On Monday the Colorado Rockies and Oakland Athletics worked out a trade that will send Matt Holliday to the Oakland Athletics. The Rockies will be getting Greg Smith, Huston Street, and Carlos Gonzalez back from the A’s in exchange for Holliday.

This deal is decent but I was hoping for a little bit more for Holliday. Smith is a pretty wild pitcher that doesn’t serve well for Coors Field. Street is a good reliever that will need to fill in for Brian Fuentes who the Rockies let walk away. Gonzalez, 23, saw his first big league action last season and hit .242 with four home runs and 26 RBIs in 302 at-bats.

What do you think of the deal Rockies fans? Leave us a comment and let us know!

It sounds like Matt Holliday will indeed be traded this off season as reports are really heating up about the New York Yankees wanting him. Holliday has said in recent interviews that he does not think the Rockies can compete every year like he would like and that his contract extenstion talks were not a distraction to the team. I won’t doubt Holliday one bit but I do know that Rockies fans are going to hate seeing him play for another team.

It sounds like the Rockies are after Ian Kennedy of the Yankees but he would not be the prized jewel of the trade. The Rockies could be looking at a Robinson Cano possibly and also Kennedy in a deal. Look for a trade to happen in the month of December. It will be intersting to see who the Rockies are able to get for Holliday. And who knows, it could be from a different team then the Yankees.

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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 picked up a nice come from behind win on Wednesday night as they beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 4-3. The Rockies scored the winning run in the top of the ninth inning to break a 3-3 tie thanks a steal by Matt Holliday and a rbi single by Brad Hawpe.

The Rockies offense was helped out in the game by the Dodgers commiting four errors as well. Hawpe lead the Rockies offense with three rbi as he went 2-4 with a walk. Troy Tulowitzki had the other rbi for the Rockies as he hit a solo home run in the fourth inning.

Jeff Francis allowed three runs in the first inning but then he settled down to pitch six innings. Francis gave up nine hits and three runs (one earned) as he got the no decision in the game. Taylor Buchholz ended up getting the victory and is now 6-3 while Brian Fuentes picked up his 24th save in the ninth inning.

We hope to have more regular updates here at RockiesHomePlate as things get setteled down. We hope you continue ready and leaving comments! – Rockies Blog

The Rockies need a big win and they got it last night. The bats came alive with an 8-3 win against the Dodgers in LA. 

Ubaldo Jimenez pitched a good game, and got some support from the rest of the team. He pitched five innings and gave up three runs on eight hits. He looked good and only had one little breakdown in the fourth when he gave up two runs to give the Rox only a one run lead. Jimenez has improved greatly from the beginning of the year and will hopefully keep on winning. 

After the Rockies scored two runs in the first, Brad Hawpe came up in the third and hit a bomb out to dead center to score two runs in the top of the third. Hawpe has pulled out of his slump and really come through when the team needs him. Matt Holliday had a great game going four for five and hitting a solo homerun in the eighth to put the Rockies up by two. The big man of the night was Ian Stewart who went two for three and hit a three run homerun in the eighth to put the game away for the Rox. Stewart definitely improved from his last stint with the Rockies and it showed last night with his long homerun off of Kuroda, a lefty on lefty match up. With the team putting up some runs the pitching has less stress and performs just as well.

Luis Vizciano, Manuel Corpas, Taylor Buchholz and Brian Fuentes all came in and pitched an inning and gave up no runs. Vizciano gave up one hit and Corpas gave up a pair but other than that the bullpen looked solid. The Rockies bullpen is usually pretty solid, but it is nice to see a hand full get into a game and do well.

The Rockies take on the Dodgers again tonight and will hopefully have the same outcome. Jeff Francis is on the mound for the Rox tonight and can hopefully keep the Dodgers at bay. 

ROCKSTAR of the game: IAN STEWART

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

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