The 2012 baseball season is barely two weeks old and the Colorado Rockies are giving out signs that they are becoming the Cubbies of the Rocky Mountain Region. This is the twentieth season of Major League Baseball in Colorado, and the Rockies franchise has just two playoff appearances, both via the Wild Card, which means that they have never won a division title. The club does have a Division Series win and a National League pennant to its credit, which resulted in a World Series appearance, in 2007, after a remarkable run of 21 wins in 22 games, including the famous "play-in" game #163 against the San Diego Padres. The Rockies swept the Philadelphia Phillies in the Division Series, then the Arizona Diamondbacks in the National League Championship Series to earn the right to face the Boston Red Sux in the 2007 World Series. The World Series experience was marred by a disgusting ticket distribution fiasco, rain delays and, finally, a sweep in four games, losing to the Red Sux, in four largely non-competitive games.
As with every Major League franchise, the Rockies have many, many historical mileposts, occasions and stretches that have created indelible memories in building a fan base that is ardent, and largely forgiving. Two fellow expansion franchises, the Marlins and Diamondbacks, have combined for three World Series titles.
The Florida Marlins (now known, as of this season, as the Miami Marlins) were added to the Major Leagues the same year as the Colorado Rockies, for the 1993 campaign. The Arizona Diamondbacks came in as an expansion franchise along with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in 1998. The Marlins won the World Series in 1997 in a seven game series against the Cleveland Indians. Their second championship was earned in 2003 against the Yankees, in six games. Both playoff appearances for the Marlins came via the National League Wild Card. In 1997, the Marlins swept the San Francisco Giants in the Division Series, then beat the Atlanta Braves four games to two for the NL pennant. In 2003, the Florida club beat the Giants again in the Division Series, three to one. In the NLCS, the Chicago Cubs got off to a three games to one lead in the series, only to fall victim in game 6 to the infamous Steve Bartman interference of Cubs' left-fielder Moises Alou's attempt to field a Luis Castillo pop foul in the left field stands, that led to an eight-run rally which obliterated the Cubbies' three-run lead in the eighth inning. The Marlins then capped off their World Series by winning game 6 in the old Yankee Stadium.
The Diamonbacks rode the pitching tandem of Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling to win the 2001 NL West Division, the NLDS (over the Cardinals 3-2) and the NLCS (Braves 4-1) to earn the right to face the Yankees in the World Series. That was the year when the horrible 9-11 terrorist attacks shook the world. The 97th World Series between the D-Backs and Yankees began seven weeks after 9-11 and featured many memorable moments. The torn and tattered World Trade Center American flag flew over Yankee Stadium as the bald eagle soared and President Bush threw out the first pitch. The home team won all seven games, the Yankees winning two memorable walk-off wins against Arizona closer Byung-Hyun Kim in games 4 and 5. Derek Jeter became the first ever Major League player to hit a November homer, as he ended game 4 with a tenth-inning opposite-field bomb on a three-two pitch just after the clock struck midnight on Halloween Night. Mr. November. Poor Kim had surrendered a two-run bomb in the bottom of the ninth to Tino Martinez that tied the score at 3. Then, the very next night in game 5, the D-Backs led 2-0, Kim gave up a tying homer to Scott Supercalifragelisticexpiali-Brosius in the bottom of the ninth to allow the Yankees to tie the score at 2, who then went on to win in twelve innings. The Series moved to Arizona for games 6 and 7, and the Diamondbacks prevailed, beating other-wordly Yankee closer Mariano Rivera with two runs in the ninth of game 7 to claim the Series.
The D-Backs have won NL West Division titles in 1999, 2001, 2002, 2007 and 2011. They have advanced past the NLDS only twice: in their 2001 World Series Championship year and in 2007. The Diamondbacks have never advanced to post-season via the Wild Card. In their Division pennant years they have won 100, 92, 98, 90 and 94 games during the regular season. Our Colorado Rockies have won as many as 92 games once (2009) and 90 games once (2007, going 13-1 in their last 14 games to get there).
The point to all that reminiscing is that the Rockies enjoy great fan support. In 2011, the Rockies drew 2,909,777 for an average of 35,923 per game at Coors Field. That was good enough for 12th in the Majors, 7th in the NL, behind the Phillies, Giants, Cardinals, Brewers, Cubs and Dodgers. Since the opening of Coors Field in 1995, the Rockies drew over 3 million fans each season from 1995 through the 2001 season. The low-point was 2005, when only 1,914,389 fans attended. Comparing their season records and yearly payroll, interesting facts emerge. At the low-point of attendance in 2005, the payroll was $47.8 million, they won 67 games, so their cost per win was $714,015 per win. In their Rocktober season in 2007, not counting the playoffs and World Series, the cost per win was $600,456. In the 2009 season, when the Rockies last reached the playoffs, the cost per win was $817,402. Last year, dismally, the Rockies only won 38 games at home, 73 for the season, and their cost per win skyrocketed to $1,207,506 per victory. Now, I'm not postulating that payroll dictates winning, otherwise my Yankees would win everything every year. But, winning does correlate to increased attendance, and in mid-market cities, such as Denver, TV and anciliary income for this franchise does not begin to compete with the income for New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and Philadelphia teams. WINNING is crucial to most franchises, but profitability is more important to some franchise owners, apparently.
After 11 games (8 at home) the Rockies have won 5 and lost 6, going 4-4 so far at Coors Field. Tonight's game, a victory by the Rockies over the San Diego Padres that gave Jamie Moyer his historic 268th career victory, tying Hall Of Famer Jim Palmer for 34th all-time, set a record for the oldest starting pitcher EVER to win a game in the Major Leagues. EVER. It can be successfully argued that the 49-year-old Moyer has been the Rockies' best starter. In three starts, he is the only Rockie starter with an ERA under 5.63. He allowed zero earned runs tonight in 7 innings, lowering his season ERA to 2.55. The rest of the Rockies battered starters show up like this: Jeremy Gutherie, 7.79 ERA, Jhoulys Chacin, 5.63, Juan Nicasio, 6.52 and Drew Pomeranz, 10.38. Moyer 2.55, rest of the starters 7.37. The bullpen collectively has pitched well, with an accummulative ERA of 2.70.
A telling stat: the Rockies have allowed 11 un-earned runs in 11 games. the Colorado Rockies have committed 15 errors, and at least 7 other miscues that were not tallied as official errors; poor throws on double-play relays that cost the team an extra out. Troy Tulowitzki, formerly known as a Gold Glover, has committed a team- and league-leading six errors, four on poor throws. Six errors, six ribbies.........not a very good plus-minus statistic for our resident super-star. Todd Helton's recent heroics notwithstanding, overshadow his .222 batting average and .282 on-base-percentage. Carlos Gonzalez is off to a slow start and he is not being very disciplined at the plate. On the bright side, Michael Cuddyer has been as good as advertised. He is poised to put up incredible numbers with his ability to produce excellent at-bats and his line-drive power that translates well in all parks, especially at spacious Coors Field.
With the starting pitching shaky as it is beyond 49-year-old Jamie Moyer, and shoddy defense displayed so far, this could be a very long and frustrating season for Colorado fans, all two-and-a-half million of them this year.
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