Rock Solid Recap: Nine Innings. No Complaints.

Rockies 6, Diamondbacks 1 (boxscore)

A Rockies baseball game took place tonight and I have nothing to complain about.

Not a managerial decision. Not a mental lapse on the bases. Not a lack of hustle (though I could reach for a couple if I wanted). Not even a blown call by an umpire.

Nothing.

The Rockies brought it in every phase of the game for nine complete innings. They never once made life easy for Arizona. Not even for one pitch or one batter, and they were rewarded with an easy 6-1 victory.

It's all sounds so basic. Like something silly to get excited about. But the Rockies just don't play enough games like this. It's almost stunning when they do. They've been on the losing end of them repeatedly, but unless they're in the middle of some unconscious month long run to October, these only pop up occasionally.

I'll certainly take it, though, and pull for many more just like it.

Winning Player: Jamie Moyer

I stated going in that it felt like Moyer needed a solid outing tonight to reestablish himself in the rotation. He responded like a guy that's been in this spot a time or ten in his 26-year career. He responded like a guy that really wants to stay where he is. He responded with a beauty.

Jamie Moyer's Line: 6 1/3 IP, 1 ER, 6 H, 2 BB, 5 K, 98 pitches (56 strikes)

I think the line speaks for itself. But not only did Moyer need this, I think Jim Tracy really needed it. After last night's debacle, a night away from making stressful decisions was surely welcomed.

The bullpen also obviously needed this with only Josh Roenicke (1 2/3 scoreless) and Esmil Rogers (perfect 9th) used to close it out. Credit to those guys because now the Rockies core relievers will be fresh for Thursday afternoon.

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Bad Day: Recapping Another Rockies Loss And Remembering Jerry McMorris

The Rockies suffered a couple tough losses on Tuesday. One of them on the field, which I'll cover like usual, and a bigger one off the field, which I'll touch on at the end.

Padres 3, Rockies 1 (boxscore)

What Went Wrong: We're on the road now so naturally this section will be filled with reports of didn't get the big hit, bad baserunning and made awful or old starting pitcher look great.

Tonight, that old starting pitcher was Jeff Suppan, who tossed five innings of one run ball on only four hits. Five Padres relievers took it from there, holding Colorado scoreless over the final 12 outs to get Suppan his second win of the year.

Speaking of bullpens, Jim Tracy is struggling to juggle his right now (when isn't he, honestly) as he elected to use Esmil Rogers to finish the 7th — which he did after his walk to Cameron Maybin loaded the bases and then he struck out Chase Headley — and start the 8th.

The 8th was, as many predicted, a mess. It started with a four-pitch walk to Yonder Alonso. Soon to be released Orlando Hudson followed that with an RBI triple. And then for good measure, Rogers intentionally walked John Baker before taking his leave.

It really was the most Esmil Rogers relief appearance possible.

Turning Point: Remember last night when the Rockies blew their best chance at a rally by making consecutive awful outs at second base?

They were even more creative tonight.

In the 9th inning, Colorado had runners at the corners with one out and Jordan Pacheco at the plate. My thought at that point being if Pacheco doesn't hit into a double play here, we have a chance because Carlos Gonzalez is due next.

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Rock Solid Recrap: Pitching Continues Circling The Drain

First are foremost, my thoughts are with the fan who was struck by Tyler Pastornicky's foul ball during tonight's game. That was a really, really scary incident. Hopefully the reports we hear continue to be positive. 

Braves 13, Rockies 9 (boxscore)

What Went Wrong: There's a reason I listed flawed and frustrating ahead of fun when describing the Rockies the other day. The current starting rotation is flawed to the point of giving Colorado absolutely no chance 3 1/2 times out of five. Just a miserable, embarrassing mess. And we're already seeing the wear and tear that's taken on the bullpen leading to awful results in the later innings, almost to the point of total predictability.

