FanHouse CoorsField

All this talk about Coors Field not being the offensive haven that it once was between the humidor and better Rockies pitching had to make some long for the days of nutso scores. For one night, and on July 4th of all nights, the old Coors made a grand return to the big stage as the Rockies defeated the Marlins ... ready ... 18-17.

The game featured the largest comeback in Rockies history, as they were once down in the game 13-4. It also included two dingers by Matt Holliday, one of which was a grannie in the seventh to cut the Marlins lead to 17-16. And it also included the latest blown save by Kevin Gregg in the ninth, his second in two nights, and fifth in his last 20 opportunities. Before the game, Fredi Gonzalez had said that Gregg was not in danger of losing his job. Maybe that has changed after tonight. I doubt it though ... heck, everyone was hitting tonight.

For a while, I've been wondering about the actual effect of the humidor at Coors Field. When most of the talking heads mention it, they make it sound like when the Rockies started using it in 2002, mile-high Coors Field suddenly turned into some kind of pitcher's haven on par with the old Astrodome. That seemed silly to me and most of the Rockies' home/road splits seem to confirm that. If you need more confirmation, two researchers at the University of Colorado have gotten down to it and done some research on the effect of extra moisture on the flight pattern of a baseball:

Edmund Meyer and John Bohn of the University of Colorado at Boulder used simulations to show that the aerodynamics of a moistened baseball are actually slightly better than those of a dry one. The work, posted on the popular ArXiv preprint server, adds to a growing body of evidence that humidified balls are, for all practical purposes, as easy to hit as their dry counterparts.

[...]

The duo measured the mass and diameter of 15 baseballs stored for two weeks at relative humidities of 32%, 56% and 74%. They then fed their data into computer models to calculate the drag on the humidified balls. Surprisingly, they found that drag actually dropped as balls became more humid. The reason, according to Meyer, is that the increased mass allows the ball to cut through the air more easily. This more than offsets the increased air drag from the tiny increase in surface area.

Of course, all you really had to do was look at recent park factors at Coors' Field (2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007) to know the place is still a hitter's haven, but being a bit of a science dork myself I like to see the proof. Remember kids, don't believe everything you see on TV, especially not if it's on Baseball Tonight.

Via BBTF, which I would be lost without.

It's almost like manicuring a golf course; it's your home field, you can regulate the conditions to your liking (unless there are rules I'm missing). And that's exactly what the Rockies have done this year. In addition to using the humidor, the Rockies have changed the way the game is played at Coors Field through their groundskeeping.

After three years of experimenting, Rockies groundskeeper Mark Razum has created turf coveted by upper management to slow down the game at Coors Field.

"Maybe it's not perfect, but it's close," Razum said Wednesday. "We aren't here to please ourselves or the visiting team. I don't care what they think. We have tried to help the pitchers and our defense, and I think we have done that."

The stats seem to be in the Rockies' favor. They've committed the fewest errors in the NL with just 33 on the season, the 1.95 homers per game is the fewest in franchise history, as are the 10.07 runs per game. I don't know how much can be credited to the thicker grass, but I'm sure that has to help somewhat (they're 24-18 at home this year). The Rockies sure have changed their franchise approach and it seems to be working. At least, better than it has in past years.

It is said about good teams that they find ways to win when their go to guys have an off night. The Nationals are becoming the exact opposite. They're starting to find ways to lose when their achilles heel is a strong point.

Their starting pitching was not the problem in their 8-0 loss to the Braves on Tuesday night. Rookie Matt Chico had given up only a home run to Andruw Jones through the first four innings. He should have been out of the fifth as well. But Ronnie Belliard dropped a pop-up much like the one caught in this picture, and the Braves scored three unearned runs with two outs to knock Chico out of the game. With the Nats bats asleep, the rest of the game was pretty much academic.

It's becoming increasingly evident that this is going to be an ugly, ugly season for the Washington Nationals. Here's a nugget for you: The Nationals, after eight games, have not yet sent a batter to the plate with the team in the lead. With a statistic like that, it's amazing the Nationals have a win.

Meanwhile for the Braves, Tim Hudson looks gosh darn good. His sinker was darting nicely, and he threw a back-up slider that fooled Brian McCann to the point he almost didn't catch the ball (you know you're going well when you fool your catcher with a pitch he called). Jeff Francoeur drove in five runs including the two that knocked Chico out of the game. As for Andruw Jones, he puts himself in the conversation as to who will top Hank Aaron's Barry Bonds' Alex Rodriguez's home run record. Jones is now at 343 career before the age of 30, which was more than Aaron's 342 at the same point. Of course at the rate Alex is hitting them this season, Andruw is going to have to consider a free agent deal at Coors Field to have a shot at catching him.

Previously on The Fanhouse:
Is Andruw Jones Going Somewhere Else to Chase the Home Run Record?