Kuzul

<!– /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:””; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:”Times New Roman”; mso-fareast-font-family:”Times New Roman”;} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} –> Happy Memorial Day everyone, we hope you had a good day doing whatever it was that you did.  It was an absolutely gorgeous three day weekend here in upstate New York with perfect weather every day. 

However, please don’t lose sight of why we celebrated this weekend.  Take a moment to thank those who gave the ultimate sacrifice in defense of this great country of ours, and thank those who are currently serving.  I have the utmost respect for every single person who has ever been in the armed forces as well as their families who have the difficult job of carrying on with their loved ones away. Thank you for all that you do! 

And now, back to baseball.

Wow, talk about hot!  Ubaldo Jimenez outdueled Tim Lincecum and ran his record to 10-1 on the season with another complete game shutout on Memorial Day.  Jimenez scattered four hits over nine innings and struck out nine. 

I would imagine that he has to cool off eventually, there is no way that Baldy can go 26-2 and have an ERA under 1.00 for the entire season.  Even though it is inevitable that he will have some bad starts on the horizon, he certainly has become one of fantasy’s finest this year and should be treated that way.

Yunel Escobar looks like he finally might start hitting as he had back to back multi-hit games on Sunday and Monday and drove two runs today. 

Escobar was a guy that I liked coming into the season as a possible guy to have as a backup or in your middle infield position if your league requires that spot.  He has averaged 12 homers and 68 RBI with a near .300 batting average the past couple of seasons. 

He is going to have to start doing some work to get to those numbers again, but I feel fairly confident that he will have a few nice hot streaks during the season and is someone that is at least worth being injury insurance for your middle infield. 

Cody Ross has been an underrated source of power the past few seasons, but through the first two months of 2010, he hadn’t really done much. 

His batting average has been hovering around .300 which is a nice change for Ross, but a guy who has averaged 23 homers and 81 RBIs over the past two years had just four coming into today and two of those were in the same game. 

Well, Ross pounded out his fifth tater of the season on Monday and maybe this will get him going.  If you drafted Ross you might want to keep him on your bench, although like I said his batting average hasn’t been bad. 

I would definitely give him more time to turn this around, and hopefully he will go on a tear and cross that 20 homerun plateau again this season.

Rickie Weeks is still healthy and is still swinging a hot bat here in 2010—and while I am not a Weeks believer it is hard to argue with what he is doing. 

After a two homer game on Sunday Weeks was at it again with another two hit game and he drove in two more runs.  Weeks is already getting close to his career high in most categories, although he is hitting just .251. 

Ride the hot streak as long as you can with Weeks at a premium position, just don’t be surprised if he slumps badly or gets hurt. 

Stephen Strasburg is now supposed to make his major league debut on June 8th against the Pittsburgh Pirates (I almost typed Steelers, ha ha). 

I am not sure why they gave him the extra start in AAA, maybe they wanted him to face the worst possible team so instead of Cincinnati he will now mow down the Pirates in his first start. 

Mark your calendars, this should be exciting. 

Garrett Jones hit his sixth homer of the season on Monday, and although he still isn’t hitting for the power he did in 2009, he is doing better than I thought. 

I would like to see his batting average improve, but he did hit just .207 in April, so the fact that his average is now .261 is an encouraging sight.

The thing that I am liking about Jones is that he is actually driving in runs this season.  Somehow with 21 homers in just 81 games last year he managed to drive in just 44 runs.  This season, although the home runs are down, he already has 31 RBIs and that is with a disappointing start. 

I think if someone let him go in your league I would scoop him up and stash him on the bench for a while, I have a feeling that Jones is going to get hot with the power sometime soon. 

Brad Lidge was activated off the 15 day DL after missing 18 games with elbow stiffness.  He came into a lopsided game and pitched a perfect eighth inning, striking out one. 

He might get eased back into the closer’s role a little, but I would say by the end of the week at the latest he should be back closing out the end of games for the Phillies.  How he will do, or when he will get hurt again is anyone’s guess. 

