Rock Solid Recrap: Pomp, Circumstance and Miserable Baseball

A beautiful pre-game shot from Troy Renck.

That's where the majesty ended. 

Giants 7, Rockies 0 (boxscore)

What Went Wrong: Everything. 

At least in the opening series in Houston the Rockies received two excellent starting pitching efforts and a third that was competent. No such luck today. Everything was lousy ranging to unwatchable. An absolute worst case scenario home opener in every phase of the game. Especially when you add in that it came at the hands of the 0-3 San Francisco Giants.

Yes, Barry Zito shut them out. This revamped Rockies offense couldn't touch him much the same way they couldn't touch Lucas Harrell or Bud Norris... and 40+ pitchers last year that had no business shutting down a major league team either.

Not good. 

And the defense? How about two more errors — Carlos Gonzalez and Troy Tulowitzki — that led to three unearned runs against Matt Reynolds in the fifth. Just a sloppy, lousy performance everywhere on the field.

Read more »

Home Opening Lineup Card: Rockies vs. Giants

Colorado Rockies (1-2)

1. Marco Scutaro (2B)
2. Dexter Fowler (CF)
3. Carlos Gonzalez (LF)
4. Troy Tulowitzki (SS)
5. Todd Helton (1B)
6. Michael Cuddyer (RF)
7. Ramon Hernandez (C)
8. Chris Nelson (3B)
9. Jhoulys Chacin (P)

The regulars return for this afternoon's home opener. I'm sure Jhoulys Chacin is thrilled... especially from a defensive standpoint. 

San Francisco Giants (0-3)

1. Gregor Blanco (LF)
2. Melky Cabrera (RF)
3. Pablo Sandoval (3B)
4. Aubrey Huff (1B)
5. Hector Sanchez (C)
6. Angel Pagan (CF)
7. Brandon Crawford (SS)
8. Ryan Theriot (2B)
9. Barry Zito (P)

Everybody looks at Barry Zito as the perfect opponent to break out against. I agree that he fits the bill, but I also would have put Lucas Harrell in that category and little happened there. Maybe Zito, coupled with a return to Coors Field, will be enough to do the trick. If not, there will be plenty of early head-scratching going on in Denver.

Also, no Buster Posey or Brandon Belt in Bruce Bochy's line up? That's very accommodating.

Links

— A look back at yesterday's disappointing rubber match in Houston. Heaven & Helton

— A big thank you goes out to Josh Pahigian and Kevin O'Connell, who recently co-authored an update to their popular book The Ultimate Baseball Road Trip, for including a mention of Heaven & Helton during the Rockies section of their book. I'm very appreciative of the acknowledgement and certainly encourage any and all of you to check it out at some point. You can find it at amazon.com.

— Woody Paige has a... well he really likes Jim Tracy.  Denver Post 

More Rockies thoughts await you if you follow me on Twitter: @Townie813 & @HeavenHelton