Game Recap: Astros 4, Rockies 3
Key to the game
Four batters into the first, the Rockies had four hits and three runs, but they never scored again despite having 13 baserunners in the game. Todd Helton in the first, Seth Smith in the third and Brad Hawpe in the fifth grounded into double plays, and the Astros turned a fourth when Helton struck out and Olivo, who led off with a single, was thrown out attempting to steal in the sixth.
The Astros scratched out two runs in the eighth, which began with a pinch-hit single by Michael Bourn off Matt Belisle, who was then called for a balk. With one out, Tommy Manzanella was safe on a bunt single, moving Bourn to third. Lance Berkman, facing Franklin Morales, grounded into a run-scoring fielder’s choice, as third baseman Melvin Mora knocked the ball down and got one out, but the Rockies were unable to turn a double play. Berkman stole his second base of the season as Rafael Betancourt was pitching to Carlos Lee and scored the game-winning run when Lee flared a single to left.
Other highlights
–After getting knocked out in the sixth in his past two starts, Jeff Francis gave up two runs in seven innings. A Jeff Keppinger double and Manzanella single to start the fourth netted a run, but with one out and runners on first and second, Francis got Hunter Pence to ground into a double play. Francis gave up a run in the seventh when Lee led off with a double, took third on Pence’s fly to deep center and with the Rockies infield playing back, scored when Pedro Feliz grounded to shortstop.
–Morales was charged with a blown save, his third of the season and first since April 18 when he was in the closer’s role.
–Belisle was charged with two runs in one-third of an inning, matching the number of runs he allowed in 19 innings in his previous 16 games, 15 of which were scoreless.
–Hawpe went 2-for-4 with a run-scoring single, giving him three straight two-hit games.
–Troy Tulowitzki, who doubled home two runs in the first, went 2-for-3 and was hit with a pitch. He’s 8-for-15 this month and has hit safely in 17 of his past 20 games, going 25-for-75 (.333) with three doubles, seven homers and 16 RBI.
–In three games batting sixth, Todd Helton is 1-for-10. At .240, his average has dipped to a season-low.
–The Rockies are 14-2 at home and 26-5 overall when leading after seven innings. They are 8-11 in one-run games. Four of their past five games have been decided by one run, and the Rockies are 1-3 in those games.
Unfortunately this depressing game is typical of what we’ve seen this year. Score runs early and then stop scoring. No clutch hitting as usual.
I think Tracy made a major mistake in the 6th. With two on and two out and the Houston pitcher tiring he should have pinch hit for Francis. Instead Francis grounds out to end the inning and then gave up a run in the 7th. I know Francis hadn’t thrown many pitches but his MO this year is to give up runs in the middle of the game. Saying that, our pinch hitter would have probably struck out anyway.
It’s painful too watch Helton. His strikeout in the 6th inning when Olivo was thrown out may have been the worst swing of his career.
Rockies have some decisions to make. How long do they keep playing Helton and how long is Baylor the hitting coach. I know they are both icons but neither is getting the job done.
What I’m slowly and painfully coming to realize is that games like tonight are not an anomaly, they are the norm. Games like last night’s 5-1 win are the anomaly. The Rockies are not that good a team. I say “team”, because they have plenty of good players and good pitching, but they do not hit as a team and they do not pick each other up. They don’t rally late in games. As hitters they try to do too much instead of stringing together singles. They really are the DBacks plus Ubaldo. Some nights they somehow come together and play well. 3-run homers always make you look like a team. Some times they really do play well as a team, which is what makes it so frustrating; they give us fans false hope that they are finally going to turn the corner like they did last year. After all, they always heat up when Jupiter is in Capricorn and when Mars and Neptune are in conjunction.
…I better stop ranting there before someone tells me I don’t understand baseball or something.
On the positive side, Stewart’s AB in the 9th was outstanding. He blew me away with his discipline. Hawpe and Giambi almost bailed them out. There must have been a screen or a strong wind blowing in LF.
