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• Austin Jackson scored a run in each of the Tigers' first six games this season. That was the longest streak by a Detroit batter to start a season since Darrell Evans crossed the plate in each of the first eight contests in 1986. And it's the longest streak by a Tigers leadoff hitter since 1939, when one of Jackson's center field predecessors, Barney McCosky, also scored in the first eight games of the season. In game seven on Friday, however, Jackson was on base only once (he walked in the eighth) and was stranded at third.
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  Duane Burleson/AP PhotoAustin Jackson is having a solid season for the Tigers early on.
  The Red Sox managed to blow a three-run lead in the ninth and a two-run lead in the 11th in losing a wild one to Detroit on Sunday, 13-12. It was the first time Boston had scored a dozen runs and lost since May 31, 1970, when they were on the wrong end of a 22-13 slugfest with the White Sox at Fenway.
• Alfredo Aceves gave up all three ninth-inning runs in Sunday’s game without retiring a batter, making him just the second Red Sox pitcher in the live-ball era to work zero innings pitched in each of his first two appearances of the year. Guido Grilli faced one batter each in the first two games of the 1966 season, and didn't get either of them out.
• The Tigers used eight pitchers in that 13-12, come-from-behind win over the Red Sox. It marked just the second time in 70 years that Detroit had come back to win a game in which their starter surrendered seven-plus runs without getting through the third inning. Omar Olivares was the starter in 1997 when the Tigers rallied to beat Baltimore 11-8.
• On Sunday, the Yankees managed just three hits -- all doubles. That same day, the Twins had just two hits as Jason Hammel posted the longest no-hit bid of the year so far. Both Minnesota knocks were doubles. It's the first time in almost three years that two teams have done that on the same day. But then … the Royals did it against Oakland (three hits, three doubles) on Monday … and the Athletics did it against Kansas City (one hit) on Tuesday.It's the first time since at least 1917 that there have been three straight days where a team had every hit be a double.
• On Sunday, Jeff Samardzija (making just his sixth career start) was afforded the chance at a complete game. He had to be pulled after giving up a two-out homer that pulled the Nationals to within a run. Four days later, Matt Garza was en route to a shutout against Milwaukee, but was pulled after committing a two-out error that allowed the inning to continue. So the Cubs had two pitchers this week leave the game after 8.2 innings pitched.The Cubs hadn't had two pitchers work exactly 8.2 innings in the same season since 1995 (Jaime Navarro and Frank Castillo).
• In Sunday's Cardinals-Brewers game, you could say the teams spread it around. In the 9-3 Milwaukee victory, the 12 runs were charged to eight different pitchers. In fact, every hurler who appeared in the game ended up with at least one earned run on his record.It's the first game in eight seasons where the teams combined to use eight or more pitchers, and every single one of them got charged with at least one earned run. The last time that happened was on Sept. 9, 2004, when the Royals erupted for a 26-5 victory over the Tigers in the first game of a doubleheader.
• James Shields got called for a balk Wednesday on an illegal pickoff throw to third. That was in the bottom of the fifth -- after Justin Verlander had been called for his own balk in the top of the fifth.It was the first MLB game to feature balks by both teams in the same inning since Aug. 16, 2004, when the Rangers' Mickey Callaway and then-Indian CC Sabathia committed them in the fourth inning of a 5-2 Texas win.
• In that same game, Verlander threw eight shutout innings before getting tagged for four runs and the loss in the top of the ninth. He became the first pitcher to throw eight scoreless innings, then surrender four (or more) runs in the ninth to take a loss since Tim Hudson did it for the Braves on Sept. 22, 2005. Hudson allowed a three-run homer to Shane Victorino of the Phillies for most of that damage before Macay McBride had to come in and get the final out.
• In Monday's Yankees-Orioles game, Derek Jeter went a perfect 4-for-4 for the visitors, while Matt Wieters went a perfect 4-for-4 in the home dugout. It was the first game this year to feature two players with four-hit games.Since the start of 2010, there's been only one other MLB game where a player for each team went a perfect 4-for-4 or better -- and it was between the Orioles and Yankees. On July 30, 2011, Vladimir Guerrero’s 4-for-4 was the bright spot for Baltimore as the Yankees -- led by Robinson Cano's 5-for-5 -- demolished them 17-3.
• In Yu Darvish's much-anticipated major league debut on Monday, he allowed five earned runs, four walks, hit a batter, threw one wild pitch -- and won the game because the Rangers spotted him eight runs.He's the first pitcher in the live-ball era to win his major league debut while giving up all of those stats (or worse). Even take away the wild pitch, and only one other hurler has hit five earned runs, four walks, one HBP and a win in his debut. That was the Blue Jays' Matt Williams on Aug. 2, 1983.
• Jeff Gray of the Twins earned the first one-pitch victory of the season on Wednesday. Gray threw his one and only pitch to Peter Bourjos to end the top of the seventh, after which the Twins took the lead in the bottom of the inning. The Twins, conveniently, recorded the last one-pitch win last season, by Matt Capps on Sept. 23.
• Speaking of pitching oddities, the Royals-Athletics game was finally called in the top of the eighth inning on Tuesday after its second rain delay. Aaron Crow, who had pitched the seventh for the Royals, was credited with his first career save. Technically, he does meet the save criteria set forth in the rule book, notably that of being the "finishing pitcher" in a game his team won.The last player to be credited with a save prior to the ninth inning was Tony Sipp of the Indians, who received one in a rain-shortened affair with Tampa Bay on July 23, 2010. That also remains Sipp's only career save.
• On Tuesday, Freddy Garcia of the Yankees famously threw five wild pitches to tie the single-game American League record for such a thing. He was also the first pitcher to throw five-plus wild pitches in an outing of less than five innings. But two of those wild pitches scored runs for Baltimore. Another run scored on an error. That made the Orioles the first team in two years to score four-plus runs with one or fewer RBI. (The one RBI they did get came on a home run.)For the Orioles, it was just the second time since moving to Baltimore that they scored four runs on one or zero RBI. The other was in their inaugural year: On June 27, 1954, they scored three times on errors by the Athletics before finally walking off on an RBI single in the bottom of the 11th.
• Oakland "walked off" in unusual fashion on Wednesday when Jonathan Broxton plunked Yoenis Cespedes and Jonny Gomes to force in the winning run in the bottom of the 12th. It was the first game to end with back-to-back hit batters since Sept. 2, 1966, when Stu Miller of the Orioles hit Al Weis and Tommie Agee of the White Sox in the bottom of the 11th. (I admit that Elias found this a lot quicker than I would have.) However, Gomes became the first Athletics batter to get hit by a pitch with the bases loaded in extra innings since at least 1947. (It had never happened in the Baseball Reference "play index" era.) It's also noteworthy that Oakland scored its two runs in the 12th without a base hit. The three runners ahead of Cespedes reached on two walks and an error.
• Before Friday, there had been 36 double-digit strikeout games by teams this week (including seven games where both teams did it) but not one by a single pitcher. Max Scherzer's 11-strikeout outing on Friday afternoon broke that string.
• In Wednesday's 17-8 eruption between the Giants and Rockies, there were four pitchers (Tim Lincecum, Jeremy Guthrie, Guillermo Mota, Jeremy Affeldt)who all gave up at least six hits and at least five runs. It's the first time that that has happened since July 17, 1998, when Seattle dropped an 18-5 score on the Royals at the Kingdome.(It is also very intriguing that, in that game, both teams posted a seven-run inning. Except I don't know of a good way to search line scores.)
  
