Rock Solid Recap: Rockies Disaster Season With Solid Road Win

Rockies 2, Diamondbacks 1 (boxscore)

The disaster season started with a win from Jeremy Guthrie (who's long gone) and it ends with a win Jeff Francis (who rose from the baseball dead). What more do you need to know about the 2012 Rockies?

The numbers 64 and 98 will now go into the books as the Rockies worst record ever. We hope (and maybe even pray) this standard of suck is one they never equal or surpass in the future.

Winning Player: Jeff Francis 5 IP, 1 ER, 5 H, 1 BB, 3 K, 1 HR, 86 pitches (53 strikes)

Tough call here, but Francis gets the nod for finishing his comeback campaign with a strong outing and a victory.

Honestly, I applaud Francis. The numbers are whatever, but we know by now that you can't look at the numbers with Rockies pitchers (especially with this year's experiment) to determine their performance. Looking beyond them, I felt like Francis gave us more than I ever imagined he could coming in, so again, a polite applause for him and an open invitation to join us in 2012 if he wishes.

Honorable Mentions: The Bullpen: 4 IP, 0 R, 2 H, 3 BB, 2 K

The bullpen had its ups and downs this season, but they were without question the most consistently productive group on the Rockies team (not that that's a glowing endorsement but it's still a fact). I think it's fitting that both Adam Ottavino and Josh Roenicke (the two middle relief workhorses) pitched well tonight, and I think the coolest thing about the finale is the man with the bionic arm, Matt Belisle, got the final out to earn the save. Well done by Jim Tracy there.

More Honorable Mentions: Jordan Pacheco 3-for-4, run scored (All he does is get hits), D.J. LeMahieu 2-for-4, RBI (Perhaps the most pleasant surprise of all Rockies this season) and Jonathan Herrera 3-for-4 (Impossible not to love Johnny. Hope he has a big league job next season whether it's here or elsewhere).

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Rock Solid Recap: Rockies Welcome Josh Beckett Back To The National League

More specifically... Tyler Colvin welcomes Josh Beckett back to the National League.

Rockies 10, Dodgers 0 (boxscore)

Winning Players: All of them. That's about as complete a performance as this team has had all season. And honestly, it's as satisfying a win as you can have in August of a lost season. Beating the Dodgers in Beckett's debut and in dominant fashion? Hell. Yes.

Special mentions are definitely in order for Tyler Colvin. Not only did he greet Beckett with the mammoth home run, he also played a big role in breaking the game open with a two-run 8th inning triple.

Another key contributor was Chris Nelson (single, double, triple, three runs scored) with the bat and with the glove. He started a huge double play on Matt Kemp that snuffed out the Dodgers 8th rally attempt.

D.J. LeMahieu (two hits, two RBIs, great double play turn) and Jonathan Herrera (three hits) also get hat tips.

Watch the Rockies turn a big DP

Turning Point: Jim Tracy made a logical managerial move. I swear to it. He made a logical managerial move in the 6th inning when he pinch-hit for piggyback/hybrid reliever Josh Roenicke in a run scoring opportunity, and I'll be damned if Josh Rutledge didn't come through with a pinch-hit RBI single to extend the lead and the inning.

This might not just be a turning point in a baseball game. It could be the turning point in all our lives.

Watch Josh Rutledge deliver

Oh, right, then Matt Belisle hit for himself with two runners on base in the 8th and struck out bunting. But I guess the Rockies were out of players by then or something. And then the Rockies scored six more runs inning and it didn't matter. Fun times!

Jeff Francis' Line: 5 IP, 0 R, 3 H, 1 BB, 6 K, 91 pitches (56 strikes)

Josh Beckett was the talk going in but Jeff Francis stole the matchup with his outstanding five-inning performance. Of course I emphasized five innings there because that's a big deal for a Rockies pitcher. And you know what's an even bigger deal? Jim Tracy allowing Francis to reach 91 pitches despite being in a jam in the 5th. It's a good thing he did, too, because Francis finished the outing in style with the nasty 60-something mph curveball that struck out Shane Victorino.

Loved it.

