Lineup Card: Rockies @ D-Backs

-- Joe Sheehan No Likey Jim Tracy (Bugs & Cranks)

Well let's see what Jim Tracy has in mind for us tonight as the Rockies attempt to avoid an embarrassing sweep at the hands of the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Rockies Lineup (82-69)

1. 2B  Herrera
2. RF  Spilborghs
3. CF  Gonzalez
4. SS  Tulowitzki
5. 1B  Giambi
6. 3B  Mora
7. LF  Smith
8. C    Iannetta
9. P    Francis

Well, it's nice to see Chris Iannetta is healthy and in the lineup tonight... if for no other reason than there was no way Jim Tracy could have justified playing Miguel Olivo again after some of that defense we've seen from him in this series.  

Diamondbacks Lineup (61-91)

1. SS  Drew
2. LF  Roberts
3. 2B  Johnson
4. CF  Young
5. 1B  LaRoche
6. 3B  Reynolds
7. C    Hester
8. RF  Gillespie
9. P    Kennedy

Rock Solid Recrap: Time To Refuel?

I never really fully appreciated how long a baseball season was until just last season. Seriously. I just never fully comprehended how long six months of baseball was because It was the first time as a fan that all 162 games had meant something to me.

1995? Nope, that was a strike-shortened playoff run.

2007? Nope. I wasn't all in with the Rockies in 2007 until September. Sure they had hung around on the fringe of playoff contention most of the season, but we'd never experienced the things we've experienced since, so my focus wasn't as intense.

2008? We should have been, but that thing went belly up quickly.

2009 it finally happened. I finally experienced the ups and downs of the chase, the catch, the pass by, the being caught and passed again, and the recapturing and holding on.

It was exhausting for me as a fan emotionally and mentally. Fun as hell, but you feel it when you find yourself waking up on short rest night after night for that many months. One can only imagine how much it catches up to the players and coaches. And then you factor in the physical toll it adds on them.

So now you come back in 2010 thinking you know what to expect. You think you can pace yourself, maybe not expend so much energy early because you understand how much you'll need later, and then you find yourself dropping games to teams you should be dominating.

Suddenly you're 7-8 games back leading up to the all-star break. You make a strong push then to get within two. Now you've seen how quickly and easily you can make up ground, so you put things back in neutral to save some gas.

Next thing you know you're down 11 games on August 22nd.

Now you have to put your pedal to the metal for five weeks straight. .

That works perfectly for three weeks... and then you just flat run out of gas. It doesn't make a bit of difference how much you saved earlier, because you needed to use so much of it so quickly, that it's all just gone before you hit the finish line.

D-Backs 8, Rockies 4

Is there time for a refueling? There is, but whether or not it matters depends on how wisely the Giants, Padres and Braves have managed their fuel tanks. Do they have enough to get to the finish line, or will we see them tank it in the final laps?

Good lord I'm comparing baseball season to a Nascar race. Clearly I'm running on fumes as well.

Tomorrow

Jeff Francis vs Ian Kennedy... Kennedy.

Lineup Card: Rockies vs D-Backs

Three keys for tonight.

1.  Ubaldo needs to be Ubaldo

I get the sense the offense is going through a scratch and claw phase right now where nothing will come easy.  That leaves Ubaldo with little margin for error.

2.  Better ABs from Dexter Fowler

For the offense to scratch, claw, or attain any type of success, they're going to need more from the top.  I didn't like the poor swings from Dex in hitter's counts last night.  I hope that's cleaned up this evening and he's willing to take a walk when the pitcher is willing to give one.

3.  Rested Bullpen

Two full days off for everyone but Matt Reynolds.  If needed, these guys have to come in and shut the door.

Rockies Lineup (82-68)

1. 2B  Herrera
2. CF  Fowler
3. RF  Gonzalez
4. SS  Tulowitzki
5. 3B  Mora
6. 1B  Helton
7. LF  Spilborghs
8. C    Olivo
9. P    Jimenez

Diamondbacks Lineup (60-91)

1. SS  Drew
2. CF  Young
3. 2B  Johnson
4. 1B  LaRoche
5. 3B  Reynolds
6. C    Montero
7. LF  Allen
8. RF  Parra
9. P    Lopez

Rock Solid Recrap: Snakes Make Awful Pets

Because there's always a chance they will jump up and bite you on the ass if you're not paying attention.

D-Backs 3, Rockies 1

For about 7 innings on Tuesday night, the Rockies looked like a team that wasn't paying attention.

It looked like the team we saw far too often during the every month not named September.

The urgency appeared to be missing. The confidence we saw in LA Friday and Saturday was definitely missing. Plate discipline never made an appearance. That surely wasn't aided by an inconsistent strike zone, but that's also a hat tip to Joe Saunders for being around the plate all night.

The only thing that wasn't missing was bad Rockies base running. But that's only because they didn't have actual base runners very often.

So yeah... bad night at the yard. Bad night at the yard in Arizona. Bad results from all over the baseball world unless you're still holding on to Wild Card hopes. Bad Bad Bad.

I did like what I saw from Jorge De La Rosa though. He did his job. He kept a good offense down. He chewed up seven innings. He deserved a much better result in terms of the W, but overall everyone should be thrilled with his performance.

Generally when a pitcher only makes two mistakes in seven innings (like DLR tonight) things will work out, but that's not so much the case when the mistakes come on back-to-back hitters and your offense never shows up to support you.

And that really wraps up tonight's game. I could go in depth on specific ABs and openly ask why Dexter Fowler continues to put bad swings on pitcher's pitches in hitter's counts, but it's late and I don't want to throw another pen behind my desk. I'll just leave it alone and look ahead to...

Tomorrow

Ubaldo Jimenez vs Rodrigo Lopez

The term "must win" seems to be fitting in this spot.

Lineup Card: Rockies @ D-Backs

Here we go.  13 games in 13 days to decide the fate of the 2010 Colorado Rockies.  

Standing in the way first are our old rivals from Arizona.  The D-Backs aren't quite the team we expected them to be after 2007, but one look at the lineup below tells you how dangerous they are.  Despite the relatively easy sweep at Coors Field recently, I'm not anticipating Arizona laying down and making things easy here.

Rockies will need good pitching and sustained offense if they want to leave Phoenix in a good position.  I truly believe anything less will leave us frustrated like we were Sunday in LA.

Rockies Lineup (82-67)

1. CF  Fowler
2. 2B  Herrera
3. RF  Gonzalez
4. SS  Tulowitzki
5. 3B  Mora
6. 1B  Helton
7. LF  Payton
8. C    Olivo
9. P     De La Rosa

Tracy playing the experience card again tonight with the Mora-Helton-Payton combo.  I'm not opposed to that based on what we've seen so far from Payton.  Very professional approach with solid results. 

D-Backs Lineup (59-91)

1. SS  Drew
2. LF  Roberts
3. 2B  Johnson
4. CF  Young
5. 1B  LaRoches
6. 3B  Reynolds
7. C    Montero
8. RF  Gillespie
9. P    Saunders