I don’t understand letting Francis hit in the bottom of the 6th with 2 on given his history of blowing up in the later innings. Fortunately he only gave up 1 in the 7th, 2 total in 7 innings. But I would have taken him out for a PH.
I’ll try to make this as plain as I can. I go to an average of 60-65 Rockies games per year. I umpired Division I baseball for 25 years. I’ve been a serious observer/student of the game of baseball for over 40 years. I think I know baseball and the game.
I hate to say and/or admit this sad fact. The Rockies are going absolutely nowhere this year. I hope I’m proven wrong by this team but it appears to me they read to many of their own clippings before the season started.
I am completely demoralized by the performance I see, game after game, by this team. Using the “big part of the field” is just a term to these players. Sure, a few(very few) try and play fundamental baseball, but far too many of them are trying to hit it out on every swing.
I know swings that try to move runners. These guys not only don’t do it, they don’t even try.
I can’t say I know who said it, but it happened on a Baseball Tonight show a few years ago. The ex-player was asked about moving the runner and other basic skills to help the team. His response was paraphrased as “I tried to hit it out of the park on EVERY swing I took.”
It appears to me that this team is doing exactly that. Not eveyone, but the vast majority. Pitiful. No wild card. No Western Division title. Just excuse after excuse will be heard when the season ends.
Thank goodness for “the Chief” and his refreshing attitude and phenominal talent. At least we get to watch a true professional every five days.
At this point of the season this is no “team” I’m watching night after night.
Rockies, please, please prove me wrong.
Readers, thanks for letting me vent.
ED,We all feel ur pain.As I said in an earlier post,they just seem flat.or like they r not having fun.Maybe it’s the pressure of the expectations,or the bigger contracts. Maybe lingering effect of Keli’s untimely death.It,s like they keep searching for that spark of’09 and’07,and just can’t find it!The inter league schedule is tough-but they have to win 10 of the 13 at home[already 1-1]or they are going to start getting buried.
thiss season is just…odd. they aren’t a horrible team, other wise you’d see longer losing streaks and a sub .500 record. but they’re still probably the most underachieving rockies team i’ve seen. this team has the potential to hit 2,3 HRs a game. score 6,7 runs per game. and for whatever reason they just can’t do it.
isn’t it Jim Tracy’s responsibility to make small ball happen when big ball isn’t? How many times have we bunted this season? (Especially from anyone besides a pitcher?) Its so infrequent. We suffer from potential. Just like I do, Tracy knows any one of the players can hit a HR. So he doesn’t take that bat out of there hands to bunt and thats costing us. Oh what I would give for a Jamie Carrol, Omar Vizquel, Walt Weis type player now and then so we have at least one guy not trying to hit a homerun.
Did the Rockies just get shut out by the lousy Astros at home in mid-June? I know technically they scored 3 runs before they then easily made 27 outs, but this was one of the worst “right” handed starting pitchers in the MLB on a struggling team on the Rockies turf.
It’s early!
Too many games played in cold weather!
The Rockies will hit at some point!
Too many road games!
Facing tough NL West starting pitching!
Too many injuries!
The lineup hasn’t settled and found its groove!
The Rockies will get on a roll – they always do!
Let me be the first to say that I don’t want to hear any of these excuses anymore – that’s all they are – excuses. On paper the SD Padres are not a better team than either the Rockies or the DBacks, but they are substantially ahead of both of these teams in the standings.
Now is this J Tracy’s or the players fault? Although sure they are ultimately responsible, it’s really neither of these, this falls directly at the feet of DanO and here’s why:
In the off season DanO had three position needs for the Rockies, and here’s what he did:
1. Because he had no solutions in the minors, DanO needed a second baseman, and promptly passed on Hudson, Johnson, Cabrerra, Lopez and Kennedy – just to name a few affordable options. Bottom line DanO did nothing!
2. Again because of no real minor league options, DanO needed a right handed power bat in the lineup, so he decides that J Giambi/M Mora is a versatile power right handed bat playing multiple corner positions – this doesn’t even come close to filling the bill.
