Arizona and Colorado find youth serves them well
Posted: Thursday, August 23, 2007 2:12 PM
The best stories of this baseball season reside in the NL West. The division that produced the worst winning percentage ever for a postseason team just two years ago now houses two teams that are building back from the bottom using home-grown talent.
Arizona leads the division and Colorado has quietly moved into wild-card contention. Look at the lineups. See the names unfamiliar to a casual fan. See the handful of veterans who are serving as leaders: Eric Byrnes and Tony Clark in Arizona, and Todd Helton in Colorado.
Beyond the names, here’s what else you see: Baseball is changing. The game is becoming athletic. Defense and speed are returning while the “slow-pitch softball” game of the BALCO era is fading. Pitching is emphasized and prioritized, witness the contract given Barry Zito last winter.
An AL general manager told me last weekend that he was likely taking his team in that direction -- even in the league with the DH -- because it was impossible to go toe-to-toe with the payrolls in New York and Boston when looking to land the premier sluggers. So in Arizona you have Stephen Drew and Chris Young plugging key middle-of-the-field positions. A teenager, Justin Upton, has been thrust into a starting role in right. Other young ones like Carlos Quentin (now injured), Mark Reynolds, and Conor Jackson are playing regularly.
In Denver, Troy Tulowitzki has been a revelation at shortstop while Matt Holliday and Brad Hawpe have blossomed as corner outfielders. Now Ian Stewart, the next big prospect, is getting some time at third. Can you imagine the Rockies holding out Garrett Atkins as trade bait this winter?
What do these teams have in common? They catch the ball. The Rockies have made the fewest errors in the NL, and the Diamondbacks have impressed opponents with their ability to cover the field. Byrnes told me Wednesday that the energy of his team reminds him of his early years in Oakland, the Giambi-Tejada-Damon-Hudson-Mulder-Zito teams. Can Arizona's young players handle September? Byrnes allows that as a legitimate question, but answers that he has already been impressed by how the Baby Backs have handled difficult situations thrown their way already.
Byrnes allows that the game is changing for the better. Remember he was in the Orioles' clubhouse during the Rafael Palmeiro scandal. It left a bad taste in his mouth, understandably, and this swing towards the 1980s brand of ball (I doubt we’ll get back to the Cards-Royals teams of that era. There isn’t very much turf left in the game) pleases him. And I think it pleases fans. Youth means energy in an often-stationary game. In San Francisco, I feel the vibe from fans that want to see runners once again go first-to-third or stretch a single to a double through hustle.
Home runs excite us, no doubt, but the aftermath of the distasteful BALCO revelations is now seen on the field. I see this change as a cleansing by the sport, discarding all remnants of an unnatural game and reverting to an era held in fond memory.
