Post by John on Jun 1, 2006 22:48:35 GMT -4
Insider: Humidor angle no smoke screen in Colorado
By Scott Miller
CBS SportsLine.com Senior Writer
Shrinkage was an alarming problem for George Costanza once upon a time (still is, too, in syndication).
Aaron Cook features a 2.88 ERA at home, but is 2-3 at Coors Field this season.
Experiencing loosely related problems of their own, the Colorado Rockies have taken steps to ensure that it no longer happens to their balls.
That's what we like around here. A team of action.
Having installed their very own humidor to store baseballs at Coors Field following the 2001 season -- Kramer would be so happy, what with his Cubans and all -- the Rockies, once pegged as one of the wackiest franchises in the game for that bit of ingenuity, have come out of the closet and are embracing it.
And so should everybody else, based on ongoing trends at the former Coors Canaveral launching pad.
Set to open their second-longest homestand of the season on Friday, the Rockies this year have a few things they've never had in the past: Good, young pitching that is beginning to mature, from guys like Aaron Cook, Jason Jennings and Jeff Francis; and a fleet of talented young position players such as Matt Holliday, Garrett Atkins, Brad Hawpe and Cory Sullivan who are growing together.
And a home field that suddenly is no longer like playing on the moon.
In 23 home games so far this season in Denver, the Rockies and their opponents are averaging 8.78 runs per game and 1.65 home runs per game.
Both of those figures are off 20 percent from 2005 numbers.
And compared to the pre-humidor Coors seasons between 1995-2001, when the Rockies and their opponents averaged 13.83 runs per game and 3.2 home runs per game, the changes are positively mind-boggling.
"Maybe it has to do with global warming," San Francisco pitcher Jason Schmidt offers.
Nice try.
"The No. 1 reason, for me, is the calming effect of the humidor," Rockies manager Clint Hurdle says. "That's made it a more realistic game for pitchers. And not just our numbers -- opposing numbers are down, too.
"It's created an environment that keeps the balls from shrinking."
At a mile above sea level, it took the Rockies -- heck, and baseball itself -- a long time to figure that one out.
Among other things, what was happening, according to expert Colorado witnesses over the years, was this: The thin, dry air at that altitude was wreaking havoc with the baseballs.
The Rockies would order their annual huge shipments of baseballs.
And as those baseballs sat there waiting to be called into service, they would slowly shrivel up like bags of dried fruit.
"You put a hot baseball into play at 5,100 feet above sea level ..." Hurdle says.
You do that, and you're looking at a whole bunch of 14-12 games that are harder to sit through than Munich.
Just as recipes call for different baking times at different altitudes, the Rockies think they've found the recipe to health and happiness at home. Not that they're looking for a home-field advantage -- remember, this aids opposing pitchers, too. They simply had reached the point where they were desperate to dissolve their disparate patterns in home and road games.
Who knew baseballs are as sensitive as flour and eggs?
What started as a top-secret experiment for the 2002 season -- San Diego president Sandy Alderson, then working in the commissioner's office, flew into a rage when he first heard about it and sent an investigator west on the next plane out -- now is embraced as a great equalizer.
And over the past five seasons, through trial and error, the Rockies think they have mastered how to use it as well. Following the All-Star break last season, they began employing a rotation system in which the first baseballs into the humidor are the last ones removed -- thus increasing the odds that the baseball will be true.
There are other reasons, certainly, for the slimming down of offensive numbers.
"Our personnel -- this team isn't reminiscent of the Blake St. Bombers," says Hurdle, referring to the slugger-laden days of Larry Walker, Dante Bichette and Vinny Castilla.
No doubt, the runs will increase some as Denver's summer temperatures rise, because warmer temperatures usually are beneficial to hitters, and the baseballs have a tendency to fly a bit further. And Coors still offers hitters of all shapes and sizes a large, inviting outfield with large gaps between even the best and fleetest of fielders.
But circumstantial evidence in Denver at least points to some semblance of sanity.