3. DanO needed a catcher to bridge the gap until his minor league system caught up, so he brings in M Olivo. Olivo turns into the best hitter on the 2010 Rockies – how that happens is another story, but at the same time this decision turns one of DanO’s annual projects (CI)into the highest paid right handed hitting AAA catchers.
Some of you will call this second guessing and say that the Rockies could not afford to fix these issues correctly, but that’s just not true. All three of these issues were known and could have been fixed with affordable dollars prior to the season even beginning, but Dealin’ DanO stopped dealing – just as he did prior to the 2008 season.
Hitting .333 might be really good for a second baseman, but its a death watch for the GM of a mid-market team! The everyday lineup now has little speed, marginal average, no substantial power, and way too many hitters that are too similar.
All the defense and pitching in the world will not cover up the defeciencies in this lineup! They are now two games above .500 (again) with alot of time left, however without a major shakeup – sorry to say this but the Rockies 2010 season is over.
Does anyone remember what TB tacos taste like, because I can’t remember when the tacos special was even a factor? And finally enjoy U Jimenez because that’s all there is for this season Rockies fans!
Dan O’s did try to nail down the bullpen which deserves some credit. Hard to imagine this bullpen without Betancourt and Beimel.
Agreed Prog, however at the same time he paid a very high price for Betancourt and almost waited too long on Beimel.
It’s not Baylor. He can tell the players and instruct them all he wants, but when they go up there trying to do too much it destroys any instruction they may have been given. Helton, who supposedly has a great eye, trie to do to much and strikes out on ball four. Olivo swings at a pitch in his eyes trying to do too much.
I didn’t see the game until the bottom of the 5th so there may have been more. Anytime you get 9 hits and 4 walks and only score 3 runs you are trying to do too much when there are risp.
They must start to relax, move runners, bunt, play small ball, all the things you folks and I have been posting for the last 6 weeks.
Glad Francis had a good outing. Hope Cook can do the same. We need those two to throw consistent good outings just to keep this team in games. The offense certainly is not keeping up with the pitching.
If this keeps up it will be a very frustrating season with no rewards at the end.
I don’t understand how this is Dan-O’s fault. The Rockies have basically the same team as last year which won 92 games. That team came from behind, held on to leads, and provided lots of tacos. Olivo was a good improvement. There were no blockbuster trades because the team just needed some fine tuning.
I’m completely with Ed and Bill on this one. The problem is taking the wrong approach in situational at-bats which turn out to be rally killers. The Rox had just strung together 4 hits with 3 runs home in the 1st; next AB Olivo swung for the fences on 3 consecutive pitches and struck out. Next batter hits into a DP. They had an inning with 3 hits and no runs because of another DP. Then there was Helton’s strike-out-throw-out on a ball so far out of the strike zone I thought it was going to break a window in my house. Then in the later innings it’s swing for the fences because they don’t trust each other enough to rally as a team. And why not let the pitcher bat for himself in a crucial situation?
I’ve silently wondered for 2 years now Dr. Baylor gets so many kudos from the Rockies management. I think its on him and Tracy, on the team leaders, and the players themselves. It’s mental. These guys have to approach the plate with the right plan at the right time and then execute. They are not going to come through every time with RISP, but you have to give yourself the best chance for success in each AB.
Cook is pitching tonight?? God help us.
And another thing…
I think we all agree this is a team of underachievers. But for all the abuse MVP Barmes takes on this blog, he is one of the few guys on the team that is exceeding expectations right now.
Some random thoughts:
Cook is mediocre at home, that at least gives the Rox a chance, a very small chance.
I know, how bout if the Rox score 8 in the 1st inning tonite and then hold on for a 1 run 8-7 win?
Thursday is Chacin/Oswalt, anybody want my ticket?
I used to enjoy watching home runs. Now I dread them. Why you ask? Because the homers only serve to re-enforce the idea in the minds of the Rockies hitters that a few good home runs will make up for all the lousy hitting they have done up to that point. Every swing, every Rockies’ hitter, every time swing for the upper deck. Todd esp. has forgotten how to level up and just make solid contact, I mean if he of all people has deluded himself into thinking that he is Albert Pujols, then what chance does the rest of the team think by his example?
