Rock Solid Recrap: My Bad

Kinda. Kinda more Huston Street's bad, but I guess I should take a little flack for seeing the future in this tweet.

Is Donnie Murphy on deck? Pedro Alvarez? Even worse.

Yeah... this situation was shaping up eerily similar to the one we saw in Florida. Back-and-forth. Rockies fight back late, take the lead on an improbable HR, before turning the ball over to Huston Street, who then walks the #4 hitter (attack please!) bringing up the #5 hitter as the winning run.

Visions of Donnie Murphy danced in my head.

Visions of Pedro Alvarez hitting a baseball harder than any I've seen all year (yesterday vs Hammel) danced in my head.

I didn't want to see what I saw in my head, but I did. Then I tweeted it. Then it happened.

*Headdesk*

Pirates 8, Rockies 7

But you know... this is MOSTLY Jim Tracy's bad.

Only Jim could leave his starter in too long in the 6th, and still be flat out of pitchers by the 10th. I would LOL at that if it weren't my favorite team... and that tragic loss hadn't just occurred.

I didn't really see the upside in leaving Jorge De La Rosa in for 113 pitches. I don't care if the Pirates still had a 0 in the run column heading into that 6th inning, De La Rosa was pretty clearly done after a 5th inning that saw him throw 22 pitches (91 for the game) and leave the bases loaded (thanks to a poor Neil Walker AB).

He starts the 6th with a walk. No Jim Tracy.

Gets a flyout. No Jim Tracy.

Walks another. Jorge De La Rosa clearly on fumes at this point. Even glancing towards the dugout in a "I got nothing, coach" type of way. No Jim Tracy.

By now DLR isn't pitching anymore, he's throwing a baseball hoping it accidentally caught a part of the plate, but somehow missed a bat as Bob Walk stated on FS-Pittsburgh.

One found the plate. One also found Chris Snyder's bat. Ball found the fair pole.

Here comes Jim Tracy. 22 pitches too late.

And then here comes Jim Tracy again and again.

Had an anchor tied to his ass for De La Rosa. Now we're changing pitchers every other batter for the next two innings so that by the time Colorado rallied in the 9th, all he had left were a fatigued Matt Belisle and closer Huston Street.

Not that that part actually factored into the decision, but it still leaves a lot to be desired from the managerial standpoint.

Ugh. And to think about how special this night would have been for Todd Helton and Ian Stewart. Those were your two role players that stepped up big time this evening but it just wasn't enough.

Tomorrow

We welcome Esmil Rogers back from AAA and all we really ask of him is 7-8 innings of brilliance in an extremely important game. Not too much, I hope?

We'll get another look at Paul Maholm. He treated the Rockies well last week in Denver. Going to need to hurt his ERA again.

Lineup Card: Rockies @ Pirates

1. Close the door on yesterday.  

(Rock Solid Recap, Table Scraps)

2.  Earn a win today.

Rockies Lineup (57-52)

1. CF  Fowler
2. 1B  Helton
3. LF  Gonzalez
4. SS  Tulowitzki
5. RF  Hawpe
6. 3B  Stewart
7. C    Olivo
8. 2B  Barmes
9. P    De La Rosa

Pirates Lineup (38-71)

1. CF  McCutchen
2. LF  Tabata
3. 2B  Walker
4. 1B  Jones
5. 3B  Alvarez
6. RF  Milledge
7. C    Snyder
8. SS  Cedeno
9. P    Ohlendorf

3.  Show up again tomorrow.  

Table Scraps

A few leftover thoughts that I couldn't squeeze into last night's Rock Solid Recap.

World class slide?  No question.

Great baserunning?  Not particularly.

But we all enjoyed the result.   (Highlight)

-- I think Dexter Fowler is going to hit for some decent power as his career progresses. I just hope he doesn't fall in love with that potential and is perfectly content with setting the table, using his speed to create havoc, and splitting gaps for extra bags.

-- I should add I thought the umpires used good judgment in awarding Fowler with a triple on this play... (Highlight).

-- Pirates color man Steve Blass on Ronny Cedeno: "He has some serious pop in that shortstop bat." Sorry Steve... that's wrong and ridiculous.

-- The respect Todd Helton still garners from opposing announcers is pretty remarkable. Even with Todd down as he has been all season, they still treat his ABs as must see events and make it a point to discuss his accomplishments. I don't think you'd hear them go that far with it if their respect wasn't completely genuine.

As a Rockies and a fan of Todd himself, I really appreciate their appreciation.

-- Annnnnd then you get this from a Rockies fan.

Helton grounds weakly to first for the #Rockies. So surprised.

Hey pal -- didn't you see this?  (Highlight)

-- Rockies scored a pair off Pittsburgh's closer Joel Hanrahan in a non-save situation. Where have we seen that before?

 I was quoted as saying closers struggle EVERY time they pitch in a non-save. I'd like to back off that claim and put their failure rate at or around 50%.  Or how about I just say It happens a lot. Like a lot more often than closers blow saves.