"You'd like to say it's our new steroid policy," says Jennings, 3-5 with a 4.54 ERA this season and whose 27 wins in Coors Field are the most in franchise history. "Maybe it's evened the playing field to where some guys aren't taking what they were taking.
"Ideally, you'd say that. And as pitchers, we'd like to say we're pitching better."
But ... there's no longer any ignoring the humidor, either. If only Rockies pitchers of the past, like Mike Hampton, Darryl Kile and Pedro Astacio, were able to try their luck in Coors while it was in existence.
When Jennings picks up a batting practice ball these days, it feels much harder to him than the game balls -- and, it generally is smaller, he says (like the retired military, b.p. balls no longer are on active duty and so they aren't always stored in the humidor).
St. Louis second baseman Aaron Miles, who played in Colorado in 2004 and 2005, says that former Rockies teammate Preston Wilson told him last summer that he could tell a dramatic difference.
Not only were baseballs Wilson was hitting dying a few feet short of where they once did -- thus, robbing him of a few more home runs -- the center fielder also told Miles that he wasn't having to turn and set out on a dead sprint for balls over his head nearly as often, either.
Holliday, the Rockies outfielder, agrees Coors simply "is not the place people used to see."
That was especially true for the Rockies' series against the Los Angeles Dodgers last month, a three-game set in which the two teams combined for a regular-ballpark-like 20 runs.
Cardinals reliever Adam Wainwright enthusiastically says that "there should be a humidor for every baseball."
Which shows just how far the imagination can reach.
And that, inevitably, can lead to suspicion and conspiracy theories.
"Maybe it's only the Rockies who are using balls stored in the humidor," the Giants' Schmidt says. "I've always wondered that."
Except, of the 202 runs scored in 23 games so far this season in Coors Field, it's split right down the middle -- Rockies pitchers have surrendered 101 runs, and opposing pitchers have yielded 101.
The humidor is simply a converted room down one of the tunnels off of the Colorado clubhouse, but from hearing players talk, it has all of the mystery and intrigue of Al Capone's secret vault.
"I never saw it," the Cardinals' Miles says. "The joke last year was that not only were we using the humidor, but we were keeping the balls in a big bucket of water in there."
Says Jennings: "I know where it is. I've never been in it. It's kind of our own secret cave back there. It's not like it's secured by guards with 18 different entry ways. It's kind of a mystery. Some people are iffy about it."
Far fewer now, however, than when word of the Rockies' experiment first leaked five seasons ago.
Where the club once refused to talk about it, now the manager and others are openly applauding the effects of the humidor.
Shrinkage now is a problem of the past.
And while the pitchers' ecstasy isn't quite to the point where they're in need of a doctor because something is happening to them that is lasting more than four hours, Coors no longer elicits the same dread of a doc uttering the phrase, "Turn your head and cough." either.
No corny John Denver songs, either
St. Louis manager Tony La Russa thinks this is the best Colorado club to emerge from the Rockies in years. More than one opposing scout thinks the Rockies are good enough to remain in the NL West race throughout the summer.
"I'm seeing that staff, and I think they're doing a lot of stuff conducive to (success in Coors Field)," Cardinals pitching coach Dave Duncan says. "They're throwing the sinker, they're keeping the ball down,
"I was impressed."
Cook (5-5, 3.31 ERA), Colorado's second-round pick in the 1997 draft, ranks as perhaps the most exciting pitching prospect in franchise history. His devastating sinker, which explodes downward like few others in the game, routinely sends hitters away muttering.
Jennings, now the franchise's all-time wins leader in Coors Field, deserves a Purple Heart for not allowing Colorado's home ballpark to crush him as it has so many others. He, too, throws a solid sinker.
Francis, Colorado's first-round pick in 2002, went 14-12 in 2005 in his first full major league season -- leading all major league rookies in wins.
Overall, at midweek, the Rockies had allowed the fewest homers in the majors (36) and ranked sixth in the NL in staff ERA (4.12).