  By the way, on their next two games on Thursday and Friday, the Giants promptly had two pitchers (Madison Bumgarner and Matt Cain)carry no-hit bids into the sixth inning. The only team to have bids in consecutive games last season was also the Giants. That happened on May 8 and 10 by Ryan Vogelsong and Lincecum.
• The Orioles and Blue Jays combined to hit seven home runs in Baltimore's 7-5 victory on Friday. All were solo shots. It's the first game with seven-plus home runs that were all solo since a July 20, 2010 game at Camden Yards between the Rays and Orioles.
• There's always one guy left out.In the 10-9 "pitchers’ duel" between the Twins and Angels on Thursday, 17 of the 18 starters recorded at least one base hit. Howard Kendrick was the lone collar, going 0-for-4 plus a walk.
  
  It's the first nine-inning game this season to have 17 different starters record a base hit. There were three games last season where all 18 did.
• Minnesota got a four-hit game from Denard Span and three-hit games from Joe Mauer, Josh Willingham and Danny Valencia. It's the first time the Twins have had four players with three hits, including at least one with four, since they dropped a 20-1 score on the White Sox on May 21, 2009.

Last year, You Can't Predict Baseball came up with bold predictions for the year. We had a lot of fun coming up with them, and then laughing at how hilariously wrong they were at the end of the year. This year, we're bringing these predictions to SweetSpot, along with explanations for some of them. Keep in mind, these predictions are supposed to be bold, but not insane -- even we know the Orioles aren't going to the playoffs in 2012.

Los Angeles Angels: Kendrys Morales stays healthy all year.

Houston Astros: Bud Norris is top five in K/9 in the NL. We figured something good had to happen to the Astros, right? Norris actually has a pretty nice career K/9.

Oakland Athletics: Yoenis Cespedes is their starting center fielder by Memorial Day.

Toronto Blue Jays: Brandon Morrow makes the jump to elite starting pitcher. He's struck out more than 10 batters per 9 innings two years running, though his ERAs have remained ugly. We think this is the year his results finally match the stuff, especially considering his declining walk rate.

Atlanta Braves: Julio Teheran has more wins than Tim Hudson.

Milwaukee Brewers: Rickie Weeks leads the team in home runs. He was fourth on the team last year, with 20. In front of him were Corey Hart with 26, Ryan Braun with 33, and Prince Fielder with 38. Fielder is gone, and for this prediction we'll assume Braun will miss a third of the year due to a suspension. It's not too bold to think Weeks could pass Hart in 2012.

St. Louis Cardinals: Carlos Beltran outproduces Albert Pujols from last year. Albert Pujols was great last year, but not quite best-player-of-his-generation Albert Pujols. If healthy, it's not absurd to think of Beltran outproducing Pujols' 5.1 WAR in 2011.

Chicago Cubs: Matt Garza isn't their best pitcher. It'll be Ryan Dempster, who had great peripherals but bad results last year.

Arizona Diamondbacks: Aaron Hill will be good again. He was great with them in limited time, and Arizona's park is quite hitter-friendly.

Los Angeles Dodgers: James Loney will be a top-three first baseman in the National League. Many thanks to Mike Scioscia's Tragic Illness for somewhat alerting us to this one. We just decided to take it semi-absurdly far.

San Francisco Giants: Madison Bumgarner is their best pitcher. In terms of ERA, he already wasn't very far behind Matt Cain and Tim Lincecum, and his K/BB ratio eclipsed theirs by quite a bit.

Cleveland Indians: They'll have the best pitching in the American League Central. We're banking on Ubaldo Jimenez, making a major comeback to something closer to what he was in 2010, and the rest of the staff displaying the good that they did in 2011. We're also counting on the Tigers' starters not being very impressive behind Justin Verlander, which is bold but not quite insane, and the pitching of the White Sox, Twins and Royals not being able to keep up with Cleveland's.

Seattle Mariners: Jesus Montero catches 100-plus games. The Mariners probably aren't going to compete, so why not try and play him where he'll accrue the most value?

