Friday, September 2, 2011

Lineup Card: 9-2-11 Rockies @ Padres

The good news: A sweep at the hands of San Diego still wouldn't put the Rockies in last place.

The bad news: We're worried about being in last place.

Arizona Recraps

Monday: Rockies avoid laying a goose egg, still fail miserably
Tuesday: What's the point?
Wednesday: Well, we almost got in a fight!

Colorado Rockies (64-73)
  1. CF Dexter Fowler
  2. 2B Jonathan Herrera
  3. RF Carlos Gonzalez
  4. SS Troy Tulowitzki
  5. 1B Todd Helton
  6. LF Seth Smith
  7. 3B Kevin Kouzmanoff
  8. C   Chris Iannetta
  9. P   Kevin Millwood
San Diego Padres (60-77)
  1. CF Will Venable
  2. SS Jason Bartlett
  3. 1B Jesus Guzman
  4. LF Kyle Blanks
  5. 2B Orlando Hudson
  6. RF Jeremy Hermida
  7. C   Nick Hundley
  8. 3B Andy Parrino
  9. P   Aaron Harang

Thursday, September 1, 2011

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?

Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Lackluster Recrap: What's the point?

Diamondbacks 9, Rockies 4 (boxscore)

What would you like me to write after this one?

Another paragraph or two on how Aaron Cook doesn't have it anymore?

No thanks. Been there and done that enough.

How about a blurb on how useless Ty Wigginton has been? I could mention his .160 batting average with RISP and then I could question...

1. Why the hell does Jim Tracy want his bat in the lineup so bad?

and

2. Why at the expense of Seth Smith?

I don't care how much he struggles about left-handers. Smith is the best option this team has right now to play everyday, and is a better bet against a lefty than Wigginton is against a little leaguer on most nights.

Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Lackluster Recrap: Rockies avoid laying a goose egg, still fail miserably

"I don’t think the day will come when I grow tired of watching baseball. I hope not, anyway.

But I know I’m already tired of watching bad baseball. I’m tired of watching the (team) make outs every night. I’m tired of writing the same game story. I’m tired of finding new ways to ask the same questions."

Those comments may look familiar, but they are NOT mine. Those are actually the words written by San Francisco Giants beat writer Andrew Baggerly after their 7-0 loss to the Chicago Cubs on Monday night.

Turns out baseball life kinda sucks there, too. But dammit, at least they have a World stinkin' Championship to lean on when times are tough. We don't even have a division championship we can reminisce about. Sure, we have 2007. That will always be a fond memory, but I want something a little more solid than that.

Diamondbacks 5, Rockies 1 (boxscore)

Monday was Alex White's second start with the Rockies and his 23rd birthday.

It didn't start well.

It didn't end well.

It just flat didn't go well.

Arizona's very first batter, Ryan Roberts, greeted White with a longball to left. I don't know if that rattled White, which would be understandable, but his command immediately went missing. In total, White walked three in the frame. He also allowed one more hit, but thanks to Chris Iannetta picking off Aaron Hill, Arizona did not plate another run.

Monday, August 29, 2011

Rock Solid Recap: Sundays are fun again!

But to be truly be fun again, wins on Friday and Saturday would be necessary. 

Such was not the case for the Rockies weekend, but hey, it's nice to feel like the Sunday crap is behind us.

Rockies 7, Dodgers 6 (boxscore)

Here's something we've been saying a lot lately: The Rockies offense jumped out to a lead. And they did so against a pitcher they've never faced before in Nathan Eovaldi. I know what you're thinking... and I agree, that's a really strange name.

The Rockies plated five of Eovaldi in a near 40-pitch first inning. The 21-year-old righty could have trimmed about 10 pitches and 4 runs off that total with a little help from right fielder Trent Oeltjen, but Kevin Kouzmanoff's blooper to right center bounced off his wrist and actually turned into the weakest base clearing double I've seen in a quite awhile.

And that's taking nothing away from Kouzmanoff. Believe me. He got the ball in play That's something we haven't seen nearly enough of in those spots, so he earned it.

Eliezer Alfonzo would follow with his own two-out, RBI hit. That was also critical, because all of those runs would end up being important. As would the RBIs Seth Smith and Kouzmanoff collected in the 5th, which turned a 5-2 lead into a 7-2 advantage.