’Topes wrap up homestand
Manager Hill has good first impression of Albuquerque
The homestand is over. The honeymoon isn’t. The budding new relationship between the Colorado Rockies and their new Triple-A affiliate Albuquerque Isotopes featured plenty of smiles over the past eight days to start the 2015 Pacific Coast League season.
Even Thursday afternoon, when the Tacoma Rainiers avoided a series sweep by beating the ’Topes 3-1 in 11 innings, it was hard not to notice a rather upbeat, happy vibe around the team as it now embarks on a season-long 12-game road trip.
“It’s been outstanding,” Isotopes manager Glenallen Hill said of his initial impressions of working in Albuquerque. “I love the fan support. Love the facilities. The front office here is second to none. It’s a very nice home.”
The Isotopes, who last September joined into partnership with the Colorado Rockies after a six-year affiliation with the Los Angeles Dodgers, enjoyed a 5-3 record in its season-opening homestand that included three walk-off wins (two in extra innings and two via home runs).
The pitching, for the most part, was good. The scores, for the most part, have been close (the ’Topes have been outscored 43-41 through eight games). The games, for the most part, have been fanfriendly fast (the average game was 2 hours, 55 minutes). And Opening Night merchandise sales, which included plenty of Rockies purple, was the second most profitable in franchise history, exceeded only by the debut of the new team and ballpark in 2003.
“We’ve had eight games on the field, but we’ve had eight months of affiliation,” Isotopes general manager John Traub said. “I look at it as we’ve had eight months of a partnership going, and the people with the (Colorado Rockies) organization have been fantastic. They’ve been humble. They’ve been complimentary. They’ve been respectful. They’ve been thankful for the upgrade, the fan support and the facility.”
Despite not yet notching a win, Isotopes pitcher John Lannan has been brilliant in his first two starts this season, including throwing seven innings of one-run baseball Thursday, surrendering just five hits and one walk, while striking out four. That followed a start last week of six scoreless innings in which he allowed four hits and struck out five.
Aside from his own success, though, the 30-year-old pitcher says his teammates in the clubhouse are definitely feeling positive about their start in Albuquerque.
“Yeah, we had a really good homestand,” Lannan said. “I think we’re play- ing really good baseball and we’ve had some really good, close games. … As far as first homestands go, I think this was a real positive one.”
While the opening homestand for people behind the scenes is about far more than the games on the field, Traub certainly liked seeing some good baseball, too.
“I’m glad the team has played well,” Traub said. “I’m glad things have gone smoothly from an operational point of view. We feel like we’re in midseason form.”