What's Next: The Dodgers series continues on Tuesday night at 6:40 with a slightly less interesting pitching matchup. For the Rockies, it'll be the young righty Tyler Chatwood (3-3, 4.98). For the Dodgers, it'll be the crafty and surprisingly effective left-hander Chris Capuano (11-9, 3.37).

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

Rock Solid Recap: Jhoulys Chacin Brilliant In Return From DL

Rockies 6, Mets 2 (boxscore)

Winning Player Jhoulys Chacin: 6 IP, 1 ER, 4 H, 0 BB, 2 K, 73 pitches (51 strikes)

As good a return outing as you can have asked for or expected. Troy Renck pretty much summed it on Twitter. Chacin threw with confidence and swagger, which is something we haven't seen from him since early in 2011. He was in the strike zone consistently. He was efficient. It's the type of outing where he may have pushed to go the distance under different circumstances, but we'll certainly take these results and hope there are more to go this weekend in Chicago. 

Welcome back, Jhoulys.

Congrats on your first win since last Aug. 28.

Bullpen's Line: 3 IP, 1 ER, 2 H, 0 BB, 1 K

The Mets scratched out one against Matt Reynolds in his 1/3 of an inning outing, but could get nothing going against Josh Roenicke, Matt Belisle and Rafael Betancourt.

Seriously... how nice is it to finally see the Rockies having opportunities to use Reynolds, Belisle, Roenicke and Betancourt in setup/closer situations?  It's almost like we have a little structure back in our lives.

Also, NO WALKS. From anybody!

Turning Point: The game obviously turned in the Rockies four-run sixth. Up until that point, Colorado was without a single base runner. D.J. LeMahieu and Jonathan Herrera changed that with back-to-back singles leading off the inning. Then came the big play... After Chacin put down his sacrifice bunt, starting pitcher Chris Young fielded it and promptly tossed it halfway down the right field line, which allowed LeMahieu to score and tie the game.

Watch The Mets Botch It All Up

Charlie Blackmon and Dexter Fowler would follow this with RBI singles. Ramon Hernandez then capped the rally with a sacrifice fly. So again, like Monday night, it came down to a few batters in one half inning where the Rockies executed everything correctly and benefitted greatly from the opponent's inability to do the same.

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Rock Solid Recap: Rockies Earn Win With Jumbled Lineup

Rockies 3, Mets 1 (boxscore)

Most of the names in the lineup were unrecognizable to people who don't follow the Rockies closely (and even some who do), yet they found a way to start their road trip on the right track with a win over the New York Mets. And to make it more satisfying, they won a game started by Cy Young candidate R.A. Dickey (no-decision for him).

Winning Player: Tyler Colvin

First base belongs to Colvin again with Michael Cuddyer back on the disabled list. He took advantage of the playing time on Monday night, breaking Colorado into the scoring column with a mammoth second deck bomb off Dickey in the 5th.

Watch Tyler Colvin's home run

But that was just his first big moment in the game. In the 8th, with the Mets threatening to retake the lead, Colvin make a fantastic diving stop of a Jordany Valdespin groundout that was ticketed for the right field corner. Colvin then gathered himself and flipped to Matt Belisle (who was a little late covering) JUST in time to get the out.

Big time play.

Without the out, the game would have been tied and New York still has the bases loaded. If the ball gets down the line, it likely clears the bases and we know the result that would lead to.

And then to cap his night, Colvin singled in the 9th to keep the inning alive. One batter later, Ramon Hernandez gave the Rockies an insurance run with a single of his own.

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Rock Solid Recrap: Rockies Reach 50 In The Loss Column

Cardinals 4, Rockies 1 (boxscore)

Jeremy Guthrie's Line: 6 IP, 2 ER, 6 H, 1 BB, 2 K, 84 pitches (47 strikes)

You'll notice two unusual things about Guthrie's line tonight.

1. It's good.

2. He was allowed to go beyond the 75 pitch limit.

I'm pretty sure the reason that happened is because Guthrie was due to leadoff the 7th inning. But it still worked quite well because Guthrie EARNED the extra rope and then rewarded the Rockies with a strong finish.

