Kuzul

One day after St. Louis Cardinals rookie sensation Shelby Miller retired 27 straight Colorado Rockies en route to a one-hitter, Adam Wainwright nearly tossed a no-hitter in his own right. His bid was broken up in the eighth inning, but his dominance and Colorado's incompetence are something to behold.The dynamic pitching tandem combined to retire 40 consecutive batters, which matched a Major League Baseball record, according to MLB.com's Paul Casella.Despite the fact that the Rockies are the highest-scoring team in the National League this season with 169 runs and boast stars such as Carlos Gonzalez and Troy Tulowitzki, Wainwright and Miller somehow managed to make Colorado look like a little league team.After allowing a leadoff single to Eric Young Jr. on Friday night, Miller was perfect throughout the rest of the game. Wainwright added to that by carrying a no-hitter into the eighth inning before Rockies rookie third baseman Nolan ...

The Colorado Rockies' search for pitching entering the 2013 season continues. According to Troy E. Renck of The Denver Post, one of the low-risk free agents they are considering is former Pittsburgh Pirates right-hander Jeff Karstens.The 30-year-old former Yankee prospect put together big numbers at Double-A Trenton and Triple-A Columbus and Scranton/Wilkes-Barre before making his Yankee debut with the 2006 American League East Champions.He fared well in his first few games in the majors. He pitched six innings for the win against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim in his second start.His third start was a hard-luck loss to the eventual division champion Minnesota Twins when he went seven innings and let up a single run.But any plans for Karstens' long-term future in the Bronx went awry when he stumbled badly in 2007.In July of 2008, Karstens, still in Triple-A, was dealt to the Pittsburgh Pirates in the trade that ...

The Colorado Rockies are trying to piece together a pitching staff. Freddy Garcia is a free agent pitcher looking for work. The Rockies and Garcia very well might be a match this off season.According to the Twitter feed of Troy Renck, Denver Post Rockies writer, Colorado is looking at low risk free agents, including Garcia.But they are not alone in courting the 36-year-old right-hander who posted a 5.20 ERA with the Yankees in 2012. As Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com wrote, the Minnesota Twins and Cincinnati Reds have also expressed interest in him.No longer the power pitcher of his youth, Garcia uses a slider and splitter as his out pitches. He no longer relies on his power mixed with his change up as he did when he was a younger pitcher.Garcia was one of the main pieces in the Seattle Mariners trade of Randy Johnson to the Astros. Garcia, a Houston ...

Before a hamstring injury shortened his 2012 season, Colorado Rockies outfielder Carlos Gonzalez was putting up MVP-caliber numbers.The 27-year-old finished among the National League's top 10 batters in batting average, on-base percentage, slugging and OPS this year. Had he not been limited to 132 games, perhaps Gonzalez's home run and RBI numbers would have ranked him among the top in the league as well. Gonzalez is the type of player a roster can be built around. He's the sort of young superstar a rebuilding team like the Rockies should covet, knowing that he could be a cornerstone talent for years to come. But should a team far from contention think about trading a budding star like Gonzalez in hopes of getting a load of developing prospects in return? That's how ESPN's Jim Bowden sees it. In his latest column for ESPN.com, Bowden lists five moves that could be made by playoff contenders. One ...

The Colorado Rockies are looking for relief help in their overworked bullpen going forward in 2013 and have taken a low-risk chance on pitcher Mike McClendon that could pay dividends.According to Thomas Harding of MLB.com, the Rockies signed the 28-year-old reliever to a minor league contract with an invitation to MLB Spring Training.Last year, with the Milwaukee Brewers, McClendon pitched in only nine big-league games and became available as a non-tendered free agent. The Rockies are hoping he will be closer to his form of 2010 in the upcoming season.His rookie year with the Brewers, McClendon pitched in 17 games and posted a respectable 3.00 ERA. In his big-league debut, according to Baseball Reference, he pitched three perfect innings in relief on August 14, 2010. The Brewers would eventually win that game over the Rockies, 5-4.In his second game, he also threw three good innings, this time earning the 6-5 ...