Yes, everybody knew coming in that this possibility existed, but not to the point we've seen over the past 10 days. This is a quagmire. A total cesspool of incompetence on several levels.

Point at Bob Apodaca. Point at Dan O'Dowd. Point at Jim Tracy. Point at Esmil Rogers, Edgmer Escalona, Guillermo Moscoso, Jhoulys Chacin, Rex Brothers, Jeremy Guthrie's bike.

Point at everybody and everything. You won't be wrong. And assuming things continue as they are (or at least close to it), a lot of those names — player or otherwise — will soon be erased from the Rockies official roster.

They'll have no choice. You can't continue fielding a pitching staff that has 4-5 big league arms at best. You can't continue making excuses for those who field that roster, fail to provide depth, or fail to mold those fringe arms into usable talent.

To quote Jim Tracy... "You just can't."

Oh, and did I mention you can also point at the awful defense? How about four more errors tonight — Troy Tulowitzki, Carlos Gonzalez, Esmil Rogers and Tyler Colvin. That should keep their spot as the worst defensive team in baseball pretty secure.

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Quick Game 1 Recap and Game 2 Lineups

Rockies 2, Pirates 1 (boxscore)

Winning Player: It probably feels like Juan Nicasio deserves the nod here, but how about the bounce back effort from Esmil Rogers?

Called upon in the eighth inning with a one-run lead, Rogers not only accepted the challenge from Jim Tracy, but owned it by striking out the Pirates 2-3-4 hitters. A dominant, emphatic and damned impressive shutdown inning when the Rockies desperately needed one. Also, our short relievers take a pounding when things go poorly, so why not pat them on the ass when they come up big?

Well done, Esmil.

And well done by Matt Reynolds (got his one batter) and Rafael Betancourt (1-2-3 ninth for his sixth save).

Turning Point: Eric Young's wheels have been changing games all month, and that's what happened again with the game tied at 1 in the eighth.

With one man already out, the speedster reached base on a hit by pitch. Marco Scutaro directly followed that with a single through the hole on the LEFT side created by Clint Barmes cheating towards second (looking for an EY steal attempt), which allowed Jr. to move first to third without hesitation. That set up Tyler Colvin, who hit nothing more than a medium pop fly to right field. But that's all EY needed to score from third and give the Rockies the lead.

Watch EY get down the line for the win

Just that simple. That just quick.

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Rock Solid Recrap: Tracy, Bullpen fall apart in 7th inning

Brewers 9, Rockies 4 (boxscore)

What Went Wrong: The Rockies bullpen has been a strength in the early going.

Tonight, not so much.

It started in the sixth inning as Jim Tracy called on Esmil Rogers to protect a one run lead. Rogers, who had put together four scoreless relief appearances — retiring at least four batters in each — to begin the season, was greeted by a game-tying Ryan Braun home run.

That you could live with. However, Tracy elected to stick with Rogers (18 pitches in the sixth) into the seventh, and the wheels promptly fell off as three of the first four Brewers reached, including a Rickie Weeks RBI triple.

So Rogers gets the hook with Colorado now trailing 5-3. In comes Edgmer Escalona, who proceeds to throw gas on the fire beginning with a Ryan Braun RBI triple and ending with an Alex Gonzalez three-run homer.

9-3 Brewers. Game over.

Other problems: Managing only two hits and striking out nine times against injury fill-in Marco Estrada wasn't exactly inspiring. Marco Scutaro was one of those victims, striking out for the first time in 2012. Maybe he'll only strikeout against pitchers named Marco.

Oh, and remember how I was praising Wilin Rosario for his work behind the plate in his early starts? BIG step back tonight with some lousy (perhaps lazy) footwork leading to a pair of passed balls and a wild pitch. He needs to bring it every night.

Turning Point: Back to Jim Tracy's odd use of the bullpen in the seventh.

