Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Rock Solid Recrap: Cooked

Braves 9, Rockies 1 (boxscore)

Aaron Cook 

Terrible first inning. Bounce back second inning. Relapse third inning. Settles down in the fourth and fifth. Runs into trouble and exits immediately in the sixth. That's how you sum up Aaron Cook's start tonight, which feels pretty close to the pattern he's used since his return from the DL.

Maybe I should compliment his consistency. Or maybe I should add my name to the list of folks who are ready to cut ties with Cookie. It feels like the right thing to do, but the Rockies are in a tough predicament. I don't just mean from a loyalty standpoint. In fact, that's never seemed like an issue for them.

Financially and logistically it's tough to just let him go. I mean yes, chances are Cook won't be able to rehab his value to the point they can move him without taking a big hit, but it's not like the Rockies have another pitcher or two beating down the door to the Majors. They don't. They have Clayton Mortensen, Greg Reynolds and maybe Esmil Rogers. If there's no real clear upgrade to make, sticking with Cook might not be their worst option.

That said, it's possible he's gone tomorrow. It's possible he's gone during the AS break. It's possible he's here all season. I don't know what they're going to do, but I can see why they have and possibly could continue to give him chances. It might not help them, but it might be a "risk" worth taking if he figures something (anything) out.

Lineup Card: 7-6-11 Rockies @ Braves

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 30-60 minutes before first pitch. They should be here waiting for you.

Links
Lineups

Colorado Rockies (41-45)
  1. LF Charlie Blackmon
  2. SS Jonathan Herrera
  3. 1B Todd Helton
  4. LF Ty Wigginton
  5. RF Seth Smith
  6. 2B Mark Ellis
  7. 3B Ian Stewart
  8. C   Matt Pagnozzi
  9. P   Aaron Cook
But they aren't bringing Ian Stewart up to play, he's just there for bench depth. WRONG. One more shot, Ian? What are you going to do with it?