraction, so there's that. And SI.com has us in the lofty climes of 28-land!

Jamie Quirk: "Sometimes you have to reach bottom before you can fight your way out of it." Todd Helton: "I don't know if there is a lower point." Guys? We're #28! Comings and goings: Clint Hurdle should be back for Friday's game (his daughter was discharged from the hospital Wednesday), Aaron Miles may go on the DL (stay as long as you want, hack-boy), Chin-Hui Tsao is officially out for the season. J.D. Closser might be on the way out as well, which would be silly. Let the guy play out of it! We're 13-31, what difference could it possibly make? Look at the approach the Brewers, a much better team than Colorado, have taken with rookie shortstop J.J. Hardy, who broke out with three doubles in the just-concluded series. Part of rebuilding is giving young guys ample time to prove they either can or cannot play, not giving their playing time to veteran known quantities for the sake of finishing 28 games out instead of 30.

Just glancing at the probables for this weekend's series, about which more later: Mark Prior is going for the Cubs on Friday, against Joe Kennedy. That'll end well. The last time I saw the Rockies in Chicago, they lost 11-0.

Jerzy Dudek, diving to his right, made an amazing left-handed save of an Andriy Shevchenko penalty kick to complete Liverpool's improbable run to its fifth European Champions' League title. Down 3-0 at the half, the Reds made a ridiculous run early in the second, capping a three-goal storm with a Xabi Alonso redirection of his own penalty miss. Late in extra time, Dudek made two saves of Shevchenko shots, the second one point-blank, as Liverpool ran out of substitutions and weathered an injury to defender Jamie Carragher.

After the game went to penalty kicks, Dudek took control. Twitching on the goal line like a grasshopper, he willed a Sergio Serginho miss and stoned Andrea Pirlo. Vladimir Smicer, who scored the second goal for Liverpool in regular time, made the last of the Reds' penalties to set up Dudek's save on Shevchenko. Captain Steven Gerrard began the scoring for the Premiership side.

This final was in short, the most exciting thing to happen to Istanbul since that They Might Be Giants song. Amazingly, Liverpool won't get to defend their title, as their fifth-place finish in the English Premier League doesn't qualify them for a return trip to the ECC.

Meanwhile, in Milwaukee, USA, an extremely uninteresting baseball game was contested.

Jamey Wright, a former Brewer, goes against Milwaukee in a nationally televised attempt to prevent the Rockies from getting swept by a .500 team missing its two best players, Ben Sheets and Lyle Overbay. Luckily the Brewers' worst starter is set to face him. CBS power rankings show the Rockies consolidating their #29 spot, although the Astros are coming down hard. Houston's bats might be the only ones colder than Colorado's leaguewide. Shawn Chacon will probably not miss a start with his ankle sprain, but Byung-Hyun is waiting should the call come. Free advice for Rockies brass: Stay away from Danny Graves. Run if necessary. If his agent calls, pull the phone out of the wall.

Preston Wilson is doing some job getting his young teammates playing time. Todd Greene is doing quite the opposite. Clint Hurdle's daughter's condition is improving, while Jamie Quirk mulls his future. Only thirteen more shopping days until the MLB first-year player draft, get your fix with coverage from MLBlogs, Purple Row, and Peter Gammons. Of course, as the Post's Terry Frei told us all the other day, the draft really doesn't matter; only teams with enormously rich owners who can afford to run their teams at a loss can win.

Frei's column, which the Row already torched at length, is the kind of irresponsible sportswriting that goads owners into making the decisions that keep bad teams bad. Look at the A-Rod contract and all the good it did the Rangers. Look at the money the Mariners gave Adrian Beltre after their awful year last season, money which they just as well could have spent on Jeff Cirillo and several million Hostess cupcakes. Look at the Rockies and Mike Hampton...or don't, please. But just for fun, here's a few teams that have lower payrolls than the Rockies this year: Toronto, Minnesota, Milwaukee, Cleveland. Hardly a group without hope of ever contending.

That brings us nicely to the series taking place in Phoenix right now, a referendum on building from within vs. spending lots of money you don't have. The Diamondbacks were as bad last year as the Rockies are this year, although like the Rockies they were not without young bright spots. Rather than continuing to position themselves for a return to prominence in due time, Arizona leadership got antsy and brought in via free agency and trade a veritable orgy of bad contracts: Shawn Green, Javier Vasquez, Russ Ortiz, Troy Glaus.

Meanwhile the other team vying for first place in the poor NL West, the Padres, has built gradually from within with young pitchers and position players, and a few balanced trades netted guys like Ramon Hernandez and Brian Giles. Check this out. Past Ryan Klesko and Phil Nevin, the Padres are beholden to no one past this year, and after that the only long-term deal on the horizon is a bargain-basement arbitration-avoiding extension for the worthy Jake Peavy.

Those of us who are fans of fiscal solvency, sound planning, and the Ba'hai have to be backing the Padres. Those of us who consider lottery tickets an investment, think Royce Clayton's glove more than makes up for his bat, and who are related to Shawn Estes are in the D-Backs' camp. San Diego won the first game 9-5 (Ortiz took the loss). If you're a Rockies fan, you have to root for the Padres. The last thing we need our impressionable ownership and GM getting in their heads is that we need a Russ Ortiz of our very own.

Brad Hawpe hit a really nice opposite field homer, and Clint Barmes got off of his 0-for streak. That is pretty much all there is to say good about this one. Is there any way to get this team out of its hibernatory state? Well, you can't fire the manager. Well, you could, but it would be a pretty low move with the guy's daughter in the hospital. It's too bad, because you know Tony Peña's available, and I bet he has a ton of Spanglish slogans he hasn't used yet.

The Angels' rookie pitcher Ervin Santana was marvelous against the White Sox last night, but efforts to find him a nickname have stalled. We need your suggestions! The Angels' broadcast team was trying some plays on Santana song titles, for example, "Evil Ways." "Oye Como Vas" Santana? Not so much. "Supernatural" Santana? Could work, but a little long. "Smooth" Santana? How about "E. Smooth?" Oh, I like that. Angels fans, e-mail your beat writers and broadcasters and let them know about this exciting new moniker.

