Kuzul

Ubaldo Jimenez is without a doubt the best pitcher in all of Major League Baseball this season.

His 15-1 record is easily the top mark in the majors, while his 2.20 ERA is fifth best among pitchers with 10+ decisions.

His three complete games include a no-hitter versus the Atlanta Braves, which is the first ever in the Colorado Rockies’ 18-year franchise history.

“(He’s) one of the great talents, and he’s a treat to watch pitch. He’s 15-1. His record speaks for itself. I said Jimenez from the beginning, he was my pick,” National League manager Charlie Manuel said of choosing Jimenez to start over Florida’s Josh Johnson.

“I want to say it’s a huge honor just to be out there. Having the chance to share all those moments tomorrow with all the stars, just to be there, I’m honored just to be in the clubhouse,” Jimenez said of the opportunity to start the midsummer classic.

Jimenez’ selection to make the team and to start the 2010 All Star game were no-brainers, as was the case for Rockies’ star shortstop Troy Tulowitzki. Tulowitzki would have started the game if not for the broken left wrist he endured June 17. And while it’s disappointing that the young star won’t be able to play tonight, an even bigger travesty has left another young and extremely talented Colorado player off the roster.

Carlos Gonzalez, one of the three players the Rockies received in a trade for Matt Holliday following the 2008 season, is in the middle of enjoying a better season than the All Star Holliday.

Holliday is currently hitting at a .300 average, with 51 RBI and 16 HRs. Gonzalez on the other hand, has a .314 average, 60 RBI, 17 HRs with four more runs scored (56-52) and double the stolen bases Holliday has swiped (12-6). On top of all that, Gonzalez is completely comfortable on defense as he is the NL leading outfielder with a perfect 1.000 fielding percentage, with three assists and zero errors compared to Holliday’s .994 fielding with two errors on the season.

Carlos “CarGon” Gonzalez is a rare commodity in the MLB to be sure, as a truly legit five-tool player.

CarGon can easily smash baseballs into the Mile High night and his sweet swing allows him to hit for a solid average as well.

Once on the base paths, Gonzalez gallops gracefully with blistering speed that allows him to smartly steal bases or be used in hit-and-run situations that produce runs for the Rockies.

In the field, Gonzalez glides effortlessly towards balls hit into the expansive Coors Field outfield and his arm is surprisingly strong as well.

In fact, the argument can be made that Gonzalez is outperforming Hollidays since the 2008 trade that both were the centerpieces of. While the Rockies also gained a great closer in Huston Street and starter Greg Smith that put in some time earlier this year as a fill-in.

And while Gonzalez continues to improve while Holliday is plateauing, CarGon was left off of the All Star roster—he was straight up robbed.

Ryan Braun (.292 average, 13 HR, 54 RBI), Corey Hart (.288 AVG, 21 HR, 65 RBI) and Andre Eithier (.324, 14 HR, 54 RBI) are the three starters for the NL and Gonzalez’s numbers are comparable with Hart’s and better than the other two. CarGon’s numbers are much better than reserve OFs Michael Bourn, Marlon Byrd and quite comparable to Holliday’s and Chris Young’s production.

Still, Gonzalez didn’t make the All Star team.

It’s another instance of a stellar player from the Mile High City being overlooked in favor of others from bigger towns. Holliday lost out on the MVP when he was with the Rockies, and Tulowitzki was robbed of the Rookie of the Year as well. Despite Carmelo Anthony playing at an extremely high level the last three seasons, he was basically an afterthought for the NBA MVP.

As Denver continues to “grow up” (a funny term when reminiscing about the three professional championships and four major professional teams the city sports) in the eyes of coast-biased media outlets, more respect will come regarding our sports’ stars.

The Rockies have opened eyes as a well-run organization that grows its own stars and now competes annually for postseason play—and along with his incredible performance, Jimenez has been getting shine from all across America.

People will wake up and realize that Gonzalez is a star in the making, just as they did with Tulo, and CarGon will make his fair share of All Star games.

But that’s not much of a consolation for now, Gonzalez is meant for an All Star game, he’s flashy, exciting and plain fun to watch. The MLB could have at least let CarGon go deep a few times in the Home Run Derby—he would have done better than Nick Swisher, Holliday and some of those other chump performances.