Win-Win.

If that doesn't give the struggling veteran a confidence boost, I don't know what will.

Adam Ottavino's Line: 2/3 IP, 2 ER, 3 H, 2 BB, 28 pitches (13 strikes)

This is what it looks like when a reliever hits the wall. Ottavino was very effective in May, posting an 0.87 ERA in 10 appearances — 8 of those appearances coming in an 11 day span (24 overall appearances since May 20). He then posted a very respectable 3.24 ERA in his first eight June appearances. Over his last eight appearances though... 11.88, with nearly one walk per inning.

Needless to say, he could probably use a break that the Rockies paired pitching system won't afford him.

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Rock Solid Recap: Another Coors Field Thrill Ride Leads To 18-9 Victory

Rockies 18, Mets 9 (boxscore)

Yup. just another one of those nights at Coors Field.

You know...

• 27 runs 
• 36 hits
• 7 errors (6 by the Mets - thank you very much) 
• 5 home runs (4 by the Rockies including a Ramon Hernandez Grand Slam) 
• 12 pitchers (6 for each side) 
• 1 Scott Hairston cycle (which comes as no surprise to Rockies fans) 
• A 5-RBI inning (Carlos Gonzalez) 
• Oh, and 1 catcher's interference on a pitch out. (Watch)

Mhm. No big deal.

Winning Player(s): So many of them tonight. If forced to pick just one, I think I might actually go with Marco Scutaro for the spark (4 hits and 4 runs) he provided at the top of the lineup. Then again, how do you overlook the big night (and inning) Carlos Gonzalez had? Watch his home run And then there's Todd Helton (3 hits), Jonathan Herrera (3 runs) and Ramon Hernandez (only 1 hit but 5 RBI).

You know, Matt Reynolds and Matt Belisle were pretty damn important as well, each recording at least three outs in relief without allowing a run. (If that doesn't sound like a big deal to you, please start this Recap over.) So honorable mentions to them with a giant hat tip to Belisle for striking out Scott Hairston with a pair of runners on base in the seventh. Big moment.

Turning Point: Of course, if I wanted to narrow it down to one moment, Eric Young Jr. would be the winning player, because once again his speed, hustle, desire, want to, whatever else you want to call it, changed the game positively for the Rockies.

After the Mets had scored four in the top of the fifth to take a seemingly commanding 6-2 lead, Young was summoned to pinch-hit for Esmil Rogers leading off the bottom half. On the third pitch, Young bounced one feebly back to Mets' fill-in starter Chris Schwinden. Now, for most professional baseball players, what follows are 5-6 token jog steps towards first base before taking a left or right turn back to the dugout. For EricYoung Jr., though, it means busting your ass down the line like you just laced one in the gap.

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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: 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.

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Spring Training Hits & Misses: Game 33 vs. Seattle

With the opening day roster set, there really isn't a need a for hits and misses this afternoon. Instead, we'll just looking at the guys who indeed "got their work in".

Juan Nicasio

4 1/3 IP, 4 ER, 8 H, 2 BB, 3 K

This wasn't a pretty conclusion to Nicasio's spring, but aside from Drew Pomeranz he was the Rockies most consistent and impressive starting pitcher in Arizona. He'll start the Sunday game in Houston, and I'd be willing to bet someone's money that he'll be much better in that one.

Tyler Chatwood 

1 2/3 IP, 4 ER, 7 H, 2 K

This outing didn't exactly solidify Chatwood's somewhat surprising inclusion on the opening day roster. Like I said yesterday though, he'll likely be the first guy to go down, and he does provide value as a long reliever. That's ultra important over the first 10 days or so.

Bullpen 

Rafael Betancourt and Matt Belisle were on point with 1-2-3 innings today. Meanwhile, Rex Brothers allowed one hit but rallied to collect his second save of the spring. All three will be bringing their A games on Friday.

Offense 

Just about everyone provided a hit today. Even Dexter Fowler had an extra base hit. Jonathan Herrera had a double of his own and knocked in three. Michael Cuddyer (in his returned from being plunked by Yu Darvish) doubled, walked and scored twice. Contributions up and down the lineup. Good balance. Oh, and Seattle's five errors didn't hurt either.

