Thursday, June 14, 2007

Too close, trade talk, bench Smith, Lions

Curt Schilling definitely threw strikes to Colorado hitters Wednesday, a 12-2 Purple win, but most of them caught too much of the plate and were then sprayed all over Fenway Park.

Josh Fogg, on the other hand, was all over the place throwing the ball, which seemingly made him difficult to hit.

Interesting development.

Brad Hawpe continues his revival, Todd Helton flashes, Matt Holliday keeps building for a mega-contract and the Rockies, with the play of the last month are intriguing again.

Forget Helton's trade value -- it's marginal. The man who could draw serious interest later this season is Hawpe, a big, strong-armed outfielder with moderate, streaky power.

The Rockies know they have to re-sign Holliday. It would be near impossible to get equal value in dealing him. His financial demands will be ridiculous but the club has to find that minimum number of dollars he will accept then give it to him. This run-deficient organization can't let a big bat like that get away. His work ethic is also something that should be rewarded and kept in the Colorado club house.

J.R. Smith of the Nuggets should not use basketball as a way of healing his heart for the crash that killed a friend. He should, instead, check into a treatment center of some kind to look at the Wild World of J.R, both on and off the court, and overhaul his life game plan. Do that and he not only saves his career but his life.

Hate to be a buzzkill but now that massive defensive tackle Jimmy Kennedy is in Denver is he all of a sudden going to be a player? Remember all those former Cleveland Browns? They hardly dominated here. And remember this -- how many Penn State defenders (and I greatly respect Joe Paterno), actually have done squat in the League as of late, especially down lineman like Courtney Brown (injuries), Michael Haynes or Kennedy?

Justin Verlander of the Tigers threw a no-hitter this week. Which Rockies pitcher could conceivably throw one down the road? No, "none of them" isn't one of the answers on this test. Aaron Cook, Jeff Francis or Jason Hirsh are the options on this multiple choice exam. Truly, if all the stars aligned, all three could one day pull off the feat although Cook rarely goes deep into games. Francis is the best man on the staff but his stuff is too soft to be considered. Hirsh is young but shows dominant flashes and is the pick.

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