The Colorado Rockies are coming off the worst season in franchise history. Predictably, many MLB general managers are eager to snatch up one of the very few desirable players on the team. ESPN’s Jayson Stark reported via Twitter that “quite a few teams” asked about acquiring Carlos Gonzalez at the Winter Meetings, but the team said they still aren’t moving their two stars, Gonzalez and Tulowitzki. While Gonzalez has been a consistent superstar with the Rockies since his breakout season in 2010, Tulowitzki has been anything but reliable. The 28-year-old shortstop has driven in 90 runs or more in three of the past four seasons and hit a total of 129 home runs in the past six years, yet he’s only played in 69% of his team’s games since the start of the 2008 season due to injuries. While many Colorado fans are quick to defend No. 2, a common ...

The National League rookie landscape has been a fun ride in 2012. First and foremost, we received the long-awaited debut of the uber-hyped Bryce Harper. Harper's season consisted of a white hot start, a two-month slump and a white hot finish.Over in Cincinnati, Todd Frazier took the place of the team's best offensive player in Joey Votto. The 96-win Reds barely even remember that Votto was even injured as Todd Frazier took his place admirably.Wade Miley usurped the title of staff ace for the Arizona Diamondbacks' pitching staff, as 2011 Cy Young candidate Ian Kennedy had a forgettable 2012 season and Wade had a surprisingly good one.Names such as Lance Lynn and Yonder Alonso were lurking in the Rookie of the Year conversation at various points this season, but things fizzled for these guys.A surprisingly under-hyped name in the conversation, however, has been Colorado Rockies catcher Wilin Rosario. It becomes ...

In a season filled with disappointment, the emergence of Tyler Colvin has turned into one of very few bright spots for the Colorado Rockies.Colvin was acquired in an offseason trade with the Chicago Cubs for Ian Stewart. He was largely thought of as nothing more than a fourth outfielder and a pinch hitter upon his arrival. With 180 at-bats under his belt, Colvin has emerged as one of the team's most potent and consistent hitters. His stats are impressive: 13 home runs and 40 RBI with a .311 average.To put those numbers into perspective, with 127 fewer at-bats than All-Star Carlos Gonzalez, Colvin is only four home runs and 18 RBI off of Cargo's pace.Colvin has displayed his defensive diversification by playing all three outfield positions. With that being said, it is my contention that his future with the Rockies is at first base.Thus far, he has appeared in 13 games at the ...

These are desperate times at Coors Field. The Colorado Rockies have allowed more runs than any team in baseball. Consequently, they also have the highest team ERA in the majors.That pitching staff may well have driven manager Jim Tracy to madness. At the very least, it can't be said that he's not trying to be creative in fixing his team's massive pitching deficiencies. As reported by the Denver Post's Troy Renck, the Rockies announced that they'll be going to a four-man pitching rotation. Jeremy Guthrie—who's been abysmal in his past six appearances—is being moved to the bullpen, and the four remaining starters will be on a 75-pitch limit to compensate for one less day of rest. "I felt we had to do something non-conventional," Tracy told reporters. "I was given the opportunity to tweak this. We are going to see what transpires as we move forward."Well, this definitely qualifies as unconventional. The fact ...

The handshake deal. The discussion about the performance of the Colorado Rockies in the 2012 season keeps reverting to the handshake deal between Dan O'Dowd and Jim Tracy. Was it a clever strategy to help Tracy relax and manage some wins, or did O'Dowd really think Jim Tracy had shown enough to warrant an extension? As the Rockies sit at 13-21, fourth in the NL West, the question arises: When does the franchise make a change? Dan O' Dowd made some interesting comments today in the Denver Post about how he doesn't intend to make any changes to the current staff. While the comments should anger fans, it should be no shock that this is the mind set in the front office.Keep in mind that this comes from a man who told the current manager, Jim Tracy, that he can indefinitely be with the organization. While fans and analysts have ...