Humidor

[Durango53]

For 11 years, the baseball world moaned about Coors Field and how the offensive numbers were skewed and it was bad for baseball. There were demands that the fences be raised. There were pleas that the fences be moved in. There were suggestions that a high-altitude baseball, similar to what is used in tennis, be developed to "normalize" the game.

So what happens? The games at Coors Field become normal, and there is sudden whining from coast to coast about the Rockies having doctored baseballs to lessen the offensive aspects of the game at altitude.

The demands should be that a humidor, set to the specifications for proper storage of baseballs, be installed at every major league stadium so that there is more consistency in the baseballs at the 30 major league parks.

The whining about Coors Field and the suddenly quality pitching performances is a slap in the face to the fact the Rockies have a vastly improved pitching staff, particularly its starting rotation.

All of a sudden, Jeff Cirillo, an engaging sort who lives in a world in which the sky is falling, becomes a nationally recognized expert when he comes up with some hair-bent theory that the Rockies are actually switching baseballs between innings so they can hit with the old- time, hitter-friendly baseballs.

Is that why the Rockies offense is struggling at home? Is that why the Rockies have battled to stay above .500 in a ballpark where they once dominated teams?
A good read from HoF writer Tracy Ringolsby

[PopTop]

I'm not a big fan of Ringolsby, but he's right about this little deal.

[Durango53]

Agree with you on both points!!!! I was shocked to see something that I agreed with that he wrote so I desided to post it. :D

[Durango53]

After signing a $123.8 million contract, Mike Hampton dissolved in Denver, going 21-28 with a 5.75 ERA. His last season, in 2002, marked the first of the humidor at Coors Field. Four years later, Hampton could hardly reconcile Colorado's pitching numbers. "I have never seen that many 3.00 ERAs here," said Hampton, who hopes to pitch in the instructional league for Atlanta after missing this season because of elbow surgery. "I am happy for the pitchers. It gives them confidence that they don't have to make the perfect pitch to get outs."

[LesPaul]

Jeff Cirillo, an engaging sort who lives in a world in which the sky is falling,

I guess I didn't realize he was like that

[Durango53]

Man he was throwing everyone under the buss when he left CR. When I walk by your brothers room and he has that poster up I want to rip it down and pee on it. :D But ya he rags the Rockies every time he can.....

[LesPaul]

Man he was throwing everyone under the buss when he left CR. When I walk by your brothers room and he has that poster up I want to rip it down and pee on it. :D But ya he rags the Rockies every time he can.....

AHAHAHAHA, that poster is all that ever comes to mind when I hear about Cirillo, I think it was a gameday promotion during that year he hit 3(?) hr's in one game

[Durango53]

There has been a lot of talk about cold baseballs in this series because of the bone-chilling temperatures. And there will be more talk about their storage at the general managers' meetings next month in Naples, Fla. Jimmie Lee Solomon, MLB's director of on-field operations, said the Rockies' humidor remains a discussion item on the agenda. He will recommend that other teams use them, even though the humidor came under scrutiny in September because of skewed numbers.