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.

Rockies Blog

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.

Rockies Baseball Blog

Jeff Francis finally one a baseball game! In a drought that lasted two months, Francis went winless but that all changed on Monday night when he and the Colorado Rockies defeated the San Francisco Giants 4-2. Great way for the Rockies to open up a three game series on the West coast.

Francis improved his record to 4-8 as he pitched seven innings. He allowed seven hits but only two runs while only walking one batter. Not walking batters really helped Jeff out in the game as he wasn’t always dealing with free base runners. Manny Corpas tossed a scoreless eighth before Brian Fuentes pitched the ninth inning to record his 26th save of the season.

At the plate, the Rockies got a two run home run from Yorvit Torrealba in the second inning. In the fourth inning, Troy Tulowitzki tripled in Omar Quintanilla that gave the Rockies a 3-2 lead. The Rockies added on an insurance run in the eighth when Jeff Baker hit a rbi sac fly to score Ian Stewart to score the Rockies fourth run.

Good win for the Rockies and they will try to make it two in a row out in San Francisco on Tuesday evening!

Rockies Blog

After the first game I was thinking hey, the Rockies are back! But after last night I held myself back and realized they have a long way to go. Last night the Rockies lost 7-3 to the Brewers. It was one of those games that they could have easily won, but couldn’t bring in the runners. 

Mark Redman started for the second time since Jeff Francis was put on the DL. He didn’t look as bad as the score did. He pitched five innings and gave up four runs on five hits. He made one mistake to Braun who took advantage and homered scoring three runs. His pitches looked good, but he just didn’t have the run support. 

After coming off of a huge fourth of July weekend the Rockies seemed to have used up all their hits. There wasn’t a lot of offense in last night’s game for the Rockies. Garrett Atkins was the only player on the team who had two hits raising his average to .311. Matt Holliday kept his hitting streak alive with one hit last night, it was this 11th straight game with a hit. But other than that there really wasn’t much. In the early part of the season the Rockies were having trouble with scoring runs and I am hoping this was just a one night deal, and they have it out of there system.

The bullpen also needed some help. Matt Herges, who usually shuts down the other team, struggled last night. He thew for one and 2/3 innings and gave up three runs on two hits. Before Herges gave up the three, the Rockies were only down one. It should have been tied at that point, but when the bases were loaded and Yorvit Torrealba hit a ball down the right field line, Ryan Spilbourghs pulled up rounding second and stopped at third in obvious pain. It was later reported that Spilbourghs strained an oblique. 

Injuries have really been plaguing the Rockies lately. With Todd Helton, Troy Tulowitzki and Francis on the 15 day DL, Jeff Baker out for a couple games with a wrist problem and now Spilly out for awhile, the team is starting to look like the Sky Sox. I don’t know who the strength and conditioning coach is, but something isn’t working. Earlier in the year Holliday, Brad Hawpe, and Tulowitzki were all out with quad problems. The Rockies need to keep their team healthy in order to pull ahead in the NL West. 

They are going against the Brewers ace (well at least he was there ace before Sabathia) Ben Sheets tonight. It would be nice to see another win for the Rockies at Miller Park, we need all the away wins we can get. 

ROCKSTAR of the game: GARRETT ATKINS

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

Well, I wasn’t on time to the game tonight because, of course, one of the only Rockies games that starts at 6 had to be the day that I work until 5. I do not like to show up late. I missed 2 of the Rockies 6 runs. But I guess in the end, late or on time, it turned out ok; the Rockies won 6-5 in a nail biter. 

Since Jeff Francis was put on the DL Mark Redman was given a second chance. He did a pretty good job for not having started in a couple of months. He pitched six innings and gave up two runs on six hits, and only walked one batter. Redman was in control tonight. 

The Rockies weren’t in control the entire game though. They were down in the second but answered right away at the bottom of the inning with a Jeff Baker homerun. He has really proved himself as a major leaguer lately and I think the only Sox he will be seeing this year is the White Sox. Another run came in, in the sixth. But knowing the Rockies I knew that no lead was safe -see Fuentes Blows Another One- and the Marlins came back with two run homerun in the eighth. The Rockies were down one and needed a run to keep the game going, and they got it in the bottom of the eighth. Clint Barmes lead off with a little blooper hit over the shortstop and Matt Holliday followed with another blooper just beyond the reach of the left fielder and shortstop. The runners advanced off of a wild pitch with Baker at the plate, and with a long fly ball Baker got a sac fly to tie up the game. 

The score stayed 4-4 until the eleventh when the Marlins got a run off of a two out hit. Once again the Rockies answered. Yorvit Torrealba  walked and then what would have been a Scott Podsednik sac bunt ended up with him on second and Torrealba on third from a throwing error. With a man on second and third Troy Tulowitzki walked to load up  the bases. Omar Quintanilla tried to advance the runner on third but he grounded to the second baseman, who then thew home to get Torrealba with the first out of the inning. With the bases still loaded Ryan Spilbourghs saved the day with a big hit out to left center; Podsednik and Tulowitzki scored to win the game. 

As I waited for the fireworks tonight, I saw some things that you can’t see on TV. First, well I guess you can see this on TV, Spilly got shaving cream in the face during his TV interview. Second was all the players’ children playing on the field, and I recognized Holliday’s kids. His youngest, Ethen who is a little over one, was carrying around a bat and then proceeded to hit it on the ground and get into a stance and swing. He looked like a real ballplayer. Lastly the fireworks, Coors Field knows how to put on a good fireworks show.

I am sure as a birthday present America would love a Rockies win, so tomorrow they will go for win number two against the Marlins. 

ROCKSTAR of the game: RYAN SPILBOURGHS

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

The Rockies have been the only National League team dominating the American League this year. Tonight’s 6-3 win against the Indians was for the sweep and although the Rockies have won four of their last series it  was the first sweep of the season. The Rockies have won their last five games. 

Jorge De La Rosa got the start tonight and pitched a good game with three runs on four hits in six innings. He stayed calm after giving up 2 runs in the first off of a Francisco homerun. The next run wouldn’t come until the sixth off of a Blake homerun. He also had a career high number of strikeouts tonight with ten. His work on the mound was a huge part in the win.

Another player who was once again a huge part in the win was Jeff Baker. He hit the go-ahead run in the sixth with a bomb out to left center field. Baker even got his first intentional walk of the season. His defense on first base could use some work but he definitely made up for it in offense. Matt Holliday had an RBI tonight along with Brad Hawpe who had two. 

The man of the night was Doug Bernier who was brought up from AAA for only three games. Tonight was his first major league start and although he didn’t get that elusive first hit he played some good defense. He assisted Yorvit Torrealba on a pick off play in the third and got the first out in the ninth by running out to center and making a catch. He must have been good luck for the Rockies, who won every game he was brought up for. He will most likely go back down tomorrow but it was a nice cup of coffee for Bernier, who has spent seven years making his way to the show. 

The Rockies start a series with the Mets tomorrow at Coors Field and hopefully the Rockies can keep up the winning. 

In other news the Rockies signed their first round draft pick, Christian Friedrich, today. 

ROCKSTAR of the game: JEFF BAKER and DOUG BERNIER

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