After losing the first game horribly, the Rockies came back to take the series. Tonight’s game was a showcase of the Rockies bats with an 8-1 win. With a team who has shown little offense this season it is nice to see them battling back.

Ubaldo Jimenez got the start today and and pitched one for the books. He pitched six and 1/3 and only gave up one run on five hits. Jimenez is known for his blistering fast ball and he showed it off tonight; at one point, the speed gun at Coors Field showed 96 MPH. Fastball pitchers usually get strikeouts, but Jimenez worked the ground balls tonight, which, for the best defensive team in baseball history last year, is easy. The team worked together to get the outs, and, like I have said before, the team wins when they play like a team. 

The Rockies runs were a team effort too. Garrett Atkins got things started when he singled in a run with the bases  loaded in the first.  In the second, Atkins was at it again with a three run homerun. He really proved himself as a cleanup hitter. He went three for four on the night with four RBI’s. Troy Tulowitzki is slowly but surely battling back from his .150 batting average, he golfed a two run homerun in the third and ended the night at .164. In my opinion, one thing that is holding him back is his walk up song.  Brittany Spears just doesn’t seem like a .300 hitter’s walk up song; he should at least go back to R. Kelly and his .291 average. The final run in the game came in the eighth off of a Yorvit Torrealba homer out to left center. One guy who has really struggled this home stand is Brad Hawpe he struck out three times in tonight’s game and has not been seeing the ball. Hopefully it is a temporary slump, and he will come out of it by tomorrow’s game against the Marlins. 

The major league bullpen showed up tonight. Jason Grilli, Cedrick Bowers and Luis Vizciano all played their part in the win, only giving up one hit in three innings. The pitcher of the night was Bowers who made his major league debut. His journey to the majors has been a long one, but he finally made it. After being drafted in the fourth round in 1996 by Tampa Bay, he played eight years in the Tampa Bay minors- three of which were at the AAA level- then made the long trek to Japan where he pitched for four years, and then finally making his way to Colorado. At the age of thirty Bowers has made it to the show and he proved himself tonight by relieving Jimenez and getting the final two outs in the seventh. He only faced two batters and struck out one and got the other on a ground ball to third. He will hopefully add some relief in the bullpen.

Tomorrow the Rockies start a four game series with the Florida Marlins, who are a game and a half behind the Phillies in the NL East. I hope the Rockies can keep the bats going for the 4th of July weekend.

ROCKSTAR of the game: GARRETT ATKINS

The Rockies are playing some good baseball; they have won their last four series (unless you count that one game against the Braves as a series then it’s four out of five). They are finding ways to win and  are catching up in the NL West. The Rockies took game two of the Indians series winning 4-2 tonight.

Jeff Francis was on the mound and pitched a great game. He gave up 2 runs on 5 hits in 6 innings. The pitchers have really been stepping up lately for the Rockies, especially the starters. Francis got the win and now is 3-6, closing in on that 500 mark. With a rough start to the year, Francis is coming around and starting to look like the ace he was last year. 

The rest of the Rockies lineup is also starting to play like the National League champions. Jeff Baker and Omar Quintanilla both had another great game. Baker was 2 for 4 with a homerun in the 4th and Quintanilla was 2 for 3 with 2 of the Rockies RBI’s. These two created the winning run tonight in the 6th when Baker got on first with a fielder’s choice and, two batters later, Quintanilla singled to bring Baker home. It is going to be hard to decide who to send down to AAA when Troy Tulowitzki and Clint Barmes come back with Quintanilla and Baker playing so well. 

The bullpen was once again doing its job. Jason Grilli, Taylor Buchholz, and Brain Fuentes all came out of the pen and kept the Indians at bay. Combined, they pitched 3 innings and gave up 0 runs on 1 hit. Fuentes only faced 3 batters, which is unheard of for him. The bullpen has really helped out the team lately and will hopefully keep this going. 

 The Rockies have really been shutting down the Indians. Well, most of the Indians. Former Rockie Jamie Carroll is playing like he is at his home field and, let me tell you, I wish he was.  We are still looking for  a true second baseman to take on a full time position. Carroll had two doubles tonight and batted in 1 run. 

The Rockies are going for the sweep tomorrow night, and this time it is going to happen. 

ROCKSTAR of the game: JEFF BAKER and OMAR QUINTANILLA

Jorge De La Rosa had an amazing start after his total bomb against the Phillies. The close games lately haven’t been going the Rockies way but today it was a different story. The Rockies finished the game with more offense than the White Sox and the pitching couldn’t be touched.

