Strike One: Back in the day, the big excuse for the failures of the Colorado Rockies was the impact the altitude had on the home team’s pitching staff. Rockies pitchers didn’t have a chance pitching at home they said…the breaking ball didn’t break here…the outfield was too big and too many hits fell in…and routine fly balls turned into home runs here. Plus, the rigors of altitude were too tough on the body, they said. Pitchers couldn’t survive here physically here.
Slowly these things have become less of an issue (excuse) as more pitchers like Kyle Freeland and Jon Gray have shown that good pitchers can pitch good at Coors Field. Now the attention has shifted more to the struggles of the hitters when they’re not at Coors Field…when they leave Colorado and have to go on the road to hit. It takes a big adjustment to get used to the flight of the pitches being different. The ball moves more sharply when the other team’s pitcher throws a breaking ball, and so on.
They even have a name for it now: The “Coors Field Hangover.” And it’s now the go-to excuse for why Rockies hitters can’t produce on the road.
No one’s going to argue that the ball travels differently at Coors Field, and that all the players on both teams need to adjust. But acting like this “Coors Field Hangover” is somehow the reason recent Rockies teams have been so poor on the road is just making excuses for poor performances.
This year’s Rockies are on an all-time horrible pace for run production on the road. They’ve already been shut out ten times on the road this season, including a double header whitewashing at the hands of the lowly Pittsburgh Pirates over the past weekend. On the most recent road trip to New York and Pittsburgh, the Rockies were 3-for-30 with runners in scoring position.
After 25 road games, these Rockies are 4-21 away from Coors Field, and it’s been dreadful offense that’s to blame. They’re dead last in the NL in road hitting at .197. They have 12 home runs and an OPS of .556. This “Coors Field Hangover” is getting a lot of play these days.
Last time I checked, the altitude in Denver hasn’t changed during the entire 28-year history of the Rockies. They put in a humidor at Coors Field to keep baseballs from turning into superballs back in 2002, and that’s contributed to a slower home run pace at the Rockies home field…but it has zero impact on the road games.
So it’s fair to wonder why the hitters on past Rockies teams never got to use sea level as an excuse. Even previous really bad Rockies teams weren’t this bad on the road. And they had the exact same “hangover” to deal with.
During the inaugural season of 1993, when the legend of “altitude” was born, the 95-loss Rockies hit .240 on the road, with a team OPS of .647. Outfielder Daryl Boston, a good but not great player during his career, hit .261 on the season, .245 on the road. Boston hit 11 of his 14 homers away from home and posted a .803 OPS as a visiting player.
Jump to 2004, when the 94-loss Rockies hit .246 away from Coors Field, with an OPS of .718. Outfielder Preston Wilson, another fine big league player who was not a superstar, hit .248 on the season, .240 on the road. Half of his six homers were on the road, and he put up a road OPS of .706.
The following season, when the Rockies again lost 95 games, second baseman Luis Gonzalez hit .292 for the season, .290 on the road. He hit nine homers, six away from Coors Field and had a better road OPS, (.784) than he did at 20th & Blake (.753.).
And in the 98-loss season of 2012, catcher Wilin Rosario hit .270 for the season, .242 on the road. He hit 10 of his 28 homers away from Coors Field, and had a road OPS of .722.
These are good but not great players – on bad teams – who could still produce some decent offense playing in visiting stadiums.
The “Coors Field Hangover” wasn’t an excuse for poor results back then, and it shouldn’t be now.
Strike Two: Some people just can’t handle prosperity. As a team, the Denver Nuggets fall into that category.
Deplete half the roster due to injuries? No sweat. Back them into a 1-3 corner in a best of seven series? Got ‘em right where they want ‘em. Lose one of your best players and hear the national media write off your season? Sure thing. Just watch ‘em post the best record in the NBA the last two months.
But…make them the favorites? Give them a home court advantage? That’s a recipe for disaster.
