Morning Links: Rockies News 8/20

Crystal LoGiudice-USA TODAY Sports

With a 5-4 loss in Philadelphia against the Phillies last night, the Colorado Rockies have already undone some of the good feelings from last week’s home stand. They have now lost three out of four games to start this road trip as they continue to try and string together wins between now and the end of the year. Here’s what else is happening with the Rockies.

From Drew Creasman: DC in GJ, Part 7: An interview with Rockies pitching guru Bob Apodaca (Purple Row)

"The starting pitcher for the Grand Junction Rockies that evening is the organization’s highest rated prospect; Jonathan Gray. ‘With him,’ says the pitching guru, ‘it’s less about movement of the fastball, since he is more strictly a 4-seem thrower, and more about the plane on his fastball.’“This is another version of making things look alike that are not alike. Some pitchers fool people with movement, and Gray can accomplish that with his ‘very good slider,’ Apodaca says, but Gray can fool hitters with the fastball because of its velocity and because he throws it on a plane that makes it difficult to pick up.”"

From Troy Renck, via Twitter: a Roy Oswalt update

From Chris Chrisman: Thoughts on A-Rod, Dempster and Due Process (Purple Row FanPost)

"Ryan Dempster apparently doesn’t like the deal that was struck on his behalf. Or, to put it more finely, Dempster doesn’t like the deal to the extent Alex Rodriguez avails himself of it. Well, that’s tough cookies. As a player, Dempster is a direct beneficiary of that same deal, and he has the same basic protections as A-Rod. To declare the deal off for one player is to effectively kill the right for which all the players bargained. But that’s what Dempster did by throwing at A-Rod, and I see no reason to applaud him for arrogating to himself that kind of authority.“Plunking A-Rod was frontier justice without the frontier. There are no unwritten rules at play here. To the contrary, all of the parties have a set of written rules, and written procedures for enforcing those rules, procedures that ultimately will mete out the appropriate punishment. There’s no justification for adding on by throwing at A-Rod. Besides, the Red Sox don’t exactly have the cleanest of hands when it comes to doling out punishment in the name of Keeping the Game Clean.”"

From Talkin’ Rockies: What’s not to like about Dickerson (Talkin’ Rockies)

"Dickerson’s track record as a hitter shows he is not a fluke. He is a guy the Rockies can build around along with Nolan Arenado and D.J. LeMahieu.“With young hitters, it comes down to consistency. Remember Josh Rutledge and Tyler Colvin played well last year and they weren’t the same players this year. Before the Rockies can get excited about Dickerson, they need to see more.”"