The Colorado Rockies are playing out at the string at this point. Actually, that started a couple months ago, but the recent sweep at the hands of Arizona made it officially official, though not technically official.
Anyway.
Once we get to this miserable place with nothing to truly invest ourselves in as fans, watching the Rockies (or any team) can be torturous (especially the Rockies). However, on this unusual Tuesday, they actually gave us reason (two, actually) to not only invest our precious time and energy, but they also rewarded us with one of their most exciting victories of the season.
I mean it.
Rockies 8, Diamondbacks 3 (boxscore)
Of course the first seven and one half innings looked exactly like every other Rockies snooze fest. General sloppiness in the field, sleepiness from the offense, and seemingly every possible bounce or call going against them. But the offense absolutely erupted in the bottom of the 8th; where they scored a season high seven runs on seven hits with the added assistance of two walks and one HBP.
And the best part of that particular inning? All seven runs crossed with two outs. So that means every plate appearance after Dexter Fowler's fielder's choice (1st in the order) until Mark Ellis' flyout (2nd in the order, but one full time around the lineup later), was a clutch/quality/pretty damn exciting plate appearance.
The key hits/plate appearances...
Carlos Gonzalez's RBI single (Watch)
Troy Tulowitzki's three-run HR (Watch), reaching the 30/100 club
Theth Thmith's THECOND triple (Watch), which knocked in Ty Wigginton
Jordan Pacheco's RBI single (Watch), scoring Smith
Dexter Fowler's long, drawn out bases loaded walk
A lot of big time pieces of hitting all put together in a neat little row.
To go beyond that... It was nice to see the Rockies come off the deck in that inning after a bad call at home plate ended their previous rally in the 7th. How many times have we seen even the smallest thing (call, error, balk, wild pitch) throw them way off? Too often.
It felt like justice was served. But above that, it felt like the Rockies manned up for a change and didn't allow nonsense beyond their control to defeat them mentally.
-- Tuesday was also big because of the Major League debuts of one prominent prospect (Wilin Rosario) and another intriguing one (Jordan Pacheco). All things considered, I felt both made favorable impressions.
Alright, so Jordan Pacheco made an error that led to a run. He also recorded his first two hits, his first two RBIs, and had a key at-bat in that 8th inning. And honestly, before the error (a throwing error), he fielded the position well. He didn't look like he'd be a huge liability at the hot corner right now, and that's not even his primary position.
Alright, so Wilin Rosario was 0-for-3 with a strikeout and a passed ball. He also drew a walk in the 8th inning, and called a really excellent game for Jason Hammel. Those are good things. If you're worried about the 0-for-3, knock it off. Just let him take his ABs and enjoy the results as he gets more comfortable.
Final thought
Jason Hammel pitched his best baseball game in 10 weeks and he's literally an afterthought. How about that for an eventful night? And how about this for an eventful week... he pitches a gem only days after becoming a father. A big hat tip and congratulations to Jason for the pitching performance, and the entire Hammel family for the birth of Beckett William Hammel. He even shares a birthday with his dad. That's pretty cool.
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