Miami Marlins: Despite all their new acquisitions and the hype, they still finish fourth in the NL East. When you think about it, this one isn't so crazy. If Josh Johnson isn't healthy and maybe even if he is their pitching still trails that of Philadelphia, Washington, and Atlanta; even with Heath Bell, we don't think their bullpen is as good, either. Their offense might be better than some of those teams', but the Marlins were quite a bit below league average offensively last year and we're not sure how much Jose Reyes is going to make up for that.

New York Mets: Mike Pelfrey is the worst starter in the NL. Pelfrey's been pretty terrible two of the past three years, and now they're moving the fences in at Citi Field. He was far better in his huge home stadium, but we're guessing with the moved-in walls he'll be significantly worse at Citi. Here at YCPB, we actually don't think the Mets are going to be quite as dire as many are saying, even if they do come in last place in the NL East - but Pelfrey won't be a bright spot.

Washington Nationals: Stephen Strasburg has a 17-strikeout game.

Baltimore Orioles: Matt Wieters is the best catcher in the AL. A lot of people are so obsessed with Wieters not matching the hype that they didn't notice he became a plus offensive performer last year, to go along with very good defense. His taking the next step isn't that bold as predictions go, especially if Joe Mauer has to move off catcher.

San Diego Padres: Luke Gregerson is a top-three closer in the NL.

Philadelphia Phillies: Cole Hamels is their best starter. And this isn't meant to be a slight to Roy Halladay or Cliff Lee, but considering their ages and the fact that Hamels is pretty darn good himself, plus a possible boost from a contract year...

Pittsburgh Pirates: Charlie Morton is their All-Star.

Texas Rangers: Yu Darvish isn't their best starter -- but he's still good. And we think he'll be pretty good, we just think Derek Holland will become more consistently good, or Matt Harrison will put up numbers like his 2011.

Tampa Bay Rays: James Shields will have no complete games. Predicting someone to have no complete games might not seem bold, but it is when it's a guy who was known as "Complete Game James" last season. Shields did have 11 complete games in 2011, an almost unheard-of number these days, but he had no complete games in 2009 or 2010.

Boston Red Sox: No one hits 30 home runs. This might seem crazy when you consider their great offensive numbers last year, but only one player on their team hit 30 home runs and it was Jacoby Ellsbury with 32.

Cincinnati Reds: Brandon Phillips is the best second baseman in the NL.

Colorado Rockies: Jamie Moyer will have the best HR/9 on the staff.

Kansas City Royals: They reach .500. While their pitching won't be great, their offense will take a big step forward this year. Combined with the rest of their division being the Tigers and some dumpster fires, it's not that difficult to see it happening.

Detroit Tigers: They score fewer runs than they did in 2011. Yes, that’s even with Fielder. It's not improbable that Jhonny Peralta, Alex Avila and Delmon Young regress quite a bit from their numbers with Detroit last year, and that Prince Fielder's production "only" makes up for the offensive loss of Victor Martinez in 2012. They'll still have a very good offense, though.

Minnesota Twins: Joe Mauer hits 15 home runs.

Chicago White Sox: Robin Ventura gets ejected more times than Ozzie Guillen. Look at the state of the White Sox. We'd get ejected too.

New York Yankees: Hiroki Kuroda leads the team in ERA.

You Can't Predict Baseball is an affiliate of the SweetSpot network.

According to the Denver Post, Troy Tulowitzki has a massive new deal that keeps him under contract through 2020(!).

Which is notable because (among other reasons) Tulowitzki already had a deal that tied him to the Rockies through 2014.

Jeff Passan thinks it's a lousy deal for everybody. Tulowitzki, because he can't choose who he wants to play for after 2014 (or, indeed, for a long while after 2014). Further:

If this deal is bad for Tulowitzki, it’s ill-conceived and unconscionable for a Rockies team that knows what long-term, big-money contracts do to franchises with middling budgets: cripple them. And even if Tulowitzki is the anti-Mike Hampton(notes), and even if he can stay healthy like Todd Helton(notes) couldn’t, and even if he is the do-everything, all-world, good-guy shortstop, heir to Derek Jeter(notes), he still leaves the Rockies in a compromised position: with limited money to spend on the other pieces and parts that would comprise an annual contender.

The Rockies operate with a payroll of around $80 million. Last year, it was $5 million more, the year before $3 million less. Tulowitzki’s contract extension adds six years and $119 million onto the end of his current deal, which, including a 2014 option, was to pay him $38.75 million. So, starting in 2015, when Tulowitzki will be 30, the Rockies will give him nearly $20 million a year.

“If there’s a guy to spend a quarter of your payroll on, he’s it,” said a GM of a low-revenue team, “but you just don’t spend a quarter of your payroll on anyone. Period.”

Passan's making an assumption that I can't make.

2015 is five years away. I think it's fairly safe to assume that the Rockies will not have an $80 million payroll in 2015. As Passan notes, it was $85 million this season. As long as the Rockies remain competitive, we should expect their payroll to trend upward as revenues (and salaries) do the same. Actually, it should be more than mildly surprising if the Rockies' payroll doesn't top $100 million in 2015.

For the sake of comparison, let's look at the Twins. Their payroll this season was close to $100 million, and next year they'll begin paying Joe Mauer $23 million annually through 2018. Have you heard many baseball wondering how the Twins will remain competitive while devoting roughly a fifth of their payroll to just one player?

I haven't. The overwhelming consensus was that the Twins had to keep Mauer, whatever the cost (and he, like Tulowitzki, probably could have gotten even more if he'd waited for free agency).

So I'm not convinced that the math is a real problem.

There might be one, though. Passan:

So as the Rockies celebrate Tulowitzki’s new deal, they do so knowing that Ubaldo Jimenez is now likely to leave after the 2014 season. And that Carlos Gonzalez, a Scott Boras client, is certain to do so. And that rather than waiting until 2014 to figure out where to spend their money, the team went all-in on a player who has missed significant time in two of his four seasons because of injuries.

