Not in our wildest dreams could we have imagined the Colorado Rockies winning a series in Pittsburgh, following that up by not only winning that elusive series in New York, but sweeping an entire four game series in New York, including sweeping a doubleheader. That sh... stuff never happens! None of it.
But you know what? When Troy Tulowitzki isn't in the mood to lose. When Jonathan Herrera muscles up for his second career home run. When you get back-to-back solid starts from both Esmil Rogers and Greg Reynolds. When your closer can be awful in a save situation and you still don't blow the game.
When all of those things come together -- you may be a little bit lucky, but -- you're not going to lose.
-- Yes, I said Jonathan Herrera went yard. He turned on a Taylor Buchholz pitch and hit a three-run missile into the right field seats in the 6th inning. That came two batters after Brad Emaus failed to turn the easiest inning-ending double play of life with Jorge De La Rosa running. Dexter Fowler also had a clutch two-out, RBI single which set the table for Herrera.
The reactions of Troy Tulowitzki, Jim Tracy and the guys in the dugout are priceless.
-- Troy Tulowitzki completed his sweep of New York. He became the first player to homer in every game of a series at Citi Field. In case you forgot, this was a four game series.
-- Jorge De La Rosa's day was an interesting one. He did not have much command of anything early on. He left several flat pitches right in the happy zone and New York's right-handed bats made him pay with some good swings, but never could deliver a knockout blow. They would regret that because Jorge collected himself in innings five, six and seven.
In the end his lined looked this: 6.2 IP, 5 H, 4 ER, 4 BB, 7 SO, 1 WP. 116 pitches.
Again, considering the way he started that's an excellent line. But on a normal day under normal circumstances I wonder how long Tracy would have stuck with him.
-- Good job by the bullpen -- Matt Reynolds, Rafael Betancourt and Felipe Paulino -- to eliminate any and all drama from the second game. We all needed that little late inning breather, but no one needed it more than Jim Tracy.
-- Todd Helton had three hits. Because he's a freaking brilliant hitter.
-- Carlos Gonzalez waits patiently for Dexter Fowler to catch a flyball in Game 2.
-- Well, the Rockies will be dragged kicking and screaming back to Coors Field for a homestand beginning with the Cubs on Friday. This would be an easy series to overlook coming off this roadie and looking ahead to the Giants coming in next week. Hopefully Colorado can maintain the focus necessary to take care of business.
3 comments:
We played hard for all 27 outs of every game on this road trip. I'm not sure the Rockies played all 27 outs consecutively at any point on the road last year.
Blake said it exactly right. This team plays every single out. I don't know if it is Tulo's influence, maturity from the club, or both. This team fights and battles and finds ways to win. The scary thing to me, is that are yet to play a complete game. This team is scary good.
And you are correct, Todd Helton is a freaking brilliant hitter.
Appreciate the comments.
You guys hit on the head. But I'll be curious to see how they get through this Cubs series. Not saying there will be an exhale, but if there was ever going to be a time for one, this might be it. Shall be interesting.
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