Sunday, May 20, 2012

Rock Solid Recrap: Rockies Swept For Third Straight Weekend

Mariners 6, Rockies 4 (boxscore)

What Went Wrong: Coming in to Sunday, Seattle's starter Blake Beavan had never struck out more than four batters in a big league start (23 career). He struck out seven Rockies. In just five innings.

That's just one example of the crap that led to Colorado being swept for the third consecutive weekend (Braves, Dodgers, Mariners). Plenty more are on the way.

Turning Point: This isn't so much a turning point. It's actually more along the lines of one of the most poorly executed defensive plays I've ever seen. It happened in the 1st inning with the game still scoreless. Seattle had men at the corners with two outs when Kyle Seager (runner on first) takes off for second hoping to draw a throw so his team can possibly steal a run.

You've seen the play before a million times... especially if you or one of your children played youth baseball or softball. There it works pretty much all of the time. In the big leagues, you either eat the baseball or have something designed to counteract the play, usually resulting in an out. Heck, some teams even get a double play out of when they execute their plan.

The Rockies? Well, let's just say they looked like they've never seen, heard of, or prepared for the above scenario, because as soon as Seager ran, all hell immediately broke loose.

First it was Wilin Rosario's throw to second that sailed to the shortstop side of the base, almost as if he was expecting Troy Tulowitzki to take the throw. Nope, it was Marco Scutaro's play. After Scutaro lunged to make the catch, he came up firing wildly back to the plate... completely over the head of Rosario.


Seattle's Dustin Ackley was credited with the steal of home. Seager was able to advance all the way to third and eventually scored on Justin Smoak's single.

Brutality.

Lineup Card: Rockies vs Mariners 5-20-12

Saturday's Recrap: I'll Have Another

Lineups

Colorado Rockies (15-24)
  1. Eric Young (CF)
  2. Marco Scutaro (2B)
  3. Carlos Gonzalez (LF)
  4. Troy Tulowitzki (SS)
  5. Todd Helton (1B)
  6. Michael Cuddyer (RF)
  7. Wilin Rosario (C)
  8. Jordan Pacheco (3B)
  9. Jeremy Guthrie (P)
The power outage at the Townsend residence all morning and early afternoon was simply another reminder that the Rockies were playing this afternoon. Anyway, the power is back now. Maybe the Rockies can finally find theirs as well.

Wilin Rosario with his third straight start? Well, maybe Jim Tracy DID get fed up with Ramon Hernandez after those two absurd at-bats in Thursday's loss to Arizona. If so, good on you, Jim.

Update: Apparently the tendonitis in Ramon Hernandez's left hand has flared up again and is the reason Rosario has started all weekend. Thanks to @RockiesRoad for the heads up on that.

In another bit of news this afternoon, Rex Brothers has been optioned to Triple-A Colorado Springs to work on a few things... as in everything. Adam Ottavino returns to take his roster spot. So hopefully you're a big Josh Outman fan, because the Rockies newest lefty is about to see increased work late in games. 

Seattle Mariners (18-24)
  1. Dustin Ackley (2B)
  2. Michael Saunders (CF)
  3. Ichiro Suzuki (RF)
  4. Kyle Seager (3B)
  5. Jesus Montero (C)
  6. Justin Smoak (1B)
  7. Mike Carp (LF)
  8. Brendan Ryan (SS)
  9. Blake Beavan (P)
More Rockies thoughts await you if you follow me on Twitter: @Townie813 & @HeavenHelton