Meanwhile, the Rockies' daily lineup is flooded with young players who have been drafted and developed by the Rockies -- third baseman Atkins (fifth round, 2000 draft), shortstop Clint Barmes (10th round, '00), left fielder Holliday (seventh round, '98), center fielder Sullivan (seventh round, '01) and right fielder Hawpe (11th round, '00). They're also mixing in outfielder Ryan Spilborghs (seventh round, '02).
"We have guys who came up playing together every day," says Cook, Colorado's second-round pick in 1997. "We expect to win. We won at the minor league level. So there's no reason why we shouldn't win at the major league level."
Says Jennings: "I think that's really important. We came through the system together. We knew the struggles of the Rockies. We all wanted to be a part of the same thing. We all wanted to be a part of the same goal.
"There's a camaraderie here. Guys mesh well, and that's huge."
As he spoke, he was taking a breather from a marathon pregame crossword puzzle session with Sullivan. Across the clubhouse, catcher Danny Ardoin and reliever Ray King were playing Shoot the Moon, that old game in which you navigate a metal ball with what looks like a couple of metal chopsticks, moving them closer together and further apart to navigate the ball toward its intended goal.
It's tough to say for sure right now whether these Rockies have matured enough to shoot for their own moon this summer.
But after years in the baseball wilderness, it appears that they definitely are getting closer.
Lost season in rearview mirror
He's not exactly on an Albert Pujols home run pace, but who is?
Truth be told, he's not even on a pace to challenge his career high of 34 homers in a season.
But just having him back at third base every day is enough for the St. Louis Cardinals and, besides, even though he isn't driving the ball out of the park, it isn't as if Scott Rolen is slacking.
After missing all but 56 games last season with a shoulder injury, Rolen not only is back in force this summer -- he's making his presence felt.
Batting .313 with six homers and 27 RBI -- OK, he's on pace for just 19 homers -- Rolen has a team-high six three-hit games for the first-place Cardinals.
"I get to go out there every day, and that's well ahead of where I was last season," Rolen says. "You don't know what to expect. I've never been out that long.
"I have nothing to complain about ... Just the fact that I can contribute and be an accountable player (is rewarding)."
He's hit in 12 of his past 13 games -- batting .396 with nine RBI during that span -- and he's knocked in the winning run in four of the Cardinals' past nine victories.
Did he hope to pick up where he left off before the injury wrecked his 2005?
"I left off at .235 with five homers," he says with his typical dry wit. "I hoped I'd do a little better than that."
So far, so good. It's still a process for Rolen. He still doesn't have full strength in his left shoulder, on which he underwent two surgeries last summer.
But while that's sapped his home run stroke, he certainly has enough strength to help prop the Cardinals back atop the NL Central.
Doctors told him it would be a 12-month process before he was at full strength.
Which means only better things for Rolen and the Cardinals as the summer deepens.
Station-to-station ... and then some
There's the hare. And the tortoise.
And then there's Matthew LeCroy.
One of the game's best human beings, he won't ever be confused for one of the quickest. Not only did he struggle behind the plate as Houston swiped seven bases on him last week -- hitter is his best position -- but when he's on base, things don't move so quick, either.
LeCroy has never swiped one in the majors. The Washington Post did a little digging this week and turned up this all-time list of the players who have compiled the most major league plate appearances without getting a steal (and not to spoil the ending but, surprise, surprise, LeCroy made the list):
1. Russ Nixon, catcher, 2,714 plate appearances (mostly with the Red Sox), 1957-68
2. Aaron Robinson, catcher, 2,189 plate appearances (mostly with the Yankees), 1943-51
3. Ted Lyons, pitcher, 1,726 plate appearances (mostly with the White Sox), 1923-46
4. Phil Niekro, pitcher, 1,707 plate appearances (mostly with the Braves), 1964-87
5. Al Ferrara, outfield, 1,573 plate appearances (mostly with the Dodgers), 1963-71
6. LeCroy, catcher, 1,497 plate appearances (mostly with the Twins), 2000-06
By Scott Miller
CBS SportsLine.com Senior Writer
Shrinkage was an alarming problem for George Costanza once upon a time (still is, too, in syndication).
