Innings and Outings

Tuesday night, Ian Stewart became the 60th player to hit their first major league homerun as a member of the Rockies. He became the second to hit a grand slam as their first MLB home run, Jim Tatum being the first in 1993. Other notable first HR's for the Rockies include Jay Gainer, who was the 15th player in MLB history to hit the first pitch he saw in the majors for a HR, and Jason Jennings, who is the only pitcher in history to pitch a complete game shutout AND hit a homerun in his MLB debut.

One of the "email's to the booth" during the telecast Tuesday asked about the possibility of Stewart playing second base. George and Drew didn't immediately dismiss it as a bad idea, going so far as to say that maybe the Rox should run him out there a few games yet this season and see what happens. Frazier said he might compare Stewart as a second baseman to Jeff Kent, a guy who isn't necessarily a defensive asset but will make the everyday play and won't cost you runs. I wonder if the idea has crossed the mind of either Hurdle or O'Dowd.

Taylor Buchholz has said for awhile now that he is more comfortable in his role as a reliever than he was as a starter. His performance sure seems to indicate that. As a starter his ERA is 5.98 while 2.31 as a reliever. With 3.1 innings of solid relief work Tuesday, he deserved the win.

They mentioned during the telecast that his last outing, Ubaldo Jimenez had the highest average speed for a fastball in any game in the majors this season. His 0.89 ERA over the last two starts is obviously the potential that prompted the Rockies to make him a part of the rotation at this stage of the season. Control continues to be an issue and will prevent him from going deep into games.

MLBTradeRumors likes the approach of Jimenez/Morales in the rotation versus rolling the dice on Mark Redmond (or any other veteran possibility for that matter), whom the Rox recently signed to a minor league deal. Clint Hurdle indicated, however, that the signing was strictly that, a minor league deal, without any thoughts of possibly helping the Rox during the stretch run. Hopefully we don't have anymore injuries to the rotation and Hirsch and Cook are back soon so we don't even have to speculate about a scenario where Redmond sees the mound for the Rox.

Last night, the Rox did not look like a team destined for a playoff spot. They didn't do anything particularly well. Splitting games evenly between the categories of good and bad will not cut it if we are to remain serious about playing past September. It could have been worse though. Texas beat Baltimore 30-3, tying a MLB record from 1897. Here's the boxscore for that mess. It's not as if the Rangers (or Strangers as my brother-in-law calls them) had been tearing the cover off the baseball. They'd only managed 28 runs over the last nine games. What a way for Baltimore to celebrate manager Dave Trembley's contract extension, which was announced earlier in the day.

Morales is on the hill today, but we're facing a lefty in Paul Maholm. Ever since I remember lefties have given us fits.

Until next time, Go Rockies!

Earning It Back With A Bang

The Rockies put on quite an offensive show yesterday, tying the franchise record for extra-base hits in a game and coming one shy of tying the franchise record for hits and runs in a game. The majority of the damage was done in the first four innings, making it even more impressive. Since splitting a 4-game set with the Cardinals at the end of May, the Rox have won nine straight home series and have won 21 of 27 games at Coors Field. For a few years now we have talked about the Rockies getting that home-field advantage back, recalling how dominant we were here in the mid to late 90's. Teams would leave Denver with their tails between their legs. Some opponenets literally HATED playing here, leaving with their bullpen in disarray and feeling like they'd just been beaten like a red-headed stepchild with a Louisville Slugger. The first evidence that this dominance was on the verge of returning was when the Yankees had just completed a three-game series here and had been swept. Joe Torre commented that he didn't really care to ever come back. The Rox managed that sweep in a different fashion than the recent sweep of the Brewers, by outpitching the Yanks. One of the wonderful things about this team is that they can out pitch you OR out slug the opposition. Back in the day of the Bombers, about our only choice was to out slug the other team, and we did that pretty well. Back then, in the pre-humidor era, players and managers would complain that Coors Field was a joke and you couldn't play "real baseball" here with the altitude. They wouldn't have complained if they'd won. Now that the game has been "normalized" with the humidor and 12-11 games aren't common anymore, they won't be able to use the "real baseball" argument. When teams start to come in here afraid that the Rox will take batting practice off them and they can't make a single mistake, then the LoDo Magic of the Bombers' era will have officially returned. That advantage can go a long ways to making the Rockies a team to be reckoned with year in and year out. A side benefit of recapturing this advantage at home is the attendance. The crowds are noticably larger than even at the beginning of the season and certainly larger than we've typically seen the last two seasons. I'm not saying that the average Rockies' fan goes to CF hoping to see a 19-4 drubbing or even a return of the "12-11, it's not over 'till it's over" type games, but they do want to know that the Rox have a pretty good chance of winning the game.

The Designation Committee met late yesterday afternoon and voted to restore CapR. A general criteria that the Committee had determined was necessary for CapR consideration was getting to five games over .500. With the Rox reaching that goal and in convincing fashion, the Committee voted unanimously. This time the chairman really is going on vacation, so hopefully there isn't a need for any meetings in the near future.

Until next time, Go Rockies!