Rock Solid Recap: Stress Free Jimenez

Rockies 4, Astros 0 (and they barely scored 0)

Winning Player: Ubaldo Jimenez

Apparently the only thing Ubaldo doesn't do well is stay hydrated.

Cramping in both legs limited him to only seven innings... of one hit baseball.

An infield hit.

An infield hit that Ian Stewart misplayed into a hit by going barehand on a slow roller he could have easily gloved for an out. That's all he allowed.

My goodness is this guy good.

Now we just have to hope the cramps were really just that. That nothing was significantly worsened by Jim Tracy's silly decision to leave him in the game. That his arm was able to stay intact despite obvious differences in his mechanics while pitching on two cramping legs.

Yes, Jimenez nights are typically stress free. But with the way things are going for this Rockies sqaud, you know there's always going to be a subplot that makes you hold your breath for awhile.  Thankfully all indications point to us being able to exhale and look forward to Stress Free Jimenez next week at Coors Field.

The Offense

Improved ever so slightly.

It was nice to see Tulowitzki finally deliver a crushing blow.  That set a great tone for the game and allowed Jimenez to settle in quickly.  Hawpe had a really good AB late that resulted in an insurance RBI single.  I really appreciated that one because he was down in the count 0-2, but didn't give the AB away.  Very encouraging.

Helton was a beast reaching base all five times. Can I get any support on my suggestion to move him to the 2 hole with his career long awesomeness at reaching base setting the table for Tulo, CarGo and Hawpe?

Gonzalez just isn't built for leadoff with his aggressive style. Put him 4th, where he'll see more pitches to his liking that he can rip on early in counts.

Fowler is more the leadoff type with his recent patience at the plate, plus his speed.  Helton isn't dynamic enough power wise to hit third, but gets on base perfectly for a 2 hitter.  Tulowitzki can hit anywhere. Put him third. Then everything falls in line like it usually does.

Maybe that idea sucks, but maybe it doesn't. It just seems like so many guys are grossly out of place compared to their skill set and talent.

Speaking of grossly out of place. The Rockies head to Kansas City... where baseball has been out of place there since 1986. Rockies NEED this series. Go get it!