There's absolutely no telling if Jimenez will still be a great pitcher, four years from now. Gonzalez, though he's had just one great season, is a better bet. But the Rockies probably figure a superstar Boras client is going somewhere else, regardless.

If you're going to throw a truckload of cash at one of these guys, Tulowitzki is probably the one. Still, the timing does seem odd. Before this new deal, the Rockies had already locked him up through 2014. If they'd waited until a year from now, or two years from now, would the price have been significantly higher for a super-extension?

Today, the two most valuable commodities in the majors are probably Tulowitzki and Evan Longoria, both of them young, both of them outstanding both offensively and defensively. Longoria's locked up through his Age 30 season, for another $42 million. Tulowitzki's locked up through his Age 35 season, for another $158 million.

Apples and oranges, mostly. We all know that Longoria's contract is exceptionally team-friendly (though it didn't look quite so extreme when Longoria agreed to the deal, while still in the minor leagues). We might not see its likes again.

Still, the Rockies are assuming an enormous amount of risk here. As long as Tulowitzki's healthy, he'll probably be worth his salary for most of the next decade. If he's playing well and the Rockies weren't foolish enough to give him a strong no-trade clause, they can always trade him if it's time to rebuild. If he's not playing well, though? As Passan notes, the Rockies were exceptionally fortunate to reach the playoffs while carrying Todd Helton's salary. They might not be so fortunate again.

Clearly, Rockies management believes they've seen enough to know enough. There's actually a pretty good chance that they're right about him. It's just not clear what gathering information for another year or two would have cost them.

The Giants have to play in Denver next weekend, and everyone's still not convinced that the Rockies are playing fair with their humidified baseballs. John Shea:

In the Rockies' series, which could go far in determining the outcome of the NL West, the humidor could be a subplot. The humidor is used to make balls less hitter-friendly in the thin air of the Mile High City, but what if some non-humidor balls were in the mix with the Rockies at bat?

In July, the voice of the Giants, Jon Miller, said in a KNBR interview that he had heard from people in the game that something fishy could be happening with the baseballs, which are to be humidified and used by both teams.

--snip--

The team scoffs when anyone challenges how it transports balls from the humidor to the pitcher's hand.

Kevin Kahn, the Rockies' vice president of ballpark operations, said dozens of game balls are removed from the humidor (in a room near the Rockies' clubhouse) on game day, rubbed up by the umpires' attendant and deposited into a ball bag that is returned to the humidor. After the national anthem, the attendant transfers the ball bag from the humidor to the end of the Rockies' dugout.

During games, when the plate umpire is low on baseballs, a ball boy situated near the bag pulls out some and runs them to the ump.

MLB doesn't monitor the process in person, and Kahn said the umpires' attendant is a Rockies employee. So what's to prevent the Rockies from slipping in a non-humidor ball when the team needs a big rally?

"The integrity of the manager [Jim Tracy] and coaching staff would prevent that," said Kahn.

I do not believe the Rockies are tampering with the baseballs.

That said, I am decidedly not reassured by the integrity of the manager and the coaching staff. What, the Rockies have somehow managed to find the first manager and coaches in major league history who wouldn't cheat if they thought they could get away with it? And if so, shouldn't they fire them and hire some guys who will cheat?

I'm not being completely serious. But inside the game, it's sort of expected that you'll take whatever edges you can get. And if that means stealing signs, taking steroids, managing from the clubhouse after you've been ejected, teaching your pitchers to throw spitballs ... Well, if you ain't cheating you ain't trying and it's only cheating if you get caught.

My guess is that Major League Baseball is going to take a serious look at humidor procedures this winter. And not just in Denver, because other cities have humidors, too. Maybe MLB can knock down unemployment a few points by hiring "baseball attendants" for all the humidified ballparks.

Dave Cameron on his National League MVP pick:

I suggested that I’d lean toward voting for Troy Tulowitzki, and that was before he launched two more home runs on Saturday. His numbers in September are just crazy good (.357/.407/1.000, .577 wOBA), and he’s a big reason why the Rockies are right back in the NL West race. But I’m not throwing my support behind him just because he’s bashing the baseball of late; I think there’s a pretty decent argument to be made that he’s been the league’s best player, even after accounting for the time he spent on the disabled list.

I think we can probably all agree that he’s been the best player in the NL on a rate basis. His .420 wOBA ranks second to Votto in the NL, and he’s a shortstop. Yes, his numbers get a boost from Coors Field, but his park adjusted wRC+ is still a fantastic 158, and translates out to 42 runs above average per 600 plate appearances. Votto’s 174 wRC+ translates out to 53 runs above average per 600 PA, leaving a gap that is easily overcome by the difference in scarcity between SS and 1B.

--snip--

While we’re obviously big proponents of the usefulness of Wins Above Replacement, we do not encourage the use of it as a definitive ender of discussion when the subjects are within the margin of error. It’s one thing to use WAR to declare that Votto has clearly been better than, say, Aubrey Huff, but it's another to state that it is perfectly accurate down to the decimal point ...

That's exactly right.

Used to be, we would start with the easy stuff -- first the Triple Crown stats, then maybe OPS -- then drill deeper if necessary. But now we start with WAR (take your pick). But "we" do not suggest that's the end of the process. We look for the guys who are reasonably close to the top, and then see what else there is to see.

In this case, with the park effects and the difference between playing first base and shortstop and the impact on the pennant race (a tiebreaker in my mind, anyway), there's plenty more to see than just WAR.

Which isn't say I'm ready to simply dismiss the big difference in playing time between Votto and Tulowitzki. In a Tweet, Cameron writes, "Joe Mauer's 2009 = Troy Tulowitzki's 2010, in reverse. I don't remember the outcry over lack of playing time last year."