I guess all this pathetic on field performance wouldn’t hurt so much if we didn’t expect the Rockies to be a playoff caliber team.
I watched the last inning of Dodger game last night. They won by one run and are now 14-6 in one run games. Don’t know what the Rockies record in one run games but I would venture to guess it’s no better than .500 and probably worse. Good teams win close games and win late. The Rockies are not a good team
As someone mentioned about the lack of small ball is troubling. No hit and runs, no bunts, the slow guys trying to steal. Hard to fault Olivo because he’s had a great year, but the only hit last night came when he led off. I think he struck out the other 3 times with men on base. He needs to rest more often and Ianetta has to play 2 or 3 times a week at least.
And frankly the team has little speed after Cargo. Tulo is a better than average baserunner but doesn’t have great speed. I can imagine a team with EY, Fowler and Cargo at 1, 2 and 3. Now that’s speed.
I agree with Rich M that we lack a power hitting right hand bat. Giambi is a luxury we can’t afford as an once a week starter and a pinch hitter. What I would do is play Giambi most of the time the next two or three weeks. If he hits great, if not get rid of him and bring up Eldred. Helton isn’t hitting either. Frankly I was a bit disappointed in Helton’s statement in today’s paper when asked about getting Laser surgery during the All Star break. “I’m going fishing”. Another “me first” player who doesn’t care about the team, even one that’s paying him 16+ million dollars to bat .240 with 11 RBI’s.
I could go on and on but have to make a living so back to work
I had heard about Helton’s contacts but not the lasik. Getting lasik during the all-star break would be a bad idea. Your close-up vision gets worse, you get dry-eye, and your eyes tend to get very tired at night until you adjust, which would be a bad for night games. Maybe Todd can get used to the contacts and stop swinging at pitches in the dirt. Then he can schedule lasik surgery for early October when the season ends for this team.
This has to be the biggest group of overachievers ever in baseball. Last night I went to just my second game. In the past, I always went to 25-30 minimum. I was so frustrated when they blew it in the 8th, we left. Way too many left handed hitters. Way too many players that dont play up to thier potential. No clutch hitting at all. At this rate, we will be lucky to stay ahead of Arizona, who we cant beat anyway. The Dodgers own us also, so forget about beating them. What a disappointing season after all the early hype. Thank God for the MLB Baseball package on Direct TV, so I dont have to suffer watching minor league ball on Fox Sports Rocky Mountain. Probably my last game was last night. Not much to look forward to with this team. Major changes need to be made. Take a look at the sorry stats of the players on this team and most are terrible.
Cheer up everybody!
Venus is in Gemini and Mercury is in Taurus. The Rockies always start slow but turn it on when Mercury is in Taurus!
I will continue to watch the Rockies every chance I get, even from 350 miles away. I am driving up next week to see them play the Brewers and try to go to 3-4 games per year. I love the Rockies and I am raising my children the same way. These are good players, good guys, and a solid team. However, there is definitely something wrong here and it is not the pitching. Yeah, maybe Tracy should have pinch-hit for Francis in the 6th, but he still only gave up 2 runs. They should have won the game, especially when scoring 3 runs in the first against a horrible pitcher (by major league standards). Other than Cargo, Smith, Olivo, and Tulo, nobody does anything on a consistent basis. Helton may soon pass Barmes on the way down; Stewart and Hawpe are streaky hitters who strike out too much. Giambi needs to either play more for Helton or let him go and bring up Eldred. Nobody wants to lose and I know these guys work really hard. But, as an organization, they need to make some tough decisions about players and, until they do, it will be a struggle all year.
