October 30, 2007
EXCITED, OR DRUNK?:
Owner true blue for purple (Jim Armstrong, 10/29/07, The Denver Post)
No one was more excited about the Rockies' magical run than their owner, Charlie Monfort. In fact, maybe he got a little too excited.Monfort insisted after Game 4 of the World Series that the Rockies are a better team than the Boston Red Sox, a team that outscored them 29-10 in a four-game Series sweep.
"These guys did amazing things," Monfort said. "I think this team is a better team than Boston. It would have been nice to have another two, three, four days. We'll wake up tomorrow and go, 'There's no baseball game to go to,' but what a deal they did. It's an amazing thing they accomplished just to get here."
They were amazing, all right. But better than the Red Sox?
"I think so," said Monfort. "How did we win 21 out of 22? We got the breaks. And I think they got the breaks. Are they a better team? I don't think so. You give us 10 games against them, we'll beat them six."
The Rockies are a fine young team and in a weak NL they could certainly make a few more World Series the next few years. If they played the Devil Rays 162 times next year they wouldn't get to 80 wins. Posted by Orrin Judd at October 30, 2007 4:11 PM
The Devil Rays won seven and lost eleven to NL teams this year. They lost two of three to the Rockies. Tampa Bay is a rancid team, quite possibly the worst in the sport with their -162 run diff and the rottenest pitching in the majors. The Rockies, with their +102 run diff, would win at least 100 of 162 against them.
Posted by: Casey Abell at October 31, 2007 8:48 AMBy the end of the season the Rays had straightened out several problems, not least of which was establishing a rotation just as promising as the Rockies--Kazimir, Shields, Jackson & Sonnanstine.
Meanwhile, the club they put in the field:
Crawford
Upton
Young
Longoria
Brignac
Iwamura
Pena
Navarro
Gomes
is obviously superior.
They still need to figure out bullpen roles, but the Rockies get by in the NL with three mainstays who are failed AL relievers, a luxury an AL East team can't afford.
No GM in baseball would trade the Rays roster for the Rox.
Posted by: oj at October 31, 2007 10:59 AM