Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Rock Solid Recap: Something about a lot of singles

One day at a time.

One base at a time.

Alright, so it's probably best to take a faster paced approach to baseball, but it is possible to single an opponent to death when you squeeze them all together. That's what the Rockies did today, collecting twelve singles out of their thirteen hits. The key being that seven of those singles came within eight batters during the 6th inning, leading to five runs.

Rockies 6, Padres 3 (boxscore)

Today's leading singler was that mon again: Charlie Blackmon.

He singled thrice. The first one coming after he spoiled three very tough two strike pitches from Mat Latos. On the 8th pitch of the at-bat, he looped one into short right field that the Padres couldn't handle. Blackmon was then forced at second on a Jose Morales fielder's choice, but his at-bat created the run. Well, his single, and then consecutive singles by Jhoulys Chacin and Carlos Gonzalez.

His second single was No. five out of the seven in the 6th. Stay with me. It drove it one. Ryan Spilborghs followed two singles later with the killer two-run hit that put the game away for Colorado.

Lineup Card: 6-15-11 Rockies vs Padres

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: Nicasio embraces run support in home victory

Lineups

Colorado Rockies (32-35)
  1. CF Carlos Gonzalez
  2. 2B Jonathan Herrera
  3. 1B Todd Helton
  4. SS Troy Tulowitzki
  5. RF Seth Smith
  6. 3B Ty Wigginton
  7. LF Charlie Blackmon
  8. C   Jose Morales
  9. P    Jhoulys Chacin
Herrera in for Nelson. That's fine. He can't play every day. Same for Iannetta. 

San Diego Padres (30-39)
  1. RF Chris Denorfia
  2. SS Jason Bartlett
  3. 3B Chase Headley
  4. LF Ryan Ludwick
  5. 1B Anthony Rizzo
  6. CF Cameron Maybin
  7. 2B Alberto Gonzalez
  8. C   Rob Johnson
  9. P   Mat Latos

Rock Solid Recap: Nicasio embraces run support in home victory

This something we haven't seen a lot of lately. A solid offensive performance, coupled with an outstanding pitching effort. AND the bullpen made it stand up. That's three phases of the game clicking at once. Plus they stole three more bases. I'm almost overwhelmed with positives.

Rockies 6, Padres 3 (boxscore)

Juan Nicasio: Well hot damn. Nicasio allowed a home run to the first batter of the game. Hit the second batter. Had lousy command early, which led me to believe this was going to be a short night at the office for him. Yet the kid absolutely owned this game for six innings once he got his feet under him.

Nine strikeouts. That ties a season high for Rockies starters. The breaking ball looked like a solid strikeout pitch at times. Great poise and confidence on display. This was a damn good 4th major league start for a 24-year-old.