Except 1) there was at least some outcry (as I recall) and 2) Mauer led the American League in WAR despite playing in only 133 games. Which is, by the way, 10 more than Tulowitzki's going to play if he doesn't miss any time the rest of the way.

To me, the Mauer comparison isn't all that useful. What I want to know, in the end, is whether Troy Tulowitzki won more games for his team than Joey Votto and Ryan Zimmerman and Adrian Gonzalez and Albert Pujols and Ryan Zimmerman won for theirs. As near as we can figure, anyway. And we have a great number of tools to help us do the figuring.

Yes, life is short. But MVP Awards last forever. And Tulowitzki's been jobbed out of one big honor already.

The latest from ye olde sack o' mail:

I don't understand how a hitter in CO can be penalized for home/road splits and pitchers are not given an advantage. I understand they are not in the A.L. East but stats have to be taken with a grain of salt based on bias in the media. Cargo could lead in every offensive/devensive category and still not be the MVP. Please just state the obvious bias that sports writers have against CO.

- Chad (Chula Vista, Cal.)

When you say "penalized" I'm not sure what you mean, Chad. The number (1) of Rockies who have won an MVP Award is his higher than the number (0) of Rockies who have obviously deserved to win an MVP Award. Larry Walker was fantastic in 1997 when he took the honors, but was he more fantastic than Mike Piazza and Barry Bonds and Craig Biggio? It's not at all clear that he was.

I do think Troy Tulowitzki was robbed of the Rookie of the Year Award in 2007. It was an incredibly close vote, and at least one voter -- enough to swing the result, in the event -- probably did hold Coors Field against Tulowitzki.

So I would say the Rockies are batting .500 when it comes to awards, hardly enough evidence to gain an indictment for bias against our nation's sportswriters. Let alone a conviction.

I think the writers have actually gotten this one mostly right, over the years. When the Rockies played in Mile High Stadium, the writers appropriately discounted, heavily, some of the crazier hitting stats compiled by slugging Rockies (well, with the exception of Dante Bichette in 1995, who finished a strong second in MVP balloting but wasn't one of the five best players in the league).

When the Rockies moved into Coors Field, the writers continued to appropriately discount, heavily, their hitters' statistics. And I think the writers did begin to discount the Rockies' statistics less heavily when the humidor was installed and the numbers came down some. Now, instead of Coors Field being one of the greatest hitter's parks in the game's history, it's merely a great hitter's park relative to the other current ballparks. And I think the writers recognize this.

You don't offer any specific example of a Rockies pitcher who's "not given an advantage," but I'll assume you're thinking about Ubaldo Jimenez, as he's the first Rockies pitcher in a while who's deserved a great deal of attention. But you must remember that when Jimenez was 15-1 at the All-Star break, with a 2.27 ERA, he was generally considered a lock for the Cy Young Award. If the balloting had happened then ... Well, I might not have voted for him. But most of the real voters would have.

Since then, though, Jimenez has gone 3-5 with a 3.98 ERA. Even if you give him credit for pitching in Coors Field, his ERA is just the seventh best in the league. His strikeout rate is 10th best. His strikeout-to-walk ratio is ... well, let's just say it's nothing particularly special. Jimenez is having a fantastic season. If he finishes strong, he might deserve to be strongly considered for the Cy Young Award, along with Roy Halladay. But at this point, there's simply no real evidence that Jimenez is getting less credit than he deserves.

Chad, accusing sportswriters of bias won't get you anywhere. Sure, some of that goes on. It's not hard to spot, individually. Especially when awards season arrives in November. As a group, though, writers are biased much less against places (Colorado, Kansas City, etc.) and people than against ideas (there's more to baseball than wins and RBI, steroids are just the latest drug of choice, etc.). Always have been.

My friend, you probably should look somewhere else to explain the things you find so irksome.

From Joe Posnanski's latest, we learn that:

1. Carlos Gonzalez suddenly has a legitimate shot at the Triple Crown (which you probably knew)

and

2. Carlos Gonzalez has some of the most extreme home/road splits that anyone's ever seen (which you might not have known).

Joe's big finish:

So here’s my question: Is it at least possible that hitting in Coors Field, with its light air and huge dimensions, affects a hitter’s swing and mental approach and actually hurts him on the road? I’ve had hitters tell me that they go to Coors Field for a series, and it takes them a week to recover. Maybe that’s just talk, but as Henry Fonda says in 12 Angry Men, “Is it possible?” Yes, Cargo has been ridiculous at home — he’s slugging .801 for crying out loud — but on a team hitting .228 and slugging .354 on the road, doesn’t his .288 average and .450 slugging percentage look pretty good?*

* His lack of walks, home (22) and especially road (9), are a topic for another time.

This is not to say that Cargo’s season isn’t bizarrely inflated by Coors Field. It is inflated, no question. But I think it’s a bit more complicated than that. He’s have an amazing offensive season, an absolutely amazing season, and in my mind it should not be written off because he’s destroying the ball at Coors Field.

Yes, it's absolutely possible that hitting in Coors Field both boosts his home performance and depresses his road performance. We've been arguing about why this happens for a long time, but I'm fairly confident that it does happen. I've believed, for a long time, that playing at that altitude leads to extreme adjustments by Rockies hitters, adjustments that don't serve them well upon descending the mountains.

So, yes: CarGo's having an amazing season.

Can we talk about those walks, though?

Because they do count. If Gonzalez does somehow grab the Triple Crown and the Rockies charge their way into the postseason, there will be a great deal of sentiment for Gonzalez to win the National League's MVP Award.

But would he deserve it?

Umm, maybe. Even with so few walks, depending on which defensive metrics you trust (or don't), Gonzalez might be the second- or third-most valuable player in the National League ... or he might be the eighth- or ninth-most valuable. I think it's safe to suggest that if he does win the Triple Crown, he'll have finished the season on a tear, moving him up a spot or two on whichever list your prefer.