If you are running with Lidge this season (and going forward for that matter) you are playing a risky game, and could roll craps at any time.  He is one of the ultimate high risk/high reward type of players.  Jose Contreras likely works into the 8th inning role for the time being, but if you picked him up I would hold on to him.  He was three for three in save opportunities and will become valuable again if something happens to Lidge.

Derek Jeter left the game on Monday in the seventh inning with tightness in his hamstring, a few innings after being hit by a pitch. Manager Joe Girardi just said that it stiffened up on him after a base hit in the seventh and he would be evaluated tomorrow to see the extent of the injury. 

Throughout his career Jeter has proved over and over that it takes nearly amputation of a limb for him to miss a game due to injury so I would be surprised if he missed any more than one game, and wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if he was in the Yankee lineup tomorrow.

Somehow the Blue Jays are being very successful when two of their stars from 2009, Aaron Hill and Adam Lind are both disappointing.  However, both have started to show some signs of breaking out recently. 

Hill had two hits and drove in his 18th run of the year, but in the last ten days he hit four home runs with six RBIs.  Unfortunately, he is still batting in the .170s, but I believe that has to improve. 

Lind hit his eighth home run, his second in the last ten days, to go with five RBIs.  His batting average is also a horrible .226 but he is another one that I think has to turn it around.  Opportunities

I have more faith in these two Blue Jays than I do in Jose Bautista and Alex Gonzalez —the two hitters that have carried Toronto offensively for the first two months of the year.

We welcome your comments anytime right here or by emailing us at fightingchancefantasy@gmail.com This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .  We guarantee a response within 18 hours.  Remember to listen to Fighting Chance Radio on Tuesday night at 9:30 PM EST and Sunday Night at 11 PM EST on The Fantasy Sports Channel or www.blogtalkradio.com/fightingchanceradio .

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Nine of the last 11 NL Cy Young winners have come from the NL West. But none of them have worn a Rockies uniform.

That could soon change for the emerging Ubaldo Jimenez and the Colorado Rockies.

After watching Randy Johnson, Brandon Webb, Jake Peavy, Eric Gagne and Tim Lincecum (who were a combined 15-7 with a 2.67 ERA vs the Rockies during their respective Cy Young campaigns) dominate the NL West for each of Colorado’s division rivals, it may finally be Colorado’s turn to run into the spotlight.

Jimenez, 26, is off to one of the best starts in MLB history: 9-1 with an 0.88 ERA, which includes a no-hitter in Atlanta last April.

Despite Jimenez’ torrid start, the Rockies are 26-24 and in fourth place in the NL West.

However, team record doesn’t matter when it comes to Cy Young awards.

Of the past 11 NL Cy Young winners, only four made the playoffs.

Even last season, Zack Greinke won the AL Cy Young, despite his Kansas City Royals finishing 65-97.

In an organization in which many pitching records are held by Aaron Cook, Jeff Francis, and Pedro Astacio, Jimenez has the chance to not only set Rockies club records, but also MLB records.

Jimenez is on pace to win 29 games, give up only 28 earned runs and three homeruns, and could push winning 30 games.

Baseball hasn’t seen a 30 game winner since Denny McLain won 31 games for the Detroit Tigers in 1968. There hasn’t been an NL 30-game winner since Dizzy Dean in 1934.

The modern-era ERA record for a full-time starter is 1.12 set by Bob Gibson in 1968. Through his first ten starts in 1968, Gibson was 3-5 with a 1.52 ERA.

This afternoon, Jimenez and the Rockies face two-time defending Cy Young winner Tim Lincecum and the San Francisco Giants.

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If you’re going to bet on the World Cup , you have to keep your eyes open for surprises as you have only a month to watch. Fortunately, the MLB season is longer.

Over the first two months of the season, there have been a host of surprises on the diamond, and here is a list of the top five to raise eyebrows heading into June.

Jose Bautista, Toronto

Bautista had 13 homers in his first full year in Toronto last season (his career high is 16, set back in 2006 while with Pittsburgh).

Through 52 games, he has already equaled that, and he has locked down the right-field spot in the lineup.

It’s surprising that the Blue Jays are leading the majors in homers, but would you have bet that Bautista would lead the way (as well as in the majors)?  We don’t think so.

