Recap: Rockies 4, Nationals 1
Turning point: The Washington Nationals thought they were out of the fifth inning on a foul-tip strikeout of Carlos Gonzalez. But the second base umpire ruled that the ball hit the ground before Josh Bard’s glove, so Gonzalez had another chance with Clint Barmes at second base and Yorvit Torrealba at first. On the next pitch, Gonzalez flared a double just over Ryan Zimmerman’s glove to score Barmes. Torrealba later came home on a wild pitch to give the Rockies a 2-0 lead.
At the plate: All the Rockies runs were scored with two outs . . . Troy Tulowitzki and Brad Hawpe drove in insurance runs in the eighth inning with back-to-back doubles after Todd Helton singled . . . Yorvit Torrealba, who singled in the fifth inning, has a five-game hitting streak . . . Clint Barmes, who was 0-for-3, and Carlos Gonzalez, who was 1-for-4, each failed to homer for the first time since the Florida Marlins series . . . Ian Stewart struck out in all four of his plate appearances. Hawpe nearly joined him in that feat before doubling in his final at-bat.
On the mound: Jason Hammel was perfect for 3 2/3 innings before allowing a walk and two base hits to load the bases in the bottom of fifth. But he pitched out of that jam thanks to a great play by Ian Stewart, who dove to his left on a groundball and got the force out at second throwing from his backside. Hammel allowed just three hits and two walks in seven innings to win his eighth game . . . Rafael Betancourt allowed a base hit and struck out the side in a scoreless eighth. Betancourt has 13 strikeouts in 10 2/3 innings since joining the Rockies . . . Huston Street finished up in the ninth to save his 32nd game, third in the series. Street had allowed earned runs in the first two games — the first time he allowed earned runs in back-to-back games since briefly losing his job as closer in April — pitched a one-two-three ninth, although Adam Dunn nearly took him deep to lead off the inning. . . . Garrett Mock matched Hammel until the fifth inning when he allowed the two runs. He struck out eight in just five innings.
Numbers game: 10 strikeouts for Stewart in his past 19 at-bats, including four Thursday to tie his career-high in a single game. He also struck out four times Sept. 23, 2008, at San Francisco.
Nice to win a series in which the bats didn’t do what they usually do
Anybody else a little surpised that Hammel didn’t come back out in the 8th ?
Wonder who will get the other 8 web gems on Baseball Tonight.
The next 7 days are going to great… this is so much fun
well, according to Baseball Tonight (early version) this win put us in a tie with the Giants for the wildcard and the Braves are the favorite to win it.
Can anyone say “big-market bias”???
At least on ESPN Radio this morning, Tim Kurkjian said he thought the Rox would pull it off.
Eh, whatever the Booyah network says now means nothing in 6 weeks.
Hammel came up big tonight. Hopefully this one builds confidence and leads to some consistency from him. If there was ever a time we needed him to get hot, this is the time right now.
Stewart’s defense is keeping him in the lineup. I don’t have a problem with that at all, but maybe Tracy needs to tweak his lineup one more time. I think he’d be wise to split up Hawpe and Stewart like he did with Cargo and Helton. Neither one can sniff a hit against lefties at this moment.
It was not a pretty series but the Rockies did what they had to do and that is beat a bad team. This next week won’t be so easy.
My goodness this is shaping up to be better than ever. The Dodgers and Giants arn’t really playing that well, and I’ve got to tell you this team looks terrific.
Hammel said he went away from the sinkerball strategy and it paid dividends tonight. he look solid, his curveball was very sharp and he had good velocity and control with his fastball.
it looks like our starting pitching is coming around nicely from a rough couple of weeks there. Perfect timing too.
Ubaldo Jiminez VS Tim Lincecum— I know I posted it before but I’m extremely excited for this matchup. There’s nothing that is more exciting in baseball than a good ol pitching duel. Jiminez is coming off of a very solid start, and Lincecum’s wasn’t that great so hopefully that will give us a needed edge in that game.
Oh and as far as “Ugly Series” goes, these guys are doing what they need to do to win games. They don’t have to all go 2 for 3 with a walk or 11 K’s. they need to win games, regardless of how they accomplish them.
RockiesFan4life – Yeah, I noticed their mistake about the wild card leader too. I thought they gave good consideration to all the teams vying for the wild card and that any of the teams could still win it.
However, I was disappointed the Dodgers were not brought into the conversation about possible wild card winners…..
Would the Rox have any interest in Billy Wagner? He looked good last night hitting 95 and striking out 2 in an inning. If the Mets pick up the bulk of what’s left of his contract, it would be a good addition to the pen. I’d rather have Wagner than Hendrickson.
A good to great team finds ways to win when one of the three areas is suffering (i.e., our hitting). This series was less than fulfilling but makes the case that this is a good team heading towrads being great. Washington has been playing very good baseball and they are solid offensively, and yet the guys shut them down, played incredible defense, and got just enough offense. A 4-2 road trip – after the disaster in Florida? What resilency. I think right now the Rocks are playing as good of baseball as Phils and the Cardinals. But it is all about match-ups and in particular how they match-up the next 10 days. Ten days from now we could well be in 1st place or 3 back in the WC. But at least we are here with a chance to do make the playoffs a Rockies coronation.
As for ESPN…I still check their website. They have some good articles, like Jerry C on Helton last week (a very good piece of baseball writing). But their t.v.coverage with people like John Kruk? I have heard more intelligent discussion at sport bars with guys who have been at happy hour all day. If the east coast teams ever start to stink, they will have to shut down Baseball tonight.
The best thing about last night was Hammel’s performance. Very solid outing. I would be so thrilled to see the Rox go 7-3 in the next 10 games. Just take every series. If they want to sweep, then go right ahead, but just win series.
Dustin,
I’m going to saturday nights game with much excitement, but deep down I kinda wish I was going to sunday’s game to watch Ubaldo against Lincecum. That should be a great game. I hope both pitchers are on and it’s a 1-0 or 2-1 Rox win. I love watching pitcher’s duels. GO ROX!!!
I agree on Wagner; what has happened to Beimel? Seems like he hasn’t pitched in a while and when he has, it wasn’t all that great. He can still be a good situational guy, but has to get out LH batters. If the Mets pick up most of Wagners salary, what’s not to lose? Of course, there are 8 other teams who feel the same way.
Anybody have a feeling that Atkins and/or Spilly will have a big series this weekend? Both should get at least two, maybe more, starts. Plus, some pinch-hit opps.
Go Rockies. Take the first one.
Not intended to be a news flash by any means …Wagner to the Red Sox. They, consistently, have to make more post deadline deals than any other team.
I like our bullpen but will also be curious to see how/if Beimel gets worked in during the next two series. If our starters go seven..there is very little work available in the 8th and 9th – which is a good thing
Leave your response!
Recent Comments
More at Inside The Rockies
More around the Web
Newsroom
Blogroll
Archives