What at terrible performance out of the Colorado Rockies on Wednesday afternoon. They finished up a series with the San Francisco Giants and dropped the finale by the score of 9-2. The Rockies were really never in the game as it was just a terrible performance by everyone on the team.

Starting pitcher Aaron Cook only lasted three innings before he was pulled. Cook allowed ten hits and six runs to take the loss and is now 16-9 on the year. Just one of those games that Cook simply didn’t have it and he got rocked hard. Steven Register gave up three more runs in the sixth inning as well.

As for the little offense that the Rockies did get, they scored singled runs in the second and fifth innings. Jeff Baker grounded into a fielders choice in the second inning and the scored Garret Atkins. In the fifth inning, Clint Barmes hit a solo home run. As a team, the Rockies only had four hits in the game as they struggled against Barry Zito for eighth innings and then Brad Hennessey in the ninth.

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After losing their last two games in Pittsburgh the Rockies knew they needed to win to prove themselves. After giving up the lead in the last two games the Rox were able to hold on to the lead and end the game with a win, 7-4. 

Aaron Cook has become a pitcher that Clint Hurdle can count on for a good game. Last night he didn’t have his best game, but he came through and kept the Pirates at Bay. He pitched seven innings and gave up four runs on nine hits. He only had one bad inning; the Pirates scored all their run in the fifth. He did get the W, which now puts his record at 14-6.

Last night’s game had some good old Rockies offense, which is key for them when they win. Willy Taveras went two for five, and he needed it. Taveras hasn’t had the best on base percentage for a leadoff hitter. But one thing he does do best is steel bases and last night he got his total up to 48. Garrett Atkins also went two for five and added one to his RBI column. Troy Tulowitzki is making a comeback. He went three for four and got an RBI. He is now above the Mendoza line hitting .241. The difference in the game had to have been Chris Iannetta’s three run homerun in the fifth. He crushed the ball to dead center and put the Rockies in the lead to win the game. 

The bullpen was outstanding. Taylor Buchholz did struggle for a little while but is now back on track. He only gave up one hit in one inning pitched. He has fit in well as the eighth inning set up man for Brian Fuentes. Last night was a save situation for Fuentes, who recorded his 18th save of the season and 103rd save of his career. He now holds the Rockies recored for most saves. Fuentes has stepped up this year and proved himself worthy of the closer position. 

ROCKSTAR of the game: CHRIS IANNETTA

(The Rockies are now looking towards Dodgers, rather than the Diamondbacks, with their new left fielder Manny Ramirez)  

The Rockies ended their eight game losing streak, and they ended it with style, winning 4-0 with an Aaron Cook complete game. He has really shown that he belongs in the All Star lineup in two weeks. It was a total turn around from last night’s tough loss. 

Cook has taken over the position of Rockies ace. Tonight was one of the two complete games he has already thrown this season, second in the NL with complete games; one behind Ben Sheets. After last night’s game, any sort of win would have been an improvement, but Cook came out and threw a complete game. He got 14 ground ball outs and only three strikeouts, but the thing about ground outs is the pitch count is low. He ended the eighth inning only having thrown 69 pitches, and ended the game with only 79. His stellar pitching performance also sped up the game, which only lasted 1 hour and 58 minutes, and MLB should take advantage of this because, I don’t know about you, but I have never been to a football, hockey or soccer complete game less than two hours long. 

All the Rockies runs came in the fifth inning. It started off with a Troy Tulowitzki double and then a textbook sac bunt by Cook to move Tulo over to third. Willy Taveras hit a single up the right field line to score Tulo. During Todd Helton’s at bat Taveras stole second, and then, with Helton on first with a walk and Matt Holliday up to the plate, Taveras stole third. Holliday would eventually get on with Bank’s second consecutive walk. After striking out his last two at bats, Brad Hawpe came up to bat and got lucky with a fielder’s choice, which should have been a double play, with one run scoring and then another run came in off of a shortstop throwing error. Garrett Atkins  doubled in Hawpe, who made it to second off of a stolen base. That one inning was all the Rockies needed. 

Cook only gave up five hits on the night and Omar Quintanilla, who replaced Jeff Baker in the ninth, kept it that way. In the top of the ninth with a hardball hit just out of Helton’s reach, Quintanilla ran over, dove for the ball, got it and shot up quicker than you can say Quintanilla. The ball got to Helton just in time for the out. It was a key play in the game for Cook. 

