All the players are expected to be invited to spring training where they will compete for a major league roster spot.

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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

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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Matt Kemp was upset with a tag by Yorvit Torrealba in the bottom of the eight inning and the two got into a wrestling match as the benches cleared.  Only Kemp and Torrealba were tossed from the game as the rest of the players kept the emotions under control.

Jeff Francis improved his record to 2-5 on the year as he tossed seven innings.  Francis only gave up four hits in his seven innings of action as he had great control and movement on the ball.  Taylor Buchholz pitched a scoreless eighth inning before Brian Fuentes came in and allowed two hits but zero runs and picked up his seventh save of the season.  Grea shutout by the three pitchers!

The Rockies got two of their three runs in the third inning as Scott Podsednik had a sac fly and then Todd Helton had a rbi single.  The Rockies would not score again until the ninth inning when Chris Iannetta hit a solo home run.

Will the Rockies go on a nice little win streak now that they finally snapped their losing streak?

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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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Jorge De La Rosa started the game for the Rockies and only lasted 4 2/3 innings while giving up seven hits and four runs.  He walked three batters and struck out six others.  De La Rosa is now 1-2 with a 9.42 era on the season.

Scott Podsednik had a two run single in the eighth inning to lead the Rockies at the plate.  Other then that the only other Rockies run came in the seventh inning on a Ryan Spilborghs rbi single.  The Rockies had 12 hits in the game but left 23 runners on base as they just coudln’t come up with a big hit to knock in the runs.

The Rockies will try to avoid the sweep as they play the Diamondbacks once again on Thursday.

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What is shocking is that the Rockies did not hit one home run in the game yet they still put up 10 runs.  Troy Tulowitzki, Garrett Atkins, and Clint Barmes all had two RBI. Ryan Spilborghs, Scott Podsednik, Brad Hawpe, and Chris Iannetta all finished with one RBI each.

Mark Redman picked up the win for the Rockies.  Redman only pitched five innings as he gave up three hits and two earned runs.  Matt Herges, Taylor Buchholz, Brian Fuentes, and Manny Corpas all pitched in relief and all did a great job.

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Centerfielder Scott Podsednik and second basemen Marcus Giles are the two names that most people have heard of that have been invited.  Podsednik isn’t much of a ball player these days, besides having some speed.  Giles is also at the ending point of his career in my opinion.

Other players that were invited are:  INF Christian Colonel, INF Matt Kata, SS Chris Nelson, OF Sean Barker, OF Dexter Fowler, OF Joe Gaetti, C Mike Rose, C Michael McKenry and C Neil Wilson.

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