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Spring Training Hits & Misses: Game 31 vs. Cleveland

Hits

Tyler Colvin

I don't how good his 400+ foot home run off Ubaldo Jimenez felt to him personally (probably pretty good), but it damn sure felt great to Rockies fans. Colvin would later add a second home run and two additional hits, finishing the day at 4-for-5 with six RBI.

Welcome to the big club, Tyler Colvin. Happy to have you.

Chris Nelson

Speaking of making the big club and homering off Jimenez, Chris Nelson also belongs to this club. His fourth inning two-run shot tied the game momentarily. He later added an RBI double giving him three on the day.

Josh Roenicke

Two more scoreless innings lowers his spring ERA to 0.79. That would be good enough to make the 1990 Cincinnati Reds bullpen, so I'm pretty sure it'll get him on the 2012 Rockies. Especially if they go eight deep initially in the 'pen.

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Spring Training Hits & Misses: Game 19 vs. San Diego

Hits

Jonathan Herrera and friends

Last week I told you to just assume Herrera was doing good things until you heard otherwise, but I can't help but acknowledge his big two-run triple tonight. It was actually a good offensive night all around for the Rockies starting lineup. Aside from Carlos Gonzalez — who will probably make up for this at a far more important time — every spot in the order contributed an RBI or run scored (Wilin Rosario pinch ran and scored for Ramon Hernandez, who left with a bruised knee after a HBP) in the first four innings.

Misses

Jhoulys Chacin

3 IP, 3 ER, 7 H, 2 BB, 2 K and 70 damn pitches.

Tonight was one of those nights where Chacin struggled to locate, missed few bats and the ball was carrying well, so the disappointing line is not all that difficult to figure out. I don't think there's anything here to be overly concerned about big picture unless the blister was a lingering problem. If so, he may need to take a few days off which would set back his progression towards opening day. Otherwise, just chalk it up to Arizona in mid-March.

Edgmer Escalona

Escalona pitched well in 25 appearances with the Rockies last season and had been pitching well this spring until tonight. But tonight was not good (0.2 IP, 5 R (3 ER), 3 H, 3 BB, HR) and for a guy WITH options remaining in a crowded arms race, he needed this night to not happen. A good bounce back effort will be required.

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Spring Training Hits & Misses: Game 13 vs. Arizona

Hits

Juan Nicasio

As Bob Apodaca told the guys on KOA before the game, it's time to stop looking at Nicasio as a comeback story because that story is pretty much complete. Now it's time to evaluate him as a pitcher, and as a pitcher, Nicasio was rock solid tonight allowing only one unearned run on three hits over four innings. The only little blemish or concern was his inability to put a handful of hitters away, which elevated his pitch count. But that's quite a minor thing at this stage. Overall a very impressive and encouraging outing.

Carlos Gonzalez

His first inning three-run home run off Josh Collmenter will get the attention, but I was happier to hear his RBI single off left-hander Wade Miley. The Rockies need CarGo to get back on track against southpaws in 2012, so any progress/success there is worth mentioning. Also, it's safe to assume he's going to keep the bat companies busy again after tonight's original piece of lumber was unable to survive the punishing contact of both hits.

Jonathan Herrera

Three more hits for the pesky utility man. Is it even worth mentioning anymore, or should we just assume Herrera is handling his business in March?

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Spring Training Hits & Misses: Game 11 vs. Los Angeles

Hits

Drew Pomeranz

Pomeranz was dominant in his abbreviated outing today, retiring all six batters he faced without allowing a ball out of the infield. Unfortunately, I was forced to use the word abbreviated because Pomeranz was forced to leave the game early with right hip tightness. That wouldn't appear to be a serious concern, but it does set him back a little bit in terms of his spring schedule, especially if he's advised to rest for a handful of days. Make sure to stayed to Troy Renck on Twitter for the latest.

Matt Belisle

Belisle threw two innings of relief and was every bit as good as Pomeranz, allowing only one infield single, which was quickly erased by a double play. Looks like Matty B. might make the team again!

