Rock Solid Recap: Rockies Win Ugly Sunday Rubber Match

Rockies 11, Padres 10 (boxscore)

As well played as the first two games were, this one was every bit as ugly. And I'm not just talking about from a pitching standpoint. It was sloppy baseball in general, and that made it quite a chore to sit through despite the offensive fireworks and positive result.

Winning Player: Chris Nelson

Nelly only had one of the Rockies 11 hits, but it was the biggest in the game. It came in the 7th with Colorado trailing 9-7. Tyler Colvin had just sacrificed the tying runs into scoring position (because Jim Tracy is a genius or something), and Nelson said screw that, skip, I'm here to win. So he launched a three-run homer to straight away center to recapture the lead.

Watch Chris Nelson's three-run jack

Honorable Mentions: Dexter Fowler (three hits, two RBIs) and Jordan Pacheco (two hits, two RBIs and two runs)

Turning Point: The Rockies had two big innings offensively, and need every bit of both to pull out this win. Of course one of those was the 7th thanks to Nelson's home run. The other was a seven-run 3rd in which they scored six more two-out runs. I swear they've doubled their season total of two-out runs in the last two days alone. And it's no surprise at all that they have won both of those games.

Jeff Francis' Line: 3 2/3 IP, 6 R (5 ER), 10 H, 0 BB, 4 K, 1 HR, 80 pitches (55 strikes)

This looked a lot like his return start back on June 9. The Angels peppered him for 10 hits (all singles) in 3 1/3. Today, San Diego threw a home run and a double in there, but it was mostly Francis getting peppered by singles, and he also didn't get much help from his defense. Indecisiveness, sloppy technique, and missed cutoff men were abound, and each 90 feet allowed proved to be costly in one way or another.

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Rock Solid Recap: Jhoulys Dominated And Then Dexter Slammed The Door

Rockies 9, Padres 1 (boxscore)

Winning Player: Jhoulys Chacin 7 IP, 1 ER, 5 H, 2 BB, 4 K, 1 HR, 75 pitches (53 strikes)

To say Chacin pounded the strike zone tonight would be an understatement. What a fantastic outing that only  saw him make one mistake, which of course Will Venable hit over the scoreboard in right for homer. That aside, Chacin was effective, extremely efficient, and more importantly than that, looked confident (and looks healthy). It looks like we might have something to truly look forward to every fifth day in September. 

PS: Chacin is the first Rockies starter to go 7 innings since Christian Friedrich back on June 4 (half a season ago). 

Honorable Mentions: Josh Rutledge (three hits, one run) and Tyler Colvin (home run, double, three RBI). 

Both of these guys keep on hitting and producing. Thinking about them in a lineup with Troy Tulowitzki, Carlos Gonzalez, Dexter Fowler and Wilin Rosario for years to come makes me as giddy as one can be while still fully understanding this team isn't set up to win anytime soon.  

Turning Point: The Rockies jumped out to a 5-0 lead thanks to some good two-out hitting. That started right away in the 1st inning when Carlos Gonzalez doubled and then Wilin Rosario knocked him in with a single. They would then add three more two-out runs in the 5th thanks to Tyler Colvin's two-run double and Chris Nelson's RBI single. And who knows, that inning could have been even more productive had Jim Tracy not gone to the Little League playbook with the old 1st-and-3rd steal a run double steal with Nelson on first and Jordan Pacheco on third.

That failed miserably, and probably will most times unless you have an EY2 or Dexter Fowler running at third or you're facing a team below rookie ball level.

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Rock Solid Recrap: Rockies Close Surprisingly Successful August With Loss

Padres 5, Rockies 4 (boxscore) 

What Went Wrong: Not a lot, really. I felt like both teams played a solid and watchable game, which is not often the case from 4th and 5th place teams on the final day of August. The Padres just played a little bit better, as they have been overall over the past month, and eeked out the win.

Turning Point: Again, a pretty straight forward game that was well played but didn't have a lot of eb and flow. San Diego jumped out 3-0 in the first three innings thanks to a Carlos Quentin solo homer and RBIs from Logan Forsythe and Chase Headley. The Rockies chipped away, mostly with solo homers of their own (Jordan Pacheco, Wilin Rosario and Andrew Brown) but San Diego stayed at least one step ahead until the 27th out.

