Batting average, on base, slugging, OPS,---career.......

Home--.367, .465, .663, 1.128

Road--.295, .394, .502, .896.

With the exciting college football season heating up and baseball fandom at an all-time low compared to football, you'd think that King might consider bending his all-baseball playoff policy and talk about the crazy things happening in the NCAA football rankings.

Cal is up there, and King's former home state of Missouri's team is right with them! Their quarterback is getting Heisman chatter! Time to talk football again! Baseball is nice to read about, but I still think it's boring as hell to watch.

When is the last time you calibrated for Predictometer, King? You better do it soon... I mean, as a demigod, you need to lead your followers and tell us what to think.

But seriously, I think the whole mix is going to be great for the fight to the World Series. Adds more spice to the pot, I say... especially if the Rockie newbies end up as one of the last two teams. They could make a name for themselves that really puts them on the map of baseball. It makes for good watching, even though it's on the dreaded TBS. (As a radio broadcasting fan, it would be a better game if you listened, and just turned down the volume on your TV for the visual enjoyment. "Cable is on"... yeah, right... except when it matters.)

As I've said before, I'm a die-hard Red Sox fan. But if they don't make it to the series (rotflmao), and the Rockies do, I'll still be watching.

in 6.

So much animosity toward the EDT. You should blame Columbus for not sailing east from Japan.

To get a few close up cameras full time on this Webb character. You'll recall Kenny Rogers smoking down the stretch last year, then they got in the World Series and there's some kind of crap all over his hands. Mike Scott of Houston turned out to be a fraud in his run too.

If Webb gets bombed it may be that he felt he can't go with the regular format under the spotlight. If he's dominating we have to watch like a hawk.

I live on the east coast, and while I care about the NLCS, I'm going to have trouble following it. According to the MLB website, game times are scheduled for (all times Eastern):

Game 1: 8:30 pm

Game 2: 10:00 pm

Game 3: 8:30 pm

Game 4: 10:00 pm

Games 5-7, if necessary, are all either at 8:30 or TBD. The 8:30 times are not too bad, but those 10 PM games are tough to stay up for, usually ending around 1 AM or so. So I watch a few innings and then go to bed. I'm sure they're great for those in the Mountain or Pacific time zones (well, those 5:30 Pacific starts may be a bit early for some people), but it's hard for me to care while I'm asleep.

On another note, this series features the two ballparks with the highest elevations above sea level. While the park in Colorado is approx 5,200 feet above sea level, the park in Phoenix is second in the league at around 1,100 feet above sea level. Someone should come up with clever name for this series based on that.

King - you accuse that nobody in the Eastern Time Zone will care about the NLCS - what about fans in Arizona? Many media reports have as many as 8,000 tickets still available for games 1 and 2!

As for the late starting time for several of the NLCS games - at least we won't be subjected to too much Chip Caray - we'll be asleep

Why do sports writers always select chunks of a team's schedule to illustrate a point, rather than looking at the big picture? Sure the Rockies were "ambling along" before they had their big winning streak. But the chunk of games King selected included a 1-9 streak that all but knocked them out of contention, making it neccessary for them to win almost all of their remaining games. But if you look at their whole season, you see a team that got off to a bad start and then played mostly great baseball for two thirds of the season. So it's no surprise to those of us who have followed the Rockies that they were in a good position when it came down to the final push.

And what's with the knock on Jeff Francis? Why is it that the received wisdom is that it's easier to have good batting stats at Coors field but that it's not harder having good pitching stats? If Francis put up decent numbers and 17 wins as the ace in hitter-friendly Coors field, wouldn't it stand to reason that he could be even better if played for a team at sea level? So Matt Holiday and Todd Helton get implied asterisks next to their acheivements because they play at altitude, but Francis gets no extra credit for having to battle to keep his ERA respectable.

Re: Arizona having the second highest park in elevation at 1100 feet.

Pittsburgh is at 1220 feet or so. I know it's not important, but I was suprised when I heard that and hey, who cares about the Rockies vs. the D-Backs...

So the National League Championship Series will be on TBS at 10PM for a couple of nights? This reminds me of the late 1970's when CBS had the NBA playoffs on tape delay after the 11:00 news.

Have baseball ratings gotten so bad that Fox doesn't even want both League championship series? Can someone explain why Fox isn't providing full broadcast coverage? This is the equivalent of watching the Colts-Patriots in the AFC championship on CBS and then having to find Versus for the Panthers-Seahawks NFC game.

Alan H. Selig will get his comeuppance for his TV schedule chicanery: The baseball gods have decreed that Game 7 on November 1 will be on a frigid night in Cleveland as the chill wind whips off the lake.

The Notorious W.E.S. Road--.295, .394, .502, .896.

That's a pretty good hitter.

Some overall '07 numbers:

Lance Berkman: .278/.386/.510/.896

Alfonso Soriano .299/.337/.560/.897

Jimmy Rollins .296/.344/.531/.875

And those numbers have the benefit of Coors Field for at least a few games, which is not true of Helton's road numbers.

lib_rarian Baseball is nice to read about, but I still think it's boring as hell to watch.

Thanks for letting us know. Do you like peanut butter? Just want to complete the catalog of your likes and dislikes.

Mikes Pace So much animosity toward the EDT. You should blame Columbus for not sailing east from Japan.

It's not the EDT, which is fine. It's the widespread opinion of its residents (which includes most of big media) that sports teams west of it, or really west of CDT, just don't matter. When the Giants and the Angels played in the World Series, it was as though two American Legion teams were vying for the championship -- after having peed in the Wheaties of every single baseball fan east of the Mississippi.

rsw178 King - you accuse that nobody in the Eastern Time Zone will care about the NLCS - what about fans in Arizona? Many media reports have as many as 8,000 tickets still available for games 1 and 2!

Well, what do you want. You'll recall from an earlier letters thread that Phoenix is apparently populated by people who think Phoenix is better than Chicago.

Mantonat And what's with the knock on Jeff Francis? Why is it that the received wisdom is that it's easier to have good batting stats at Coors field but that it's not harder having good pitching stats?

I don't think that's the received wisdom.

If Francis put up decent numbers and 17 wins as the ace in hitter-friendly Coors field, wouldn't it stand to reason that he could be even better if played for a team at sea level?

It would stand to reason that he could be, yes. But that doesn't mean he is.

Jeff Francis home: 115.2 IP, 4.20 ERA.

Jeff Francis road: 99.2 IP, 4.24 ERA.

His strikeout, walk and HR rates are slightly higher on the road, but it's very similar. Last year his ERA was 4.30 at home, 4.05 on the road. If he played for a sea-level team, he'd be a very similar pitcher to what he is now, which is a nice No. 2 starter type for a team with good pitching.

Tylerfaith This is the equivalent of watching the Colts-Patriots in the AFC championship on CBS and then having to find Versus for the Panthers-Seahawks NFC game.

What? How is it equivalent to that? TBS is a little more prominent than Vs., I'd say.