Colorado Rockies Very Disappointing Thus Far

Forty-three games into the 2007 season, the Colorado Rockies have been a big disappointment thus far. With just 17 wins and a losing record (10-13) at home, the outlook for this season is getting more grim by the day. Colorado is already buried in last place in the NL West and is fortunate to be but 7 games back of division leading Los Angeles.

I am taking a look at the performances of the players on the club and while some are very good, others are downright woeful and changes on the roster are probably in the offing in the coming 2-3 weeks.

Batting: Helton, Holliday, and Taveras have done fine so far, but the performances of the other regular starters has been very underwhelming. Helton (5,26,..356,.466OBP), Holliday (8,32,.349,.610SP), and Taveras (0,6,.295,10SB) have respectable numbers, but face it, after all, they are playing at 5200' at Coors Field ! Carroll is deep below the Mendoza line, Tulowitzski is at only .255, Atkins is stinking it up at just .240 and three homers, Torrealba is marginal at .242 with no homers, and Hawpe is underachieving at .278 with just 4 homers. The bench is awful. Finley, Ianetta, and Mabry are all well below .200 and Baker and Quintinilla are hovering around .250. The team BA is .255, good only for ninth in the NL and far, far below historical horms and expectations. If the offense was even close to what it has been historically, the club's W-L record would be reversed and the Rockies would be in 1st place. Colorado has scored but 172 runs so far, a pathetic average of just 4 per game

Pitching: The four primary starters have modestly underachieved. Cook (4.40), Francis, (4.60), Fogg (4.91), and Hirsh (3.99) have a collective 8-14 W-L record but other than some occasional rough spots, have looked generally okay in spite of a significant lack of run support. Buchholz has held down the fifth starter spot while Lopez is on the DL and has done a less than okay job for the most part, but he is a rookie. The bullpen has had its moments but overall its been poor. On the positive side, Fuentes (2.33) has 11 saves despite a tendency to serve up the gopher ball a little too much; Affeldt and Corpus have pretty much been established as setup men with reasonable numbers; but Hawkins and the other longmen in the pen have largely stunk it up with no help anywhere in sight in the future. The team ERA is at 4.88 which is at the bottom of the NL as opponents have scored 224 runs in 43 games, an average of over 5 per game.

Defense: The lone bright spot on the club is the defense with only 18 errors thus far. Carroll and Tulowizski have made 5 of them each and no pitching errors have occurred thus far. The outfield has only 4 errors so far.

Managing: Hurdle had to believe his bench would be more productive coming out of Tucson and their poor performance has tied his hands and limited his options. The ongoing problems in the back of the bullpen have also caused him to have to constantly re-access who to use in what situations which leads to further problems of stability in the workload. But he has to be utterly stumped by the lack of offense with him having been here when such a long stretch of poor performance would be totally unimaginable. Overall, Hurdle has done a good job with what he has had to work with, but he is ultimately held responsible by fans and the press for the bottom line results.

Outlook: With an interleague slate against the improved AL East and other games against their NL West division rivals, I hold little optimism that things are going to turn around soon. I expect the team to reach the All Star break with only 40 or slightly more total wins and more than a dozen games out in the NL West. The only reason to think I would be wrong is if the bats wake up in a big way, the bench starts to really produce, and the bullpen behind Fuentes solidfies and starts doing the job more consistently and fully.

Comparing Gasoline Fuel Prices Across the West and High Plains

I just checked to see what the local gasoline fuel prices are here in Cheyenne and the price has hit $3.21 per gallon pretty much across the board. I expect another 10 to 12 cents increase this week as Memorial Day arrives which will make the price $10 for 3 gallons !!! I am now starting to think it may get to around $3.60 or more by Independence Day and then start the annual summer downward drift to where it is now by the end of September. Unless of course, the Bush Junta starts an act of war with Iran and then who knows how high it will go -- $5, $6, $7 per gallon which will utterly mangle the economy and lead to social unrest and increased crime.

I decided to see what prices are like in other areas in the region and see how they compare. There is a wide price disparity of better than 30 % from the lowest in Yuma to the highest in Los Angeles. Here is what my research shows and I would not be surprised if the prices have already gone up since the information was published.


Yuma: $2.86 to $2.96
Tucson: $2.93 to $3.03
Phoenix: $2.97 to $3.10

Rapid City: $3.04 to $3.35
Rock Springs: $3.06 to $3.16
Midland: $3.06 to $3.30
Las Vegas: $3.07 to $3.25
Great Falls: $3.08 to $3.29
Sheridan: $3.09 to $3.19
Boise: $3.09 to $3.29

Billings: $3.10 to $3.29
Helena: $3.11 to $3.29
El Paso: $3.11 to $3.31
Salt Lake: $3.12 to $3.29
Lubbock: $3.14 to $3.39
Denver: $3.14 to $3.61

Jackson: $3.15 to $3.30
Scottsbluff: $3.15 to $3.36
Colorado Spgs: $3.15 to $3.47
Fort Collins: $3.16 to $3.35
Missoula: $3.16 to $3.37
Carson City: $3.17 to $3.45
Miles City: $3.18 to $3.29
Grand Junction: $3.18 to $3.35
Arvada: $3.19 to $3.29
Amarillo: $3.19 to $3.39
Riverside: $3.19 to $3.69
Elko: $3.19 to $3.79
Sacramento: $3.19 to $4.00
Los Angeles: $3.19 to $4.10

Albuquerque: $3.20 to $3.49
Boulder: $3.21 to $3.39
Fresno: $3.21 to $3.49
Spokane: $3.22 to $3.40
Bakersfield: $3.23 to $3.43
Reno: $3.23 to $3.46
San Jose: $3.23 to $3.81
Kalispell: $3.24 to $3.34
Craig: $3.24 to $3.38
San Diego: $3.24 to $3.87

Pueblo $3.25 to $3.39
Farmington: $3.25 to $3.39
Oakland: $3.25 to $3.75
Castle Rock: $3.27 to $3.39
Portland: $3.27 to $3.49
Seattle: $3.27 to 3.59
Dickinson: $3.29 to $3.39
Red Bluff: $3.29 to $3.49
Tacoma: $3.29 to $3.55

Winnemucca: $3.30 to $3.48
Bellingham: $3.37 to $3.59
Alamosa: $3.39 to $3.49
Corvallis: $3.39 to $3.49
Medford: $3.39 to $3.49

San Francisco: $3.40 to $4.00
Durango: $3.49 to $3.65
Eureka: $3.49 to $3.69
Flagstaff: $3.49 to $3.69

I would think these general market ranges and comparative disparities between markets will continue well through the summer and probably beyond.