I'm taking the afternoon off from the news because I'm completely absorbed in the new "Chappelle's Show" DVDs. You will have to look elsewhere for your Shawn Chacon injury updates.

Oh, you have to feel for Shawn Chacon. Once again the guy pitches pretty well but takes a loss as Chris Capuano and Ricky Bottalico combine on a three-hitter for Milwaukee. And he had to leave running the bases in the fifth with an apparent ankle injury. What's the story? Well, 0-for-12 from your 1-2-3 hitters never helps, as Clint Barmes' slump continued and Aaron Miles and Todd Helton were no help either. Dustan Mohr and Matt Holliday doubled, but the only run the Rockies managed to get across came on a Capuano balk.

It's a shame, because the Rockies defensively had a good game. They didn't commit any errors for a change. Chacon gave up three hits and two walks in his four innings, but the Brewers got the hit with runners in scoring position that the Rockies couldn't from Bill Hall in the 4th. After Chacon's early exit Blaine Neal pitched a perfect fifth, then got into a jam in the sixth that Jay Witasick elegantly worked out of for him. Jose Acevedo looked sharp in the eighth.

But Capuano was almost all the Brewers would need, going 8 1/3 and striking out six while walking only two. Bottalico came in to earn the save after Capuano plunked Holliday with one out. He made things interesting with a wild pitch and a walk to Garrett Atkins, but Colorado's utter ineptitude with runners in scoring position ran rampant as Todd Greene popped up weakly and pinch hitter Brad Hawpe took one on the outside corner for a called strike three.

Maybe we need to start stealing third. Maybe everyone needs a suicide squeeze clinic (I don't know what they were trying with Chacon at the plate in the fifth, but Atkins was out at home by a mile). Maybe everyone should start wearing that Barry Bonds-style armor and leaning into pitches. Shawn Chacon deserves better!

As the Rockies travel to Milwaukee's Miller Park to meet the Brewers, their hosts sit in second place in the NL Central, although that's not saying much. St. Louis is so far ahead in that division that I believe they are already resting players in anticipation of the playoffs. Milwaukee is one of three flawed teams clustered at seven games back, along with Chicago and Pittsburgh. Based on RS/RA numbers, the Brewers are the best of this bad lot, but I wouldn't write them down as wild card contenders yet. At least they have the advantage of getting to play Cincinnati and Houston many more times each this summer.

Two guys make the Brewers' offense go -- centerfielder Brady Clark and first baseman Lyle Overbay. Overbay is having just an insane season so far, with ten doubles, seven homers, and an OPS over 1.000. Clark, in his first year as a regular, has made Brewers fans forget about Scott Podsednik in compiling a .404 OBP from the leadoff spot. The two major reasons for the Brewers' offense's poor overall showing of 13th in the NL in OPS are the other outfielders, Geoff Jenkins and Carlos Lee. Lee, who Milwaukee acquired from the White Sox this offseason for Podsednik and reliever Luis Vizcaino, has a .307 OBP so far (his career mark is .338). Jenkins, the enigmatic rightfielder, has 4 homers and a .412 slugging percentage on the year in contrast with a .503 career mark.

The rest of the Brewers' offense, names like Jeff Cirillo, Damian Miller, Junior Spivey, Wes Helms, and Bill Hall, has been predictably bad. Third baseman Russell Branyan (5 homers in 87 ABs) has played well enough to merit his starting full-time, but apparently his defensive reputation will prevent his so doing. Rookie shortstop J.J. Hardy (.156 BA) has hit himself right out of the lineup.

It's too bad that Jenkins and Lee aren't pulling their weight, because the Milwaukee pitching staff has been nothing short of sensational. The Brewers rank 3rd in the National League in staff ERA, and that's without ace starter and franchise player Ben Sheets, who hasn't played since April 20th with an inner ear infection. The rotation hasn't missed a step in his absence, led by Wes Obermueller, Victor Santos, and Chris Capuano, all of whom have ERAs of 3.53 or below. The Rockies will see lefty Capuano and righty Santos, but luck out in Wednesday's third game, when righty Gary Glover (6.46 ERA, 1.67 WHIP) gets the call.

If the starters have been surprising, the bullpen has been uncanny. Matt Wise, Mike Adams, Jorge de la Rosa, and young closer Derrick Turnbow are the names to know in a power staff that ranks second only to San Diego in ERA. The Rockies have had their difficulties in the late innings as it is -- let's see them go out and get Shawn Chacon, Jeff Francis, and Jamey Wright some early leads. Hopefully the Colorado pitchers can respond by keeping Bernie Brewer off of his home run slide.

Joe Kennedy: "I was thinking 'He's going to run into him.' If there's no interference call, I am out on the field and definitely getting ejected." Also: Aaron Miles guarantees runs for Shawn Chacon, Preston Wilson takes a nap. No cause has been determined for Clint Hurdle's daughter's condition. Jamie Quirk will resume acting manager duties today in Milwaukee. On the lighter side, Clint Barmes overloads on Slurpees. Apparently the visiting players' lounge at PNC Park has a machine. I wonder if the home team gets one too, or it's all a part of a plot to give the Pirates' opponents nasty Slurpee migraines right before games.

Brian Fuentes: "Now that I'm doing it, I want to be the best closer I can be." That's the spirit! As noted elsewhere, Aaron Cook is in extended spring training, where he expects to make at least one more start before a 20-day minor league rehab assignment. He may be back before the All-Star break, giving the Rockies six starters, a good problem to have. Quarterly report from Tracy Ringolsby: don't blame the youth movement. Good points to be found here, although I don't necessarily agree with keeping Jason Jennings just because he likes to pitch in Coors Field. He has to pitch well there too.