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Rock Solid Recap: Bottoms Up

Rockies 8, Padres 4  (boxscore)

Winning Player(s): As the title may or may not indicate, I'm going with the bottom third of tonight's starting lineup. That includes Chris Nelson, Jonathan Herrera and Juan Nicasio. All three played a huge part in tonight's win, and you're about to read how.

Turning Point: Sometimes the turning point can be obscure, other times it's blatantly obvious. Tonight's was the latter, because it came via Chris Nelson's two-run double in the second that gave Colorado a 2-1 lead.

The most important thing is that it did just that, gave Colorado the lead. But with runners on 2nd and 3rd and one out, I felt like it was ultra important for the Rockies to not settle for one, or even worse, none in that spot. Nelson's hit not only guaranteed they would put up the crooked number, but it opened the flood gates to a five-run inning that San Diego never recovered from.

Nelson would finish up his night with a pair of doubles, a walk, two runs scored and two more driven in. That's how you take an opportunity and run with it.

Juan Nicasio's Line: 6 1/3 IP, 4 ER, 7 H, 0 BB, 5 K, 2 HR, 99 pitches (65 strikes)

Terrific outing for Nicasio on the heels of that unexpectedly disastrous effort against San Francisco. If you recall, Nicasio walked FIVE in that game (career high), but came back firing strikes with all of his pitches tonight and worked effectively outside of the zone when he had to. The only Padre that got to him was Chase Headley (two home runs), but he's been getting to every Rockies pitcher since he came into the league so we're used to seeing that.

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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.

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Spring Training Hits & Misses: Game 27 vs. Chicago

Hits

Wilin Rosario

The positive reviews on Rosario keep coming in, and he continues backing those up with outstanding results. This afternoon against a solid veteran right-hander in Gavin Floyd, Rosario went 3-for-3 — raising his spring average to .471 — including a double, RBI and two runs scored. He also nailed the only attempted base stealer, Alejandro De Aza — 12 steals in 54 games last season — and helped steer the Jamie Moyer ship on a day when he clearly didn't have it.

It all adds up to another encouraging day for Rosario.

Misses

Rafael Betancourt

He's had a rough spring and he couldn't finish the one inning Jim Tracy asked him to throw today (retired one but loaded the bases). That's concerning. He appears to be healthy, though, so that's good news. But what if he's setting up for a slow start to the season? That would be bad news. But he's also a veteran, so he could just as easily flip the switch and hit the ground running when it counts.

How's that for non-analysis analysis?

Esmil Rogers

Edgmer Escalona — scoreless inning and two-thirds — continued his surge upward while Rogers took a step back this afternoon — 1 IP, 2 ER, 3 H, K. I still think Rogers has the edge if the two are battling for the same roster spot (he's out of options), but you can bet Escalona isn't going away. Also, the Rockies are committed to Alex White in the bullpen and White is committing to making the team any way he can.

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Spring Training Hits & Misses: Game 24 vs. Cincinnati

Hits

Todd Helton

The Rockies offense struggled with Reds ace Johnny Cueto early in today's game. Well, with the exception of Todd Helton, who connected for a pair of solo home runs — a second inning shot to right and an opposite field blast in the fourth. I actually decided to go back and watch the second one a couple more times just so I could admire it some more. It really was picture perfect swing on a pitcher's pitch down and away. Every hitting coach should have that swing on tape and show it to their pupils repeatedly. It was professional hitting at its finest.

Casey Blake

Blake desperately needed a moment that not only made himself feel confident heading into the season, but the Rockies coaching staff and myself as well. He had that moment in the fifth inning when he crushed a two-run homer to left off Cueto to give the Rockies the lead.

It was a good step in the right direction, but my hope is the Rockies will continue to make Blake prove himself (health wise and on field production) before adding him to the opening day roster. I know the Rockies won't ask him to play 130 games, so that helps his cause, but they can't afford to have any dead spots on the roster like we saw for too many extended periods last season.