Just a thought on the situational hitting that everybody is talking about. I haven’t seen good smart hitting in a long time. I personally think its bad habits created from the steroid era. Tim Kirkjan from ESPN has been talking a lot lately about pitching making a comeback. Especially the last 3-4 years. Which is true, just look at the numbers. It also coincides with the stricter policy on steroids and players not using them anymore. Ok they are still in the game I’m sure, but we can all agree not near to the extent they were in the late 90′s and early 2000′s. I think during the steroid era guys could just go up and swing as hard as they could and most likely hit it out. Offensive numbers were through the roof. So quality at-bats weren’t necessary cuz games were 10-8 or 8-5 or 14-6 on a consistent basis. The craze was hit it out and if you strikeout it’s ok cuz you will hit it out the next time. Well now situational at-bats are becoming more and more important. The games are a lot more low scoring and homeruns and doubles are harder to come by. So guys have gotten into bad habits swinging for the fences and now don’t have a clue on how to put in a so called good AB. Now that the pitching is really starting to get headlines again, will offensive players start putting more of an emphasis on situational hitting? I think this has something to do with it and I think situational hitting will improve as a whole in MLB in the next couple seasons. I hope the Rox could catch on to this sooner though cuz I think everybody is right, the Rox don’t have a clue. Part of the problem too is your best players have to be your best leaders. Everybody feeds off Tulo, I don’t care what anybody says. Well there was an article on coloradorockies.com a month ago or so that quoted Tulo for saying he swings at the first pitch cuz he has success. His quote was something to the affect of, well if it’s close then why let it go, I might as well take a good hack. The situation has to dictate what you do in an AB. How many times have we seen Tulo or anybody else for that matter swing at the first pitch right after the batter in front of them walks? A ton!!! That is so annoying. All your doing is letting the oppenent off the hook when you do that. Now granted sometimes you actually get a hit off that first pitch, but you still fail more than you succeed. So the Rox “leader” is setting an example for the rest of the team with bad baseball IQ. The team will follow it’s best player. Now if there is nobody on and it’s early in the game, or we have a 6 run lead, or another situation dictates it, then go ahead and swing at the first pitch. Let the situation dictate what you do in a particular AB. But don’t just give us a blanket approach that I’m going to be aggressive all the time. That’s bad baseball IQ and that’s bad situational hitting.
I really have ill feelings towards Melvin Mora.
Derrek, interesting perspective. I think it’s okay for Tulo to swing at the first pitch *sometimes*. Personally it drives me crazy that Hawpe takes 1 or 2 pitches (usually strikes) before he thinks about swinging (usually strike 3). As a hitter you have to constantly adjust. Tulo gets a reputation for being a first ball hitter, so he starts taking and gets ahead 1-0. Hawpe swings away every now and then and knocks the ball out of the park. That’s how it’s supposed to work.
I have noticed recently that Goodman and Frazier on FSN can tell you exactly what and where the next pitch will be to each Rockie. They know the “book” on each of the hitters. These guys are TV broadcasters. Obviously opposing pitchers know too. Thus, wouldn’t you expect Baylor and the Rockies hitters would know too and change it up a little? I’m starting to see that a little in *some* at-bats by *some* hitters. But the whole team needs to do that consistently before they can be successful.
I know it will never happen, but just for once I’d like for FSN to turn the microfone over to Tracy Ringlesby and let him tear into the Rockies, and what they are doing wrong. Here’s a guy who doesn’t pull punches when you push his button. And I’m thinking that the way it’s going right now that his button is completely pushed.
Rocky, I agree. Drew Goodman is a nice guy, but slowly growing on my nerves. Early in the season it was really frustrating to hear him fall back on the “he’s been so good up until today” type of excuse instead of just saying they messed up or got beat.
Next game I attend I just might wear a brown paper bag over my head. These guys are playing like clueless minor leaguers. How sad that my fellow posters probably said what I did last night in about the 6th inning: “The Rockies are going to lose this game; I can feel it.”
Tracy R., what say you? You’re the smartest baseball writer this town has ever seen. Please tell us why we don’t know what we’re talking about.
Sorry Miketober a .216 batting average doesn’t exceed my expectations, I was expecting that MVP Barmes – Mr June two years running now – would hit a very respectful average of .250. The .216 just doesn’t do it regardless of the RBI aberation and his so called defensive wizardry.