For fantasy wonks: I have been asked a few times already about whether it's good idea to hang on to Barmes. Here's a much more cogent take on the subject than I could manage. I am too biased to be any good at fantasy sports. I always assume the Chicago Bears are just one lineman away from being good, or this is the year for the Brewers, or Byung-Hyun Kim will put things together at Coors. And I won't put any Reds or Yankees or Mariners on my roster because I hate those teams. I've learned this is no way to win, so I don't play. Anyway, if I understand what this gentleman from ESPN is saying, the story on Barmes is sell high if you can. Most folks figure it's only a matter of time until he comes back down to earth, so worthwhile offers are few and far between. I think he's the real deal, and he does play half his games on the moon, so proceed with caution.

Back soon with your Crüe prevüe.

Well, that was nice. Unexpected, but nice. In the best Colorado pitching performance since Jason Jennings' complete game in April, Joe Kennedy was a changed man. For 8 1/3, throwing an efficient 109 pitches, Kennedy reminded Pittsburgh that they were the Pirates, and struck out six, allowed five hits, and only two walks. Remarkable. But where did it come from?

The Rockies' offense was its usual dyspeptic road self. Clint Barmes' recent struggles continued with an 0 for 5. Matt Holliday and Brad Hawpe, batting fourth and fifth, had two hits apiece. Cory Sullivan reached on a fielder's choice and stole a base. Todd Helton had two walks as pitchers continued to work around him to reach the Rockies' lifeless #4 spot (29th in the league with an ominous .666 OPS). Today Holliday had two hits in batting cleanup but no RBI.

Brian Fuentes came on to finish for Kennedy, earning a save despite allowing a hit and a walk. J.D. Closser, who's been scuffling badly, raised his average with a 1 for 3 and a walk. For the Pirates, Josh Fogg was very shaky, walking 5, allowing 5 hits, and throwing 94 pitches in only five innings. The Rockies continued to show a weakness when it comes to scoring against middle relief, managing only two hits and no runs against the combination of John Grabow, Salomon Torres, and Ryan Vogelsong.

This win keyed entirely on one starting pitcher besting the other, and the Rockies owe a lot to Joe Kennedy for stepping up his game and preventing a sweep in PNC Park. On to Milwaukee!

It seems hardly a game goes by these days that I don't notice Cory Sullivan doing something good. Sullivan, who was the Rockies' spring training MVP, has made a rapid recovery from a torn labrum suffered in 2004. So far in 2005 Cory has been spot-starting in the outfield in addition to taking on pinch-hitting and pinch-running duties. He's just waiting for a Preston Wilson deal so he can take over as the full-time centerfielder. In 68 at-bats he's compiled a rather nice .324/.356/.456 line, with four doubles, a triple, and a homer. Sullivan isn't a home run hitter by trade, but he has gap power and the speed to turn singles into doubles and doubles into triples.

Born 8/20/79, Cory Sullivan was a seventh-round draft pick out of Wake Forest by the Rockies in 2001. He's shown a decent knack for getting on base (.344 career OBP in the minors), but like a lot of the young Rockies, he could stand to take a few more walks. Sullivan can steal a base, but according to Baseball America he could stand some refinements in his technique.

Most of this year's prospect guides omit Sullivan due to his injury last year. Cory skipped AAA in making the big league team out of spring training this year, so he's ahead of schedule. Outfield defense is incredibly important at Coors Field, with its huge gaps, and Sullivan has the tools to be the cornerstone of a very nice young trio with Matt Holliday and Brad Hawpe's great arms. Now if only a certain $12 million millstone would magically disappear.

Not much to report today...the News roundup notes that the Rockies have never won a series at Pittsburgh's PNC Park, yesterday's win marked manager Lloyd McClendon's 300th career victory, and the stadium was sold out for Saturday's  game. Must have been fireworks or something. Or is Clint Barmes becoming a road draw? From yesterday, BK may not be long for the purple.

Perceptive Mike Klis column in the Post: "The Rockies' problem isn't dollars, but how those dollars were spent." An unidentified general manager repeats a common misconception about Colorado's past success: "I still think Gebby (Bob Gebhard) had the right approach for Coors Field...build a slo-pitch softball team. Then again, it would be tougher to do that today because you couldn't afford to keep that many sluggers." But wait! As this year's Baseball Prospectus argues, the strength of that 1995 wild card team was a marvelous bullpen (which, interestingly, featured three guys who racked up more than ten saves). Going by ERA+, that pen featured four guys (Darren Holmes, Curt Leskanic, Steve Reed, and Bruce Ruffin) who were 50% better than league average or more. Combined with an average rotation and an average (99 OPS+) offense, the Rockies squeaked into the playoffs in a shortened season.

Back to the news. Here's an update on Clint Hurdle's daughter's condition. Todd Helton: "What do I do when I am not in there? I eat a lot." The Pirates' defense has improved, although fielding percentage is a rough metric. A win today would earn Pittsburgh its first three-game sweep of the season.

Full disclosure: I might not watch all of the Rockies game today, because Mark Prior is pitching against Brandon McCarthy in Chicago with the White Sox going for a sweep. Every now and then I stray from the fold, if just to be reminded what winning baseball is like.

Not that the offense did him any favors, but Jason Jennings was just awful tonight -- awful. He gave up 9 hits and 4 walks, and practically everything that was an out was hit hard. After a five-run second, he let in another run in the third and two more in the fifth. I realize acting manager Jamie Quirk probably didn't want to hand the team back to Clint Hurdle with a bloodied bullpen, but this was ridiculous. Jennings clearly had absolutely nothing in the second, and should have been yanked while the game was still competitive.

As it was, the offense more or less rolled over after a Matt Holliday homer in the fourth. Colorado did very little against wild Oliver Perez, who walked four but struck out eight as the Rockies constantly got themselves behind in counts fouling off balls. It was ugly out there, and I'm saying that way too often these days. When some late wildness on the part of Salomon Torres gave the Rockies a chance to get back into the game, all they could muster was a sac fly, an infeld hit, and after Mike Gonzalez came in, an Aaron Miles pinch pop-out to right.

Give Blaine Neal his props for 1 2/3 hitless in relief of Jennings, Marcos Carvajal his due for a 1-2-3 eighth, and Preston Wilson and Luis Gonzalez big ups for two walks apiece, and let's put the rest behind us and salvage one game from this series tomorrow. Hey, before I go, what's up with Pirates reliever Rick White, who wears number 00? I didn't know you were allowed to wear 00 in baseball. And for a pitcher?

