Looking Ahead: To Tasty Nationals Pitching

First on the menu: Craig Stammen (15.63)

Alright, so that ERA is quite a bit misleading. Both of Stammen's starts have come against Philadelphia. Not exactly a receipe for success. Would you care to guess what his win-loss record is based on that ERA?

It's 0-0 of course.

Meanwhile, guys like Kevin Millwood (2.89), Roy Oswalt (2.37) and Jeremy Guthrie (3.15) all have two losses to their credit in the early season.

Indeed, stats can be very misleading, and while I fully expect the Rockies to put runs on the board tonight and this entire series, we will most definitely find out that Stammen is better than those numbers indicate. I just hope he doesn't go all Jair Jurrjens on us en route to restoring his credibility.

Aaron Cook for the Rockies tonight... Sink or Stink? I'm going sink. He's due for a qaulity start.

Morales

I know it's not popular among Rockies fans but I'm sticking behind Morales. He's taken a couple really tough blown saves this week that had little or nothing to do with him. Can he stay focused? Is his confidence shaky? I kinda hope we get to find out right away tonight.

My Lineup Card

LF Gonzalez
CF Fowler
1B Helton
SS Tulowitzki
RF Hawpe
C Iannetta
3B Stewart
2B Barmes
P Cook

Simulation

Rockies 7, Nationals 4

Aaron Cook picked up his first victory (1-2) of the simulated season. He threw 6 1/3 innings, allowed 4 ER on 10 hits, walked 1 and struck out 4. Joe Beimel, Rafael Betancourt and Franklin Morales followed him a scoreless inning each. Morales earning another save.

Offensively it was all about Todd Helton (4-for-5, 2B, 2 RBI, R) and Ian Stewart (3-for-5, 2B, 3 RBI). Stewart's 2-run double in the 7th put the Rockies ahead for the first time, and Helton's own 2-run double in the 8th iced. I should also point out that Helton is hitting a cool .477 on the season.