Prog has convinced me, just put him in the two hole so he can fail miserably, and the Rockies can finally move on to a second baseman that can actually hit the baseball consistently.
I heard an interesting comment from Don Baylor to the effect that our power is lacking because our hitters are not hitting hanging breaking balls. The interviewer asked why they were missing such cripples – Baylor said that they were not swinging at them at all. Well, why not should be asked? The whole point of patience at the plate is not so much to get a walk as it is to get a cripple to hit. I marvel at the Yankees ability in this regard. That seems to be missing from Tulo’s overly aggressive approach but at least it means that he is swinging even if it is at pitcher’s pitches rather than cripples. Failing to hit a Moehler is sad indeed.
Looks like Tracy is clutching at straws tonight. Mora at first, Herrara at 2nd and Ianetta catching. They can’t do any worse then the 3 there last night. I think that Olivo, Helton and Barmes had one hit between them and they were zero for whatever with men on base.
Saw that somebody just designated Mark Gruzdliank (spelling is no doubt wrong) for assignment. Don’t know if he has much left but he might be a good utility player and/or starting 2nd baseman for the rest of the year. Sometimes all you need is a change of scenery. I’ve always thought he was a decent player who could play all over the place.
I think that there were two reasons O’Dowd passed on a 2nd baseman in the off-season, one is that Tracy loves Barmes and two is the budget. I remember O’Dowd saying that there budget was tight. That’s the Monferts decision, not O’Dowd. We’re paying the piper for Helton and we have to scrimp somewhere else. I would have loved to see Orlando Hudson here. I know he got hurt but it was a fluke thing.
Speaking of money, when does Helton’s “cheap” contract kick in? Next year or 2012. Eventually we’re going to face a decision about Ubaldo. I don’t think there is anyway they can even think about letting him leave.
My understading is that O’ Doud went after Orlando Cabrera but he obtained an offer from the Reds to play shortstop and that was his preference over second base. After that, O’ Doud signed Mora.
Jasper your right, and Rich I hope your not talking about Herrera cuz he isn’t the guy either. I wish he would actually play a little bit here so we can all realize that Barmes is our best 2nd baseman and that’s why he is the starter.
One thing that is so hard for us all including me to realize is there are 30 big league teams and they are all trying to win! Well except the Pirates. LOL. So it’s not like a team can just go get any guy they want cuz there is competition for those players. Any guy worth a darn, that team isn’t going to want to trade and if they do they are going to ask for way too much. So that leaves FA’s and it’s anybodies guess at that point. All the good FA’s are taken up by the big market teams, and teams like the Rox are left to get the cheap vets. That’s the way baseball is. Parity really doesn’t exist in baseball. Not to me anyway. The Yankees winning 27 championships and making it to the playoffs every year except one since 96 isn’t parity. Just ask the Orioles or Jays. Big market teams buy talent, whereas you will never see at least ten teams in MLB ever sign a big time FA. That’s the one thing that bothers me beyond belief about this great game, it’s not fair. Give me the NFL’s system anyday. Just think if the NFL didn’t have a cap, the Cowboys payroll would prolly be 500 million.
ok I forgot Cabrerra wanted to play shortstop, but the others did not get huge money nor were they signed by the big market clubs – AZ, MN, WA and even SL are not THE big market clubs.
Also have to disagree Anonymous, SU Barmes is not your best second baseman with a sub .300 OBP. And no I have always said that J Herrara is just a switch hitting O Quintinilla. Nice player, maybe your backup infielder, but not your starting second baseman.
The point was that O Hudson, K Johnson, F Lopez and A Kennedy all would have been a big upgrade over what we have at second base – without a huge investment. After missing out on those guys, I would have gladly taken the chance on either EY2 or C Nelson being a better solution at second base than SU Barmes.
Drew Goodman does it again! “make that 2 for 16″. Thanks for the optimistic twist there Drew, instead of calling it like it is as a softball pitch from Belilse.
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