Well, I was embarrassed last night. Most people who know me know that I am a diehard Rockies fan, and last night was their time to shine on national television, but they choked. I am a firm believer in ESPN’s East coast bias, and I was hoping to prove that the Rockies could hold their own; but instead they got shutout (again), losing 7-0. 

Mark Redman did not pitch his best. He only pitched three and 1/3 innings and gave up eight hits and five runs. The Rockies need to get some healthy pitchers. It was hard to watch Redman as he struggled every at bat. Ryan Speier made his way back to the big leagues but didn’t help out much; he gave up two hits and two runs in one inning pitched. Matt Herges, Luis Vizciano and Brian Fuentes all pitched an inning and shutdown the Mets but it was little too late. 

The offense was absolutely dormant last night. Although it was better than the night before last’s one hitter. The Rockies ended the night with five hits and NO RUNS. Seriously they couldn’t score in eighteen innings in New York. Brad Hawpe went two for four and Joe Koshansky got his first hit that wasn’t a homerun, but no one could bring them in. It was pretty pathetic, I stopped watching after the seventh inning. 

Last night could have been a way for the Rockies to get noticed and get some recognition, but they blew it. I am hoping that the All Star break will help get the team geared up and ready to get back in this. Right now the team could use a couple days to regroup and get ready for the four game series against the Pirates this weekend.

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

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