Rock Solid Recrap: Owned by Kevin Millwood. That's pretty close to Rock Bottom.

Mariners 4, Rockies 0 (boxscore)

What Went Wrong: Kevin Millwood shut the Rockies out on two hits.

Any further questions?

Turning Point: The Rockies first hit didn't come until two outs in the 6th. The game can't turn if one team's offense completely no-shows.

Any further questions?

Alex White's Line: 7 IP, 3 R (2 ER), 7 H, 0 BB, 7 K, 98 pitches (66 strikes)

Jim Tracy publicly pleaded with Alex White to come out firing strikes, to pitch with confidence, and to avoid the tentative style that has become common with Rockies pitchers. White responded to that challenge by pounding the strike zone, walking nobody, and delivering one of the more complete outings we've seen from any pitcher at Coors Field this season.

It just wasn't as good as Kevin Millwood's.

Anyway, White truly was Colorado's lone positive in this game. Hopefully the other pitchers on this staff take note. You can survive at Coors Field if you pitch effectively to contact. You simply cannot survive pitching anywhere if you fear contact.

Highlight of the Night: Watch Alex White's seven strikeouts

Screengrab of the Game: Congrats @RockiesRoad on having your question answered on the air!

Who doesn't love Jenny's purple phone?

What's Next: We're looking at some Saturday afternoon baseball tomorrow with a first pitch of 2:10 MT. Impressive rookie Christian Friedrich (1-0, 1.38) will make his Coors Field debut in that one for Colorado. He'll be opposed on the mound by Seattle's Jason Vargas (4-3, 3.28).

And to avoid any confusion, this game WILL NOT be blacked out in Colorado or anywhere else. The Fox Sports broadcast begins tomorrow at 5:00 MT, meaning Root Sports will have rights to the broadcast.

Final Thoughts: Busy days are ahead. I'm back on the Big League Stew beat as of Friday night with a handful of contributions coming each week. That won't necessarily change the volume of posts here at Heaven & Helton, but on certain nights it will change the timing a bit and perhaps the length of the content. I'll simply ask you for your patience with me when those nights occur.

Thanks, as always.

We'll be back to regularly scheduled baseball thoughts in this space tomorrow.

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

Lineup Card: Rockies vs Mariners 5-18-12

Thursday's Recrap: Blake Street Brutality

Lineups

Colorado Rockies (15-22)

1. Marco Scutaro (2B)
2. Jordan Pacheco (3B)
3. Carlos Gonzalez (LF)
4. Troy Tulowitzki (SS)
5. Todd Helton (1B)
6. Michael Cuddyer (RF)
7. Wilin Rosario (C)
8. Dexter Fowler (CF)
9. Alex White (P)

I'd like to think Wilin Rosario is starting because of those two miserable at-bats Ramon Hernandez took yesterday, but it's not like Rosario's lone at-bat was much better. And beyond that, the two catchers have been playing every other day for about the last two weeks regardless of who's playing well, so this is just a continuation of that. 

Seattle Mariners (16-24)

1. Dustin Ackley (2B)
2. Michael Saunders (CF)
3. Ichiro Suzuki (RF)
4. Kyle Seager (3B)
5. Justin Smoak (1B)
6. John Jaso (C)
7. Mike Carp (LF)
8. Brendan Ryan (SS)
9. Kevin Millwood (P)

Speaking of catchers, I'm going to predict John Jaso will be the random Mariner to kill the Rockies all weekend. 

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

Rock Solid Recap: Rockies use the force to crush Astros

Rockies 19, Astros 3 (boxscore)

Remember when we made fun of the Rockies on Sundays?

Not this time.

As @Rockieswoman1 pointed in her postgame game, the Rockies outscored the Tennessee Titans, Denver Bronces, as well 16 other NFL teams on Sunday. SIXTEEN. 1-6.

This after scoring a grand total of... wait for it....19 on their entire final seven-game home stand. This team. Seriously. I don't even know what to tell you, so I'll just give you two basic pieces of information.

1. The Rockies 19 runs were a season high. Duh!
2. The 25 hits were a franchise record.

Who got those hits? I'll break those down into clubs.

4-Hit Club

• Jordan Pacheco 
• Ty Wigginton 
• Tommy Field (3 RBI, walk)

3-Hit Club

• Mark Ellis 
• Seth Smith (2 walks) 
• Kevin Kouzmanoff (2 homeruns, 5 RBI)

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Lackluster Recrap: Yay for not being no-hit!

Or as @edwscott responded on Twitter, maybe they wanted to be no-ht but couldn't do that right either. It seems plausible. 

I'll say this -- the Rockies may have only had one hit against Cory Luebke and Ernesto Frieri (Yes, those are real people, and real major league pitchers. Hell, I even started Luebke in two fantasy leagues.), but they got a 200% return on that one hit -- a two-run home run by Mark Ellis.

On the negative side, Luebke had two hits himself. And San Diego had eight runs. We lose. Again.

Padres 8, Rockies 2 (boxscore)

It was probably good that Kevin Millwood threw a clunker out there to remind people like me who are clamoring to re-sign him that he's still old, and he's only had one really quality season (2009) since 2006. Thanks, Kevin. My optimism has been adjusted.

Back to the positive side: The bullpen -- Jim Miller, Edgmer Escalona & Josh Roenicke -- did a fantastic job, holding San Diego to one run over the final 5 2/3. At least those guys are trying to make a name for themselves.

Drew Goodman: 8-time Colorado Sportscaster of the Year, and currently the Rockies best fielder...

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Rock Solid Recap: Millwood continues to be real good

Let's just go ahead and pencil Kevin Millwood in as the Colorado Rockies opening day starter in 2012.

