Opinion: Coors Field reverse bias should make Chad Bettis a Cy Young candidate

If we’ve learned anything over the first 25 years of Colorado Rockies baseball, it’s that nothing a Colorado Rockies player accomplishes at the plate will ever truly impress anyone who resides east of Fort Morgan.

The humidor, success on the road, none of that matters to them. The Rockies play their home games at Coors Field and to most national observers that makes their offensive accomplishments null and void.

Proof?

Even during what will soon be the end of the first quarter of the season, Rockies hitters like Charlie Blackmon are getting almost no respect for offensive numbers that have been largely accumulated AWAY from Coors Field. Blackmon has hit 11 home runs already this season — 10 of them on the road. He’s gone deep against Max Scherzer and Stephen Strasburg in Washington.

Nolan Arenado has more home runs and twice as many RBIs away from Coors Field. Colorado leads the National League in home runs and has played just a dozen home games. None of that matters, and it probably never will.

As much as the lack of notice and respect for Rockies hitters makes all of us in the Rocky Mountain region grind our teeth and cry for justice, we need to get used to it. As long as people like Tony Kornheiser have a voice, they’re going to continue to bash Coors Field at every turn.

However, we can all something else to their attention and see if they have any semblance of integrity in their stance. If you are one of those steadfast in your belief that Coors Field gives hitters an unfair advantage, then it would seem to follow that you would give Rockies pitchers some additional credit for dealing with those same elements.

Hold that thought, Tony.

As we approach 40 games played, Rockies starting pitchers have been largely outstanding. Some ups and downs, including a slow start for Jon Gray. But they’ve hit stride recently, and their collective ERA is now less than 4.00, a seemingly unheard of stat considering the Coors Field effect.

The starters are being led by the most unlikely of staff aces, cancer survivor Chad Bettis. He moved to 4-1 with seven shutout innings against the Mets. His lone loss was a four-hit, two-run, seven-inning outing in Miami.

His ERA is a Kershaw-like 2.05. That’s good for fifth in the NL and better than early Cy Young favorite Patrick Corbin. His four wins are tied for second in the league behind Scherzer.

A year ago at this time, Bettis and those around him were more concerned about him living than pitching. In December of 2016, he was diagnosed with testicular cancer. He underwent surgery, but during a check up in spring training of 2017, they found the cancer had spread, and chemotherapy was needed. He should have been out for the season. But Bettis battled back after the treatments and returned for the last two months of the season.

With each outstanding outing, his back story becomes more and more remarkable. It can be the vehicle that finally gets him the notice he deserves, and the hypocritical national baseball media to step back and examine their mindset and voting criteria.

If you want to continually (and incorrectly) punish Rockies hitters because you have a preconceived ideal that Coors Field’s hitting stats are tainted, then it stands to reason that you pay homage to what Rockies pitchers are accomplishing.

So the big question: As the season unfolds, will Bettis get bonus points for playing his home games at Coors Field?

We’re a long way from anyone being a legitimate Cy Young candidate. There's a huge amount of season to be played. We can speculate.

What if Bettis continues this pace and puts up a season similar to Ubaldo Jimenez in 2010? What if he flirts with a 20-win season, which would be the first in Rockies history? What if he posts an ERA under 3.50 in hitter-friendly Coors Field? And most importantly, what if Scherzer continues his outstanding season and continues to dominate the national headlines? What happens to Bettis and the Coors Field bias then?

We all know the answer. Scherzer will be the easy Cy Young choice. Yet if all those things happen, shouldn’t Bettis get the benefit of the doubt over a pitcher like Scherzer who plays the majority of his games in a more pitcher-friendly venue?

Common sense and fairness say yes. The entrenched national media bias says no way.

Listen to Mark at 11:30 a.m. Mondays with Brady Hull on “The Hull Show” and Thursday evenings on “Rockies Rundown” on AM 1310 KFKA Greeley.