Clint Barmes and the Colorado Rockies had no problems taking game two of a three game series against the San Francisco Giants on Wednesday night. Barmes lead the Rockies with a solo home run and finished the game with four rbi out of the lead off spot as the Rockies beat the Giants 15-6. The Rockies will now be going for the three game sweep of the Giants as they face off once again on Thursday night.

Besides Barmes’s four rbi’s, the Rockies got three rbi from Matt Holliday and Garret Atkins and then two from Chris Iannetta. Troy Tuluwitzki, Ryan Spilborghs, and Jeff Baker all helped out with the scoring cause as they all three finished with one rbi each.

On the mound for the Rockies it was Livan Hernandez who pitched seven innings to get the win. Hernandez did give up 12 hits and five runs but it was ok as the offense put up so many runs on the scoreboard. Steven Register was charged with one run in relief as well.

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The Colorado Rockies were rocked at home by the San Diego Padres on Monday night. The Rockies had ten hits in the game but the pitching staff gave up eighteen and the Rockies lost 11-5. A six run third inning by the Padres put the Rockies in a big hole that they were never able to come out of.

Greg Reynolds was awful as he only lasted two innings after being charged with nine hits and seven runs. Reynolds took the loss and is now 2-7 on the year. Jason Hirsh gave up two more runs as he pitched 2 1/3 innings of relief after Reynolds was taken out of the game. Matt Herges and Steven Register both gave up single runs later in the game as well.

Four of the Rockies five runs came in the fourth inning when Troy Tulowitzki hit a grand slam. The final run for the Rockies came on a Chris Iannetta solo home run in the eighth inning. The Rockies offense just couldn’t keep up with the Padres.

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The Colorado Rockies finished up a four game series with the San Francisco Giants on Wednesday night and they came out on the losing end by the score of 4-1. The Rockies offense just couldn’t get anything going against Giants starter Tim Lincecum who struck out 10 rockies. After winning the first two games in the series, the Rockies dropped the final two and ended up with a split.

Livan Hernandez got the start for the Rox on the mound and he gave up five hits and two runs in 6 1/3 innings. Hernandez took the loss and is now 1-3 for the Rockies with an 11.09 era. Both of the runs that Livan gave up were solo home runs as he wasn’t keeping the ball down. Luis Vizcaino allowed two more runs to score in the eighth inning when he ran into trouble.

Troy Tulowitzki had the only rbi for the Rockies. Tulo had a rbi single in the second inning and that score Chris Iannetta. At the time, the rbi single put the Rockies up 1-0 and they held that lead until the seventh inning when the Giants finally got to Hernandez.

The Rockies have an off day on Thursday and then will start up a series with the San Diego Padres on Friday.

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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)  

All the sports shows tend to forget about the Rockies, and early in the season they should have, but now they are coming back strong, and people should start to take notice. Last night’s win against the Brewers was key for getting the team back to the .500 mark. The Rockies don’t always perform their best on the road, but last night showed a team that can win anywhere; beating the Brewers 4-3 at Miller Park. 

Ubaldo Jimenez got control of the game and pitched seven shut out innings even though he struggled in the count. A lot of the batters he faced saw themselves ahead in the count, but Jimenez battled back. He gave up no runs on three hits and struck out seven guys. I think that I can take some credit for his performance, because on the 4th of July I saw him and told him what a great pitcher he was. He had fan support, which helped him with his confidence. And last night he was 100% confident in tough situations. 

The Rockies are getting more and more confidence in their bats too. Last night was not a high scoring game, unlike the fourth’s 18 run win, but they got enough to finish it off. Both Matt Holliday and Jeff Baker went two for four. One of Holliday’s hits was a line drive homerun out to centerfield which put the Rockies ahead by three. Garrett Atkins got a sacrifice fly RBI putting him at 51 tied with Holliday. The one thing the Rockies have had trouble with this year is leaving runners on base. Last night they left nine guys on, and in a close game like this one turned out to be those nine potential runs could have made a difference. 

The Rockies don’t lack defense, and they showed it off last night-at least until the eighth inning. Jimenez picked Braun and Hart off of first. And the Rox also turned the only two double plays in the game. They fell apart defensively in the eighth though. First Joe Koshansky received an error when a short hit ground ball came his way and he missed the tag. Then a miscommunication between Atkins and Chris Iannetta became a single after a high pop-up dropped right in front of the mound. The Brewers were able to score three runs in the eighth. But Brian Fuentes was on his A game and struck out two batters and then got the third out off a lazy fly to left. Since he has been able to shut down the other teams in his last two outings, I don’t know how much longer he will be a Rockie. 

It was an eventful second to last inning but the Rockies were able to hold on. The Rox face CC Sebathia, his first outing as a Brewer, in Miller Park tonight and hopefully can turn one win into two.