For Gonzalez, he should use this snubbing as another motivating force and if he keeps playing at this extremely high level, we’ll all see him in the outfield in 2011.

Rich Kurtzman is a Colorado State University Alumnus and a freelance journalist. Along with being the Denver Nuggets Featured Columnist on bleacherreport.com, Kurtzman is a contributor on NFLTouchdown.com , the CSU Rams Examiner and Fort Collins Beer Bars Examiner on examiner.com and the Colorado/Utah Correspondent for stadiumjourney.com .

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Just 24 hours after the Colorado Rockies set a franchise record with a nine-run ninth inning that was capped off by a Seth Smith three-run blast—the Rockies did it again.

In fact, when Chris Iannetta bombed the game-winning solo homer in the bottom of the ninth, it was the third straight game in a row Colorado won with a walk-off.

For the second night in a row, 33,000 fans came out to watch their Rockies at Coors Field. All of them stayed Wednesday night to secure the series against St. Louis. The Rockies are 10-1 against the Cardinals in the teams’ last 11 meetings, while outscoring the Redbirds by an astounding 38-11 from the seventh inning on.

For Colorado, it’s the third straight series win, and they’ve been the victors of four of five series overall. The Rockies are on fire, as they’ve gone 10-5 in their last 15 games, jumping in the standings and back into the headlines.

The point is, the Rox are Rollin’ and Denver has noticed.

Rockies’ fans have come out to the ballpark to support their team that is currently in second place of the NL best NL West—merely three games out of first place behind the Padres.

And all this success has come when Colorado’s injury list is a mile long.

Troy Tulowitzki, the Rockies’ best player on offense and defense, has been on the DL with a broken left wrist for nearly three weeks. Starter Brad Hawpe injured his ribs 10 days ago and the face of the franchise, Todd Helton, was placed on the 15-day DL.

Plus, starting pitcher Jorge De La Rosa hasn’t been able to pitch in months and closer Huston Street won his first game of the year Wednesday and has only had the opportunity for two saves so far.

Still, with the injury bug biting extremely hard, the Rockies have fought tough and strung together winning baseball without their best players.

Colorado is getting major production from fill-ins and others, like second baseman Clint Barmes on his 12-game hitting streak and Dexter Fowler, who’s hitting 12 for his last 25 at bats.

Everyone likes watching history and Rockies are making franchise history lately. With their wins Tuesday and Wednesday being the first ever comebacks of five-plus runs and they’ve gotten 12-plus hits in six straight games.

Colorado is currently one of the hottest teams in the MLB, and even though it seems crazy to say, they’re looking forward to the All Star break as well.

Ubaldo Jimenez, the Rockies’ phenomenal pitcher, will be on display even though he has been struggling of late and could use the rest. Likewise for most of the rest of the Rox, rest will be welcomed.

Still, Colorado’s baseball team is dominating right now and they look to continue to do so up to and after the All Star break.

And as they do, the Rockies are moving into prime position for a third playoff run in four years—which of course would set even more franchise history for this team that is becoming more and more special.

Just how special they can be is up to Jim Tracy and the rest of his rublin’ Rockies as they roll down the road to the postseason.

Rich Kurtzman is a Colorado State University Alumnus and a freelance journalist. Along with being the Denver Nuggets FC for bleacherreport.com, Kurtzman is the Denver Broncos FC for NFLTouchdown.com, the CSU Rams and Fort Collins Beer Bars Examiner for examiner.com and the Colorado/Utah Correspondent for stadiumjourney.com . 

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The Colorado Rockies (25-22) faced division rival Arizona Diamondbacks (20-28) Thursday afternoon in the last game of a three-game series.

For the Rockies, everything was working Thursday as a multitude of pitchers and a barrage of batters led Colorado to a dominant 8-2 win and the team’s first sweep of the 2010 season.

Jason Hammel started the game and pitched well despite not having his best stuff. Through five innings Hammel didn’t give up a run and tallied a career-high tying eight Ks against the D-Backs.

But the sixth inning was his undoing.

With the Rockies up 3-0, Hammel walked Stephen Drew and Adam LaRoche. Mark Reynolds then singled to load the bases and Chris Young singled to score Drew. Then Hammel hit Chris Snyder to walk home Arizona’s second run of the game.

Hammel left the game after five and one third innings giving up seven hits and two earned runs while striking out eight.

