Walt Weiss, a former shortstop, made his living in the dirt and dust of the infield over 14 major-league seasons. He can stand against most any fielder from his era.
So the Rockies’ manager has a discerning eye for defense, including the foursome he writes into the lineup most days.
“Are you asking my opinion about Coors Shield?” Weiss said. He paused. Then he laughed. “It’s cute.”
Weiss’ opinion of the nickname was full of sarcasm. For him, the reputation of the Rockies’ infield defense works well enough without words, or nicknames.
That infield — with five Gold Glove awards and an MVP among third baseman Nolan Arenado, shortstop Troy Tulowitzki, second baseman DJ LeMahieu and first baseman Justin Morneau — is on the verge of Denver sports lore.
As a group, their defense is the equal of any infield in baseball.
In the 1970s, the Broncos featured the “Orange Crush” defense. In the 1990s, the Rockies hailed their sluggers as the “Blake Street Bombers.”
The newest nicknamed bunch, the “Coors Shield,” plays in the dirt in LoDo. The name, nominated by a fan, Drew Baker, in an online poll at the fan website Purple Row, beat out two other finalists. The infielders, though, might not be ready for a nickname. They’re more focused on groundballs than on brand names.
Rarely do you see Colorado’s infielders react with more than a glove tap between them on their way to the dugout. They jog off the field with their heads bowed, cycling through to another inning.
“We kind of want to stay under the radar,” said Stu Cole, the Rockies’ third-base coach.
Nicknames usually don’t catch on with teams that struggle to contend, as the Rockies have.
The most remembered team nicknames are attached to the most successful teams. The “Steel Curtain” defense helped the Pittsburgh Steelers win four Super Bowls. The New York Yankees won three World Series championships in six years using their “Murderers’ Row” lineup.
The Rockies’ infielders would rather wait to embrace their nickname.
“That’s for you guys to figure out,” Tulowitzki said. “If you guys want to give us a nickname, that’s cool. If not, we’ll go about our business.”
Arenado, who makes highlight plays in just about every game, said the Rockies’ infield needs a stiffer standard before being labeled anything special. Apparently tumbling over a tarp into the stands to catch a foul ball isn’t enough.
“I don’t think we’ve been tested yet,” he said. “We’ve made plays and made errors. We’ll keep proving we’re a great infield. The real test for us is when you make big plays in big moments.”
The Rockies’ defense contradicts many of the numbers. They ranked only 19th in baseball in fielding percentage in 2014. They rank 14th this year. But their defense is more valuable than an error-per-opportunity ratio.
LeMahieu is an atypically tall second baseman at 6-foot-4. He is more the size of a first baseman. But his range on the right side is equal to his size. He can cover anything from behind second base to shallow right field.
Arenado’s range also seems the size of a parking lot. It extends outside the field of play. His recent 30-yard sprint to nab Gregor Blanco’s foul ball in San Francisco was extraordinary. He tumbled face first over the tarp and into the stands, with his legs flipping up over the back of his head.
The 6-4 Morneau — the American League MVP in 2006 and a Gold Glove finalist last year — can pick balls out of the dirt as well as any first baseman. That allows his fellow infielders to fire the ball from nearly any angle, knowing he probably will pick it.
But Tulowitzki, whose range extends to the outfield grass deep in the hole at shortstop, said the range of the Rockies’ infielders isn’t a pass for being sloppy.
“The one number that I look at is error total,” he said. “If you’re taking care of the baseball, you’re doing a good job. It’s about protecting the baseball. Just because we can get to some balls that other people can’t, it doesn’t mean we need to make a bad throw or mental mistakes that cost errors. I’m a big believer in fielding percentage. The players who have that are the best because they’re taking care of the baseball.”
But what separates a good defense from a great defense? The Kansas City Royals rank highly in the alphabet soup of baseball’s advanced defensive statistics — UZR (ultimate zone rating), RZR (revised zone rating) and DEF (a wins above replacement-type stat for defense). More important, the Royals’ defense helped them advance to the World Series last year. The Rockies also look for scoreboard results as a measure of their defense, not statistics.
“Plays that stop a run, plays that stop a big inning,” Arenado said. “When it’s going well, you’re not thinking. You just go get the ball because it’s your job.”
Vinny Castilla, a member of the Rockies’ coach staff and a former Blake Street Bomber as a third baseman, doesn’t care for the “Coors Shield” tag. But he thinks this team’s infielders deserve a special name.
“When you play defense, man, you let your instincts go. To play like that, that’s when you take it to the next level,” Castilla said.
“I appreciate defense so much, so when I watch these guys play like that, it makes my day. It’s fun. And the way they go about their business, they love it.”
Name of the game
If the Rockies surprise everyone and win big, and “Coors Shield” sticks, it could join other classic team nicknames. A look at the five best in baseball history:
1. Murderers’ Row
Circa: 1920s. Origin: Originally penned in the New York Tribune for the 1918 Yankees’ lineup, it really took hold for the 1927 Yankees — a team many consider the best of all time, with Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Tony Lazzeri, Earle Combs, Mark Koenig and Bob Meusel.
2. Big Red Machine
Circa: 1970s. Origin: A 1969 article in The Cincinnati Enquirer used the nickname, which became popular in the 1970s as the Reds won four National League pennants and two World Series championships from 1970-76 while starring Pete Rose, Johnny Bench, Joe Morgan and Tony Perez, among others.
3. Gashouse Gang
Circa: 1934. Origin: One legend says St. Louis Cardinals shortstop Leo Durocher gave them the name as a proud put-down for dirty coal plant workers. They scrapped their way to the championship with help from Dizzy and Paul Dean, Frankie Frisch, Ripper Collins, Joe Medwick, Pepper Martin and Spud Davis.
4. Miracle Mets
Circa: 1969. Origin: Name given to the New York Mets, who defeated the heavily favored Baltimore Orioles in five games in the World Series after posting the first winning season in franchise history. Before 1969, the Mets never finished better than second-to-last. Also called the “Amazin’ Mets” by former Mets manager Casey Stengel.
5. Black Sox
Circa: 1919. Origin: The name’s provenance is disputed. But its use isn’t. “Black Sox” references the eight banned Chicago White Sox players accused of helping to fix the 1919 World Series for gamblers by intentionally losing the nine-game series to the Reds.
Nick Groke, The Denver Post
THIRD BASE
NOLAN ARENADO
Age: 24
Gold Gloves: 2 (2013, 2014)
Career fielding pct.: .968 in 814 attempts
Signature play:Backhand in foul territory behind third base with a fade-away jump throw.
SHORTSTOP
TROY TULOWITZKI
Age: 30
Gold Gloves: 2 (2010, 2011)
Career fielding pct.: .986 in 4,661 attempts
Signature play: The “Jeter jump throw” from deep in the hole going back to his right.
SECOND BASE
DJ LeMAHIEU
Age: 26
Gold Gloves: 1 (2014)
Career fielding pct.: .992 in 1,553 attempts
Signature play: Sliding on his knees in the grass to his left, then throwing while sitting.
FIRST BASE
JUSTIN MORNEAU
Age: 33
Gold Gloves: 0 (was the AL MVP in 2006)
Career fielding pct.: .996 in 11,948 attempts
Signature play: The classic short-hop pick — he plans for it on tough plays from the left side.
