Rock Crappy Recap: Hammel Hammered

Braves 9, Rockies 5

Overall, a much improved effort from the Rockies tonight.

Seriously!  I mean it!

No sloppiness was evident on defense.  The offense put together a couple solid innings, with Seth Smith contributing the pinch-hit 3-run homer.  The bullpen was honestly pretty awesome. Thank you Manny Corpas, Joe Beimel, Matt Belisle and Randy Flores.

The loss pretty much boiled down to one person and one inning.

Losing Player: Jason Hammel

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Running Thoughts: Hammel vs. Lowe

Here I was all prepared for a 6:05 CT first pitch only to discover the Braves are doing the 35 after first pitch.  I'd like to say that's annoying but I can only imagine how annoyed fans are by the Rockies 40 after first pitch time.  Of course nothing tops the White Sox 7:11 start times.

Now I have to find something productive to do with my next 30 minutes... like laundry, or exercise.

Bleh.

Oh, and there is some good news on the injury/flu front.  Brad Hawpe and Todd Helton are both in the lineup in their customary spots.  Carlos Gonzalez is available for pinch-hit duty and could start a game in this series.  All very positive things.  Now hopefully yesterday's debacle served as a wake-up call and we see a whole different team out there tonight.

Update: My only productive activity in the last half hour was getting the mail.  Now it's time for baseball in Atlanta!

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Looking Ahead: Let's Get Fisted

There's no way to make that sound right, nor is there any way to make Chip Caray sound like a competent announcer.

Before I get into anything for tonight, I just want to offer you this in regards to yesterday's debacle.

Click on the following links to view condensed versions of Brewers/Cubs, Rangers/Indians & D-Backs/Dodgers from yesterday. It'll make you feel better about he Rockies game momentarily... and then you'll remember they lost two of three to Milwaukee and you feel like crap again. But at least you'll have that short moment of comfort.

Hammel vs. Lowe

I think we've seen enough of Derek Lowe over the years to know what's he about. Sinkerballer in the exact same mold as Aaron Cook. Cook probably relies on his a little more, but Lowe also lives and dies with it when it's crunch time.

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