Monday, August 22, 2011

Rock Solid Recap: The Astros are really bad

I had a feeling this homestand with the Marlins, Dodgers and Astros would have people believing again. Just based on what I've read on Twitter, people are indeed buying in, although cautiously.

Hey, I don't blame you. It's been a rough summer. Any glimmer of hope is welcomed here.

Of course this homestand will end after two more games, and then the Rockies will go on the road for nine division road games. But hey, they've taken care of business at home, which is also welcomed. Now if they can actually gain a little ground on that trip while climbing closer to .500, then you might be on to something.

It doesn't hurt that the teams they're chasing are the definition of bleh. But then again, the Rockies fit that description as well. With less pitching.

Rockies 9, Astros 5 (boxscore)

This one was over early. The offense came out firing against Brett Myers, plating six runs on six hits in the first. The inning included a number of quality plate appearances, beginning with Eric Young's leadoff walk, and concluding with yes, a two-run double from Jhoulys Chacin.


In between Dexter Fowler doubled, Carlos Gonzalez doubled in two, Todd Helton singled home CarGo, Ty Wigginton doubled, and then Mark Ellis got Todd home with an infield single. Terrific inning.

The Rockies would tack on one more in the second on CarGo's 22nd. Then the offense went silent as it tends to do, before Chris Nelson knocked in two with a double in the 8th. Not a relentless, sustained offensive attack, but plenty good enough.


I don't know to tell you about Chacin's outing on the mound. He allowed 11 hits and walked one in 7 innings, but only allowed one run. From the positive perspective, it's good that he was able to buckle down and work through his traffic. He also limited his walks, so you're happy about that.

On the negative side, the Astros offense is a farce. Again, the ultimate results were good, but I'd like to see Chacin come out and dominate a team like this. I want to see him buckle down from pitch one like he's done so well against a team like Philadelphia, where he worked them over beggining to end. I know I focus on that a lot, but it really is the next step he'll need to take to be an ace.

He still has time.

I don't know what the hell happened with J.C. Romero and Josh Roenicke in the ninth. Let's just pretend it didn't happen.

Three positives

I pretty much covered the positives above. And honestly, everybody I include in the positives recently comes back the next game making an error or doing something completely out of character.

For example, I went out of my way to praise Chris Nelson's defense at third on Sunday. He played one defensive inning on Monday... and committed an ugly error. So we'll lay off the positives for tonight.

Final thought

Alex White debuts for the Rockies on Tuesday! Needless to say this is one of the most anticipated Rockies debuts in recent memory. So be sure to check out the game and check back for some analysis.

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