If we assume for the moment that Ryan Zimmerman and Adrian Gonzalez aren't going to get the serious consideration they deserve, this might simply be a battle between Gonzalez and Joey Votto. Which we may revisit in great detail when most of the numbers are in the books.

Overheard today during the Giants game (before the Rockies came back from a 10-1 deficit against the Braves):

Duane Kuiper: The Rockies really have gone back to the old Rockies. They're 40-20 at home. They're 25-40 on the road.

Mike Krukow: I'm a little surprised by that. Because since they've got the humidifier going, and they've solved the baseball problem in Denver ... When they solved the baseball problem in Colorado, and you started seeing normal baseball games, you're seeing 1-0 games, and shutouts, and low run-scoring games, which you never saw in Coors Field before they fixed the baseballs.

Once they did that, it kind of ... made Rockies home baseball pretty much like Rockies road baseball. And they thought that the big discrepancy you used to see would go away, and you would start to see some normalcy, with their their win-loss record on the road compared to their win-loss record at home. But it hasn't happened.

If I was a bettin' man, I would have lost money. Let's put it that way.

I don't remember how I would have bet. But teams that play in (or near) Denver have always had huge home-road splits. Baseball, football, hockey, basketball ... it doesn't really matter, which leads to the conclusion that the balls are a small (or nonexistent) piece of the equation.

In the Rockies' first seven seasons (1995-2001) in Coors Field, they won 57 percent of their home games and 41 percent of their road games. As you might guess, that's a massive difference (last year, the MLB split was 54-46).

The humidor was installed in 2002. I'm not sure if it was there all season, so I'm leaving that season out of the calculations. From 2003 through this afternoon, the Rockies have (again!) won 57 percent of their home games ... and 40 percent of their road games. Essentially the split is exactly the same post-humidor as pre-humidor. Which, as Krukow suggests, probably isn't what the Rockies had in mind.

Which doesn't mean the humidor is a failure. If nothing else, it's probably brought some peace of mind to the people in the front office. Not to mention Rockies pitchers. But the Rockies' home-field advantage has never been about the baseballs. It's been about what being a mile high does to a fellow's body.

Tough loss for the Rockies last night, but that's nothing new; the Rockies' 17-20 record in one-run games is the worst in the National League West (but pales next to the Cubs' 13-27 mark). What really hurt was losing 1-0 with their best pitcher pitching brilliantly:

Ubaldo Jimenez was hoping to become the first Rockies pitcher to win 18 games. And even though Jose Reyes' run-scoring sacrifice fly was all Jimenez allowed, he was still denied the coveted 18th victory.

"For me I don't care if I win or lose the game. I just care about the team," said Jimenez, the majors' wins leader who dropped to 17-3. "I don't think about my stats, only team stats. We lost the game and it was a really important game for us. I'm really sorry we lost the game."

While Jimenez kept an even keel about his loss, Rockies manager Jim Tracy had a hard time swallowing the 1-0 defeat for his ace.

"It was a tough game to lose, but personally I think it was even tougher for our starting pitcher," Tracy said. "He is now 17-3 and (in) two of his three losses he's had a total of zero run support. He had a start earlier in the season in Los Angeles where he gave up a run through seven innings (and lost) and (last night) he pitches seven innings and gives up a run and ends up a hard luck loser. If you don't score you can't win."

I'm usually among the first to sympathize with pitchers stuck with lousy run support. But when you see a pitcher who's 17-3, you can usually assume that he's pitched really well and been blessed with (at least) decent run support.

Which he has, on both counts. The Rockies have scored 5.5 runs per nine innings in Jimenez's starts, which is actually the highest rate in his career by quite a lot. On the 23rd of June, he gave up six runs and got a no-decision (Rockies won, 8-6). Two weeks later he gave up seven runs and got another no-decision (Rockies lost that one). Two weeks later he gave up six runs and got another no-decision (Rockies lost again). And in his next start, Jimenez gave up six runs (again) and this time he did take the loss, just his second of the season.

That concluded a run of six starts in which Jimenez posted a 7.64 ERA but lost just once because the Rockies scored 40 runs.

More relevant to the team -- and to Jimenez, if you believe him (I do) -- his little slump seems to have ended, as he's given up just one run in each of his past three starts. If he keeps pitching like this, he'll keep winning. I don't believe he's been (or is) the best pitcher in the National League. But if he wins 22 or 23 games he's going to be the favorite choice for a bunch of Cy Young voters.

Well, our (latest) long national nightmare is over:

Catcher Chris Iannetta will rejoin the Rockies today after a month-long stint at Triple-A Colorado Springs.

As general manager Dan O'Dowd indicated Monday, Iannetta did everything the team asked after his demotion.

Iannetta hit .349, including five home runs and 21 RBIs, in 63 at-bats for the Sky Sox, regaining his timing offensively.

"He has addressed his swing mechanics, shown a great attitude and done everything we have asked," O'Dowd said.

Miguel Olivo is the Rockies starter, but Iannetta will be expected to get more playing time than when he was sent down.

Well, at least the Free Chris Iannetta Brigade can stand down ... but in a few weeks, its members might re-form as the Popular Front to Play Chris Ianetta, because as long as there's a team with Chris Iannetta behind Miguel Olivo on the depth chart, somewhere Empiricists will be wailing.

Granted, Oliva's having a great couple of months. Entering this season, though, he sported a .278 career on-base percentage (and last year it was .292). How likely is he to maintain today's .283/.346/.540 line? And even if you want to argue that Olivo, almost 32, has somehow learned the strike zone at this late date, that's still begging the question because it's foolish in the long term to carry two righty-hitting catchers who are good enough to play regularly.

