Short hops, quick pops and backhand stops:
• Troy Tulowitzki has departed for Colorado Springs and Tulsa with the Rockies season packed in his carry-on and former college teammate Evan Longorias advice tucked into his Dopp kit.
If all goes well, Tulowitzki will be activated on July 28 and the most important piece of the Rockies stretch-run arsenal will be in place.
If all goes well, Troy Tulowitzki will be back on July 28. (US Presswire) If all does not go well … Tulowitzki has been advised to cut bait quickly so things dont get worse, for both his healing left wrist and for the Rockies.
In a sprinting through September, nobody is more important in Colorado than Tulowitzki. Rare is the case when a rookie becomes an unquestioned team leader, but Tulowitzki did it in 2007. And the Rockies moved on to their first World Series.
“I was actually watching the game when it happened,” Tampa Bays Longoria said of Colorados game in Minnesota on June 17 when Tulowitzki, his former teammate at Cal State Long Beach, suffered a broken left wrist when he was hit with a pitch by Twins reliever Alex Burnett. “I had the same injury in 2008. I knew he would be frustrated.”
Then Longoria, who missed 30 games in 08 with a fractured right wrist suffered when he, too, was hit by a pitch, offered the same key advice he said he gave to Tulowitzki when the two hung out some at last weeks All-Star Game: “Its one of those injuries where you feel like you can do some things, but if you try too soon, youre going to re-injure it.”
If Tulowitzki is activated as scheduled on July 28, he will have missed 34 games. Both the shortstop and the Rockies have been extremely pleased with the speed at which hes healed. And as difficult as its been for Tulowitzki to sit and watch, things could be worse.
“If they were losing games, Id want to rush to get back,” he said. “But the Rockies are playing great, and were known as a second-half team.”
• What will the most difficult thing be for Tulowitzki upon returning? The Rockies shortstop thinks swinging and missing will be a test, as will check swings and diving back into first on a pickoff. Longorias take: “The most difficult thing for me was overcoming the fear of getting back into the batters box. Its like getting hit in the face. Your hands are up here [by the face]. Its a high injury. It will be re-acquainting himself with the batters box, taking that first fastball in. If he lets himself heal, hes going to be just fine coming back.” Which is why this weekends injury-rehab assignment is huge.
• Dustin Pedroia means every bit as much to Boston as Tulowitzki does to the Rockies, and the Red Sox have done an excellent job of hanging around while being ravaged by injuries. “I think if we get healthy we can make a serious run,” said Pedroia, who is due back in early August from a broken left foot. “And if those teams [read: Yankees and Rays] arent healthy, we can overtake em. Look at our team. Weve been crushed by injuries. Guys have done a great job, and hopefully we can get everybody back healthy. Its been fun to see the guys battle.”
• Lou Piniella was very good, often great, and always entertaining as a manager. Sure hope that with Tuesdays announcement that he will retire at seasons end, hell be able to enjoy his final two-and-a-half months on the bench.
• Kirk Gibson plays the part of a major-league manager really well. Confident, direct, grizzled and a closely cropped beard that reeks of testosterone. But there is no way anybody will be able to accurately judge his managerial skills with this dead-men-walking Diamondbacks club. Theyre in a state of shock at how things have dissolved and they stink on the field.
• Gibsons expectations? “I expect them to come out and erase whats happened in the first half. … I told them I was going to push them hard, and theyre welcome to push back. But I dont really care. … The way we played in the first half, I dont think anyone would say is who we are. At least, we dont want to admit thats who we are. We have to fight against the urge to get complacent and just play the season out.”
• Surprising San Diego has passed every key test so far in leading the NL West, but now heres the latest: Beginning with this weeks series in Atlanta, the Padres will play 23 of 32 games on the road.
• Nice scene in Anaheim at last weeks All-Star Game: Joe Mauers parents, grandparents, brothers and nieces all tagged along. Part of the crew spent the day before the All-Star Game at Disneyland. “I guess Im a pretty favored uncle right now,” Mauer said.
• OK, so its the Year of the Pitcher II and heres more evidence: Teams were shut out 167 times through that All-Star break. According to STATS, Inc., thats the highest first-half total since 1973, when clubs were shut out 181 times before the All-Star break.
• Also according to STATS, the Yankees .567 winning percentage since the late George Steinbrenner took control is the highest in the majors in that time (beginning in 1973). Also, the Yanks have 114 postseason wins since Steinbrenner purchased them and no other club is within 50 of that. The Atlanta Braves are second at 63.
• Competitive balance? Since baseball went to its current six-division format in 1995, this was the first summer in which no division leader had a lead of five or more games at the All-Star break. In fact, even in the old two-division-per-league format, it hasnt happened since 1992, when Pittsburgh biggest lead among the four divisions at 4 1/2 games.
• For those fans heading to Cooperstown to see Andre Dawson, Whitey Herzog and umpire Doug Harvey inducted this weekend, you might be interested in checking out the Fantography exhibit at the Cooperstown Village Library. Its a cool project to collect baseball photos from fans all over the country, and you can check out what its all about at www.Fantography.net.
• Ozzie Guillen Tweet of the Week (its old this week, June 28): “I am very very very bad golfer oh my god.” And the kicker in his next tweet: “But I have great time.”