Ty Wigginton, Baltimore

Wigginton got into the lineup because of an injury to second baseman Brian Roberts, but the 32-year-old is making the most of his opportunity with 13 homers and 32 RBIs, along with a .288 average. 

Even when Roberts comes back, the Orioles are going to have to find a spot for Wigginton—their biggest power threat—and they need all the runs they can get.

Belmont Stakes betting players know all about riding a thoroughbred to the finish line, and that’s what the Orioles are looking to do with Wigginton. 

Ubaldo Jimenez, Colorado

Jimenez has 27 wins over the last two seasons, but he’s been inconsistent. We don’t know if he’s going to keep up his current pace; however, to start the season Jimenez is 9-1 through his first 11 outings with a 0.88 ERA.

That’s right, a 0.88 ERA! 

He also threw a no-hitter down in Atlanta, and almost threw another against Houston recently. 

Jimenez is heading into the prime of his career, and he has to be the favorite to replace San Francisco’s Tim Lincecum as the Cy Young winner.

Corey Hart, Milwaukee

Who leads the Brewers in home runs, Prince Fielder or Ryan Braun?  If you bet on MLB odds and you said either, you’re wrong. It’s Hart, who has 13 dingers and 33 RBIs. 

He’s gotten hot recently with five homers in his last eight outings, and if Hart can continue this trend, that could open up more pitches for Braun and Fielder.

Jason Heyward, Atlanta

Some thought the Braves were rushing Heyward into the first team, but he went deep in his first MLB at-bat and it was on from there.

The 20-year-old prodigy has 10 homers and 38 RBIs with a .292 average—and he looks like he’s only getting more comfortable at the plate. 

The Rookie of the Year award should already have “Jason” inscribed on it, and he could be an online betting dark horse for MVP if the Braves make the playoffs. 

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Immediately after Roy Halladay tossed the 20th perfect game in MLB history, and an absolute gem at that—coming against a division rival in a hotly contested game, I logged on to different sports web sites to read about the reaction to such a momentous game.

Halladay’s perfect game, aside from being only the second in the history of the Philadelphia Phillies, also comes as the second of the month of May—the first one being thrown by Dallas Braden, the pitcher that had mostly been known as the guy Alex Rodriguez disrespected.

The inside story of Braden’s perfect game was that he threw it on Mother’s Day, in commemoration of his deceased mother while Braden’s grandmother was in attendance. As a nice bonus, Braden also delivered quite an embarrassing shot to Rodriguez.

Halladay’s history making game, however, comes with the virtual consensus opinion that he has now overtaken Ubaldo Jiménez as the number one contender for the National League Cy Young Award.

For baseball fans that have been conditioned to remember that the season is a “marathon and not a sprint,” this is a blithe assertion that was made in too much haste.

Jiménez, despite pitching in a slugger’s paradise, has a lower WHIP, lower ERA, more wins, two fewer defeats, and a .176 BAA to Doc’s .229. If the season ended today, like so many Halladay supporters are suggesting it has, Jiménez should still be a slight favorite.

The knock against Jiménez comes from the expectation that his numbers are going to fall victim to a proverbial slump that comes from playing the longest season in American professional sports.

But why are people so certain that Halladay isn’t going to cool off as well?

Halladay is an older pitcher and has showed signs early in the season that he’s not going to throw a gem every time he takes the hill.

Ubaldo Jiménez has allowed a total of seven runs in his ten starts this year. Halladay gave up seven runs in one start against the Red Sox—six of them earned.

In fact, in Jiménez’s one loss this year, the lanky pitcher surrendered a grand total of one run. And that one run inflated Jiménez’s then 0.87 ERA to a stout 0.93. As of his last start, it’s back to a respectable 0.88.

There is no question that Halladay’s perfect game is one of the most impressive ones that has been thrown in the last 20 years—another being Randy Johnson’s 13 strikeout perfecto against the Atlanta Braves.

But it’s Doc’s track record that has so many people unjustly writing Jiménez’s incredible season off.