The Rockies have a crying deficiency at second base, a deficiency that Kaz Matsui, for all his talents, isn't likely to address with any real adequacivity. Now, I should note that there aren't exactly a bunch of surplus second basemen sitting around, waiting to be traded. But the Rockies are likely to be fighting for their postseason lives in September, and fighting with Chris Iannetta (mostly) on the bench would be a good way to lose.

Troy Renck on how the Rockies might address their single crying need:

When contenders have weak spots, they naturally pop up in roster talk. Spoke to a major league source tonight who said that the Rockies would have interest in second baseman Kazuo Matsui when he clears waivers. Matsui struggled mightily with the Astros this season, losing his starting job before getting jettisoned Wednesday night.

The Rockies have a history of taking chances on no-risk, high-reward veterans. They did as much with Matsui in 2006, and he was a critical component in their 2007 World Series run. But those around the Astros said his bat has really slowed down. If the Rockies put him in Triple-A for depth just to get a look, that would make some sense.

Fox Sports reported Thursday night that the Mets have also contacted the Rockies about second baseman Luis Castillo. The Rockies will be connected to second base rumors as long as Clint Barmes continues to struggle offensively.

At some point, you have to make a move.

But the Rockies aren't at that point yet.

Especially considering their (supposed) options.

Regarding Matsui, I'm having trouble imagining the "high reward." He's 34, and he's got a .267/.321/.380 career line. Yes, he was valuable to the Rockies three years ago, but 1) it was only 104 games, 2) he wasn't that good, and 3) that was three years ago. Matsui was lousy last year, and lousier this year. Much lousier than Barmes, even.

Luis Castillo is 34, too. He's getting on base reasonably often -- that's been the hallmark of his long career -- but he's got zero power and his preseason projection was roughly the same as Barmes'. Which doesn't mean he wouldn't be an upgrade; maybe there's just something wrong with Barmes. But before trading even one thin prospect for Castillo, you'd want to be reasonably sure that Barmes isn't just going through a routine slump.

It's easy to focus on Barmes, because second base is the Rockies' only glaring deficiency (I'm assuming that Seth Smith and Dexter Fowler will eventually start hitting again). The rotation seems set, now that Jeff Francis is back, and the bullpen looks decent enough if Jim Tracy can resist the temptation to work Manny Corpas and Matt Belisle into the ground.

Barmes is exactly the sort of player you replace if you can find someone who's both better and reasonably priced. But I don't believe that Matsui or Castillo qualifies at this point.

After the drama, I looked up Miguel Olivo and found these notes:

News: After an 0-for-4 performance on Monday against Philadelphia, Olivo is batting 2-for-28 in his last six contests to lower his average on the season to .228. In the meanwhile, Chris Iannetta has batted .306/.390/.639 (11-for-36) with three homers and 11 RBI since being demoted to Triple-A Colorado Springs.

Spin: Olivo, who recently blamed his slump on a problem with his timing, has picked a poor time to slump. He could have easily run away with the starting role had he continued to perform, but if he continues to put up 0-fers and Iannetta continues to knock the ball around in the minors, he'll face competition for the Rockies' starting role sooner rather than later.

It's amazing what can happen in one game, huh?

This afternoon in snowy Denver, Olivo went 5 for 5, his last hit a walk-off homer in the bottom of the 10th inning that left his batting average 46 points higher than just three hours earlier.

In the process, Olivo just might have bought himself another few weeks as the Rockies' No. 1 catcher.

Meanwhile, all Iannetta can do is keep hitting. His career Triple-A line?

.331/.424/.519

Granted, that's only 77 games ... but that's only 77 games because Iannetta is too good for Triple-A. He vaulted into the majors after just two professional seasons because the pitchers down there just weren't good enough to get him out with any regularity. Slightly over one year ago, Iannetta and Brian McCann were the catchers for Team USA in the World Cup; now he's back in the Pacific Coast League, hoping for another shot with the big club.

It's an odd business, baseball. Even good players have to navigate shoals, clamber over obstacles, get jostled by speed bumps. For Iannetta, though, this one's a real doozy. The guy just turned 27, when most players are peaking, and he's still trying to win a job that seems rightfully his.

Boy, Chris Iannetta's 2010 tryout sure didn't last long. Off to a slow start, Iannetta's not only lost playing time to Miguel Olivo; now he's lost his roster spot. Here's Jack Moore with the gory details:

This is just another exercise in the dangers of using small sample sizes to evaluate player performances. Miguel Olivo is showing all of the problem signs that have resulted in a .279 career on base percentage and an 82 career wRC+. Olivo’s BB% and K% of 4.3 and 35.6 respectively are right in line with his career marks, and his ridiculous .375 BABIP and 38.5% HR/FB rate are the only things keeping his line afloat. There’s no way that he sustains this kind of production, and ZiPS suggest we can expect him to produce at his typical .287 OBP level for the rest of the season.

--snip--

It shouldn’t take long for Iannetta to make it clear that he belongs in the major league and for Olivo to demonstrate that he belongs on the bench. Iannetta should especially thrive at Colorado Springs, one of the most hitter-friendly parks in professional baseball. When Iannetta comes back and starts put up numbers like his career .349 wOBA, people will likely claim that the minor league stint helped him get his head right. In reality, it will simply be hits falling in for Iannetta where they weren’t before.

Look, there are things that Jack Moore (probably) doesn't know, and there are things that I (definitely) don't know. Maybe Iannetta's not working hard. Maybe he's walking around the clubhouse with a five-mile stare. Maybe when he's not in the lineup, he sneaks into Jim Tracy's office and smears boogers on his desk.

The odd thing is that just a few months ago, the Rockies indicated that Iannetta was a big part of their future, signing him to a three-year contract extension worth $8.35 million. Well, they sort of indicated that. They sort of contra-indicated that when they signed Olivo and his .278 career on-base percentage for $2.5 million. Particularly considering that both Iannetta and Oliva bat right-handed.

