| Apodaca Finally Out |
Tue, 26 June 2012 15:42 |
 ER_Sports
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Rockies 'reassign' pitching coach Bob Apoduca today. Laughing to myself because I was just wondering how he was holding on to his job. For whatever reason the Rockies have gone somewhat away from the sinking fastball. For a nutshell on Apoduca, just look at the Jason Hammel for Guthrie trade this year. Ironically, Hammel is having much success this season with his NEWFOUND two-seam sinking fastball.
Reeling Rockies dump pitching coach Bob Apodaca
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By Bob Nightengale, USA TODAY
Updated 3m ago
DENVER -- The Colorado Rockies, who have the worst-ranked pitching staff in the major leagues, reassigned pitching coach Bob Apodoca on Tuesday before their game against the Washington Nationals.
Apodoca, the R
CAPTION
By Barry Gutierrez, AP
ockies' pitching coach for the last 10 years, requested the reassignment, Rockies general manager Dan O'Dowd told USA TODAY Sports. The Rockies have recently transformed their pitching staff into a four-man rotation, limiting each starter to 75 pitches.
"The definition of insanity is to keep doing the same thing over and over again and thinking you'll get a different result,'' Rockies manager Jim Tracy says. "We're trying to tackle this monster.''
Jim Wright and Bo McLaughlin will, for now, share Apodaca's duties, the club said later Tuesday.
The Rockies have never had a 20-game winner in franchise history, and only twice have they ever had a pitcher complete more than four games in a season.
In 2009 and 2010, Apodaca oversaw a staff that twice set club records for team ERA. But things soured in 2011, when All-Star Ubaldo Jimenez regressed and eventually was traded to the Cleveland Indians.
Things got worse this year. The Rockies traded Jason Hammel to the Baltimore Orioles for Jeremy Guthrie, and Guthrie was widely expected to take the lead role on a staff lacking an ace.
Instead, Hammel has turned into one of the American League's best starters, going 8-2 with a 2.61 ERA.
And Guthrie's statistics imploded in Colorado's thin air, as he's posted a 3-6 record with a 6.34 ERA and has since been dumped from the rotation. Meanwhile, the Rockies' staff has produced a major league-worst 5.29 ERA, prompting the club to try a four-man rotation.
"I owe a lot of my success right now to him," Hammel said Tuesday at Baltimore's Camden Yards after he learned of Apodaca's reassignment. "(Our relationship) was awesome. We had an easy way to connect because we both love golf, so he could connect a lot of baseball terms to golf terms for me.
"That's disappointing, but I'm sure he'll catch on somewhere. He's a very knowledgeable pitching coach, so I wish the best for him."
http://content.usatoday.com/communities/dailypitch/post/2012 /06/rockies-fire-pitching-coach-bob-apodaca/1#.T-o5wPXuCpR
Follow Erin Rynning on Twitter: https://twitter.com/ersports1
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