Mention the name Halladay and baseball fans will revere how he dominated while playing for a less than average team in the toughest division in baseball, the American League East. Halladay almost routinely overcame the Yankees, Red Sox and the recently powerful Rays before the Phillies signed him and he moved over to the National League.

But the Cy Young Award is an award handed out for a pitcher that had a tremendous season. Not a tremendous career or a tremendous game. If baseball valued one game over the bulk of a pitcher’s work, Don Larsen would be in the Hall of Fame.

Jiménez will fall off this hot streak. It’s inevitable. If he continued this pace it would be one of the greatest seasons a pitcher has had in the history of Major League Baseball. So it’s safe to say that that ERA is going to start rising.

But Philly fans take note, that unless Halladay tosses another perfect game this season, the National League Cy Young race will be a contested one until game 162.

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With close to 50 games in the bag, some player trends are starting to mold. There are some huge surprises on the list and many big names are missing. Pujols, Howard, Fielder, A-Rod, Teixeira are all guys that missed this list.

Here are your top 10 fantasy players thus far. Four are pitchers and 6 are position players. They are not necessarily in any order. Andre Ethier has been left off the list due to injury.

Begin Slideshow

The Colorado Rockies (25-22) faced division rival Arizona Diamondbacks (20-28) Thursday afternoon in the last game of a three-game series.

For the Rockies, everything was working Thursday as a multitude of pitchers and a barrage of batters led Colorado to a dominant 8-2 win and the team’s first sweep of the 2010 season.

Jason Hammel started the game and pitched well despite not having his best stuff. Through five innings Hammel didn’t give up a run and tallied a career-high tying eight Ks against the D-Backs.

But the sixth inning was his undoing.

With the Rockies up 3-0, Hammel walked Stephen Drew and Adam LaRoche. Mark Reynolds then singled to load the bases and Chris Young singled to score Drew. Then Hammel hit Chris Snyder to walk home Arizona’s second run of the game.

Hammel left the game after five and one third innings giving up seven hits and two earned runs while striking out eight.

After Hammel went to the dugout, Colorado’s bullpen was air tight and didn’t allow a single hit while striking out six more batters.

On the offensive side of the ball, the Rockies’ bats were cracking and created fireworks at one point.

Colorado jumped on Arizona’s ace Dan Haren early, scoring three runs in the first inning.

Carlos Gonzalez stayed hot and hit a leadoff single that he legged into a double, only to be knocked home by Ryan Spilborghs a few minutes later. Then, after a Jason Giambi strikeout, Troy Tulowitzki homered to stretch Colorado’s lead to three.

For Tulo, it was his fifth home run in seven games and he continued to grow his 11-game hitting streak.

But it was what the Rockies did after Hammel’s meltdown in the sixth that showed they were not going to lose this game.

After a Clint Barmes single in the seventh, Colorado made Coors look like the ballpark of old with big blasts. Seth Smith (8), Gonzalez (6), and Spilborghs (3) hit back-to-back-to-back home runs off of Haren, the first time the Rockies had done so since April 27, 2004.

The seventh inning fireworks secured Colorado’s 8-2 win and capped off an electrifying series against Arizona.

In a way, the game was a microcosm of the Rockies on this current win streak.

Since May 20, Colorado is 6-1 and averaging 5.4 runs per contest while only allowing 3.3 runs per.

Despite missing starter Jorge De La Rosa and closer Huston Street, the Rockies pitching has been special and led them through games.

Ubaldo Jimenez was Ubaldominent in wins eight and nine versus Houston (4-0) and Arizona Wednesday (7-3), allowing zero runs in each. Likewise, Jeff Francis was stellar in his second start versus Kansas City on May 22, going six and a third innings allowing five hits, two walks and striking out three.

And when starters come out, Colorado’s bullpen has held together lately.

In the last seven games Matt Belisle has pitched on four occasions for a combined four innings, allowing two hits and sitting down seven on strikes. Similarly, Joe Beimel has been throwing well as his ERA has dropped to 0.52 and Manuel Corpas is up to four saves in relief of the ailing Street.

And while pitching has been hot, the Rox’ bats have been hotter.