De La Rosa pitched 5 innings and only gave up 1 hit. Something just clicked tonight with De La Rosa and he looked like a true major league pitcher. It might have been less stressful for him being in the American League and not having to bat, but whatever it was he was a different player than his last start.

De La Rosa wasn’t the only pitcher for the Rockies shutting down the offense. Jason Grilli, Taylor Buchholz and Brian Fuentes all did their part to earn the team a much needed W. All together they gave up 2 hits and no earned runs. The bullpen was looking like it did last year, solid. If the bullpen can keep healthy and perform like they did today the Rockies should be getting closer to that 500 mark.

The offense wasn’t producing much tonight but thanks to the pitching that didn’t matter. Only one run was needed but the Rockies got a little insurance. The first run was scored in the top of the 7th with a ground rule double by Jeff Baker and a sac bunt by Yorvit Torrealba to move the the runner up, and with 2 outs a little blooper hit just beyond the second baseman by Willy Taveras brought Baker in for the winning run. Taveras had a great night tonight after being in a little slump. He went 2 for 4 and had 5 stolen bases, just short of the Rockies record of 6  by Eric Young. With Taveras getting back into the grove hopefully all the Rockies will follow suit and the team will break out of their losing record.

Tomorrow is Fathers Day and the final game of the series in Chicago and the Rockies will go for the win. I am banking on a Rockies win tomorrow because I haven’t gotten a present yet for my dad and a Rockies win would be perfect for my budget as a college student. So, GO ROCKIES!

Rockies Blog

The Colorado Rockies continued to play terrible baseball on Wednesday night as they lost to the Philadelphia Phillies 6-1.  The Phillies had no problems sweeping the Rockies in the three game series.  After the terrible series, the Rockies are now 20-32 on the season.

Greg Reynolds pitched 5 2/3 innings and gave up five hits and six runs as he took the loss.  Reynolds is now 0-2 on the season.  Jason Grilli and Matt Herges both pitched in relief with out giving up a run so atleast that was a good thing.

Todd Helton had a rbi single in the third inning.  That was the only run for the Rockies as they continue to swing the bat bad.

The Rockies will now fly to Chicago and begin a four game series with the Chicago Cubs on Tuesday.

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The Colorado Rockies have won three games in a row after they defeated the San Francisco Giants by the score of 4-3 on Monday night.  The Rockies still have a long ways to go to get back into contention, but this is a good start and they will be playing a lot of games at Coors Field in the next 30 games so they should be able to pick up some ground in the division I would think.

Jason Grilli picked up the win and is now 1-0 on the season.  Grilli pitched 2/3 of an inning after Jorge De La Rosa was taken out after 5 1/3 innings.  De La Rosa gave up four hits and three runs in the game to get the no decision.

Matt Herges and Taylor Buchholz pitched the seventh and eighth innings without allowing run to cross the plate.  Brian Fuentes then came in to record his sixth save of the season.

Yorvit Torrealba had the big hit for the Rockies when he had a two run double in the sixth inning.  Torrealba tried to stretch the double into a triple but was thrown out at third base on the play.  Clint Barmes hit a solo home run while Garrett Atkins had a rbi single in the game.  Todd Helton went 0-4 in the game as he is kind of struggling on the season with a .268 average.

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The Colorado Rockies scored three runs in the bottom of the ninth inning against the St. Louis Cardinals but the problem was they needed atleast four to send the game into extra innings.  Back to back doubles by Chris Iannetta and Clint Barmes scored three runs but with Brames on second base Jeff Baker flied out to center field to end the game with the score 6-5.

I will give the team credit for coming back and atleast making the game intersting in the last inning.  They showed a little bit of emotion out there atleast.

Mark Redman got pounded on the mound as he only pitched 2 2/3 innings.  Redman got pulled after giving up nine hits and five runs very quickly in the game.

The Rockies bullpen did a great job after coming in for Redman however.  Jason Grilli pitched 3 1/3 innings and only allowed one hit.  Manny Corpas tossed two innings and allowed four hits and one run. (What else is new), Ryan Speier pitched the ninth inning and allowed one hit but no runs.

The Rockies are now 12-21 on the season.  I just don’t know if they have what it takes to go on a nice 10 game winning streak at this point in the season and get back to the .500 mark.  What do you think Rockies fans?  Rockies Blog