Aaron Cook features a 2.88 ERA at home, but is 2-3 at Coors Field this season.
Experiencing loosely related problems of their own, the Colorado Rockies have taken steps to ensure that it no longer happens to their balls.
That's what we like around here. A team of action.
Having installed their very own humidor to store baseballs at Coors Field following the 2001 season -- Kramer would be so happy, what with his Cubans and all -- the Rockies, once pegged as one of the wackiest franchises in the game for that bit of ingenuity, have come out of the closet and are embracing it.
And so should everybody else, based on ongoing trends at the former Coors Canaveral launching pad.
Set to open their second-longest homestand of the season on Friday, the Rockies this year have a few things they've never had in the past: Good, young pitching that is beginning to mature, from guys like Aaron Cook, Jason Jennings and Jeff Francis; and a fleet of talented young position players such as Matt Holliday, Garrett Atkins, Brad Hawpe and Cory Sullivan who are growing together.
And a home field that suddenly is no longer like playing on the moon.
In 23 home games so far this season in Denver, the Rockies and their opponents are averaging 8.78 runs per game and 1.65 home runs per game.
Both of those figures are off 20 percent from 2005 numbers.
And compared to the pre-humidor Coors seasons between 1995-2001, when the Rockies and their opponents averaged 13.83 runs per game and 3.2 home runs per game, the changes are positively mind-boggling.
"Maybe it has to do with global warming," San Francisco pitcher Jason Schmidt offers.
Nice try.
"The No. 1 reason, for me, is the calming effect of the humidor," Rockies manager Clint Hurdle says. "That's made it a more realistic game for pitchers. And not just our numbers -- opposing numbers are down, too.
"It's created an environment that keeps the balls from shrinking."
At a mile above sea level, it took the Rockies -- heck, and baseball itself -- a long time to figure that one out.
Among other things, what was happening, according to expert Colorado witnesses over the years, was this: The thin, dry air at that altitude was wreaking havoc with the baseballs.
The Rockies would order their annual huge shipments of baseballs.
And as those baseballs sat there waiting to be called into service, they would slowly shrivel up like bags of dried fruit.
"You put a hot baseball into play at 5,100 feet above sea level ..." Hurdle says.
You do that, and you're looking at a whole bunch of 14-12 games that are harder to sit through than Munich.
Just as recipes call for different baking times at different altitudes, the Rockies think they've found the recipe to health and happiness at home. Not that they're looking for a home-field advantage -- remember, this aids opposing pitchers, too. They simply had reached the point where they were desperate to dissolve their disparate patterns in home and road games.
Who knew baseballs are as sensitive as flour and eggs?
What started as a top-secret experiment for the 2002 season -- San Diego president Sandy Alderson, then working in the commissioner's office, flew into a rage when he first heard about it and sent an investigator west on the next plane out -- now is embraced as a great equalizer.
And over the past five seasons, through trial and error, the Rockies think they have mastered how to use it as well. Following the All-Star break last season, they began employing a rotation system in which the first baseballs into the humidor are the last ones removed -- thus increasing the odds that the baseball will be true.
There are other reasons, certainly, for the slimming down of offensive numbers.
"Our personnel -- this team isn't reminiscent of the Blake St. Bombers," says Hurdle, referring to the slugger-laden days of Larry Walker, Dante Bichette and Vinny Castilla.
No doubt, the runs will increase some as Denver's summer temperatures rise, because warmer temperatures usually are beneficial to hitters, and the baseballs have a tendency to fly a bit further. And Coors still offers hitters of all shapes and sizes a large, inviting outfield with large gaps between even the best and fleetest of fielders.
But circumstantial evidence in Denver at least points to some semblance of sanity.
