Rock Solid Recap: Road To 100 Detours Through San Diego

Rockies 10, Padres 2 (boxscore) 

If there's a reason or two to believe the Colorado Rockies will avoid triple digit losses for the first time in franchise history, it's that they still have 11 games remaining with the San Diego Padres (not to mention another 6 with the Chicago Cubs). My God are they awful.

Winning Player: Jeff Francis - 6 IP, 0 R, 3 H, 1 BB, 1 K, 82 pitches (49 strikes)

Beautiful performance by Francis. And no, I do not care who it came against, it was beautiful and should be recognized as such.

It's also the first win by a Rockies starting pitcher since Christian Friedrich on June 4.

Honorable Mention: The offense was again very productive, backing up an 11-run outburst on Thursday with 10 more against Jason Marquis and others. Marco Scutaro, Michael Cuddyer and Wilin Rosario led the way with two hits each, with Cuddyer and Rosario both hitting their 12th home run.

Highlight of the Night: Rosario's home run was an absolute BOMB. You should definitely watch it again.

Watch Wilin Rosario's two-run BOMB

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Lineup Card: Rockies vs Padres 6-29-12

Thursday's Recap: Josh Outman Starts Are Fun!

Lineups

Colorado Rockies (29-46)

1. Dexter Fowler (CF)
2. Marco Scutaro (SS)
3. Carlos Gonzalez (LF)
4. Michael Cuddyer (1B)
5. Tyler Colvin (RF)
6. Jordan Pacheco (3B)
7. Chris Nelson (2B)
8. Wilin Rosario (C)
9. Jeff Francis (P)

A couple things of note today.

1. Todd Helton sits for that second time in three days to accommodate the Rockies need to keep Dexter Fowler and Tyler Colvin on the field together. I suspect this is something we'll start to see more often, and honestly, it works for me because Fowler and Colvin do need to play, and a fresher Helton likely makes him more effective as well. Those incredibly long innings standing around in the field have to be taking their toll on some level.

2. Tyler Chatwood has been recalled and will piggyback Jeff Francis tonight. I imagine he'll eventually replace Josh Outman as a front end man in the paired pitching system. Edwar Cabrera was shipped out to make room for Chatwood to wrap up his (sarcasm) overwhelmingly positive first experience at the big league level (/sarcasm). 

San Diego Padres (28-49)

1. Chris Denorfia (RF)
2. Logan Forsythe (2B)
3. Chase Headley (3B)
4. Carlos Quentin (LF)
5. Yonder Alonso (1B)
6. Cameron Maybin (CF)
7. Everth Cabrera (SS)
8. John Baker (C)
9. Jason Marquis (P)

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

Rock Solid Recap: Josh Outman Starts Are Fun!

Rockies 11, Nationals 10 (boxscore)

Winning Player: Edwin Jackson

Only kidding. It's Tyler Colvin, who led the Rockies offensive attack with four hits (just a double shy of the cycle) and five RBIs. But he certainly wasn't the lone Rockie to have a productive afternoon. Dexter Fowler, Marco Scutaro, Carlos Gonzalez and Chris Nelson all contributed three hits apiece as Colorado pounded out an even 20 on the afternoon.

But I definitely will give Edwin Jackson an honorable mention. The Rockies absolutely brutalized E-Jax into submission during their glorified batting practice exhibition that would make even Jeremy Guthrie and Alex White cringe. But I guess we shouldn't be too surprised considering Edwin entered the game with a 13.91 ERA against the Rockies in SIX career starts.

Ugly.

Turning Point: The Rockies blew a 7-0 second inning lead and a 10-9 ninth inning lead because winning convincingly and on time apparently bores them. But it's OK, because Marco Scutaro sent the crowd home happy with a two-out, walk-off single in the 11th inning after a seven-pitch at-bat.

Way to go, Marco!

Highlight of the Night: Watch Marco Scutaro's game winner

Josh Outman's Line: 3 IP, 5 ER, 5 H, 1 BB, 4 K, 1 HR, 67 pitches (41 strikes)

Well, Outman should have no beef with the offense. They have staked him out to 11-1 and 7-0 leads over his last two starts, yet all he has to show for that is 7 2/3 innings of total crap, one unintentional shoulder bump with the manager and zero wins.

I vote we replace him with Drew Pomeranz soon, or maybe even one of the youth campers from Tuesday. Frankly, I'll take any replacement aside from Guthrie, White or Guillermo Moscoso.

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Rock Solid Recrap: Edwar Cabrera Roughed Up In Major League Debut

Nationals 11, Rockies 5 (boxscore)

For now I think we'll just eliminate the "What Went Wrong" and "Turning Point" categories in losses and immediately begin with the pitching lines since the starting pitching and the losing pretty much go hand-in-hand.

Edwar Cabrera's Debut Line: 2 1/3, 7 R (5 ER), 5 H, 3 BB, 1 K, 3 HR, 65 pitches (33 strikes)

Put me in the camp who believes calling up Cabrera was a silly decision from an organizational standpoint and not fair to the young man at this point in his development. I indicated that feeling in the Lineup Card this afternoon, and his performance tonight only made the feeling stronger. He just wasn't ready for the challenge and looked overwhelmed from the get-go.

I think the results and the photo below bear that out.

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Lineup Card: Rockies vs Nationals 6-27-12

Tuesday's Recrap: More About Bob And The Great Guillermo

Lineups

Colorado Rockies (28-45)

1. Dexter Fowler (CF)
2. Marco Scutaro (SS)
3. Carlos Gonzalez (LF)
4. Michael Cuddyer (1B)
5. Tyler Colvin (RF)
6. Jordan Pacheco (3B)
7. Chris Nelson (2B)
8. Wilin Rosario (C)
9. Edwar Cabrera (P)

With the Bob Apodaca news breaking yesterday, I neglected to mention the Rockies recalling 24-year-old left-handed pitching prospect Edwar Cabrera, while shipping the struggling Alex White back to Colorado Springs. 

Cabrera will make his major league debut tonight against Washington, and then enter into the circus known as the Rockies four-man rotation. And I'll be honest, I think this is a really awful way to acclimate a young pitcher you'll be counting on for years to come into the big leagues. But hey, (sarcasm) look how well it's working for White and Christian Friedrich (/sarcasm). 

Washington Nationals (42-30)

1. Danny Espinosa (2B)
2. Bryce Harper (CF)
3. Ryan Zimmerman (3B)
4. Michael Morse (RF)
5. Ian Desmond (SS)
6. Mark DeRosa (LF)
7. Tyler Moore (1B)
8. Jhonatan Solano (C)
9. Jordan Zimmerman (P)

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