Rock Solid Recrap: No sweep for us

That's okay. Justin Verlander vs. Aaron Cook? Nine times out of ten that's not going to go your way. The important thing is they took care of business in the first two games, took the series, and should leave town feeling pretty good about themselves.

Tigers 9, Rockies 1 (boxscore)

Aaron Cook: Pretty standard Cook day when you think about it. Which I'll actually take against Detroit. 6 IP, 8 H, 4 ER, 2 BB, 4 K. It may not look pretty, but it matches up well with Ubaldo's line and better than Jason Hammel's. The difference was his margin for error was zero. We knew that going in, so that made every hit and run allowed a little more frustrating than the one before or any hits allowed by Ubaldo or Hammel.

7th inning: Ouch. Rough day for Rex Brothers' ERA. Rough day for Rex Brothers period. Spiked on the arm covering home plate? I've been spiked on the ankle a time or two. But **** that would hurt to take one on the forearm. Thankfully it was his non-throwing arm, but he was still forced to leave due to bleeding. The wound took four stitches to close up. Did I mention ouch?

Watch in the injury if you dare

Also, Seth Smith... Well, that was embarrassing. Jim Tracy should consider benching him for three weeks. Oh... he was already considering that.

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Rock Solid Recap: 35 up, 35 down

Back to .500. Good. If they stay at .500 come July 1st I can finally look at the standings with interest.

See, for me there are two rules when it comes to looking at the standings and watching the scoreboard.

1) It has to be July.

Why July? Because it's usually just past the halfway point and the finish line is finally closer than the starting line. To get worked up about it before that point is a waste of energy for me.

2) The Rockies have to be over .500.

Because how many times has a team under .500 realistically contended for anything? Be over .500 and you're almost always in a position to matter.

So that's how that breaks down.

Rockies 5, Tigers 4 (boxscore)

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Lineup Card: 6-18-11 Rockies vs Tigers

If you're looking for Rockies game lineups and you don't feel like searching all over Twitter or waiting for MLB.com to post them, check back to Heaven & Helton about 60-90 minutes before first pitch. They should be here waiting for you.

Links

• Yesterday's recap: No offense to the Detroit Tigers... but
• Denver Post: Dante Bichette Jr. agrees to contract with Yankees
• Rockies Review: Rockies show who they can be at the plate
• Rockies Woman: Put the Tigers back in the cage

Lineups

Colorado Rockies (34-35)

1. CF Carlos Gonzalez
2. 2B Chris Nelson
3. 1B Todd Helton
4. SS Troy Tulowitzki
5. 3B Ty Wigginton
6. RF Ryan Spilborghs
7. LF Charlie Blackmon
8. C   Chris Iannetta
9. P    Ubaldo Jimenez

Seth Smtih. Bench. Lefty pitcher. You know the drill.

Big start for Ubaldo Jimenez. Tough opposing lineup, though they are going more with defense than offense this evening. But the Rockies really need this game ahead of facing Justin Verlander tomorrow. So an overpowering performance would definitely be welcomed here. 

Detroit Tigers (38-32)

1. CF Austin Jackson
2. 3B Don Kelly
3. RF Brennan Boesch
4. 1B Miguel Cabrera
5. C  Victor Martinez
6. LF Andy Dirks
7. SS Jhonny Peralta
8. 2B Ryan Raburn
9. P   Phil Coke

Rock Solid Recap: No offense to the Detroit Tigers... but

Beating up on them and Jim Leyland was a helluva lot of fun on Friday night.

I admit it, I still haven't forgetton Leyland's quitting on the Rockies after the 1999 season. Forgiven? Sure. I mean, it's his life, so it's not really an unforgivable thing, but certainly not forgotten. That means it will always be a little extra satisfying when the Rockies clean his clock, which is exactly what they did here.

Rockies 13, Tigers 6 (boxscore)

The Rockies rookies led the assault.

Charlie Blackmon: 4-for-4, two runs and two RBI. He's not providing a lot of power, but damn, he's getting the bat on the ball consistently and he's finding himself on base multiple times each game. That's helping the Rockies extend their lineup. For the first two months the offense was basicially limited to 2-5 in the order. Now with Blackmon hitting well at seven, it's opening things up for guys like Ty Wigginton and Chris Iannetta to see better pitches be factors.

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Lineup Card: 6-17-11 Rockies vs Tigers

If you're looking for Rockies game lineups and you don't feel like searching all over Twitter or waiting for MLB.com to post them, check back to Heaven & Helton about 60-90 minutes before first pitch. They should be here waiting for you.

Links

• Wednesday's recap: Something about a lot of singles
• ESPN's Ultimate Standings: Rockies rank 8th out of 122 pro franchises
• All Things Rockies: Jose Morales breaks thumb; Matt Pagnozzi coming up

Lineups

Colorado Rockies (33-35)

1. CF Carlos Gonzalez
2. 2B Chris Nelson
3. 1B Todd Helton
4. SS Troy Tulowitzki
5. RF Seth Smith
6. 3B Ty Wigginton
7. LF Charlie Blackmon
8. C   Chris Iannetta
9. P   Jason Hammel

Jason Hammel won't know what to do actually having the everyday lineup behind him. A true rarity.

Detroit Tigers (38-31)

1. CF Austin Jackson
2. LF Brennan Boesch
3. 1B Miguel Cabrera
4. C   Victor Martinez
5. RF Magglio Ordonez
6. 3B Alex Avila
7. SS Jhonny Peralta
8. 2B Ryan Raburn
9. P   Rick Porcello

Damn, that's a pretty solid lineup. And creatively filled out by Jim Leyland moving Alex Avila to third base from his usual catching position to get Victor Martinez in there. So I'm thinking, let's see how of a defense for offense trade they're doing here. Let's test out Avila with a couple bunt attempts and see if Martinez can be run on a bit. 

By the way, did Leyland ever do anything creative in his one year at Colorado before riding off into the sunset smoking a pack of cigarettes?