So you might forgive Iannetta, after his benching last September and the arrival of Mister .278, to question his place in the world. Some players -- not all, but some -- aren't at their best when wondering about their place. Aside from the three-year contract -- and yes, we have to acknowledge that $8.35 million is a lot of money, even after taxes -- if you were running the Rockies and you were trying to screw Iannetta up, isn't this roughly how you would do it?

Jack's probably right, though. Iannetta will go to C-Springs and hit, and Olivo will play more and won't hit, and everything in the world will seem right again. These things happen, and usually they're forgotten within a few months. Ideally, managers and general managers would know exactly how to handle every man on the roster. Know when to yell at him, when to speak softly to him, and everything in between. Realistically, they don't. There's never been a manager who was that smart.

Fortunately, managers don't have to be that smart. If Iannetta can't handle this one, he probably wouldn't handle all the other stuff that comes up, either. Most players, if they need a lot of babying from the manager, have problems that all the babying in the world can't fix.

From Jeff Passan's take on the no-hitter:

Jimenez loves his fastball, as he ought. For two years running, it’s been the hardest pitch in baseball, and this year is no different: Over three starts, he is sitting at 96.5 mph, harder than he’s ever thrown. And it’s not a typical 100-mph flirter, either. Fastballs that hard generally straighten out. Jimenez’s dips, dives, dodges, dances and sometimes destroys his catcher, Miguel Olivo(notes).

“It comes fast,” Olivo said. “You can feel it, too. Your hand, the rest of your body, the way you need to catch the ball. You need to get ready earlier.”

Jimenez likes to establish the fastball early in games. He started the Braves with eight among his first nine pitches. He never found his command out of the windup, throwing only 21 of 46 pitches for strikes through the fifth inning. Once Jimenez went to the stretch, 19 of his 25 fastballs went for strikes, and as he was hitting 98 mph in the ninth inning, the Braves were only wishing ...

I'm sure it's not the first time, but it's the first time I've been aware that a starting pitcher shifted from the windup to the stretch when he didn't have to (and more details on that switch are here). Makes you wonder, doesn't it? It's often said that the stretch costs a pitcher 2-3 miles an hour off his fastball, and (considering how easy that is to check) I'll assume that's roughly accurate. But then you see something like this, and you wonder how many control-challenged power pitchers should maybe take things down a notch.

Jimenez's no-hitter got me to wondering what people were saying about him before he made his bones in the majors, and that led me to Baseball America's 2007 Prospect Handbook. Here are the Rockies' top eight prospects three years ago, with key performers since 2007 bolded:

1. Troy Tulowitzki
2. Franklin Morales
3. Jason Hirsh
4. Dexter Fowler
5. Ian Stewart
6. Ubaldo Jimenez
7. Greg Reynolds
8. Chris Iannetta

That's impressive. And Seth Smith was ranked 16th that year. I don't get the impression that the Rockies get a great deal of credit for their player development, but has any club graduated more good players to the majors in the last three or four years?

Anyway, here's what BA said three years ago: "Jimenez figures to return to Triple-A in 2007, and he could move into the big league rotation as soon as midseason. His profile also would fit in the closer's role, which could save some wear and tear on his arm."

Nailed it.

Well, the first part. Jimenez did open 2007 in Triple-A, then -- despite a bloated ERA and far too many walks -- did join the big league rotation shortly after the All-Star break.

Here's what John Sickels wrote, three years ago:

When guys like this develop well, they turn into Freddy Garcia. When they have problems, they turn out like Daniel Cabrera. And they fall apart completely, they end up like Denny Bautista. Jimenez could end up anywhere along that continuum. I really like his upside, but I will give him the same Grade B I have him last year, pending better control.

In that last Triple-A stint, Jimenez walked 5.4 per nine innings, more than he'd ever walked before. He seemed to be headed straight for Daniel Cabreraville. But the Rockies presumably saw something the rest of us didn't, or couldn't. They called him up anyway, and since then he's improved his ERA in each season and thrown a no-hitter. Somewhere in Coors Field right now, somebody's smiling.

Will Todd Helton spend his whole career with the Rockies? The odds just got a lot better:

The Colorado Rockies and Helton agreed on Thursday to a two-year, $9.9 million contract extension that runs through the 2013 season.

The first baseman also agreed to defer $13.1 million of his $19 million salary in 2011 over a 10-year period beginning in 2014, the team said.

"We reached out for Todd in the wintertime, and had quiet discussions," Rockies general manager Dan O'Dowd said. "He understood what we were trying to do and wanted to retire as a Rockie."

--snip--

Helton signed a nine-year, $141.5 million contract extension in March 2001 that took effect in 2003. That deal will pay Helton $16.6 million this year and $19 million in 2011 with a $4.6 million buyout on a $23 million option in 2012. That buyout now becomes moot with Helton receiving $4.9 million in salary for 2012.

This looks like a fantastic deal for everyone involved.

I didn't like Helton's nine-year contract when he signed it, and I still don't like it. But Helton has generally performed well -- the exception being 2008 -- and he hasn't blocked any hot first-base prospects. That's still true today, as the Rockies have a number of first-base prospects but none of them hot.

Helton is going to be an interesting Hall of Fame candidate. He's not going to finish with 3,000 hits or 2,000 RBI or 500 home runs, all marks we might expect from a 21st century first baseman playing half his games in Denver (and he does have massive home/road splits). Helton's never won an MVP Award, or been close to winning one.

On the other hand, Helton's going to finish his career with an on-base percentage well above .400; right now it's .427, No. 1 among all active major leaguers. He has won a few Gold Gloves, and seems to have a few decent seasons left in him. At this point he's a borderline Hall of Famer, with a chance to improve his standing. And maybe, just maybe, he'll deserve a small dollop of extra credit for helping his club free up a few dollars.