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!