The Rockies can’t get the sweep tomorrow, but can go for the series win against the Padres. Hopefully tonight’s team will show up and not last night’s.  

ROCKSTAR of the game: AARON COOK

After sweeping the Indians, the Rockies couldn’t win against the Mets; final score 7-2. It has been hard for the Rockies to get wins this year, and after coming off a sweep the team was looking forward to playing the Mets; but tonight they couldn’t get it done.

Aaron Cook was not looking like his usual self (a 10-4 record after tonight.) He gave up six runs on twelve hits in seven innings. Cook looked good in the first with two ground ball outs and a strikeout, but he lost it in the second. The wind started to kick up in Coors Field and so did Cook’s pitches. He couldn’t keep his pitches down and the Mets capitalized, scoring five of their seven runs. He also gave up a homerun to Trot Nixon in the third. It was not a good night for the Rockies ace who got the loss.

One guy for the Rockies who has really been on fire is Jeff Baker. He homered in the second to give the Rockies a two run lead. This was his fourth homerun in four games. And even though he is not a true second baseman, he has really stepped up defensively and proved himself worthy. Baker was two for four and drove in the only Rockies runs in the game. It doesn’t look like he is going to be headed down to AAA any time soon with the way he is playing. Maybe his success can rub off on some of the other guys on the team.

Troy Tulowitzki had his first game back since being injured on April 29th. He was 0 for four but had two hard hits that the Mets made spectacular plays on. He was in a slump before the injury and hopefully being away will help out his .150 batting average. The fans were excited to see Tulowitzki back in the line up, but I refuse to do the Tulo cheer until he gets a hit. Tulowitzki needs to get himself back up to major league caliber.

Both Todd Helton and Garrett Atkins struggled tonight. Helton went 0 for four with a strikeout and two pop-ups. Atkins also went 0 for four with three ground balls and a strikeout. The Rockies win when the heart of the lineup gets hits and tonight that wasn’t happening; John Maine struck them down.

Tomorrow the Rockies face Pedro Martinez. Hopefully it will be a better showing for the Rockies offense. 

ROCKSTAR of the game: JEFF BAKER

Although the Rockies did not, once again, get the sweep, they took 2 out of 3 games against the White Sox. It would be nice for them to finish a series with 3 or 4 W’s but I will take just winning out right; beggars can’t be choosers. Today’s game was not won without drama.

Aaron Cook had another great outing on the mound. He pitched 6 innings and gave up 3 runs on 10 hits, 2 of  which came off of a Dye homerun in the 5th. Cook had some offensive help today from former White Sox Scott Podsednik who drove in 2 of the Rockies 4 runs. This was a key game for Podsednik who has struggled lately. The Rockies started out hot today scoring 2 runs in the first, with Podsednik bringing Willy Taveras home on a double and on the next pitch, Matt Holliday doubled in Podsednik.

After the White Sox tied up the game in the 5th off of Dye’s homerun, Brad Hawpe, who is an internet celebrity for his sewer pipes and instructional video (on youtube search Brad Hawpe), took Contreras deep in the 6th and gave the Rockies the winning run. Chris Iannetta added an insurance run in the 9th with a bomb off of Logan.

The bullpen threw another great game. Ryan Speier, Taylor Buchholz and Brain Fuentes all came in and combined threw 3 innings -each threw 1 full inning- and only gave up 1 hit. Fuentes’s outing was a little scary for the Rockies because he loaded the bases off of a single and 2 walks with 2 outs.

And that’s not all, Rockies fans cringed as Holliday and Omar Quintanilla both were running for the last out, a popup by Crede. At the last second Quintanilla dropped off and almost ran right into Holliday who by some miracle bobbled the ball and then caught it bare handed. It was an unconventional out but it counted and the Rockies won by 2 runs.

The win today was a good Father’s Day present for my dad, who sits and watches every game with me. I know that the Rockies were winning it for him and all their dad’s back home. Tomorrow is another day and the Rockies have a one game series- a make-up after the snowed out game in April- against the Braves. Chipper was cooling off today and hopefully the Rockies can bring him below .400.

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The Colorado Rockies defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers once again this time by the score of 2-1.  With the victory, the Rockies took two out of three games against the Dodgers in their three game series.  We will have to see if this momentum carries over into the weekend when they start a series with the Milwaukee Brewers.