Tulo“hit”zki’s 11-game hitting streak has ballooned his average to .314, just edging out Gonzalez (.313) for the team lead. Tulo also leads the team in runs (34), hits (54), and doubles (15) as he’s leading by example as the Rockies’ biggest current star.

Colorado’s fifth outfielder, Seth Smith, had three homers in the Rockies’ last two games even though he’s been sick with the flu, and their sixth outfielder Spilborghs went 3-4 with a double and a home run as he was the player of the game Thursday.

So, everything is coming together for the Rockies, and it couldn’t be happening at a better time. After sweeping Arizona, Colorado plays Los Angeles (26-21) for three games at home starting Friday, then flies to San Francisco (24-22) Monday as Tim Lincecum and Jimenez get set to see who is the best pitcher in the NL. The Rockies finish this 12-game divisional stretch with three games (June 4-6) in Arizona against the Diamondbacks.

So as they sit now, the Rockies are third in the NL West and three and a half games back of West leader San Diego and one back of LA. Come Monday, if Colorado can continue playing these winning ways, they could be sitting solely in second place at the one-third point of the season.

The Rockies have already battled tough through injuries and slumping bats for most of the season. Now they are hitting their stride as a run to the playoffs for the third time in four years seems possible if not probable at this point.

In the grueling 162-game MLB season there’s still lots of baseball to be played, but Colorado is starting to look like a contender as we approach Memorial Day.

So Denver, get out and support your Rockies—especially when Ubaldo “Cy Young” Jimenez is out on the mound (he only had around 25,000 fans on Wednesday)—because your Rockies are a special baseball team.

Rich Kurtzman is a Colorado State University Alumnus and freelance sports journalist. Along with being the Denver Nuggets Featured Columnist here on B/R, Kurtzman is the Denver Broncos FC for NFLTouchdown.com, the CSU Rams Examiner for examiner.com and the Colorado/Utah Regional Correspondent for stadiumjourney.com.

Follow Rich on twitter and/or facebook!

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Ubaldo Jimenez appears to be set on a record-breaking course this season. Through 10 games he is 9-1 with a 0.88 ERA and has allowed only 42 hits in 71.1 innings pitched.

Let’s not get too excited.

Since 1920, 10 pitchers have started a major league season with a streak of 10 or more games allowing two or fewer earned runs.  Surprisingly, four of those seasons have been in the last six years (somewhere Bill James is saying, “expansion dilutes hitting and pitching equally”).

Ubaldo we know about. In 2008, Edinson Volquez—whose name even I have already started to forget—started the season on a torrid 12-game stretch in which he allowed 11 earned runs. At the 12-game point, he had allowed 48 hits and struck out 89 batters in 73.1 innings pitched.

In 2004, Jake Peavy started out the season with 59 strikeouts in 59 innings pitched on his way to a 5-2 record and a 1.98 ERA.

So that’s three. Who are we missing?

Well, if you’ve been following me at all this season , you know that I’ve saved the best for last: In 2009, the Royals’ Zack Greinke started the season on an 8-1 tear through 10 games. He had a 0.84 ERA with 81 strikeouts and 12 walks in 75.0 innings.

That’s right: There have only been 10 pitchers to start a season on a streak of 10 or more games with two or fewer earned runs, and Miguel Olivo was the catcher for two of them.

Greinke was actually on a hotter streak than Ubaldo is, and he was doing it in the American League (i.e. against the designated hitter) while playing for a terrible team.

Here’s some Greinke vs. Ubaldo head-to-head:

Wins

Advantage Ubaldo: 9-1 vs. 8-1

ERA

Advantage Greinke: 0.84 vs. 0.88

Strikeouts

Advantage Greinke: 81 vs. 61

Bases on Balls

Advantage Greinke: 12 vs. 24

Hits

Advantage Ubaldo: 42 in 71.1 innings vs. 54 in 75.0 innings

Opponents’ RSL

Advantage Ubaldo: .176/.260/.239/.500 vs. .203/.239/.267/.506

Of course, Ubaldo’s rate stat advantage is unadjusted—when adjusting for the difference between American League hitters and National League hitters, Greinke probably comes out on top again.

