June 07, 2005
Steady Freddy
Freddy Garcia turned in one of the great performances in the history of Coors Field last night. He allowed three runs, but only gave up two hits and a walk. All three runs scored on a homer to Hawpe in the first. Garcia then retired 22 straight batters, striking out ten, until he was lifted after the 8th inning.
The White Sox offense offered plenty of support. The scored nine runs without a lot of power. Konerko did homer, but 11 of the 15 hits went for singles. It's the curse of playing the outfield in Coors; if you play deep to prevent extra-base hits, singles drop in. Play shallow, and the ball is over your head for a double or triple.
Posted by David Pinto at
08:08 AM
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The fantasy experts said "Never start a pitcher at Coors." Boy am I glad I ignored that advice. Go Freddy go!
I'll grant you that two hits and a walk is pretty good at Coors, but is it really worthy of being called "one of the great performances in the history of Coors Field" when one of those hits is a three-run homer? There have been twelve shutouts thrown there, including Nomo's no-hitter, and I'm sure many other good games. How about "One of the best performances ever for a pitcher who allows three runs?"
The thing I remember about the night Nomo threw the no-hitter at Coors was that it was a wet and cold night. The air was thus very heavy in comparison to the usual light, thin variety of Denver. I try very hard never to start a pitcher at Coors. I have the Rockies' schedule bookmarked and I look at it every Sunday night in preparation for the coming week's rotation.
Yeah, I had an evening shift all alone in a big building with only the radio to keep me company the night Nomo pitched his no-hitter. There was a delay of something like an hour and a half before the game started due to the wet field. Nomo worked from the stretch position all night, too, or at least from early in the game. You're right about the weather and atmosphere being atypical that night. Still, a no-hitter's a no-hitter. I wonder what the barometric pressure was that night.
Correction: Garcia did not walk a batter, he hit one. The walk came in the 9th by Takatsu.