Rock Solid Recrap: Several Bullets Lodged Firmly In Foot

Phillies 9, Rockies 5

The Rockies hung around and hung around. It even looked promising a couple different times. But the reality is that the Phillies never lost control of the baseball game, and the Rockies never were in a realistic position to win it.

That's because the Phillies were never going to shoot themselves in the foot. They were just waiting for the Rockies to shoot themselves in the foot, and then they jump all over them for their mistake.

In the 5th, Melvin Mora couldn't turn a double play (again) which led directly to a run on that play. This allowed the inning to contunue, and then another run scored one hitter later as Seth Smith booted one in LF.

In the 6th, a two out, two strike wild pitch by Matt Daley gave Philly another gfit.

In the 8th, Brad Hawpe drops a flyball that should have ended the inning. That did NOT lead to a run, but folks, it was costly. That meant Randy Flores had to come in to face one batter (Chase Utley), whom he retired.

The costly part is that Colorado had to pinch-hit for Flores, which gave the 9th to Manny Corpas. If Hawpe catches the ball, Flores could have started the 9th against Utley and Howard.

No guarantee for success of course, but a better scenario.

In the 9th, Corpas hit Howard. Retired Werth. Then a wild pitch took away the DP chance.

Now here's the kicker. Tracy walks Ibanez intentionally to get to... Carlos Ruiz.

You know, the Carlos Ruiz who makes a pretty good career killing the Rockies. The Carlos Ruiz that was hitting .520 in May coming into this game.

That failed.

And then Ross Gload capped the entire evening with a three-run HR into the bullpen.

So yeah. That's a good number of bullets lodged in the feet of Rockies players and managers.

Losing Player: Manny Corpas

It could go a number of ways, which is disturbing, but I go with Corpas because his HBP and WP led directly to the decision in the game.

Indeed Corpas has been good this season, but if you look at how it breaks down, he hasn't been good in the 8th or 9th inning. That's the running theme for the entire team. Bad in the late innings.

Hat Tips

I do tip my cap I'm not wearing to two Rockies tonight.

Greg Smith

Deserved a better fate. He wasn't great, but he got little help from his friends behind him. Very unfortunate.

Jason Giambi

Three hits. Three RBI. Saved a couple errors with some good picks at first. By FAR his best game of the season.  Without him it may have been 11-1.