Lineup Card: Rockies @ Padres 5-9-12

Last Night: Recapping Another Rockies Loss And Remembering Jerry McMorris

Lineups

Colorado Rockies (12-17)

1. Marco Scutaro (SS)
2. Jonathan Herrera (2B)
3. Carlos Gonzalez (LF)
4. Michael Cuddyer (RF)
5. Jason Giambi (1B)
6. Wilin Rosario (C)
7. Chris Nelson (3B)
8. Dexter Fowler (CF)
9. Christian Friedrich (P)

Troy Tulowitzki sits after tweaking his groin on a bang-bang play at first base last night. Meanwhile, Todd Helton gets one of his routine days off. That leaves the debuting Christian Friedrich in a position where he has to be really, really sharp today to keep the Rockies offense in the game, and has to do with an even further weakened defense behind him.

Aside from that, no real pressure or anything. 

San Diego Padres (11-20)

1. Chris Denorfia (RF)
2. Cameron Maybin (CF)
3. Chase Headley (3B)
4. Yonder Alonso (1B)
5. Jesus Guzman (LF)
6. Nick Hundley (C)
7. Orlando Hudson (2B)
8. Andy Parrino (SS)
9. Anthony Bass (P)

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

Bad Day: Recapping Another Rockies Loss And Remembering Jerry McMorris

The Rockies suffered a couple tough losses on Tuesday. One of them on the field, which I'll cover like usual, and a bigger one off the field, which I'll touch on at the end.

Padres 3, Rockies 1 (boxscore)

What Went Wrong: We're on the road now so naturally this section will be filled with reports of didn't get the big hit, bad baserunning and made awful or old starting pitcher look great.

Tonight, that old starting pitcher was Jeff Suppan, who tossed five innings of one run ball on only four hits. Five Padres relievers took it from there, holding Colorado scoreless over the final 12 outs to get Suppan his second win of the year.

Speaking of bullpens, Jim Tracy is struggling to juggle his right now (when isn't he, honestly) as he elected to use Esmil Rogers to finish the 7th — which he did after his walk to Cameron Maybin loaded the bases and then he struck out Chase Headley — and start the 8th.

The 8th was, as many predicted, a mess. It started with a four-pitch walk to Yonder Alonso. Soon to be released Orlando Hudson followed that with an RBI triple. And then for good measure, Rogers intentionally walked John Baker before taking his leave.

It really was the most Esmil Rogers relief appearance possible.

Turning Point: Remember last night when the Rockies blew their best chance at a rally by making consecutive awful outs at second base?

They were even more creative tonight.

In the 9th inning, Colorado had runners at the corners with one out and Jordan Pacheco at the plate. My thought at that point being if Pacheco doesn't hit into a double play here, we have a chance because Carlos Gonzalez is due next.

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Lineup Card: Rockies @ Padres 5-8-12

Our condolenses go out to the family of former Rockies owner Jerry McMorris, who passed away today at the age of 71. 

Current Rockies owner Dick Monfort released the following statement on his passing (via Colorado Rockies on Twitter).


"The Colorado Rockies family is deeply saddened by the passing of Jerry McMorris. I believe it's fair to say without the efforts of Jerry there may have never been MLB in Denver. He will be greatly missed by us all.”

I'll have a few more thoughts on Jerry McMorris during tonight's Recap. But in short, he was a good man and an important person to me and every Rockies fans out there. He will certainly be missed, but always appreciated.

— Monday's Recrap: Rockies Run Out Of Chances (Literally and Figuratively)

Lineups

Colorado Rockies (12-16)

1. Marco Scutaro (2B)
2. Jordan Pacheco (3B)
3. Carlos Gonzalez (LF)
4. Troy Tulowitzki (SS)
5. Todd Helton (1B)
6. Michael Cuddyer (RF)
7. Ramon Hernandez (C)
8. Tyler Colvin (CF)
9. Alex White (P)

— Logan Burdine took a look at the worst defense in baseball earlier today. Yes, that belongs to the Rockies. Will it get better? Can it possibly get worse? He has thoughts. (Link: Blake Street Bulletin)

San Diego Padres (10-20)

1. Will Venable (RF)
2. Cameron Maybin (CF)
3. Chase Headley (3B)
4. Yonder Alonso (1B)
5. Mark Kotsay (LF)
6. Orlando Hudson (2B)
7. John Baker (C)
8. Jason Bartlett (SS)
9. Jeff Suppan (P)

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

Rock Solid Recrap: Rockies Run Out Of Chances (Literally and Figuratively)

Padres 3, Rockies 2 (boxscore)

What Went Wrong: The Rockies fell behind early. (1-0 after one, 2-0 after two) and completely FAILED to make Edinson Volquez pay for his wildness (four walks in 5 1/3). Those failures included back-to-back walks (on eight pitches) by Volquez in the 2nd that resulted in back-to-back baserunners being thrown out at second base.

First it was Michael Cuddyer, who had the bag stole but was tagged after sliding over the base. Seriously. Next it was Wilin Rosario, who was thrown out by Nick Hundley trying to advance on a ball in the dirt.

You can't make this stuff up.

Turning Point: For the most part this was a blah game that seemed headed in San Diego's direction right off the bat. The Rockies did mount one big threat though in the 6th.

One batter after Marco Scutaro won a 12-pitch at-bat with a lead-off single, Carlos Gonzalez drove him home with a broken bat single that made it 3-2 San Diego. Troy Tulowitzki then walked, setting the stage for Todd Helton and Michael Cuddyer.

Bud Black then went to his bullpen, summoning lefty Joe Thatcher to face Helton. A battle Thatcher won with a strikeout. Next, Black called on right-hander Brad Brach to pitch to Cuddyer. Brach won that battle, also with a strikeout, to end the inning.

No Rockie would reach base in the final three innings.

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Lineup Card: Rockies @ Padres 5-7-12

Sunday's Recrap: Same Starting Pitching. Less Offense. More Bad Results

Lineups

Colorado Rockies (12-15)

1. Marco Scutaro (2B)
2. Jordan Pacheco (3B) 
3. Carlos Gonzalez (LF)
4. Troy Tulowitzki (SS)
5. Todd Helton (1B)
6. Michael Cuddyer (RF)
7. Ramon Hernandez (C)
8. Dexter Fowler (CF)
9. Drew Pomeranz (P)

- Jordan Pacheco gets his first start since being recalled on Saturday. I guess we'll see if any improvement has been made defensively at the hot corner.

- Phil Rosenthal speculated on a Rockies coaching shakeup in his Monday column after this past weekend's disaster series against Atlanta. It's a short blurb and very likely meaningless (at least for the near future), but hey, at least the national media is acknowledging the Rockies exist, and maybe the negative attention will be enough to cause some stir.

Just don't hold your breath on that one. Link: Fox Sports

- Troy Renck also has a quick blog on the Rockies adding Alex White and Christian Friedrich to their rotation in San Diego (Link: Denver Post) and another updating Jhoulys Chacin's status (Link: Denver Post).

San Diego Padres (9-20)

1. Chris Denorfia (RF)
2. Cameron Maybin (CF)
3. Chase Headley (3B)
4. Jesus Guzman (LF)
5. Yonder Alonso (1B)
6. Nick Hundley (C)
7. Orlando Hudson (2B)
8. Jason Bartlett (SS)
9. Edinson Volzquez (P)

Despite their rotation turmoil and an offense that is likely to be less effective on the road, the Rockies SHOULD win this series. They also kind of have to, because they will also be visiting Los Angeles and San Francisco on this road trip.

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