After Hammel went to the dugout, Colorado’s bullpen was air tight and didn’t allow a single hit while striking out six more batters.

On the offensive side of the ball, the Rockies’ bats were cracking and created fireworks at one point.

Colorado jumped on Arizona’s ace Dan Haren early, scoring three runs in the first inning.

Carlos Gonzalez stayed hot and hit a leadoff single that he legged into a double, only to be knocked home by Ryan Spilborghs a few minutes later. Then, after a Jason Giambi strikeout, Troy Tulowitzki homered to stretch Colorado’s lead to three.

For Tulo, it was his fifth home run in seven games and he continued to grow his 11-game hitting streak.

But it was what the Rockies did after Hammel’s meltdown in the sixth that showed they were not going to lose this game.

After a Clint Barmes single in the seventh, Colorado made Coors look like the ballpark of old with big blasts. Seth Smith (8), Gonzalez (6), and Spilborghs (3) hit back-to-back-to-back home runs off of Haren, the first time the Rockies had done so since April 27, 2004.

The seventh inning fireworks secured Colorado’s 8-2 win and capped off an electrifying series against Arizona.

In a way, the game was a microcosm of the Rockies on this current win streak.

Since May 20, Colorado is 6-1 and averaging 5.4 runs per contest while only allowing 3.3 runs per.

Despite missing starter Jorge De La Rosa and closer Huston Street, the Rockies pitching has been special and led them through games.

Ubaldo Jimenez was Ubaldominent in wins eight and nine versus Houston (4-0) and Arizona Wednesday (7-3), allowing zero runs in each. Likewise, Jeff Francis was stellar in his second start versus Kansas City on May 22, going six and a third innings allowing five hits, two walks and striking out three.

And when starters come out, Colorado’s bullpen has held together lately.

In the last seven games Matt Belisle has pitched on four occasions for a combined four innings, allowing two hits and sitting down seven on strikes. Similarly, Joe Beimel has been throwing well as his ERA has dropped to 0.52 and Manuel Corpas is up to four saves in relief of the ailing Street.

And while pitching has been hot, the Rox’ bats have been hotter.

Tulo“hit”zki’s 11-game hitting streak has ballooned his average to .314, just edging out Gonzalez (.313) for the team lead. Tulo also leads the team in runs (34), hits (54), and doubles (15) as he’s leading by example as the Rockies’ biggest current star.

Colorado’s fifth outfielder, Seth Smith, had three homers in the Rockies’ last two games even though he’s been sick with the flu, and their sixth outfielder Spilborghs went 3-4 with a double and a home run as he was the player of the game Thursday.

So, everything is coming together for the Rockies, and it couldn’t be happening at a better time. After sweeping Arizona, Colorado plays Los Angeles (26-21) for three games at home starting Friday, then flies to San Francisco (24-22) Monday as Tim Lincecum and Jimenez get set to see who is the best pitcher in the NL. The Rockies finish this 12-game divisional stretch with three games (June 4-6) in Arizona against the Diamondbacks.

So as they sit now, the Rockies are third in the NL West and three and a half games back of West leader San Diego and one back of LA. Come Monday, if Colorado can continue playing these winning ways, they could be sitting solely in second place at the one-third point of the season.

The Rockies have already battled tough through injuries and slumping bats for most of the season. Now they are hitting their stride as a run to the playoffs for the third time in four years seems possible if not probable at this point.

In the grueling 162-game MLB season there’s still lots of baseball to be played, but Colorado is starting to look like a contender as we approach Memorial Day.

So Denver, get out and support your Rockies—especially when Ubaldo “Cy Young” Jimenez is out on the mound (he only had around 25,000 fans on Wednesday)—because your Rockies are a special baseball team.

Rich Kurtzman is a Colorado State University Alumnus and freelance sports journalist. Along with being the Denver Nuggets Featured Columnist here on B/R, Kurtzman is the Denver Broncos FC for NFLTouchdown.com, the CSU Rams Examiner for examiner.com and the Colorado/Utah Regional Correspondent for stadiumjourney.com.

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Baseball in Colorado has always been defined by mile high scores from multiple mile deep homeruns.

Fans in the Rocky Mountains fell in love and were spoiled by the long ball for over a decade and a half.