I don't think I have anything constructive to say about this one. The Rockies sure do look like a different team on the road. Six strikeouts against Mark Redman is just not very good. And as for Byung-Hyun -- I suppose there's little chance of his relaunching his career as an outfielder like Rick Ankiel. On to the news!

Clint Hurdle leaves game early to attend to sick daughter. Best wishes to Clint and his family. Jamie Quirk, the Royals are watching...for one day, anyway, Espy and Apodaca will run Sunday's game in tandem.

Jamey Wright is second all-time among active righthanders in pickoffs, to Roger Clemens. That ought to win you a few bar bets.

Pirates fans find reasons to keep coming to games. They have decades of history and five championships, what's our excuse?

Curses for every team from SI's Jacob Luft. For the Rockies: the altitude. Oh, c'mon, you can do better than that. How about the curse of Jim Leyland? The curse of Dan O'Dowd? Armando Reynoso? I don't know, I'm grasping at straws here. But there has to be something better than the altitude.

This is interesting (registration required): A head-to-head comparison between the Cubs and White Sox telecasts from yesterday's game. It's fascinating how tentative new Cubs guys Len Kasper and Dan Plesac are in contrast to veteran Sox announcers Hawk Harrelson and Darrin Jackson. When Freddy Garcia was late to the bag on a grounder to Paul Konerko in the bottom of the second, Plesac credited Neifi Perez for "winning the race." But DJ had it otherwise: "That's Freddy's job to be there, simple as that."

Speaking of Chicago, I'll be travelling back there next weekend to visit family and I'm going to try taking in the Friday afternoon Rockies-Cubs game. Look for the one guy at sold-out Wrigley wearing purple stripes, that'll be me.

While the rest of Major League Baseball gets their interleague on, the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Rockies are the odd teams out. Colorado goes to PNC Park for the first time this year to face a trio of pretty decent pitchers -- Mark Redman, Oliver Perez, and Josh Fogg. Redman has been a huge surprise in becoming the veteran ace of a team with an otherwise pink-cheeked rotation. Fogg is like a righthanded Kirk Rueter, a guy with no stuff who somehow keeps his team in games. Perez has the best raw talent on the Pirates but has had a rough time of it lately; he is still striking guys out so chances are he will put it back together sooner or later.

The best player on the Pirates who absolutely no one has heard of is lefthanded reliever Mike Gonzalez. The guy has quietly maintained a 2.26 career ERA and an unbelievable 1.03 WHIP. He's just as tough on righties as he is on lefties and he strikes guys out at a more than 1 K per inning clip. With the recent struggles and eminent marketability of incumbent Jose Mesa, Gonzalez has "closer-in-waiting" written all over him.

The Pirates have been streaky this year, but they are definitely improved from last season's 72-win season. Last year's NL Rookie of the Year Jason Bay leads the offense with 8 homers and a .293/.359/.547 line. Craig Wilson's power numbers have been strangely absent (1 homer), but the outfielder/first baseman does have a shiny .436 OBP. He's out for the forseeable future with a finger issue. The lineup fills out with a motley crew of damaged goods (Matt Lawton, Daryle Ward) and no-names (Rob Mackowiak, Jose Castillo). The Pirates definitely look to win with pitching (12th in MLB in starters' ERA). They are last in the majors in runs scored.

The Rockies will send out road warrior Jamey Wright, struggling Jason Jennings, and the always unpredictable Joe Kennedy for the three games (Friday and Saturday nights and Sunday afternoon). It should do the Colorado rotation some good to face a light-hitting team in the confines of a relatively pitcher-friendly stadium. The keys, as always with this team, will be not walking opposing batters and getting hits with runners in scoring position. If anything it'll be an opportunity to watch two of the more exciting young shortstops in the National League in Clint Barmes and Jack Wilson, and to see two managers not long for their jobs in Clint Hurdle and Lloyd McClendon. The time to win some games is now, because while Milwaukee and Chicago might not be great, they're a lot better than the Rockies are right now, and after the road trip St. Louis awaits.

Just browsing around while waiting for interleague play to begin with the White Sox and the Cubs.

Here's another reason to move salary...the Dodgers refuse to put "LAA" up for the Angels on the out-of-town scoreboard...Jeff Francis is doin' it with mirrors...Dan O'Dowd is safe, for now...Fuentes solid, Witasick golden, Tsao gone in the  bullpen...former ROY shortstop Walt Weiss on the rationale behind Barmes' day off...Brett Tomko is OK after collapsing yesterday, but his run support isn't...why aren't the Nationals playing the Orioles?

As there are 16 teams in the National League and 14 in the American, Colorado plays Pittsburgh tonight in the only non-interleague series of the weekend. I think it was originally suggested by Bob Costas, but I've long thought it would be a good idea, as long as we're going to have interleague play, to balance the leagues by moving an NL team over. (Costas suggested the Astros to the AL West, which makes sense seeing as the Astros don't have much NL history, the divisional rivalry it would create with the Rangers would be fruitful much like Cubs-Brewers, and logistically it would make for easier schedules for Oakland, Seattle, and Anaheim, who could make several one-week, two-series sweeps to the Texas teams during the season rather than having to travel from Texas to the east coast or Texas to Washington state all the time.)

The "downside" of this, as far as MLB is concerned, is there would have to be an interleague series going on every day of the season. I think the "pod" system they use now is contrived and kind of weird (and makes for more travel hassles), and there's no reason they couldn't use the last year's strength-of-schedule to determine which teams finish out of the league the way the NFL does. Overall fairness (i.e., having one six-team division and one four-team division) is more important than the minor horror of a long-shot NL wild card contender finishing its season with a DH in the lineup. Of course, this year, were the Astros in the AL West, what a ghastly division that would be. You can't please everybody I guess.

I don't have much patience for people who claim that Coors Field is ruining baseball, but on the other hand, it is a rare treat when we get two pitchers' duels in a row on a homestand. It's too bad today's contest couldn't have been the nationally televised one, because more people should know about Jeff Francis. The Rockies' young lefty wasn't fabulous today (7 hits, 2 walks, 5 strikeouts, a Lance Niekro solo shot), but he kept the Giants from stringing much of anything together and claimed his fourth win.

