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

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

Today was a day to forget for the Colorado ball club with a tough 10-7 loss against the Giants.  After winning the last two games against the Giants the Rockies couldn’t get the sweep.

Greg Reynolds started today’s game on a high after winning his first game against Milwaukee last week, but it was a different story for the young pitcher today. He looked good in the first only giving up one hit but couldn’t get the third out in the second until  4 runs were scored; 3 out of the 4 were on a 2 out homerun by Fred Lewis. Reynolds only lasted 3 2/3 innings and gave up 10 hits.

The rest of the team tried to help Reynolds out with some offense, but  couldn’t bring in the runs. In the second inning Todd Helton lead off with a single and Garrett Atkins brought him home on a double.  Two batters later Yorvit Torrealba knocked in a run with a single.  After the Giants scored another 2 runs in the 3rd the Rockies came right back with 2 runs off of a Matt Holliday double. It looked as if the Rockies had a chance to come back, but couldn’t bring Holliday in from second.

The Giants came right back with 2 more runs in the 4th. In the 5th inning the Rockies had a chance of catching the Giants.  Jeff Baker swinging a hot bat singled to left to start the inning and was followed by a Holliday single.  Helton walked and the bases were loaded for Garrett Atkins who doubled to right and brought in 3 runs.  Atkins was left on second for 2 consecutive outs and was joined on first by Omar Quintanilla.  With 2 men on Ian Stewart couldn’t capitalize and struck out looking. Once again the Rockies left potential runs on base.

Again in the 7th the Rockies had a chance to reach the Giants. With 2 outs the Rockies loaded the bases with  singles by Torrealba and Quintanilla and a walk to Jonathan Herrera, but Ryan Spilborghs struck out looking.  In fact the Rockies struck out a total of 13 times, including 3 strikes by both Holliday and Hawpe.

The Rockies didn’t lose because they didn’t have the opportunities, they lost because they couldn’t finish. Reynolds threw only 3 2/3 innings; Manuel Corpas gave up 2 runs in the 7th with 2 outs- the Giants scored 5 runs with 2 outs-and the Rockies couldn’t clear the bases.

Today’s loss could have easily been a win if only the team could complete what they started. The only good to come from this loss is the 4 tacos for a dollar at Taco Bell tomorrow because the Rockies scored 7 runs.  The Rockies need to regroup and get ready for a quick road trip to the windy city for some interleague play against the White Sox. The Rockies have played well in interleague game it would be nice to get back to a winning streak.

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The Colorado Rockies finally ended their eight game losing streak as they beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 3-0 on Tuesday night.  There was a benches clearing brawl in the game as well, and that just might be the little spark that the Rockies need at this point in the season.

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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The Colorado Rockies were rocked out in Los Angeles on Monday night as they lose to the Dodgers 8-2.  It was the eighth straight loss for the Rockies who are playing terrible baseball right now.  If they don’t turn things around soon, we are really going to see a lot of trade rumors etc happening as they have already started up some.

Greg Reynolds was the loosing pitcher for the Rockies on Monday night as he tossed five inning.  Reynolds gave up seven hits and six runs (four of the runs were earned), as he dropped his record to 0-3 on the season.  Reynolds needs to keep the ball down unlike on Monday when he gave up two home runs.

Jorge De La Rosa came in to pitch the next two innings for the Rockies and also had trouble as he gave up two runs and a home run.

Garrett Atkins had gotten the Rockies a 1-0 lead with a rbi single in the first inning that scored Ryan Spilborghs.  The next run for the Rockies didn’t come until the ninth inning when Yorvit Torrealba doubled in Todd Helton.  You are not going to win very many games when you only score two runs.

I don’t know what the Rockies problem is right now.  It appears that they have no confidence, and why should they when they just lost their eighth game in a row?

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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 rockied St. Louis Cardinals starting pitcher Kyle Lohse around with four runs int he first inning alone as they went on to beat the Cardinals by the score of 9-3.  With the win, the Rockies were able to manage a split in the four game series with the Cardinals.

Jorge De La Rosa pitched 5 2/3 innings to pick up the win for the Rockies.  He allowed five hits and two runs in the five plus innings of action.  Manny Corpas tossed 1 1/3 innings of scoreless baseball in relief of De La Rosa which was nice to see.  Matt Herges came in for Corpas and pitched one inning while allowing one run.  Taylor Buchholz pitched the final inning without allowing a run.

Garrett Atkins and Chris Iannetta both finished the game with two rbi.  Iannetta continues to hit the ball very good at the plate for the Rockies.  Todd Helton, Ryan Spilborghs, Clint Barmes, and De La Rosa all had one rbi in the game.

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The Colorado Rockies battled back to tie the game 5-5 in the eighth inning but then went onto give up another run in the to of the ninth inning on a weird play as the Cardinals defeated the Rockies 6-5.  In the top of the ninth inning Albert Pujols scored from second base on a groundout to second base.  Jonathan Herrera lofted the ball to Todd Helton and Pujols ended up just running all the way home instead of stopped at third base like most runners would have.  Helton was unable to get the ball home in time and Pujol slide in under the tag to give the Cardinals the go ahead run.

Brian Fuentes took the loss and is now 0-2 on the season.  Pujols said he took the gamble because Fuentes is so hard to get hits off of usually.  Ubaldo Jimenez started the game for the Rockies and tossed seven innings while giving up seven hits and four runs.  Matt Herges pitched two scoreless innings before Taylor Buchholz pitched an inning and gave up a run.

Brad Hawpe led the Rockies at the plate with a home run and two RBI.  Ryan Spilborghs and Helton both had RBI’s in the game as well.

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