"I've had pretty good success with him, by throwing my best pitch and backing up third." (Carl Erskine, on pitching to Stan Musial)
There have been rumors swirling around the league on what happened to Matthias Maccioni. Did "Crayon" win the Colorado Pick 6 lottery and retire to buy his own pro baseball team? Did he turn his back on baseball to join Scientology? Did he get signed to a lucrative contract to be a judge on the upcoming season of "American Idol"?
The truth of the matter is that on 9/19/2013, Maccioni stroked a single in the 8th inning and then suffered a concussion during a play at 2nd base. Doctors examined him and decided that the damage was so severe it would be too dangerous for him to continue playing baseball.
Thus, at the age of 24, Maccioni has retired from baseball. He leaves the game having played 977 games, with 3359 at bats, 753 hits, 84 HRs, 404 RBIs, 21 SBs, a career .224 average, .370 OBP and .733 OPS.
The 2013 season was his breakout year, with Maccioni posting a .293 average with 27 doubles, 33 HRs, 107 RBIs, a .442 OBP, .543 SLUG and a .985 OPS.
If Denver didn't have bad luck, it would have no luck at all. In addition to losing Maccioni on 9/19, Denver OF Phil Lindsey also was injured in that game, spraining his ankle making a play in centerfield. He's out for another 1-2 weeks. That costs Denver a dangerous hitter vs LHP. His overall season stats were 31 HRs, 99 RBIs and a .917 OPS.
But the team cannot dwell on the past, as Denver is about to face the Regina River Sharks in the Divisional Championship series. On paper, it looks like a no-brainer with Regina having posted a 111-51 record compared to Denver's 88-74 record. A sampling of team statistics look like this:
Denver: .251 average - .351 OBP - .413 SLUG - .764 OPS - 58 SBs - 4.6 ERA - .273 OAVG
Regina: .273 average - .353 OBP - .432 SLUG - .785 OPS - 156 SBs - 3.6 ERA - .237 OAVG
Normally, there would be a "Keys to the Game" analysis before the series with Regina. However, considering Denver's top two bats will be out for the series, and the team is also without its top starter, Gilberto Montano, "Keys to Not Getting Swept" would be more appropriate.
* Play error-free in the field.
* Limit the number of walks allowed.
* Larry Jackson needs to have a big series at the plate.
If Denver succeeds in those three areas, then they won't get dominated in the series.
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