Saturday, April 16, 2011

Rock Solid Recap: Chacin takes charge

Rockies 5, Cubs 0 (boxscore)

On a night when the Colorado Rockies needed a strong starting pitching effort, Jhoulys Chacin went out and hurled the best game of his young career. His first career complete game shutout. The first of what I assume will be many.

Although the Cubs did put eight runners on base against Chacin, you never had the feeling they were truly threatening to mount a comeback, let alone score one run. He had that much of a strong command over his pitches and his poise. He was simply locked in physically and mentally.

Brilliance. Pure brilliance from pitch #1 until pitch #114 is how I'll describe it. Fun to watch. And it looked so effortless.


-- Chris Iannetta provided 80% of the Rockies offense with one swing and a little help from the Cubs defense.


So many times in the past the Rockies have wasted such opportunities by not getting the baseball in play. Iannetta's bases clearing triple reinforces how important that is. Anything can happen when you put the ball in play. It's not always what you want, but it's proven fact that nothing good can happen when you're striking out.

Iannetta also had another very good game behind the plate. His overall game is at a level now that we all have to feel good about. The average isn't great (.219), but the OBP (.444) and SLG (.469) are stellar. Sustaining this production or anything close to it will be a challenge for Chris, but just seeing he's capable make me feel  optimistic that he's turned the corner and will hold steady.

-- I liked Jose Lopez a lot better when he was proving me wrong.

-- Todd Helton. Two more hits. Water still wet.

-- Wonder if Carlos Gonzalez is due for a day off. Looks like a guy that needs to clear his mind and maybe spend a day sitting next to Carney Lansford. Or hell, maybe he needs to be talking to Jonathan Herrera.

-- Troy Tulowitzki's home run drought will be at 50 hours at first pitch Saturday. Odds it doesn't get to 51?

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