"You'd like to say it's our new steroid policy," says Jennings, 3-5 with a 4.54 ERA this season and whose 27 wins in Coors Field are the most in franchise history. "Maybe it's evened the playing field to where some guys aren't taking what they were taking.
"Ideally, you'd say that. And as pitchers, we'd like to say we're pitching better."
But ... there's no longer any ignoring the humidor, either. If only Rockies pitchers of the past, like Mike Hampton, Darryl Kile and Pedro Astacio, were able to try their luck in Coors while it was in existence.
When Jennings picks up a batting practice ball these days, it feels much harder to him than the game balls -- and, it generally is smaller, he says (like the retired military, b.p. balls no longer are on active duty and so they aren't always stored in the humidor).
St. Louis second baseman Aaron Miles, who played in Colorado in 2004 and 2005, says that former Rockies teammate Preston Wilson told him last summer that he could tell a dramatic difference.
Not only were baseballs Wilson was hitting dying a few feet short of where they once did -- thus, robbing him of a few more home runs -- the center fielder also told Miles that he wasn't having to turn and set out on a dead sprint for balls over his head nearly as often, either.
Holliday, the Rockies outfielder, agrees Coors simply "is not the place people used to see."
That was especially true for the Rockies' series against the Los Angeles Dodgers last month, a three-game set in which the two teams combined for a regular-ballpark-like 20 runs.
Cardinals reliever Adam Wainwright enthusiastically says that "there should be a humidor for every baseball."
Which shows just how far the imagination can reach.
And that, inevitably, can lead to suspicion and conspiracy theories.
"Maybe it's only the Rockies who are using balls stored in the humidor," the Giants' Schmidt says. "I've always wondered that."
Except, of the 202 runs scored in 23 games so far this season in Coors Field, it's split right down the middle -- Rockies pitchers have surrendered 101 runs, and opposing pitchers have yielded 101.
The humidor is simply a converted room down one of the tunnels off of the Colorado clubhouse, but from hearing players talk, it has all of the mystery and intrigue of Al Capone's secret vault.
"I never saw it," the Cardinals' Miles says. "The joke last year was that not only were we using the humidor, but we were keeping the balls in a big bucket of water in there."
Says Jennings: "I know where it is. I've never been in it. It's kind of our own secret cave back there. It's not like it's secured by guards with 18 different entry ways. It's kind of a mystery. Some people are iffy about it."
Far fewer now, however, than when word of the Rockies' experiment first leaked five seasons ago.
Where the club once refused to talk about it, now the manager and others are openly applauding the effects of the humidor.
Shrinkage now is a problem of the past.
And while the pitchers' ecstasy isn't quite to the point where they're in need of a doctor because something is happening to them that is lasting more than four hours, Coors no longer elicits the same dread of a doc uttering the phrase, "Turn your head and cough." either.
No corny John Denver songs, either
St. Louis manager Tony La Russa thinks this is the best Colorado club to emerge from the Rockies in years. More than one opposing scout thinks the Rockies are good enough to remain in the NL West race throughout the summer.
"I'm seeing that staff, and I think they're doing a lot of stuff conducive to (success in Coors Field)," Cardinals pitching coach Dave Duncan says. "They're throwing the sinker, they're keeping the ball down,
"I was impressed."
Cook (5-5, 3.31 ERA), Colorado's second-round pick in the 1997 draft, ranks as perhaps the most exciting pitching prospect in franchise history. His devastating sinker, which explodes downward like few others in the game, routinely sends hitters away muttering.
Jennings, now the franchise's all-time wins leader in Coors Field, deserves a Purple Heart for not allowing Colorado's home ballpark to crush him as it has so many others. He, too, throws a solid sinker.
Francis, Colorado's first-round pick in 2002, went 14-12 in 2005 in his first full major league season -- leading all major league rookies in wins.
Overall, at midweek, the Rockies had allowed the fewest homers in the majors (36) and ranked sixth in the NL in staff ERA (4.12).