So what’s the point of all this?

First, it is entirely possible that Ubaldo (to whom we are now referring to by first name only) is on his way to the most dominant pitching season in baseball history, but we shouldn’t get ahead of ourselves. At this point, he isn’t even having the most dominating pitching season of the last two years.

Second, I’ve said it before, but it bears repeating: If you have a Cy Young Award pitcher and he has a singularly great pitching season, you simply must hold on to his catcher.

Miguel Olivo is making that point crystal clear.

Asher B. Chancey lives in Philadelphia and is a co-founder of BaseballEvolution.com .

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Ubaldo Jimenez has been pitching like he is from another planet this season. He won his ninth game yesterday, pitching eight scoreless innings against the Diamondbacks who fell to the Rockies by a 7-3 score.

His record now stands at 9-1 with a 0.88 ERA, a 0.93 WHIP all of which lead the NL. He has pitched a quality start in all 10 of his starts. He has allowed two earned runs only twice this season. He has allowed one earned run three times and he has held his opponents scoreless in the other five starts.

He is pitching on another level having three more wins than any other NL starter. ESPN.com is projecting him to finish with a 32-4 record and to allow 148 hits in 250 innings. Currently he has allowed only 42 hits in 71 innings.

The most amazing stat to me for Jimenez is that he has faced 267 batters in 71 innings and has allowed only one home run.

Even when he lost his one game this season he pitched superbly, allowing one run and two hits in seven innings in a 2-0 loss to the Dodgers on May 9.

Opposing batters are hitting .176 against Jimenez, which is a major league best. Jimenez is particularly effective in night games, with an ERA of 0.24 and allowing one run in 37 innings. The power-laden Diamondbacks who lead the NL in home runs with 58 have been held scoreless by Jimenez in 14 innings this season.

It is ironic that he pitched a no-hitter against the Braves in a 4-0 win while walking six batters in his third start of the season on April 17. He usually has much better control and has walked two or less batters in seven of his 10 starts.

121 major league pitchers have allowed more hits than Jimenez while 272 major league pitchers have allowed more earned runs than his seven allowed in 10 starts encompassing 71 innings.

At the rate he is going Jimenez could have 15 wins by the All Star game. Baseball fans will wait in anticipation for each Jimenez start and we may not know how long he can pitch at this level, but for today it is safe to say he is the best starting pitcher in the major leagues.

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This is getting to be the same story repeated over and over. On May 26 against the Arizona Diamondbacks, Jimenez went eight scoreless innings in a 7-3 win. He probably could have pitched through the ninth inning, but he had thrown 101 pitches already so better safe than sorry. Still, with Rafael Betancourt messing up the shutout maybe Jimenez should have stayed in.

After 10 starts, Jimenez has a sub-0.90 ERA, a 9-1 record, a WHIP below 1.000, and while it’s not a league leading stat, his 61 strikeouts are nothing to sneeze at.

So how good has he become? If anyone was going to get an earned run off him it’d be the home runs of Arizona, for starters. To answer the question though, who was the last person to earn nine wins in his first ten starts? Even Fernando Valenzuela couldn’t pull that off in his famed 1981 season (he was 8-1 in the first 10).

Bob Gibson never came close to nine quick wins either. Even in his great 1968 season he started 3-5, though with a sub-2.00 ERA. Is there anyone to compare him to?

The answer is yes, one person: Pedro Martinez. In 1999, he started 9-1 as well. The only difference was Jimenez had both half the ERA and half the strikeouts. Some will argue that Pedro got those stats in the premier offensive era of our time, but you can’t forget that Coors Field is the hitters park in Major League Baseball.

To show how dominant a pitcher is, one has to look at the little things, the pitch-by-pitch ticks, alongside the stats and the like. Looking at tonight’s game, he pitched to 29 batters and threw 61 of 101 pitches for strikes. But again, let’s look at some case studies.