The Colorado bullpen continued its unexpected resurgence as Jose Acevedo, Jay Witasick, and Brian Fuentes combined to allow three hits (and vitally, no walks) after Francis's solid six innings of work. Brett Tomko was pretty good for the Giants, especially given his past history in Denver, giving up only a Luis ("N.R.") Gonzalez homer and a Cory Sullivan RBI double. Garrett Atkins homered off Matt Herges in the sixth to round out the scoring.

Clint Barmes skipped a start after his hitting streak came to an end last night; Desi Relaford provided a 2-for-3, one-walk day in his stead. Cory Sullivan continued to make a case for everyday playing time with a 3-for-4 game. Atkins added a single to his homer. Other than that, Tomko and the Giants' pen were pretty tough.

This was old-school National League ball, right down to Felipe Alou sending Omar Vizquel up to the plate for Tomko way late in the sixth, attempting to throw Francis out of his rhythm. In the end, though, the Rockies will take 2 of 3 from San Francisco however they can get it. It doesn't get any easier going on from here.

The Last Night of the Yankee Dynasty, by ESPN.com's Buster Olney (and now out in paperback), performs a rather marvelous little balancing act. If you hate the Yankees, this book will serve as a celebration of your pure hatred. Yet if you bleed pinstripes, it will probably be an affirmation of love. Olney doesn't make any argument for or against the Boys of Steinbrenner, he merely presents the facts in as detached and journalistic a manner as is possible. A slight tone of editorial disgust creeps in at the margins as internal development goes by the wayside and the Yanks begin moving through international and free agent pitching talent like a thresher, but it's remarkable that Olney is able to maintain this amount of objectivity when it comes to the cash-sucking, Arroyo-swatting, Irabu-baiting Bronx Bombers of recent memory.

The cleverest thing about the book is its structure. Rather than going through the run of championships chronologically, which would rapidly become unbearable for those of us on the side of good, Olney closely details Game 7 of the 2001 World Series, flashing back to show each of the Yankee principals became so. It's true that you already know how the story ends, but Olney manages to construct a convincing case that something vital to the Yankees' success was slowly leeched away between 1996 and 2001 amidst Steinbrenner's histrionics and the departures of players like David Cone, Paul O'Neill, Tino Martinez, and Luis Sojo. (OK, not buying Sojo's importance so much.)

Like it does for the team as a whole, Last Night will likely not change your opinions of any of the charismatic players who anchored the Yankees' run. Derek Jeter is a prima donna. Roger Clemens gets himself motivated for games by being mean and nasty to everyone surrounding him. Paul O'Neill throws helmets and savages bat racks like a Little Leaguer. At the same time, Mariano Rivera and Bernie Williams are icy reservoirs of calm, somehow elevating themselves above the craziness surrounding.

Some things about the Yankees you may not have known emerge as well: Cone's self-appointed role as media lightning rod, Joe Girardi's leadership role disproportionate to his weak hitting, Don Zimmer's mad in-game insights. A few things you already suspected become clear. Joe Torre should be sainted. Brian Cashman has the worst job in the world. Some things have sadly already fallen by the wayside. Rivera was the only Yankee the home crowd never booed, Olney writes, and yet there they were screaming for his head just this April. What a nice bunch of people for which to work.

The tough thing about writing recent baseball history is how quickly you can be proven wrong. Olney strongly implies that whatever led New York AL to all those championships, it's gone now, and the first few weeks of this season certainly supported this thesis. Now, of course, the Yankees are on fire. They could win the World Series this year with their A-Rods, Sheffields, and Matsuis and make the Girardis, Sojos, and Shane Spencers look like the scrubs that they really were. And if they miss the playoffs, the opposite must be true.

Of course, the Rockies have neither $15 million free agents or veteran leadership, unless you count Desi Relaford, which I assure you I don't. As OIney contrasts the Yankees with other recent championship teams -- the '01 D-Backs, the '03 Marlins, even last year's Red Sox -- what emerges is that winning teams have a consistent character. It can be wildly different from champion to champion, but somehow a core of players has to cohere around something more than hating the media and enjoying the company of enthusiastic female fans. What does this mean to Colorado, who are light years away from contention? Well, I suppose a case could be made for hanging on to guys like Shawn Chacon who (weirdly) seem to enjoy being Rockies. First let's see if we can find our own Rivera, Jeter, Williams, Jorge Posada, and Andy Pettite, and then we'll worry about chemistry adjustments.

I've resisted writing about this one until the next game has already started, a sign of my increasing frustration with the young Rockies' rare ability to punt winnable ballgames. After jumping right ahead on starter Brad Hennessey in the bottom of the first on hits by Aaron Miles, Todd Helton, and Brad Hawpe, Colorado went completely into the Funk Zone, getting themselves out repeatedly on weakly hit first and second pitches. Clint Barmes saw his hitting streak come to an end at 12 and no one else looked particularly good save Miles (3 for 5, three singles), Hawpe, and Garrett Atkins (both 2 for 4). Atkins is really heating up both offensively and defensively.

Shawn Chacon had perhaps his best start of the year, giving up only two solo homers (to Mike Matheny and Pedro Feliz) and walking nobody in seven innings. Hennessey lasted 6 2/3 and gave up seven hits and three walks. The failure to score anything in the last eight innings of the game lies entirely on the Rockies' offense, such as it is. Brian Fuentes took the loss after allowing a pinch-hit triple to Deivi Cruz in the top of the ninth, but the game never should have been within reach for San Francisco.

One positive to mention before I put this one behind me for good: Cory Sullivan made an unbelievable peg to get Cruz at the plate in the ninth. Even if we get nothing in a Preston Wilson trade, the club is going to benefit from being able to play this guy in the outfield every day. He already has a base hit in today's game, too.

