Phillies 3, Rockies 2 (boxscore)
What Went Wrong: Oh man, that was a fun one, wasn't it?
No?
The offense, bullpen and Jim Tracy ruined your night?
Yeah, I understand. They probably would have ruined mine too if I wasn't too busy watching the Pittsburgh Pirates commit a ridiculous seven errors against the Cubs. But you don't care about that one. You want to read about the Rockies offense snapping its 19-inning scoreless streak with a two-run first... and then starting a brand new 8-inning streak by not scoring the rest of the game.
Or better yet, you want to read about the Rockies overworked bullpen losing its 20-inning scoreless streak thanks in part to Carlos Torres allowing a pair of 7th singles, and thanks in part to, in my opinion, unnecessary tinkering by Jim Tracy.
With expanded rosters and extra relievers at his disposal, this is the time of year where Jim really gets to be himself. I'll let you decide if that's a good thing or not overall, but he probably would have been better served to let Torres work out of his own jam (he needed one out), as he has done many times in the piggyback role, rather than going to Matt Reynolds against Chase Utley. The result of that plate appearance was a walk, which is better than a home run I guess, but Tracy was again forced to make a change to Josh Roenicke as the inning continued,
Charlie Manuel countered that change by pinch-hitting Laynce Nix for Ty Wigginton. Bam, Nix drops a two-run double and it's tied at 2.
Now obviously I can't guarantee you things would have gone better had Torres remained in the game. But I do know that two innings later the Rockies were forced to use Will Harris in the 9th (since Tracy likes to save his closer for the save chance on the road), and predictably bad results materialized. I just didn't like any of it (including the awful failed hit-and-run with pinch-runner Andrew Brown and D.J. LeMahieu hitting in the 9th) and I don't care if it sounds like second-guessing.
PS: We need to get Nate Schierholtz out of the National League. Now!
Turning Point: Pick any of the ones noted above. Personally, I think the failed hit-and-run was the killer. I guess I could have spent more time on that but it's late and it's utterly pointless attempting to make sense of it.
Jeff Francis' Line: 5 2/3 IP, 0 R, 6 H, 1 BB, 7 K, 86 pitches (60 strikes)
Francis was again solid tonight, and honestly, without a paired pitching system, he likely pitches into the 7th or 8th and the entire late game fiasco is avoided. But nah, we'll just stick with the nonsense and pretend we're making progress.
What's Next: Saturday - 5:05. Tyler Chatwood (4-4, 5.53) vs Cole Hamels (14-6, 3.04). Scoreless streak in danger of reaching 17.
Final Thoughts: Sleepy time. 25 to go!
More Rockies thoughts await you if you follow me on Twitter: @Townie813 & @HeavenHelton
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