Aaron Cook shut down the Dodgers for nine innings to get the win and improve his record to 8-3 on the season.  Cook gave up six hits on only one run while striking out six baters and lowering his era to 3.16.  Closer Brian Fuentes pitched the ninth inning and notched his eighth save of the season.

Both of the Rockies runs came in the second inning on a Jeff Baker two run home run.  Chris Iannetta was the other player to score on the home run.  The Rockies offense was lucky that the pitching straff made two runs hold up.  The batters struck out 11 times and left 14 other runners on base in the game.

The Rockies will be off on Thursday and then start up a series with the Brewers on Friday.

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The Colorado Rockies had a nice attempt at a comeback in the bottom of the ninth inning but the fell one run short as the San Francisco Giants beat the Rockies 6-5.  The Rockies were down 6-3 heading into the bottom of the ninth inning and then Clint Barmes hit a two run home run to bring the Rockies within one run but that was as close as they would get.

Barmes led the Rockies with two rbi in the game while Brad Hawpe and Aaron Cook both had one rbi.

Cook took the loss for the Rockies after tossing seven innings and giving up ten hits and four runs.  Cook is now 6-3 on the season.  Manny Corpas throw a scoreless eighth inning before Arias gave up two runs in the ninth inning.

The Rockies will try to get back on track when they face off with the Giants in an afternoon game at Coors Field on Wednesday.  Rockies Blog

The Colorado Rockies just can’t beat the Arizona Diamondbacks this season.  Maybe it is a little payback from the playoffs last year, but the Rockies just can’t get anything done against them.

Thursday night was no different as the Rockies lost to the Diamondbacks 8-5 and with the loss they were swept in the series.  The Rockies are now 15-26 on the season and need to turn things around in a hurry.

Aaron Cook dropped to 6-2 on the season as he took the loss.  Cook threw five innings while giving up ten hits and five runs.  He also walked four batters and gave up one home run.  Brian Fuentes also had some trouble in the game as he only recorded two outs while giving up two hits and three runs.

Five different Rockies players had one rbi in the game.  Ryan Spilborghs, Clint Barmes, Matt Holliday, Chris Iannetta, and Scott Podsednik all had a rbi.  They just couldn’t get that big hit to drive in more then a couple runs at a time that they needed.

Do you want to write about the Colorado Rockies?  We are currently looking for someone to write game recaps after the Rockies games.  If you are interested, please click the contact us link at the top of the Rockies Blog to email us.  Rockies Blog

The Colorado Rockies will take their win over the San Francisco Giants no matter if the game winning run crossed the plate on a balk call.  Giants starting pitcher Tim Linecum was called for a balk in the seventh inning and it gave the Rockies a 3-2 lead which they held onto as the beat the Giants.

Aaron Cook improved his record to 4-1 as he picked up the win.  Cook tossed seven innings and gave up ten hits but only two runs off of those ten hits.  Taylor Buchholz and Brian Fuentes pitched the final two innings for the Rockies.  Fuentes picked up his second save of the season.

Chris Iannetta had the only recorded RBI for the Rockies has he had a solo home run in the second inning.  Iannetta was the runner that scored on the balk as well.  Matt Holliday added a run for the Rockies when he hit into a double play in the first inning.

Lets see if the Rockies can get any momentum going and go on a nice winning streak after beating the Giants on Tuesday night.  What do you think?  Rockies Blog

The Colorado Rockies were finally able to hold a ninth inning lead as they beat the Chicago Cubs 4-2 on Thursday.  Earlier in the day, Brian Fuentes was named the closer as Manny Corpas was relieved of those duties.  It was Fuentes who got the save today against the Cubs.

Aaron Cook pitched great as he lasted eight innings and only gave up four hits and two runs.  Cook is now 3-1 on the season with a 2.91 ERA.  Anytime you can hold the Cubs offense to only four hits, you have a great shot a winning, and that is exactly what Cook and Fuentes did.

Four Rockies players each had one RBI in the game as they spread the offense around.  Todd Helton, Troy Tulowitzki, Chris Iannetta, and Ryan Spilborghs all had a RBI.  Iannetta’s RBI came in the seventh inning when he hit a solo home run.

So do you think the Rockies bullpen problems are over with Fuentes now being the starter?  Leave us a comment and let us know your opinion!

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