Yes?

Oh... no?

Well, alright, that may have been generous, but all of these reports and the speculation about the Rockies giving Millwood an invitation to spring training are underselling his performance just as much (if not more) than my opening sentence oversold it.

When you look around baseball and see the lack of depth in about 25 out of 30 rotations, assuming Millwood's arm doesn't fall off in his next couple starts, someone, or many someones, will be willing to guarantee him a spot on their 40-man roster. He's been that good for the Colorado Rockies since coming on board.

He's a veteran presence. His approach to the game is as impressive as I've seen from any Rockies starting pitcher. Think about it, the Rockies haven't had many pitchers in their lifetime that have established themselves in the game like Millwood, and have had success as long as Millwood has.

And how could they? Those pitchers aren't going to willingly come to Colorado, and no pitcher the Rockies develop is going to last that long in Denver. There's just no way. So this is something different and its something positive.

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Lackluster Recrap: Solo home runs for the loss!

I think I've written this recrap a few times this season. You know, the one where the Rockies hit multiple home runs in a game - all of them solo - and lose.

Yeah, that one.

Diamondbacks 5, Rockies 3 (boxscore)

So guess what, I'm going to write positive things about the home runs since all three were all pretty significant for one reason or another, rather than focus on another meaningless result.

For Carlos Gonzalez, it was his 25th of the season. That's a nice, solid, round number.  (Watch)

For Kevin Millwood -- yes, that Kevin Millwood -- it was a rare pitcher home run. It was only the third of his career and his first since 2001. (Watch)

And for young Wilin Rosario, it was the milestone career home run No. 1. You've officially made it, kid. Congratulations! (Watch)

-- I'll tell you something I really like about Wilin Rosario. He comes across as a fearless, no nonsense type of player. I love that. So does Troy Tulowitzki, apparently. I like that as well. And the kid seems to have some personality, which I believe the Rockies sorely lack in the clubhouse.

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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: Rare positive baseball thoughts on a Sunday

You might want to bookmark this post, it could be a collector's edition.

For the first since April 17., the Colorado Rockies have won a Sunday baseball game!

It's true! I watched it with my own eyes.

Rockies 5, Dodgers 3 (boxscore)

Yes, they won it, but it certainly wasn't easy. The Rockies offense did a typical Sunday disappearing act from the 2nd-6th innings. In fact, the offense as a whole only collected three hits in the game. That's an on-going problem that we've dissected and thrown up in our collective shoes thinking about for five months. But at least on this day they made their hits count.

Two of them were home runs.

Carlos Gonzalez hit a two-run blast in the first to start the game's scoring. (Watch)

Seth Smith then connected for a titantic 458-foot go-ahead home run in the seventh. Smith's ball landed in the second deck in right center field, above the bullpen. Not unusual to see second deck shots to straightaway right, but that's quite a poke to where Smith hit it. (Watch)

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Rock Solid Recap: Rockies finally answer 9th inning wake up call

I'll be honest, for eight innings this baseball game bored me to tears.

I'm sorry. After Mike Stanton's first inning moon shot and Tulowitzki's third inning two-run shot, there was little to get excited about or interested in watching. Especially with all the other exciting things happening in baseball like Jim Thome's 600th home run (congrats) and the Brewers turning a triple play on the Dodgers.

But I kept watching, and everything changed in the bottom of the ninth inning... with a Dexter Fowler baserunning error.

That makes perfect sense.

Yes, Fowler, representing the tying run, blooped one into shallow centerfield with two outs, but got caught rounding first base way too aggressively. He was dead to rights. But the Marlins also kinda suck, so they completely butchered any chance at a rundown, allowing Dex to take second easily.

That was the Rockies wake up call. One pitch later, Carlos Gonzalez answered it by tying the game with his own double.

But unlike most Rockies rallies, it doesn't end there. After a Troy Tulowitzki intentional walk, Jason Giambi (likely insulted and pissed off by the gesture) walked it off with a three-run homer.

Watch Giambi's walk-off blast

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Day Game Recrap: Chacin in ace form, Rockies lose anyway

Another day game. 

Another chance to win a series. 

Another predictable result. 

And then I predictably say this: The Colorado Rockies always find a way to offset their positives and minimize their success. That's how this team will be defined in the history books. 

Reds 2, Rockies 1 (boxscore)

At least we saw a return to ace form for Jhoulys Chacin this afternoon. On the heels of Kevin Millwood's more than professional performance on Wednesday, Jhoulys was even better throwing an eight inning complete game where he struck out nine, walked three, allowed six hits and two earned runs.

And took the loss. Just like Millwood.

I really liked what I saw here though. Like both starts against Philadelphia, Chacin took the game over from the mound and pitched determined and focused. When that happens, he's special. Really special. Look around at every ace in the game right now. How many of them could determine to Chacin's level at 23?

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Recrap in a Nutshell: Another one of 'those' losses for Colorado

Isn't there a limit on the number of "season in a nutshell" losses you can have in a season?

And at what point does it go from "season in a nutshell" to "the norm" to "this team is utter fail"?

Those are the questions.

Here are the answers.

Yes, there is a limit.

They reached that limit in May. It became "the norm" by the end of May and we've ventured to "utter fail" every damn Sunday since.

Not that this team hasn't been capable of playing well at times. In fact, the first two games in Cincinnati were quite good. But those games only fuel my frustration, because that's the baseball you expect from this team. I really don't think those are or were unfair expectations either.

Anyway, they play two solid games, and then before you can compliment them for their improved efforts, they give you a presentation like Wednesday's where the ending becomes predictable in the 2nd or 3rd inning and you just coast to the inevitable with the only twists being how will they embarrass themselves tonight.

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