In the top of the 8th, Jimenez walked Kelly Johnson with one out and brought up Gerardo Parra. After throwing all but one fastball that inning, he caught Parra swinging with a changeup. Sensing weakness, he again threw a changeup, and Parra grounded into an inning-ending double play.

In the top of the 4th, Stephen Drew led off. After a called strike on a fastball, Jimenez throws a curve and two changeups. Suddenly the count is three and one after Drew does not chase any. As he might expect another low pitch, Jimenez tries to throw the ball by Drew with a fastball quite square in the strike zone, as if he ignored it the count would only be full. Drew swung and the play ended as a ground out

So even when the outcome isn’t ideal, Jimenez is able to get the ball where he wants it to go, and as a result is getting the stats any pitcher would want this season. His fastball hit 99 in the eighth inning as well, so his arm is not getting tired late in games, which is great. That’s always something that is cause for concern, but if he can continue to keep his speed up late, then this dominance is going to continue.

It’s too early to hand the Cy Young over to him of course, but if he keeps playing like this, or even half as good (he’s never allowed over two runs), then he’s going to remain in contention throughout the season, and it will be a year hard to top.

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At this point in the season, it is difficult to comprehend just how good Ubaldo Jimenez has been.

Towards the end of last season, it was clear that Jimenez was blossoming into the Rockies’ staff ace.

After a 1-3 start that saw him carry a 7.58 ERA into a May 1 start against San Francisco, Jimenez reeled off 25 consecutive starts of six innings or more in 2009, never once allowing more than four runs.

Not factoring in the slow start and a forgettable Sept. 15 outing against the Giants, Jimenez was 14-7 on the year with a 2.84 ERA. His consistent and dependable play was one of the main reasons Colorado made the playoffs for the second time in three years.

This year, Jimenez may not only be the best player on his team; he may be the best player in the league.

Nine starts into the season, Jimenez has allowed a grand total of seven earned runs. In an April 16 contest against Atlanta, Rockies starter Jason Hammel gave up seven earned runs in less than two innings.

The next day, Jimenez threw a no-hitter.

Jimenez currently has his ERA just a shade under 1.00. Only St. Louis’ Jaime Garcia has an ERA under 2.00 among starters in either league. No other starter in the league has more than six wins, save Tampa Bay’s David Price. Jimenez has eight.

So how is he doing it? What’s changed?

Actually, it’s not so much that Jimenez is doing something dramatically different from years past. Rather, he’s doing what he used to do, but he’s doing it better.

In 2009, Jimenez was the hardest throwing starting pitcher in the league. His fastball averaged a blistering 96.1 mph. So far in 2010, Jimenez has dialed up his average fastball to an unthinkable 96.8 mph, a full 1.2 mph faster than every other starter in the league, and 2.4 mph faster than everyone but Felipe Paulino and Justin Verlander.

It may not seem like much, but when a pitcher’s fastball is nearly three percent better than every other pitcher’s offering in the entire world, it makes a difference.

It’s the equivalent of a golfer hitting his drive 10 yards further than everyone else on tour, on every course, and every hole. It’s a major competitive advantage.

But an improved fastball doesn’t represent the main change in Jimenez’s game. He isn’t even throwing it as much as he once did. Just two years ago, Jimenez threw his fastball (at that time averaging 94.9 mph) nearly 70 percent of the time.

So far in 2010, he has thrown the fastball only 59.1 percent of the time, relying much more heavily on his change-up, a pitch he throws at 88.2 mph (still faster than many starter’s fastballs).

Considering how often he throws it, Jimenez’s change-up may be even more overpowering than his fastball. While he has modestly increased his velocity on his fastball, his change-up velocity has dropped 1.4 mph and has shown a marked change in movement.

Using one of the best fastballs in the game and keeping hitters off-balance with a second plus-pitch with movement, Jimenez has emerged as a force in the National League and has been gaining steam as an early Cy Young candidate.

The right-hander is on pace for a 29-4 record, 210 strikeouts, and 25 earned runs. If Jimenez could put a season like that together, it would go down as one of the single greatest pitching performances in Major League History. Forget the Cy Young Award. We would be talking about historical greatness.

I’d say the young guy is off to a pretty solid start.

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