Jonathan Herrera

We haven't mentioned Johnny Herrera a whole this spring but he was out there doing Johnny Herrera like things today against the Dodgers. That includes a pesky, two-out, two-run single in the second that pushed the Rockies lead to 3-0. He later muscled up for a double and also played some solid defense at short, reaffirming his versatility.

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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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Rock Solid Recap: Our home away from home

Petco Park. If only we could play all of our road games at that wonderful stadium. Actually, it probably wouldn't make any difference unless we got to play those wonderfully miserable Padres every time, so I guess throw my dreams out the window.

Rockies 3, Padres 0 (boxscore)

Some good things to take away from this game.

Also some bad things, ugly things and hilarious things. But mostly good things.

Good: Kevin Millwood continued his surprising string of effectiveness, and less surprising string of professionalism, with seven scoreless innings. At this point, it's obvious the Rockies could do far worse for a 5th starter next season. But let's hope better options surface just to be safe.

Good: Jonathan Herrera with three hits out of the two-hole. It's great to see him taking advantage of his latest playing time. Not because it'll necessarily lead to even more playing time. Who the hell knows with Jim Tracy? It's just great to see it. That's all.

Bad: Helton-Smith-Kouzmanoff: 0-for-11 with one walk. Unfortunately, the one who drew the walk is the most likely to be benched come Saturday.

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Rock Solid Recap: Mixed results for White in ugly Rockies victory

With three exceptions...

1. Carlos Gonzalez's ridiculous catch (Watch) 

2. Seth Smith's 478-foot home run (Watch)

3. Jonathan Herrera's game-winning two-run home run (Watch)

... every other piece of footage from this game should be doused in gasoline and burned.

Rockies 8, Astros 6 (boxscore)

The Colorado Rockies did not play good baseball. In fact, they were pretty horrible. The infield defense suffered from several lapses. The baserunning was atrocious... again. It just wasn't something you'd show to a group of little leaguers hoping to learn the basic fundamentals of baseball.

And then you have the Houston Astros, who could probably learn things by watching little leaguers on tape. Heck, maybe that's where manager Brad Mills got the idea to move relief pitcher Wesley Wright to right field for one batter and then back to the pitcher's mound. Hey, it worked. Give him that much.

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Lackluster Recrap: Another Sunday no show

It's becoming increasingly difficult to sit through Colorado Rockies baseball games, let alone write about them. Especially on Sundays, when the team finds new ways to embarrass themselves and discourage the fanbase. 

It's ridiculous. And you can't really blame Jim Tracy's lineup on this mess we witnessed today. Ubaldo Jimenez was on the mound, and the only regular not playing was Mark Ellis.

This team just flat out disappoints time and time again. There's no sense of urgency whatsoever. There's no pride to improve fundamentally. Instead, we watch players - like Seth Smith - continue to regress in every phase of the game. Smith's defensive effort in recent weeks has been shameful. And his offensive performance has sunk right along with it.

With Carlos Gonalez and Charlie Blackmon hurt, there's no place else to turn here. But he's proven again he won't be an every day player. He deserved the opportunity. He didn't get consistent enough playing time for a while in that role, but honestly, I don't think it mattered. He's not cut out for it. He's a solid hitter that's best used late in ballgames.

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Return of the Rock Solid Recap

Every now and the Rock Solid Recap goes on a vacation. For example, the entire second half of last September, it was all Recrap all the time. But it's always nice when the Recap makes it triumphant return!

Welcome back Recap!

Welcome back Rockies!

Rockies 3, Nationals 2 (boxscore)

Let's get right into the three positives

1. Jason Hammel: A huge, HUGE bounce back effort from Hammel. I admit I was getting a little concerned there might be a lingering back problem or something else that was bothering him. And maybe there was. But this performance helped suppress those worries, and should help to inflate Hammel's confidence. If he'd lost any that is.

Line: 6 1/3 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 3 K

2. Jonathan Herrera: The professional pain in the ass is back to being just that. Herrera reached base three times (two hits, one walk) and was the catalyst in Colorado's three-run fourth inning (the only inning they scored in). He also had a solid night in the field.