Alex White

Apparently White doesn't want to be overlooked in this bullpen mix. He was excellent today in his latest audition to be the bullpen's bridge guy (starter-to-late inning relievers), throwing two scoreless and striking out three. Among his victims: Drew Stubbs, Brandon Phillps and Joey Votto. All very good hitters.

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Spring Training Hits & Misses: Game 23 vs. San Francisco

Hits

Jordan Pacheco

Pacheco led the Rockies offensive attack with three hits (all singles) this afternoon. Just another casual reminder that he can really hit and that he'll be traveling with the Rockies to Houston for opening day.

Tyler Colvin

Another start, another multi-hit game for the guy I'm now openly pulling for to make the Rockies opening day roster.

Memo to Charlie Blackmon: You better get healthy relatively soon. Like yesterday.

Misses

Dexter Fowler

First his fiance takes to Twitter to praise Giants fans and elbow Rockies fans in the ribs. (A tweet she later deleted.) Then he goes 0-for-4 to drop his spring average to .125.

Question to Dexter Fowler: How does a platoon with Charlie Blackmon or Tyler Colvin sound?

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Spring Training Hits & Misses: Game 21 vs. San Francisco

Hits

Jamie Moyer

12 Giants up, 12 Giants down as Jamie Moyer rises from the ashes once again to become a real contender in the race for the Rockies fifth rotation spot. According to several people on site, Moyer topped out at 78 on his "fastball", but had a Giants lineup featuring several regulars off balance from pitch 1 to pitch 45, and probably would have been good for another inning had the Giants defense not kicked the ball around for a half hour in the fourth.

We're one paragraph in and it's plainly obvious the Giants mailed it in tonight. Scratching Tim Lincecum and moving him to a minor league start all but confirms it.

Anyway, it looks like the fifth starter race will end up going down to the wire, at which point the Rockies will decide if they want a veteran presence like Moyer to begin the season, a middle of the road placeholder like Guillermo Moscoso, or an upside play like Alex White or Tyler Chatwood.

If I were a betting man, I'd save my money and wait to wager on a judgment not involving Jim Tracy.

Clubhouse Chemistry

When Dan O'Dowd rebuilt the Rockies clubhouse this offseason, Marco Scutaro and Michael Cuddyer were the two most important bricks added from the offensive side of things.

Both were stellar tonight.

For Scutaro, it was a two-run double in the second that started the scoring. He also added a pair of walks hitting out of the lead-off spot. For Cuddyer, it was his first home run of the spring — a two-run shot in the third — and a single.

Just in case you were still worrying about the veterans' struggles this spring, you can stop now. Both will be fine.

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Spring Training Hits & Misses: Game 10 vs. San Diego

Hits

Wilin Rosario

Rosario capped Colorado's 8-run seventh inning with an absolute rocket three-run home run to straight away center field. And boy did it ever sound good coming off his bat. According to the Denver Post's Troy Renck, Rosario has worked hard to clean up his swing this spring and is also doing a better job of laying off breaking pitches. Hopefully he's able to maintain that discipline and the positive results continue piling up.

Brandon Wood

With Casey Blake a late scratch due to being old, tired and barely able to move, Brandon Wood was gift wrapped another opportunity at third base on Monday. He took advantage of it by crushing more baseballs (single and RBI triple). Assuming Blake remains old, tired and unable to move, Wood will find himself getting more and more opportunities, which makes him one of the more intriguing players in camp. Keep watching (or reading).

Jeremy Guthrie

After Cameron Maybin took him deep to lead-off the game, Guthrie would allow only one single over his next four innings of work. That's good stuff. Of the 12 outs he recorded, three came via the strikeout and another seven came on groundouts. That's also good stuff. Oh, and again no walks allowed. That's great stuff.

Chad Tracy

I've been a little rough on Chad Tracy this spring (admittedly unfairly so), so I will definitely acknowledge his go-ahead RBI single and sacrifice fly today. Those were actually two very good at-bats. A nice day for him and I'm sure a nice day for daddy as well.