Brad Hennessey has never pitched at Coors before, which is not true of Shawn Chacon, who only looks like it sometimes. Elsewhere, Felipe Alou explains why Jason Ellison, the Giants' hottest hitter, sat against the Rockies last night. Alou on Clint Barmes: "The game needs a performer like that." I don't mean to sound like a broken record, but another power rankings article has the Rockies dead last, with a note that Todd Helton is hitting pretty well. Oh, there's some deep research right there. You can also vote on Colorado's new jerseys, although I fear the poll is non-binding. SI's Tom Verducci names Todd Helton Greatest Hitter Alive, although based on his raw batting average alone.

And in the local press: Rockies' defense bad, Hawpe back in the fold, Todd Greene promotes Jamie Quirk for Royals' vacancy. (Who would want that job?) The Rockies are on ESPN2 tonight (Dustan Mohr: "Everyone knows it's because of Barry"); you have to imagine the Sports Leader wishes it had the scheduling flexibility Monday Night Football has negotated for what with this sexy Chacon-Hennessey pitching matchup.

Early game on ESPN today, with two American League teams struggling on offense, the Angels and the Indians. It'll be a nice chance to escape from the constant pressure of the Rockies beat and just enjoy a baseball game. The preseason-overrated Angels have scuffled but are still in first place in what's shaping out to be a lousy AL West. The Indians were expected to be at least a .500 team this year after their offense was explosive last season, but the power has mysteriously gone away. Meanwhile the White Sox and Twins might be the two best teams in the American League. I'm rooting for the Indians, because I just can't stand Bartolo Colon. If you're going to be fat and out of shape, at least be amusingly surly like David Wells and Sidney Ponson, I always say.

In the end, the Giants' lefty starter was shakier than the Rockies' (which is saying something), and the offense seems to be settling into one of those home grooves that keep the Rockies a competitive Coors team even when they're abominable on the road. Joe Kennedy's line (5 innings, 8 hits, 4 runs, 4 walks, 2 strikeouts) certainly doesn't look like one that would lead to a second win, but look at Noah Lowry: 3 and 2/3, 10 hits, 7 runs, 4 walks, 5 strikeouts, 3 homers.

My worries about Lowry's reverse platoon split shutting down Clint Hurdle's righty-heavy lineup never materialized. Dustan Mohr had a triple, a homer, and a walk. Todd Greene had a homer, a single, and two walks. Matt Holliday went 2 for 4 with a homer and a walk. Garrett Atkins had a double, a single, and a walk. Clint Barmes had yet another multi-hit game.

Even more encouragingly, the Giants didn't manage to score at all outside of a very long 4th for Kennedy. Kim, Acevedo, Witasick, and new guy Blaine Neal all got touched for hits but didn't allow anyone to score. The Giants overall looked old and slow, with Pedro Feliz making an ugly error in left and Moises Alou booting a Barmes fly ball that was ruled a hit. Their bullpen was unable to keep them in the game, too.

The Rockies will look to keep the good times rolling tonight against Brad Hennessey. If they can draw six walks again like they did last night, it'll be a good sign.

While San Francisco sportswriters bemoan what might have been, the actual '05 Giants product on the field stands at 18-19 (and they're not as good as their record, having been outscored by a hefty 20 runs). The Giants took a huge gamble putting off rebuilding for yet another year, signing old warhorses Armando Benitez, Omar Vizquel, and Moises Alou and putting their faith in the word and surgical team of the enigmatic (to choose a neutral word) Barry Bonds. Well, you can't win them all. Benitez is probably gone for the year with a hamstring injury, Alou has already spent significant time on the DL, and Bonds...well, you'd have to check his website. At least Vizquel has been pretty good.

The Giants are also minus their best starter, Jason Schmidt, who is in the midst of a DL stint for a strained right shoulder. The rotation in his absence consists of retreads, representatives from the Giants' perennially disappointing (and arm-centric) farm system, and the amazing Kirk Rueter, who continues to post better numbers than a lot of MLB pitchers despite stuff that could charitably be described as batting-practice quality. In this series the Rockies will face young Noah Lowry, young Brad Hennessey, and old Brett Tomko. (They miss Rueter and Jeff Fassero -- more's the pity.)

Lowry, who will face Joe Kennedy tonight, is a lefty who relies mostly on a straight change. Like fellow left-handed changeup guy Mike Remlinger, Lowry gets whacked around by lefties (.338 BA last year) while staying pretty tough against righthanders (.238). Let's see if Clint Hurdle's lineup tonight will reflect this oddity. My sources point to...no. Brad Hennessey's miniscule strikeout rates in the minors do not point towards a guy headed to long-term starting success in the bigs. His faceoff with Shawn Chacon on Wednesday night could be a slugfest. Tomko has experienced something of a career resurgence with the Giants, helped by the pitcher-friendly nature of SBC Park. In his last four starts at Coors, he's given up five homers and 21 earned runs. Advantage: Jeff Francis, who will go up against him in the Thursday day game.

The Giants' offense right now is keyed by two guys whose names you might not know: outfielder Jason Ellison and Pedro Feliz, who doesn't really have a position (he's been starting in left in The Barry's absence but has also been seen at first, third, and last year even short). Feliz is an OK hitter who the Giants have kind of done a disservice to the last several years by keeping him on the major league roster but not giving him a starting place for his very own. He's got an .808 OPS on the young season with five homers. Ellison on the other hand is a genuine young guy, at least by the Giants' standards, who at 27 is having a completely insane .372/.417/.577 season entirely out of line with his minor and major league record to this point. Coors Field is a bad place to predict the trend to come to an end.

The rest of the Giants' hitters are a bunch of guys you can't believe are still playing (and probably, they wouldn't be, were it not for San Francisco's largesse): Ray Durham, Marquis Grissom, Edgardo Alfonzo, Mike Matheny, J.T. Snow. In short, this is an old, old, old team that is helpless without its surly superstar and should be headed in the opposite direction in the standings as Colorado for the next several years. Might as well go ahead and get it started now. I want a sweep after that disheartening showing against the Diamondbacks.