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Rock Solid Recrap: Rockies dismantled, pantsed and swept by Braves

Braves 6, Rockies 3 (boxscore)

Now see, that's how you take care of business and finish off a sweep. You think the Atlanta Braves cared that the Rockies are short-handed and hurting? No chance. That's a talented, driven, ruthless and scary good baseball team they've put together there. Damn good team.

It's a good lineup. Don't care how much they've struggled to this point, the process of coming together has already begun. They will score runs. The rotation speaks for itself. And the back end of the bullpen is shutdown quality.

But like I said, I'm most impressed with how they took care of business on the field. They took charge of every game, stepped on the Rockies throat and never once let them up. Rockies could learn from that... if they ever get healthy again.

Juan Nicasio

The good and the bad. We've documentated after every start that there's going to be a lot of both. Today was a perfect example. Two good innings, then the wheels just fall off. Learning how to navigate his way through those tough innings is always a difficult hurdle in any pitcher's development. Just look at Ubaldo, Hammel, De La Rosa - all of those guys struggled to get past the killer inning. Once they did, they realized their varying levels of potential.

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Rock Solid Recrap: Splitting headache

Yeah, splitting that four game series with the Dodgers was not what I had in mind, especially after the Rockies came out and played so well in the first two. Very, very frustrating results these past two days. A blown opportunity to not only gain on or stand their ground with the front-runners, but more importantly to me, create some space from a Dodgers team that I think has a good run in them during the second half of the season.

Dodgers 10, Rockies 8 (boxscore)

Ubaldo Jimenez: Listen, allowing three home runs is never a good thing for a pitcher. That much is pretty clear and obvious, but it's beyond the numbers to me. Where I'm more concerned is Ubaldo's confidence/mindset. Once something has gone wrong for him this season, like Ty Wigginton's error, he loses it. Fast. And he rarely gets it all back together.

That kinda tells me everything we've seen with him this season has been more mental than physical. I can't prove that. I'm not a licensed doctor or psychiatrist, but that's my diagnosis from afar. And I don't know how you can fix that if it really is the root of the problem. You can work on his mechanics. You can review scouting reports over and over. But how do you teach a pitcher to get over mental hurdles?

Bullpen: Well, we saw the entire lineup struggle together for a month, so it's only appropriate the entire bullpen struggles at the same time. Hopefully they get it straightened out a lot quicker than the offense did. And I don't mean to lump Rex Brothers in there because he's been excellent, but even he had a rough go of it today.

Ty Wigginton: I've seen enough of the limited range and routine grounders clanking off his glove. This team desperately needs to tighten up the defense. If that means bringing back Ian Stewart sooner than later, I'm all for it. Giving opponents extra outs and opportunities has to be addressed and eliminated. It's wearing on everybody.

Jonathan Herrera: The bloom is off the rose with Johnny, which is unfortunate, but not totally unexpected for a major leaguer who survives on guts, intelligence and ability to execute. I'm not saying he needs to go, because I don't think that's the case. But given how well Chris Nelson has played, and given the need for dynamic offensive performers, I'm not sure he's going to fit in if he's not excelling at the things he does best while in a bench role.

This could be a big week for him to get it turned around. And this is coming from Herrera's biggest supporter since he was called up last June.

Offense: All of the Rockies runs scored on homers. Seth Smith had a three-run shot in the 1st, which hopefully served as a reminder to Jim Tracy that he needs to play EVERY DAY. Carlos Gonzalez and Troy Tulowitzki each had two-run homers in the 7th, and then Todd Helton hit a solo shot in the 9th. 8 runs. That should have been enough, but once again, it wasn't.

Overall: Any confidence in the Rockies I had built up over their three-game winning streak is wiped away. Today was a big, big, big game in my mind, especially with Ubaldo out there, and they fell short. Yeah, it's promising the offense has turned it around, but we're learning again that the problems for this team run much deeper than one thing. On any given day, they can do a number of different things poorly that puts them in a position to lose.

Until all of those are cleaned up, the ups will always be followed with disappointing downs.