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Spring Training Hits & Misses: Game 4 vs. San Francisco

Hits

Charlie Blackmon

Hey, any time you can take Tim Lincecum out of the yard - spring training, postseason and all times in between - you've had a good day. So that means Blackmon's day was a good day just a couple pitches into the game as he led it off with a solo blast off the Giants ace. He then added a single, a stolen base and a run scored in the second, again off Lincecum, making it an excellent day.

Michael Cuddyer

Jim Tracy wanted to get Cuddyer into the lineup today to get him a look at Lincecum. It didn't take him long to get comfortable as he knocked a two-run triple over the head of right fielder Nate Schierholtz to cap a three-run first. Cuddyer would later add a run scoring single, giving him a three RBI day batting out of the sixth spot.

Jamie Moyer/Rex Brothers

Opposite ends of the age and velocity table, but equally as effective on the mound today. Moyer tossed a pair of scoreless innings, allowing one hit and striking out one. Brothers followed with his own scoreless frame. Good start for each in active competition.

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Hits & Misses: Team Helton vs. Team Giambi in intrasquad action

The Rockies waged war amongst themselves in an epic(ally titled) intrasquad game Friday afternoon in Scottsdale. It was Team Helton vs Team Giambi, and while the game counted for even less than a meaningless Cactus League game does (they could have at least allowed the winning captain to make the lineup card out all season), it did hold at least some meaning for guys who begin the spring on or outside the roster bubble and/or guys returning from injury.

For example...

Hits

Esmil Rogers

Rogers pitched two completely clean innings on the afternoon, needing only 13 pitches to do so. For a guy without options, without an inside track to a roster spot, who often struggles with his pitch count, an outing this efficient sure beats the usual. Good start for Esmil.

Brandon Wood

The former first round bust with the Los Angeles Angels (think Ian Stewart, only right-handed) showed off his versatility today, starting the game at third base and also spending time at short and second base. According to those on scene Wood made a very good accounting for himself defensively at the latter two positions (not his strengths) while adding a two-run single. Good start for him.

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Lackluster Recrap: Two too many outs at the plate

Well hello there 2011 season. Nice of you to backhand us across the face with another long, agonizing, but ultimately predictable night of baseball.

Did you ever really feel like the Colorado Rockies were going to win?

Of course you didn't. At least not after Mark Ellis was thrown out at the plate in the first inning trying to score from third on Troy Tulowitzki's groundball. Though I will say this... nine times out of ten the contract play is stupid and drives me crazy. This was actually the one time it doesn't, because with first and third and one out, you want that run across should the infielder attempt for the double play and fail.

All you essentially have to lose are 90 feet... at most.

But regardless of whether or not it's the right play or you like it, the ultimate result is Colorado wasting a scoring opportunity. Two innings later, Ellis would be out at the plate again trying to score on a wild pitch. Of course the game ends with the Rockies losing by one.

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Lackluster Recrap: Why would you help a snake?

I don't understand why, but the Colorado Rockies continue to make life easy for the Arizona Diamondbacks in the NL West.

Well, alright, I do why understand -- Arizona is good and the Rockies are not -- but they can't raise their game for at least one of these meetings?

Really?

Really?

I just hope that when the Diamondbacks clinch this division in the next two weeks, they send a bottle or two of champagne to the Rockies clubhouse. It would be the proper thing to do.

Diamondbacks 10, Rockies 7 (boxscore)

-- Just another one of those starts for Esmil Rogers. I don't know. The rough first innings are always there. The good second and third innings are always there. Then comes the rough ending in the fifth or sixth.

At this point he's at about seven starts after missing a lot of time on the DL. He should be approaching the time where he could stretch out for 7-8 innings, he can just never get there. Maybe we'll see some progress over the final 3-4 starts, but I'm foreseeing a spot starter/long reliever role in 12.