Wilson to Washington may be a dead issue with the Nationals' acquisition of Marlon Byrd from the Phillies. Still plenty of teams in need of outfielders out there, though, and Washington seemed dead set on the Rockies taking Preston's entire salary anyway. Possibilities still: Baltimore, San Francisco, Chicago AL (if Jermaine Dye keeps hitting under .200), Chicago NL (their corner outfielders are pathetic), Atlanta (ditto). San Diego could be a long shot if they keep playing well. Face it, any team with a winning record will take a look at Wilson if the price is right. Dan O'Dowd just has to get more than one interested so Colorado can get something worthwhile for their troubles.

Get to know Brad Hawpe, now that he's unavailable for a few days (illness in the family).

Stupid questions get stupid answers. Honestly, I'm just a **** with a weblog, and I get better questions than a columnnist for a major national daily. What gives? If this Troy E. Renck mailbag is to be believed, Rockies fans are all mouth-breathers who want to junk Garrett Atkins for one error, haven't paid attention enough to know Hawpe took the right field job from Dustan Mohr, didn't notice Chin-Hui is out for the year, are worried the team will move to Vegas, and think beer at the ballpark is just too pricey. (This last question has come up before, so quickly: Coors Field and other ballparks don't set beer prices so high for reasons of profiteering or supply and demand. They do it in an attempt to keep people's alcohol consumption at a manageable level, lest they behave like idiots. I think I speak for baseball fans everywhere when I say if you want to go to the ballpark to get drunk -- don't.)

Also: Aaron Miles benefits from drop to 2-hole, Clint Barmes believes his range trumps his high error total: "If I'm going to make a mistake, it's going to be aggressive."

Today's post brought to you by the new record by Fall Out Boy, suburban Chicago's emo all-stars. One-dimensional, yes, but a nice album to put on in the morning to inspire you to hurry up and do your news post when all you want to do is put your jammies back on and watch the Team America DVD. In addition, I went to play group with their bass player.

Do the Red Sox have interest in Jason Jennings? Sunday's Boston Herald says the team looked into getting Colorado's righty starter last year, and they might go after him at the 2005 trade deadline as well. It's hard to imagine the Red Sox needing more starting pitching, as they will have six rotation-worthy guys once Curt Schilling and David Wells return to health, but if Boston wants to throw the Rockies a young arm or two, who are we to say no?

The Red Sox farm system isn't great but they do have some arms. Lefty Jon Lester is probably more than Jennings is worth, but further down Boston has the intriguing Jose Vaquedano, a fastball-changeup righty, and lefty Tommy Hottovy, whose senior year of college K to BB ratio was 92 to 10. Personal fave Abe Alvarez is probably too hittable for Coors Field, although he is closer to the majors if the Rockies decide they want someone they can plug in right away.

The recommendation here, if the Red Sox really do want to do business, is the same as in case of a Preston Wilson or any other deal: get young arms in quantity. Colorado has a lot of young position players either in the high minors or already with the parent club, plus they have the enticement of the Coors Effect when it comes to filling in holes with free agent signings. We need pitchers! Of course, if the Red Sox completely take leave of their senses and want to send us Hanley Ramirez for Jennings, that's fine too. Clint can play second.

ESPN's Peter Gammons, twice voted "best music taste for a man old enough to be my grandfather," has a column up today about this season's disappointments, and the Rockies get a mention. Who expected to the Rockies to do anything? Not me. My expectations for this year were perfectly reasonable: a few of the rookies to be good, Preston Wilson to be traded for anything of value, and the black-with-purple-sleeves look to be consigned to the dustbin of history. So far I think we are off to a good start on all of those fronts.

But let's look at what Gammons has to say, since he's on TV and must therefore be smart. "Can they ever win a mile above sea level in Coors Lite Park?" Yes, they can. Remember my proposed tattoo idea? Colorado has a .560 home winning percentage on the franchise's history. Please don't make me actually go through with this, clueless national sportswriters of America. I dislike needles. Gammons here is just parroting a common misconception, so let's go on to the thrust of his argument, which is apparently that Denver is a black hole from whence no pitching can escape:

"As left-handed pitcher Jeff Francis continues to pitch for the Rockies after a minor-league career that stamped him one of the elite pitching prospects, after seeing him throw 34 pitches in the first inning of a recent game -- when he's a command guy -- makes one wonder how he'll be two years from now. Right-hander Jason Jennings, who is tough as they come and with a sinker seemingly made for Coors, now sees his walk rates constantly climb and will be one of the players -- along with Preston Wilson, Shawn Chacon, and some others -- O'Dowd tries to use to get more future foundation players.

"Mike Hampton had a marvelous career temporarily run off the tracks trying to pitch in Denver. John Thomson was a good pitcher run down by Colorado and is a good pitcher again. Darryl Kile was a classic example. Kile, Kevin Ritz, and Jamey Wright all threw 200 innings as Rockies and were not the same pitchers there. Pedro Astacio threw 637 innings for the Rockies from 1998-2000 and has never been the same.

"'It may be that no pitcher will ever be more than average because of that park,' says one executive. 'Maybe the thing to do is trade Francis for a B.J. Upton or some athletic potential star (like Hanley Ramirez or Felix Pie), build a great team and use veteran starting pitchers.'"

I disagree, for several reasons. First of all, Mike Hampton's career, even setting aside his Rockies years, could hardly be described as "marvelous." He's a notch above-average guy who had one great year in Houston. John Thomson, Darryl Kile? Rotation-fillers, guys who went to teams with good offenses and good bullpens and had facetiously better seasons after leaving Colorado. (Thomson did have a truly horrific 1999 in Colorado, but he was hurt and missed the entire 2000 season subsequently.) Kevin Ritz and Jamey Wright...come on, not even their agents would argue that those guys in their prime were candidates for the starting staffs of good teams.

So why has Colorado never had a really great pitcher? The answer to that question explains why the idea of the anonymous executive in the quote above will never work. Players don't want to sign here, so the Rockies end up with players no one else wants (Chacon, Estes, Stark, and so on). The team hasn't had any luck developing pitchers in the system because for the first decade of Colorado's existence, the farm system was run by blithering idiots. When they weren't drafting sure-miss high school pitchers, they were giving draft picks away with their numerous misguided free agent signings.

