ESPN Followup

Yesterday, The Beard interviewed the president of ESPN, and came away unimpressed with the network's dedication to serious sports coverage. Needless to say, they didn't know a great deal about the Rockies. And as if on cue, ESPN has provided us some more (read: not made up) evidence, in the form of expert baseball/donut analyst John Kruk and his ESPN.com article today:

"This series with the Angels will be a good test for the Rockies, who just came off of a good series with Tampa Bay. When you play at home, you should win games. Now, the Rockies are on the road against a very good team, so it will be interesting to see how they handle this challenge."

I agree that the Angels series will be a good road test for the Rockies, but it won't be the first. ESPN's definition of a "very good team" is "A team in either New York, Boston, or Chicago (or in very rare cases, Los Angeles), often featured near the top of the hour on ESPN broadcasts." Road sweeps of the NL Central leading Cardinals and the 2nd-place Brewers (both currently with more wins than the Phillies, Mets, or Angels, by the way) two weeks ago apparently didn't leave much of a mark over there at ESPN.

And it may be nit-picky, but strictly speaking, the Rockies "just came off" a series against Pittsburgh, not Tampa Bay. So within three sentences, Kruk managed to reveal that at least half of the NL Central is completely in his blind spot. But I assure you, John, there is a central division in both leagues, not just the AL. Ask Peter Gammons, he'll explain it to you.

"They're off to a good start with Monday's easy win. When you get on a roll the way Colorado has, sometimes it's just that, a small streak. As reality starts to set in, it will be interesting to see whether the Rockies can maintain it. It's not going to be an easy task against the Angels."

Wow. That takes the cake... 17 of 18 games is a "small streak." I can say with absolute certainty that if the BoSox, Yanks, or Mets had won 17 of their last 18 games (nine of those on the road, no less), ESPN would be building a house in that team's butts. They'd be the lead story every single night, and proclaimed as "one of the hottest teams baseball had ever seen." And God help us, if the Phils had won 17 of 18, Kruk would be red-faced and foaming at the mouth, running around the Baseball Tonight set tearing frantically at his clothing, revealing his Phillies undies, before collapsing in Karl Ravech's lap in a jabbering heap.

"Colorado's run is just that, a run. In my mind, this team is not a threat to win the wild card. Even though the Mets and Phillies have played terribly lately, the wild card is still going to come out of the NL East. Both teams are almost unwatchable at the moment, but I'm still certain the Phillies will win the division and the Mets will take the wild card."

No bias here, none at all. One team is playing great, another couple teams are "unwatchable." But the unwatchable teams are better, and will win, and that's that. Great, in-depth analysis there, Kruk. And thanks, ESPN, for not even trying to avoid the appearance of an east coast bias here.

Kruk seems to think he's on to something by hinting that the Rockies can't possibly finish the season winning 95% of their remaining games. Well, duh. But he seems to just assume that when they cool off, they'll drop back down to a .400 team, and those marvelous Mets and Phillies will take their rightful place in the playoffs (apparently, the Cubs, Brewers, and Giants will also realize they're hopelessly outclassed, and cede the wild card to the vastly superior NL East, as well).

Well, the Mets or Phillies could certainly win the Wild Card, I won't argue that. But even when the Rockies cool off, they must figure in that race... they have a top-notch lineup 1-8, they have three very solid starters in Cook, Jimenez, and Marquis (with Hammel looking good lately as well), and their bullpen - which may ultimately prove their biggest weakness - has been very effective during this streak. If there's a reason to dismiss the Rockies' chances, Kruk didn't address it... he just likes the Phils and Mets better whether they're playing well or not, and at ESPN, that's apparently good enough to count as "expert analysis."

I'd stand here and say that I can't believe somebody like John Kruk is ESPN's lead baseball analyst, except for the fact that on a network that favors entertainment over reporting, hype over substance, and aims its programming at the dumbest common denominator, he's actually pretty much perfect.