Sunday, April 15, 2012

Rock Solid Recrap: Pomeranz Bad. Offense Bad. Sundays Bad.

Diamondbacks 5, Rockies 2 (boxscore)

What Went Wrong: Another everything sucked kind of Sunday at Coors Field.

Of course, Jim Tracy's Sunday lineup card is getting most of the blame for that. And as always, there's justification in that thought process. However, for me at least it was easier to tolerate because we know Carlos Gonzalez is unavailable due to strep throat, and Ramon Hernandez, Todd Helton and Marco Scutaro were all no brainers to sit after a really long night at the ballpark full of stops and starts.

(Especially Helton, who as Drew Goodman and Jeff Huson pointed out had to go through his stretching routine twice.)

That said, I'm sure Tracy would have used a similar lineup regardless of last night's situation because he's Jim Tracy and that's how he rolls, but I also have a feeling the regulars would have struggled just as much against a locked in Trevor Cahill as the B squaders did — PS: Johnny Herrera did have three of the four hits Cahill allowed — so I'm not going to waste more time or energy beating the obvious drum this week.

I'll just tip my cap to Cahill for his effort, acknowledge Drew Pomeranz wasn't nearly good enough, and get ready to turn the page to San Diego.

Turning Point: Speaking of turning the page, the calendar flipped to Sunday. What more do you need to know?

Drew Pomeranz's Line: 4 1/3 IP, 5 ER, 9 H, 2 BB, 3 K, HR, 100 pitches (61 strikes)

Pomeranz was a mess today. It was obvious almost immediately that his offspeed pitches were going to be non factors, so Arizona turned him into a one-pitch pitcher. And to be honest, his fastball wasn't all that impressive either, so that obviously added up to an ineffective outing.

He also needs to improve holding baserunners — and by improve I mean at least make an honest (without balking) effort — because the Diamondbacks weren't shy about exposing that flaw and you know everyone else is taking note of that.

Lineup Card: Rockies vs D-Backs 4-15-12

Last night's crazy Recap: The Toddfather Saves The Day... Again

Lineups

Colorado Rockies (4-4)

  1. Eric Young (CF)
  2. Tyler Colvin (LF)
  3. Troy Tulowitzki (SS)
  4. Jason Giambi (1B)
  5. Michael Cuddyer (RF)
  6. Wilin Rosario (C)
  7. Chris Nelson (3B)
  8. Jonathan Herrera (2B)
  9. Drew Pomeranz (P)
I'm not around Twitter right now but I can imagine there's a lot of talk about Jim Tracy putting his Sunday lineup behind Drew Pomeranz. I'm sure Jim would have done it anyway, but at least it makes some sense after last night's starting, stopping, and the late night at the yard. No formal complaints from me.

Note: Jordan Pacheco was the player optioned down to Triple A to make room for Drew Pomeranz. His struggles at third base (especially last night) are what synched this move, and unfortunately he may have a difficult time getting back up with Eric Young playing so well, Charlie Blackmon getting healthy and Nolan Arenado's arrival possibly coming in the next 6-8 weeks. 

Arizona Diamondbacks (5-3)
  1. Ryan Roberts (3B)
  2. Gerardo Parra (LF)
  3. Justin Upton (RF)
  4. Chris Young (CF)
  5. Paul Goldschmidt (1B)
  6. Aaron Hill (2B)
  7. John McDonald (SS)
  8. Henry Blanco (C)
  9. Trevor Cahill (P)
Any time there's no Miguel Montero in Arizona's lineup, it's a good day for Rockies pitching. Let's finish this sweep! 

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

Rock Solid Recap: The Toddfather Saves The Day... Again

Rockies 8, Diamondbacks 7 (Boxscore)

Unreal. 

Un-freaking-real. 

On another crazy, bizarre, cold (and this time rain soaked) night at Coors Field that saw the Rockies struggle (understatement) to battle the elements defensively and ultimately blow a 5-1 lead, Todd Helton came to the rescue again with a breathtakingly dramatic, bordering on Rocktoberish two-out, two-run walk-off home run in the bottom of the ninth to give the Rockies an exhilarating win over the Diamondbacks. 

How exhilarating? My heart is still thumping about an hour later and I don't think I'm having a heart attack. 

Todd Helton, ladies and gentlemen. I have a feeling he's won himself a Hall of Fame vote or two over these past 24 hours. If not, the voters can... 

Winning Player: Todd Helton. 

There are other good choices, like Tyler Colvin, Michael Cuddyer and Eric Young Jr. for example, but there's only one correct choice: Todd Helton. 


Turning Point: Several in this back-and-forth beautiful mess of a baseball game. I felt like Jhoulys Chacin picking off Gerardo Parra in the first inning to end that potentially big rally was a huge play that held it's importance right until the end.

Matt Belisle limiting the damage around Troy Tulowitzki's two throwing errors in the sixth was also important.

But the turning point that directly positioned the Rockies for this win was Eric Young's two-out RBI double in the eighth that pulled the Rockies within one. That hit and that run cut off Arizona's string of six unanswered runs, and made everything in the ninth inning possible.