Fan Francis tastic!!

[Durango53]

Albert Pujols and the St. Louis Cardinals were hitting home runs at a record pace when they arrived at Coors Field.

Jeff Francis put a stop to that with one of the most impressive pitching performances in the majors this season.

Francis retired his first 15 batters and tossed a two-hitter for his first career shutout, leading the Colorado Rockies to a 7-0 victory Monday night.

"That," Colorado manager Clint Hurdle said, "was a masterpiece."

Francis threw 129 pitches, including 10 to the final batter, Chris Duncan. He grounded out on a full count.

"I've never been so out of breath," Francis said.

His shutout was the fourth by a Rockies pitcher this season, tying a franchise record set in 2001. Jason Jennings has two, and Josh Fogg one.

The past couple of years one pitcher that has owned Coors Field was Tom Glavin. And here is a kid in his mold so far. He was great in the minors and got schooled a bit when he first came up but he is now calling Coors field his home!!!:thumbsup:

[yagsy]

Jeff Francis owns the Padres too. :laff:

He is good. I've watched him since he made his MLB debut and this kid who looks like he's 12yrs old is really something special. I hope the Rox keep him as he will only learn more and more and get better. He does need to be more consistent but it will come.

But please :Pray: can Hurdle do something about him and Jennings NOT facing the Padres. They just kill us!

[Durango53]

J.A. I dont know why but the Rox it seems to own the Pods. Man they are making PETCO Field look like the old Coors field. I just wish they would be able to do that at the other NL West parks.

Funny how people (Rox fans) are so stuck on sinker ball pitchers or hard throwing strike out pitchers. (Dont get me wrong they are great and the Rox staff has some great sinker ballers). The problem is with the strike out pitchers is that they have to throw a ton of pitchs a game. And when you are playing in this altutude it takes it out of you. I dont care who you are, how long you lived here, how in shape you are, how used you are to it, it is a fact of life up here you wear out quicker and it takes longer to recover. So as great as the fire ball strike out pitchers are they get wore down here in the Rocky Mountains. And as Rox fans are seeing with Aaron Cook is that with that great sinker guys are now not swinging. So they are making him throw more pitchs and strikes.

But you look at Tom Glavin he has almost always threw a solid game in Coors. A couple of the best games have been thrown by him there. And he isnt a sinker ball or flame throwin pitcher. And Jeff fits that mold and is the number two guy on the staff right now and could give JJ a run for his money as the number one guy next year.

[yagsy]

Shad, is JJ the #1? He looks so solid against the "Pads" :D all the time but I wasn't sure if he was considered the #1 or if Cook was.

I agree Francis will eventually make it to become the #1 Rox pitcher. And you know, I was listening to the Padre announcers the other day and one made an excellent point... ERA doesn't really matter as long as the wins are there. I know the Rox brass are stressing this with their young pitchers to not get too hung up with ERA as a statistic. Obviously you don't want to give up runs but it's the way the games are played at Coors for the most part.

Yes, athletically performing at altitude will most definitely wear you down and it's difficult to recover. 10yrs ago, I was training for a National Figure Skating competition held in Lake Placid. I was training however, in the Boston area, around sea level. The first time I skated in Lake Placid - I was surprised at how winded I had gotten. That whole week was quite an experience. I didn't skate well that year but the following year, I trained differently to help but still, the body does react differently.

And yes, Rox hitters do make Petco look like Coors West. :laff: And they can STOP that now. :D

[Durango53]

Yes JJ is the number one guy and it would take a nose dive by him and a huge jump for another. One of those has happened with Francis making that big jump but I also think JJ has become yet a better pitcher also.

My workout partner and I was talking about Cook this morning. This is his first full season in 2 or 3 years. With a solid start to the season it seems he is fading some. I think he has wore out some and needs to mix in a pitch or two more instead of his sinker. Guys are making him throw more and his sinker is just so sick that it will drop out of the zone. He throws it around 90% of the time so guys are knowing it is coming and forcing to take it now. Many people thought Cook should have been the number one guy on the staff at the start of the season (And I was one of them) but Hurdle said JJ was his guy because he has been there and fought though everything. And you can see that in JJ's head now with how he just keeps that even head no matter what is going on around him. Same as Jeff is getting now and what they said he would do when he was a young guy coming up.

One thing that is nice is to here what the young pitchers are saying also. They to dont care about the ERA. They want to throw strikes make batters swing and let the defense play. Funny thing about that is they are doing it and there pitching stats are showing it to with how good they are getting. You always saw in the past how when pitchers just attact hitters they had solid games. They might give up 3 or 4 runs but in Coors if that is all you give up you should win. But pitchers are scared and keep it away and walk guys so when that big hit comes it is with guys on base. New pitchers coming in, Jeremy Affeldt being the latest that said they are shocked how many strikes the pitchers here are throwing and how they are attacking hitters. The defense loves it also.

[yagsy]

Aggressive pitching is the way to go for sure. And it makes complete sense to allow the defense to do their jobs which of course keeps them awake! I've seen games where the pitcher lulled the defense to sleep with slow work and just walking and/or striking out people that the defense got lazy and weren't as sharp as they should.

I agree about that young staff doing so well, from the rotation to the bullpen, the Rox really do have a talented bunch...and young. Very impressive and they will be fun to watch over the next couple of years too.