If good pitchers aren't going to come to Colorado of their own volition, they're going to have to come out of the farm system or trades. You'd think that a clever GM would be able to get some good pitching on the cheap by trading away guys with Coors-inflated offensive numbers, but in recent years, the Rockies have had their hitters signed to such miserable contracts that they either have to let them play out the string (Vinny Castilla) or pay the bulk of their salaries for other teams (Larry Walker, Charles Johnson). In other words the Colorado Rockies are running one of the worst stockbroking companies in the world -- they persistently buy high and sell low.

This season is supposed to be where this trend changes. What they get for Preston Wilson, and how much money they send out with him, will be the first test case. If they trade for Jorge Julio, as a columnist suggested yesterday, he will bolt in two years, probably before the team is in contention again. If the Rockies were in any sort of position to get Julio a bunch of saves and trade him at midseason '06, it might be a workable move, but you have to win games to get saves. Colorado needs to turn its back on its history and start dealing for the future. Anyone who isn't going to be part of a winning team in (realistically) 2008 can and should go. Does somebody want to overpay for Aaron Miles and his empty .300 average? Done. Someone finds Jamey Wright's road ERA enticing? Help yourself. Offers for Todd Helton should be considered, but he's only 31 and in good health -- O'Dowd shouldn't pull the trigger unless he gets blown away. Helton makes a ton of money, but since the Rockies after this season should be paying practically no one else much more than the minimum, you figure they can absorb it.

I refuse to believe that a great pitcher can't dominate in a Rockies uniform until I see a great pitcher in a Rockies uniform. Francis may or may not be the guy (he pitched pretty well at even-higher-altitude Colorado Springs last year), but it stands to reason you want young pitchers building their craft at Coors rather than veterans forgetting what worked for them in the flatlands. Plus, young pitchers are a whole lot cheaper.

Wow, I guess I kind of went off there. Quickly, then: The Post's Terry Frei thinks this altitude thing is a pretty lame excuse, too. Gloomy days ahead if you're the Rockies, Chin-Hui Tsao (season-ending shoulder surgery?), or one of Clint Barmes' bats. J.D. Closser is on double-secret probation, or words to that effect. Helton was indeed trying to bunt for a hit yesterday. And to close: CANADIAN INVASION!

Clint Barmes jerseys unavailable! Rockies merchandise czars afraid #12 custom shirts will not arrive until after inexplicable hot start comes to inevitable end!

Columnist makes fun of Rockies rebuilding plan! Look, smart guy: you know why the Rockies aren't as good as the Diamondbacks? Because they signed Curt Schilling and Randy Johnson and we signed Mike Hampton and Denny Neagle. The D-Backs were able to trade those two guys for value, while we have to pay Hampton to play for another team and Neagle not to play at all. Simple as that. Besides, the Diamondbacks aren't that good!

Bob McClure is next Leo Mazzone! Or not!

Stupid trade suggestion: Preston Wilson for Jorge Julio. What does a team that will be lucky to win 60 games need with a second-rate closer? Unless the Rockies  planned to spin Julio off on a team closer to contending (like the frantic Cubs, who may play themselves right out of the trade market the way they're going), this makes no sense for either team. The Orioles are going to need all the bullpen arms they can hold on to when their starters start turning back into pumpkins, and Julio despite his youth will be a fifth-year arbitration player after this season. Pass.

Clint's college coach: "His word is like iron." And his gaze is like steel, and his bald head is blinding! He's a superhero, but you can't buy his costume yet.

Completely off-topic, but cause of much rejoicing here at TGTBATB Central: Jason Bateman confirms that "Arrested Development," the best non-baseball-related show on TV, has been renewed for a third season. STEVE HOLT!

I went out to Coors Field today fully expecting the young Rockies to beat up on Shawn Estes and improve my season record for games I've attended in person to 3-0. Alas, it was not to be. Once again, the Rockies bullpen managed to put the game just out of reach for an offense that was sporadically brilliant (two 2-out RBI singles in the fourth inning) and elsewhere (the 5th, 6th, 8th, and 9th) disappointing. The pitching kept Luis Gonzalez, Jose Cruz, and Shawn Green from doing much damage, but took it on the chin from Craig Counsell (homer), Royce Clayton (RBI double), and Alex Cintron (RBI double).

Clint Barmes did extend his hitting streak, and Garrett Atkins hit a solo shot, but it was a tough day for the Rockies' bats all around. Todd Helton had a bad day including a bizarre sacrifice bunt in the fourth. Why would your number three hitter be sacrificing in the fourth inning of a 1-1 game? Anybody? I couldn't see the play too well from my seat in the rightfield bleachers, but my guess is Helton was trying to bunt for a hit and the official scorer gave him a hometown call. Helton was useless with runners on, unlike Preston Wilson, who bolstered his trade value with a 3 for 4, two-double outing.

The game could have been a lot less close had it not been for some good outfield defense on the part of the Rockies (and poor play by their counterparts on the D-Backs; Shawn Green let a popup drop in front of him). Matt Holliday and Dustan Mohr each delivered brilliant snags in the middle innings. Barmes however continued to scuffle at short, he lost a Gonzalez grounder in the first to allow Counsell to score the first run of the game from second.

Jay Witasick continues to be unpredictable out of the pen. Today he was great, striking out both men he faced in the top of the seventh. Jose Acevedo played the role of the goat, walking Green and allowing Cintron's double to score him in the decisive top of the eighth. Jason Jennings was his usual self, walking a few, giving up a hit an inning, seeming on the verge of getting knocked out the whole time. Then you look up, and see he's gone 6 1/3, 3 earned...that's not so bad. But he takes the loss anyway. To Shawn Estes. What's a guy got to do?

Boy, it's a real treat writing my recap off of my handwritten scorecard instead of an Internet box score. I need to get to the ballpark more often. I voted for the All-Star Game again, this time using the paper ballot, and I noticed that Clint Barmes is listed first among the shortstops in the National League (because it's alphabetical). That gives him a really good chance of getting voted in, I think, since Omar Vizquel is way at the end and