ROCKSTAR of the game: UBALDO JIMENEZ

Tonight I guess you could say that I jinxed the team. I decided that I was going to once and for all see if my Rockies baseball cap is truly bad luck. It is. I wore it to all four games of the World Series, then my first game back from college and, for one last time, tonight with the 15-8 loss. The Rockies lost every single game, so I have decided to burn it and hopefully get the Rockies back on track. Right now the team could use anything to get them going again.

The night started off great for the Rockies who scored three in the first off of a bases loaded double by Chris Iannetta. And then three more in the third with a Brad Hawpe bomb out to center field. The runs weren’t over for the Rockies who scored another one in the fourth and fifth. They had a five run lead going into the sixth and all was looking good. But just like the Rockies record things went downhill. 

Jorge De La Rosa pitched a pretty good game up until the sixth, he only giving up three runs. But as he threw more pitched the Padres got more hits. He gave up three in the sixth before he was taken out. It was the bullpens turn to take over. Ryan Speier came in and gave up two runs to tie the game. No lead is safe when it comes to the Rockies. After Matt Herges came in and shut down the Padres offense the Rockies had a glimpse of hope, but it was soon crushed by Brian Fuentes.

Fuentes is one of those closers that is either on or off with no in between and tonight he was as off as a closer can get. I could tell it wasn’t going to be a good outing when he gave up a lead off hit. After that first hit he gave up four more. The Padres scored FIVE runs off Fuentes, FIVE. It was not a pretty sight. After giving up those FIVE runs Clint Hurdle finally had to take him out and gave Luis Vizciano a shot at lowering his 8.00 ERA. But Vizciano ended up giving up two more runs. So after being up five runs the Rockies ended up being down seven. 

The Rockies couldn’t respond in the bottom half of the ninth going down 1, 2, 3. It was close to a sellout crowd tonight and it might be one of the Rockies last with the way they blew it tonight. As the Padres scored more and more runs the fans booed louder and louder, which is a sound rarely heard at Coors Field. Lets hope tomorrow night the Rockies can redeem themselves 

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 Rockies 1-0 win today over the Giants was a big one.  Not just because they are in dire need of wins but because the entire team played a part.  The Rockies win when they play as a team. The playoff run in September of last year was spectacular because the team became a family.  Tonight’s win was a glimpse of what could turn out to be another close knit team with playoff potential.

It started off with Ubaldo Jimenez not giving up in the first.  He threw a total of 29 pitches but kept his confidence and got out of the inning unscathed.  Jimenez proved today that he belonged in the show.  In 7 innings he only walked one man and gave up 4 hits.  For a young guy struggling with control one walk is a big deal.  Although he personally didn’t get the W he was a key aspect for the club win.

The defense was some of the best I have seen from the Rockies all year. Willy Taveras, who has been off and onn defensively this year, was definitely on tonight with a spectacular catch in the 6th to give the Rockies the first out of a 1,2,3 inning.  He caught it over the back, reaching out, on the run in dead center field.  Taveras wasn’t the only one playing some defense, for a guy who was drafted as a third baseman,  Ian Stewart has proved that he can also play a pretty good second base, with 8 assists in 7 innings on the night.  His most impressive assist was in the first, with Lewis on second, Winn on first and  2 outs in the inning; with  a ball hit up the middle Stewart ran over and made an off balance perfect throw to get Rowand out at first for the third out. If he doesn’t make that play the score would have been 1-0 Giants in the first.

The defense was perfect tonight while the offense was dormant with the Giants ace Lincecum on the mound. It wasn’t until the bottom of the ninth inning that the first and last run was scored. Brian Fuentes earned his money tonight by getting three outs in the top of the ninth without a run, and earning himself a win which was his first of the season.

In the bottom of the ninth with Garrett Atkins occupying third, off of a walk and single by Brad Hawpe, and then Hawpe on second due to a passed ball, Chris Iannetta stepped up to the plate. He looked at a couple balls go by and then decided to swing, when he made contact the ball went off of his knee and he went down in pain.  It was a scary moment for the catcher who has had one of the best starts to the season on the team, but he finally got up and walked off the pain and made it to first with 4 balls.

The bases were loaded for Jeff Baker who flied out to Rowand in center; Atkins faked going in but made the right decision in going back as a good throw would have definitely caused an out.  Up off the bench then came Yorvit Torrealba who hit a  short fly ball right to Giants left fielder Lewis, who made a perfect catch and quickly threw the ball to Molina who was in perfect position on the plate.  The Ump called Atkins out but forgot to look for the ball that was rolling in the dirt in front of Molina.  Atkins was safe at home. Torrealba didn’t get the RBI but the only thing that matters is the club got the win.

It was an unselfish night for the Rockies that really paid off. They have won 6 of their last 7 games. The Rockies will go for a sweep tomorrow afternoon at Coors Field.

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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 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.

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