Sure, the humidor was put in place at 20th and Blake back in 2002 and the number of homeruns have dropped a dramatic 60 per year, but balls still fly out of Coors Field at a high rate.

Since their inception in 1993, the Rockies have tried to go out and get big name pitchers, raise their own, or use homegrown Colorado talent on the mound—nothing worked.

That is, until Ubaldo Jimenez came to Denver from the Dominican Republic in 2006.

Despite his dominating stuff, Jimenez’ five year career numbers are somewhat mediocre at 39-29 with a 3.49 ERA, 499 strikeouts and a .228 opponent batting average.  

In his first four years, the only thing that stood out was Ubaldo’s high number of Ks and the nasty pitches he could throw when on top of his game. Jimenez has always been able to hit triple digits on the radar gun but command was his downfall at those devastating speeds.

When one looks closer at the young phenom’s numbers though, much more becomes clear.

Since Jimenez became a full time starter midway through the World Series 2007 season, he’s improved each and every year.

Along with strikeouts, Ubaldo’s wins have increased while his ERA, opponent’s batting average, walks, and runs have all decreased.

And while he was slightly and slowly improving as a starting pitcher, Jimenez has completely taken over on the mound this season.

Everyone started taking note after Jimenez’ no-hitter April 17th in Atlanta, the Rockies’ franchise first ever, and they haven’t looked back.

Now Jimenez is fresh off his MLB leading eighth win Thursday night against Houston (7 IP, 1 H, 2 BB, 4 K). He was an infield single away from pitching in another no-hitter, when third baseman Ian Stewart tried to bare-hand the hard hit ball and came up with only air.

Along with leading the leagues with eight wins, his miniscule 0.99 ERA is tops as well.

Ubaldo is phenomenal.

To wit, he’s only the fifth MLB pitcher since ERA was first taken in the early 20th century to win eight of his first nine starts and have an ERA under one. The last was Fernando Venezuela nearly three decades ago, in 1981.

Although, even with those spectacular numbers, Jimenez isn’t running away with the Cy Young Trophy—yet.

His two main competitors are the Phillies’ Roy Halladay and the division rival Giants’ Tim Lincecum. Both pitchers have been dominant for many years and both are currently playing stellar baseball. Halladay is 6-3 with a 2.22 ERA and is tops in complete games at four. Lincecum is 5-0 with a 2.35 ERA and his 75 Ks lead NL.

No offense to either of those two magnificent pitchers, but Jimenez is better this year—he deserves the Cy Young.

That is if he can continue this awesome success.

But beyond numbers, Ubaldo is unique, that’s what makes him so great. At 6’4” 205 pounds, Jimenez’ body is more like an NBA shooting guard than your average major league pitcher.

The morning after pitching, when the birds are chirping as Jimenez likely usually smiles with the rising sun, he runs—five miles.

This is no pot-bellied David Wells, the ex-Yankee pitcher that threw a no-hitter while, “half in the bag,” as he said referring to being half drunk.

Jimenez is an extremely hard working pitcher who’s devoted to improving his game.

April’s NL pitcher of the month has done just that.

Jimenez has improved to the point that batters cringe days in advance when they hear his name as the Rockies’ starting pitcher.

While Jimenez is leading the majors in nearly every major pitching statistic, he should have another—most opponents’ knees buckled.

Plainly, Ubaldo Jimenez throws insanely wild and wicked pitches with heat and movement.

He’s untouchable by even the best batters and Colorado knows they have the best chance of winning when Jimenez is on the rubber.

Ubaldo is unique in another way; he’s a pitcher that is exhilarating to watch—something brand new and exciting in this dusty old cow town that grew up on baseball won with the long-ball, not a well executed fastball.

The national media has caught on, so Denver, let’s get out and pack Coors each and every time Ubaldo pitches because he is the biggest professional sports star our city has (playing) right now.

If we’re lucky, Jimenez will lead the Rockies to their third postseason appearance in four years, and bring the biggest individual award to town since Larry Walker brought home the MVP in 1997.

Rich Kurtzman is a Colorado State University Alumnus and a freelance sports journalist. Along with being the Denver Nuggets Featured Columnist here on B/R, Kurtzman is the Denver Broncos FC for NFLTouchdown.com , the CSU Rams Examiner on examiner.com and the Colorado/Utah Correspondent for stadiumjourney.com.

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