Alex White's Line: 3 2/3 IP, 3 ER, 4 H, 3 BB, 2 K, 1 HR, 76 pitches (49 strikes)

White snapped his string of four inning starts at five, so that was different. Unfortunately, he's only gone past the magical four inning mark one time in his last 10 starts, so that's pretty bad. I guess that's why the Rockies see him in the hybrid role next season. Personally, I still see him as a third or fourth starter on a major league team. If the Rockies ever go back to being one of those, he could still be useful.

Bullpen's Line: 5 1/3 IP, 2 ER, 5 H, 3 BB, 2 K

I hope they all enjoyed their day off. They only have one more (Sept. 13) until the end of the season.

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Rock Solid Recrap: Rockies Can't Overcome Themselves In Series Finale... But Gave Great Effort In Trying To

Dodgers 10, Rockies 8 (boxscore)

What Went Wrong: Oh, you know, many of the usual things. The starting pitching effort wasn't the strongest we've seen in recent weeks. And there was also some unsatisfactory work behind the plate from Ramon Hernandez, not to mention a throw or two going to the spot. Then reliever Will Harris imploded in the 8th (1 IP, 4 ER, 3 H, 2 BB), which would to be more costly than we could have imagined with the Rockies scoring seven runs in their half of the 8th.

Many of those things serve as a nice reminder that changes need to be made in this organization, despite the fact that Colorado has played improved ball recently and showed a lot of heart with their comeback attempt. They still lack fundamentals. They still lack direction. They still stink big picture. But I'll give them credit for showing some professional pride.

Turning Point: The 3rd inning (Read all about in the Pomeranz, Drew section). With an honorable mention to the top of the 8th inning and Will Harris.

Drew Pomeranz's Line: 4 IP, 6 R (5 ER), 0 BB, 4 K, 1 HR, 66 pitches (49 strikes)

The 3rd inning was a big problem for Pomeranz, though not all of it was his doing. There was some tough luck mixed in there with the bloop single from A.J. Ellis and the error on Jordan Pacheco that allowed Mark Ellis to reach. Then came Shane Victorino's infield hit that scored a run, follow by Adrian Gonzalez's seeing eye single through the right field for two more runs. Some maddening stuff in there.

Unfortunately, the two-run home run Hanley Ramirez hit to cap the inning was completely on Pomeranz. If you're going to establish yourself at the top of a rotation someday, those are the game-changing blows you have to avoid. Pomeranz hasn't been able to do that enough up to this point (at the big league level).

On the positive side, he was spotless in the 1st and 2nd innings. He then bounced back with a scoreless 4th despite a lead-off double. Also, he didn't walk anybody. So yes, ugly results, but far from his worst performance of the season.

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Rock Solid Recap: Obviously The Dodgers Need More Help

That, or the Rockies are inexplicably locked in right now or the Dodgers have terrible timing. These first two games have not even been close.

Rockies 8, Dodgers 4 (boxscore)

Winning Player: Wilin Rosario (3-for-4, 22nd home run., three RBI)

He's officially no longer a rookie hitter. He's a professional hitter and he's getting better all the time. Exciting!

Watch Rosario unload in the 3rd

Andrew Brown also contributed three hits for the Rockies, which establishes a new career-high for him. Josh Rutledge, Jordan Pacheco and Charlie Blackmon each had two hits in the attack.

Turning Point: The Rockies jumped out 4-0 and never looked back in this game. However, the Dodgers did have one opportunity in the 4th where they loaded the bases with no outs against Tyler Chatwood. Chatwood responded by getting a double play ball off the bat of Adam Kennedy. Then, after an intentional walk to A.J. Ellis, Chatwood blew away Chris Capuano to kill the rally. That's how you prevent a turning point!

Tyler Chatwood's Line: 5 IP, 2 ER, 5 H, 3 BB, 4 K, 80 pitches (51 strikes)

Chatwood worked in the strike zone frequently and again found success because of it. His work in the Kennedy at-bat mentioned above was especially impressive, and the young righty appears to be getting more comfortable dealing with traffic (Miami start aside) and confident in his ability to pitch around it. I remain convinced he'll be a solid contributor in 2013.

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