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Lackluster Recrap: Well, we almost got in a fight!

Almost.

Those 15 or so seconds after Huston Street chirped towards Gerardo Parra for his somewhat unnecessary forearm to Eliezer Alfonzo's chest, and the benches partially emptied, the Rockies nearly showed a pulse.

Of course the faint pulse quickly faded, the players returned to their dugouts, and the Rockies went quietly in the 9th inning. But at least we'll have those 15 seconds!

Diamondbacks 4, Rockies 2 (boxscore)

Esmil Rogers: Same old pattern. Awful first inning. Nice recovery. Strong middle innings. Tires in the 6th and allows that final run or two that assures his ERA will never dip below 5.

Lather. Rinse. Repeat.

Dexter Fowler: Back-to-back games with a homer? The hell is that about?

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Lackluster Recrap: Balk, balk, puke

Dodgers 6, Rockies 1 (boxscore)

Let's just cut to the chase.

Were the two balks called in the 7th inning legitimate?

To the letter of the law, yes they were. Any type of flinch, movement, awkwardness is going to be called. Meant or not, those are all in some way or another a method of deceiving the runner

However, when left open for interpretation by the umpires, you'd hope they would be smart enough to understand Esmil Rogers had no intention whatsoever to deceive a baserunner (no chance in Hell with Bob Davidson). The baserunner was actually deceiving Rogers, which is perfectly within the rules, but what a pain in the ass for a pitcher to have to divide his attention like that. I guess that's his problem for loading the bases.

It's also Rogers' problem for not staying composed and finishing the inning. He got beat by Justin freaking Sellers. That can't happen.

But up to that point he had his best outing of the season by a country mile, so hats off for that.

The Matt Reynolds balk was an easy call. No problems there.

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Rock Solid Recap: If we didn't see it, did it really happen?

I heard a rumor the Colorado Rockies played a baseball game Saturday afternoon, and won that baseball game by playing hard all afternoon, not making too many stupid mistakes, not giving away at-bats, and maybe just being the better overall baseball team.

Can anyone confirm this?

Rockies 7, Dodgers 6 (13)  (boxscore)

I guess I'll just have to go based on the boxscore.

This team. I swear. One day I compliment them or a specific player, the next game they repay me with a dud. One day I rip them for not battling all nine innings, the next game they battle for 13 innings and pull out a dramatic and exciting victory.

I can't win... but at least they did... apparently.

Quite a few guys/items to touch on here, so we'll go one-by-one.

Esmil Rogers: Every start is the same pattern. Bad first inning, recovers in the second and third, and then tires/struggles in the middle innings. But there is slight progression in that he's able to go over 100 pitches now with consistency, and that's allowing him to work through his mid-game struggles and in this case pitch through the sixth. That's a big plus for a tired bullpen.

Also, the final numbers are rarely pretty, but they aren't disastrous either. To me he's not an awful #5 in the NL West as it currently stands. He's not nearly as solid there as Jason Hammel was at his best, but he's passable. And I'd still like to see him take his regular turn in the rotation the rest of the season so we can see if he's a serious contender for the same role next season.

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Sunday Recrap: Chapter 17

Hello Baseball World!

What you witnessed this evening was Colorado Rockies baseball at its Sunday best in 2011. So glad all of you finally got a glimpse into the hell we've been living all season.

Cardinals 6, Rockies 2 (boxscore)

What are we going to do about Esmil Rogers and first innings? It's unreal. He just can't past that hurdle of avoiding a bad start. Does he need more warm ups? Is it nerves? Someone needs to get on that and figure out some answers.

Bob Apodaca: You go first.

The good news is sometimes Esmil is able to limit the damage. The bad news is there are nights like tonight, where he gives away a quick 2-0 lead, and then proceeds to give up even more. It's frustrating, and once again, he piled up 32 pitches in the first. That guaranteed another short night. Despite recovering nicely from the slow start, that's exactly what it was.

Moving on...

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