Nolan Who?

I try to pride myself as being a "baseball head" or somewhat of a sports guru and compared to most people that's probably true. Clearly there are others with a sports I.Q far above mine that will have no need for today's write up at all. I know though that many (of the few that will read this) will have no clue who Nolan Arenado even is.  Thus the "Nolan who" for the title. So for those NOT in the baseball fan elite, I'll talk a bit about my newest man crush, Rockies 3rd baseman, Nolan Arenado.

Newest Rockie, Nolan Arenado

I could go through the last three years of stats and tell you all about how many hits he had against left handed pitchers in the Fall of 2011 but I have a feeling to the casual fan that will just bring a roll of the eyes and a click out of this page. Suffice it to say, Arenado has been the Rockies number one prospect in the minor leagues for the past three years since he was drafted in the 2nd round of the 2009 draft by Colorado.  By 2012 he was rated the number 40 prospect by  BaseballAmerica.com and all the way up to 22 overall by MLB.com. Needless to say this guy could hit the ball like a pro before he could buy alchohol.
After his first few years of great success in the minors and rumblings of him making the Bigs in each of his first three years, Arenado had an off year in 2012 and was criticized for his off the field behavior. Now when I say he struggled really that's only compared to his first few years that gained him an MVP in the 2011 Fall league and the high praise throughout the league.  In 2012 he hit .285 with 12 home runs and 56 RBI. Again, nothing to sneeze at but not at par with what was expected of this future hopeful allstar.

Arenado after his first career homerun

Finally the Rockies brought him up this Saturday after opening day 3rd baseman Chris Nelson had struggled through the gate and Arenado was destroying the ball in Triple A Colorado Springs. Nolan looks to bring even more power to this Rockie offense that leads the Majors in: Batting average, Runs, On base percentage and slugging. He also will add to the Rockie's offensive player names ending with the letter, 'O' with: Pacheco, Cargo, Tulo, Rosario and now Arenado.

Hope springs eternal and so far this year in Denver there has been no reason not to have some hope for this baseball team. Nolan Arenado just adds to that bit of hope that maybe this Rockies team that was predicted to be in the Cellar in all of the National League could surprise everyone and make things interesting come September.

Nuggets Lose Again, Outlook Bleak Down 3-1.

The Nuggets continue to disappoint in the 2013 playoffs with another loss to the Warriors in Golden State. The only thing left unbroken in my living room is the T.V screen that remains intact only because of the vague hope to win a series down 3-1.  The Nuggets have been out hustled, out rebounded, out shot, out coached and all around out played.

Steph Curry after 3 pointer vs the Nuggets

The Nuggs came into this series as the number three seed and a 57 win season which ended as the best season in their NBA history.  They were the top fast break team as well as top team in the paint and in the top three in steals and dunks for the year. This series with Golden State has failed to feature any of that for a Denver team that has been outplayed in each of the four games.  The Warriors have led in all of these categories and have gotten a superstar performance from second year guard Steph Curry. 

Some fans are making excuses that the team is without their number two scorer in Danilo Gallinari who is out for the season with an ACL tear suffered in March. This team hasn't looked good enough to have won this series against the number six seed Golden State even with their Italian forward on the court. The Warriors are without their top rebounder and Allstar Center David Lee who was injured in the first game of the series and pronounced out for the rest of the playoffs. Either way, there has been no excuse for the lack of production from the entire team aside from Ty Lawson and the question exists whether George Karl deserves to return as head coach next season even after a 57 win year.

The Nuggets aren't out of the series and have a chance to swing momentum in their favor with a game at home Tuesday night. Someone needs to step up or even better several players need to step up for Denver or my T.V screen and my fist may both need to be fixed by Wednesday.