Apr. 28, 2009 (Baseball Musings delivered by Newstex ) --
In one game, the Rockies took their base stealing game from poor to great. The team stole eight bases against the Padres Monday night without getting caught. That took them from a 64% success rate to a 77% success rate. The Padres scored their runs the old fashioned way, with power, but the runfest beat the slugfest 12-7. Dexter Fowler stole five of those bases:
The Rockies stole eight bases tonight, Dexter Fowler taking five of them. Fowler stole five bases. Yes, Willy Taveras also did this. But this is Dexter Fowler were talking about! Dexter Fowlers a lot more useful than Willy Taveras.
Willy was a low OBA, low power hitter. Even in his 2007 season, when his OBA was a good .367, he had no pop. That level of OBA turned out to be an outlier. Fowler is getting on base at a great .393 clip, and his slugging percentage is near .500. He improved on Taverass offense, helping to make up for some of what was lost when Holliday was traded, also.
Newstex ID: BASE-0001-34482853