Meanwhile, the Rockies' daily lineup is flooded with young players who have been drafted and developed by the Rockies -- third baseman Atkins (fifth round, 2000 draft), shortstop Clint Barmes (10th round, '00), left fielder Holliday (seventh round, '98), center fielder Sullivan (seventh round, '01) and right fielder Hawpe (11th round, '00). They're also mixing in outfielder Ryan Spilborghs (seventh round, '02).
"We have guys who came up playing together every day," says Cook, Colorado's second-round pick in 1997. "We expect to win. We won at the minor league level. So there's no reason why we shouldn't win at the major league level."
Says Jennings: "I think that's really important. We came through the system together. We knew the struggles of the Rockies. We all wanted to be a part of the same thing. We all wanted to be a part of the same goal.
"There's a camaraderie here. Guys mesh well, and that's huge."
As he spoke, he was taking a breather from a marathon pregame crossword puzzle session with Sullivan. Across the clubhouse, catcher Danny Ardoin and reliever Ray King were playing Shoot the Moon, that old game in which you navigate a metal ball with what looks like a couple of metal chopsticks, moving them closer together and further apart to navigate the ball toward its intended goal.
It's tough to say for sure right now whether these Rockies have matured enough to shoot for their own moon this summer.
But after years in the baseball wilderness, it appears that they definitely are getting closer.
Lost season in rearview mirror
He's not exactly on an Albert Pujols home run pace, but who is?
Truth be told, he's not even on a pace to challenge his career high of 34 homers in a season.
But just having him back at third base every day is enough for the St. Louis Cardinals and, besides, even though he isn't driving the ball out of the park, it isn't as if Scott Rolen is slacking.
After missing all but 56 games last season with a shoulder injury, Rolen not only is back in force this summer -- he's making his presence felt.
Batting .313 with six homers and 27 RBI -- OK, he's on pace for just 19 homers -- Rolen has a team-high six three-hit games for the first-place Cardinals.
"I get to go out there every day, and that's well ahead of where I was last season," Rolen says. "You don't know what to expect. I've never been out that long.
"I have nothing to complain about ... Just the fact that I can contribute and be an accountable player (is rewarding)."
He's hit in 12 of his past 13 games -- batting .396 with nine RBI during that span -- and he's knocked in the winning run in four of the Cardinals' past nine victories.
Did he hope to pick up where he left off before the injury wrecked his 2005?
"I left off at .235 with five homers," he says with his typical dry wit. "I hoped I'd do a little better than that."
So far, so good. It's still a process for Rolen. He still doesn't have full strength in his left shoulder, on which he underwent two surgeries last summer.
But while that's sapped his home run stroke, he certainly has enough strength to help prop the Cardinals back atop the NL Central.
Doctors told him it would be a 12-month process before he was at full strength.
Which means only better things for Rolen and the Cardinals as the summer deepens.
Station-to-station ... and then some
There's the hare. And the tortoise.
And then there's Matthew LeCroy.
One of the game's best human beings, he won't ever be confused for one of the quickest. Not only did he struggle behind the plate as Houston swiped seven bases on him last week -- hitter is his best position -- but when he's on base, things don't move so quick, either.
LeCroy has never swiped one in the majors. The Washington Post did a little digging this week and turned up this all-time list of the players who have compiled the most major league plate appearances without getting a steal (and not to spoil the ending but, surprise, surprise, LeCroy made the list):
1. Russ Nixon, catcher, 2,714 plate appearances (mostly with the Red Sox), 1957-68
2. Aaron Robinson, catcher, 2,189 plate appearances (mostly with the Yankees), 1943-51
3. Ted Lyons, pitcher, 1,726 plate appearances (mostly with the White Sox), 1923-46
4. Phil Niekro, pitcher, 1,707 plate appearances (mostly with the Braves), 1964-87
5. Al Ferrara, outfield, 1,573 plate appearances (mostly with the Dodgers), 1963-71
6. LeCroy, catcher, 1,497 plate appearances (mostly with the Twins), 2000-06