Coming back home tied 2-2 in a best of seven series with the sharp shooting Portland Trailblazers shouldn’t be the worst thing in the world. Now it’s a best two of three and two games are in Denver. But is this actually a good thing?
These Nuggets were favored coming into this first round series for good reason. They were the only team in the NBA who made the conference finals last season and finished this regular season among the conference’s top four seeds again. The wear and tear of the short off season took it out of LeBron and the Los Angeles Lakers. Miami couldn’t hang either. And neither could the Boston Celtics. It was a meat grinder kind of COVID-impacted season.
But the Nuggets persevered. They battled and fought and earned the number three seed. It was a reward for a great regular season.
Then they came out lackluster in Game One against Portland and got beat on their home court. Suddenly that sense of urgency kicked in, and they won Game Two in Denver. Then they were supposed to lose Game Three in Portland because the Blazers were mad. The underdog Nuggets knocked off Portland again to take back home court. Then, with a chance to take a chokehold on the series, Denver came out flat again and got drubbed in Game Four.
“The urgency has to be there,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone told the media after the Game Four debacle. “Maybe this could be a wakeup call for our starting group, just to play harder. Good things happen when you play hard, and we didn’t play anywhere close to hard enough tonight.”
This is a very familiar pattern. The last time these two teams were in a play-off series, the Nuggets got comfortable and lost a 3-1 series lead. Then last season, they had to into a 1-3 hole in the Bubble in Orlando before that “sense of urgency” kicked in and they stormed back to take two series and make it to the NBA Western Conference Finals.
There’s really no explanation for it. No valid reason why this team won’t come out and play it’s best until they have to. They’re playing with fire and eventually they’re going to be burned. Again.
Strike Three: The never-ending saga of Altitude v Comcast could be coming to a legislative session near you. Would that be a good thing?
Not likely.
Ever since their carriage contracts ran out and Altitude TV – the home of the Nuggets and the Colorado Avalanche – wasn’t renewed in the fall of 2019, fans who get their cable TV from Comcast (or satellite TV from Dish Network) can’t see the games televised on the local sports network owned by Kroenke Sports. The sides have pointed fingers – and lawyers – at each other, but to date, nothing has been accomplished in terms of reaching a deal that both sides can live with.
Everyone (except those of us who have Direct TV – which did renew its contract with Kroenke Sports – and who don’t have to miss anything) is PO’d. That includes state government officials, who are talking about offering up a bill for consideration in the state house that would force something to be done to settle the dispute. The state Speaker of the House, Alec Garnett, says he will “explore every option” to end the standoff.
Altitude wanted to continue to operate under the terms of the previous agreement, but Comcast was no longer interested in helping an independent “RSN” (Regional Sports Network) continue to prosper when they have their own broadcast entities – like NBC Sports Network – to sustain. Altitude accused the media giant of trying to drive them out of business…which if you think about it, is not only probably true but sort of the staple of American capitalism, isn’t it?
So how can a state government step in and force a deal between two private companies?
It’s not likely they can. Even Garnett acknowledges that. He’s probably hearing from angry voters and wants to at least give the impression he’s trying to do something. He says this standoff is hurting the public here in Colorado. That seems like a stretch. “Hurting” and “upsetting” are two very different things.
And again, there are alternatives to Comcast and Dish. No one’s holding a gun to anyone’s head to stick with those carriers.
So what legal grounds could there really be to make either side take a lousy deal? None that pops to mind.
The winner out of all this could end up being – besides Direct TV of course – someone like AT&T Sports Net. The network that currently carries the Rockies and the Utah Jazz (operated in conjunction with Direct TV) may find itself in a position to purchase Altitude if Stan Kroenke gets tired of being in the TV business. Or maybe Comcast and Altitude decide to bring the local channel into the Comcast family and make it another NBC Sports local affiliate?
Any number of things could happen. It’s just highly unlikely that politicians will have anything to do with it.