Passed ball, wild pitch cost Rockies against Phillies
Colorado Rockies starter Jorge De La Rosa was edged by his Philadelphia Phillies counterpart, Cole Hamels, in a 2-1 pitchers duel to start a two-game series.
Hamels allowed five hits and walked one in eight innings. The Rockies earned their one run against him in the seventh inning with doubles from Carlos Gonzalez and Todd Helton. De La Rosa also allowed just five hits and hit a batter in eight innings. But the two runs he allowed — only one earned — were aided by plays behind the plate.
In the fifth inning, Raul Ibanez singled and Carlos Ruiz was hit by a pitch with one out. A passed ball allowed both runners to move up a base. Wilson Valdez then singled sharply to left, but rather than a play at the plate or Ibanez potentially having to hold at third, he was able to jog home with the game’s first run with the Hamels on deck. It was Chris Iannetta‘s first passed ball of the season.
In the eighth inning, Valdez led off with a single and was sacrificed to second. A wild pitch from De La Rosa let Valdez move up to third and he then scored on a sacrifice fly.
The Rockies missed a chance to get even in the ninth after a pinch-hit double by Seth Smith to start the inning against Phillies closer Ryan Madson.With nobody out and the heart of the order up, Gonzalez and Troy Tulowitzki struck out, and, after a walk to Helton, pinch-hitter Jason Giambi did as well.
CarGo and Tulo also cost the Rockies. That’s way too much money invested, way to little of return. Those guys have to come through, at least one of them in the 9th inning.
This team is mediocre, despite talent to be much, much more.
First off, I can’t wait to hear Jim Tracy throw Iannetta under the bus again for that effort on the wild pitch in the 8th. It had to be a crossup, cuz Iannetta usually does a better job especially in that situation.
Tough loss for sure, but the fact remains that if your offense is only going to score 1 or 2 or even 3 runs a game, you aren’t going to win many of those games. Just typical Rox offense on the road, no nothing to get excited about and ends in a loss.
Rox are going to have to learn at some point that swinging for the fences isn’t the ideal thing to do. Especially when you have a leadoff double and simply moving that runner over will do the job.
Not bad on the whole, but a winnable situation for sure. Two comments. First, at some point this season Helton and maybe Giambi need to sit Tulo down and explain how he needs to approach key ABs. We needed a single. He doesn’t need to double or hit a home run. A single. Swing at strikes and only strikes. At this point in his career and contract he’s expected to produce in these situations. That’s why he’s hitting cleanup. Cleanup doesn’t mean always hitting the ball to the farthest reaches of the outfield. Notice how they pitched to Helton (very carefully) versus how they pitched to both Tulo and Cargo (get em to chase). Second comment, if Jorges going to throw curveballs in the dirt, maybe pick a different point in the game rather than one out and a guy on second in the 8th inning of a tie ballgame. So close…
Yep you just got to love our swing for the fences approach no matter what the situation.
Tulo’s ABs get more and more frustrating. It is time he turns his attention to getting some singles.
Couldn’t agree more. I was shouting at the tv, short swing just a single, but no they have to swing for New Jersey and strike out, Tulo on a ball no less.
Jorge, overall, pitched a good game.
Giambi is a shadow of himself and also over swung on strike three.
Herrera would have been my choice to make contact and possibly punch a single through.
Tough loss, questionable decisions, questionable approach to hitting.
I was watching on Gameday, and they show you what part of the strike zone each hitter likes and dislikes (their BA for each of 13 sub-zones). They used to have the same thing last year on FSN, and I wish they would bring it back.
Smith, Tulo, and Cargo, and the majority of hitters, each have their weak spots, so that’s where they get pitched. Todd has no weak spots; he has success over the entire strike zone. That’s why other teams pitch around him. He is just an exceptional hitter. Now you might say that’s because Todd doesn’t try to do too much with tough pitches, and you would probably be right. I’m less frustrated with CarGo because he has shown a pretty good approach lately. But I agree that Tulo seems to be trying to kill the ball with every swing.
I disagree with a lot of you already. As a baseball fan, that was a good, certainly not classic, NL game. (I hate socialist baseball!) Both pitchers were pretty much on it, runs were hard to come by, mistakes were going to be made by the loser. Unfortunately it was us, in several cases, against a pretty good team. However, road losses underline the importance of winning in-division games at home. Thankfully, we were coming off a couple of those…but we need more at home.
this game doesn’t hurt as much as most of the other loses. I’m sort of surprised by the nature of most of tonights posts. we lost by 1 run to probably the best team in baseball. DLR looked very good. yes we only scored 1 run, but it was also against a tough lefty. this wasn’t like getting killed by the Padres.
Not a tough loss, just hard to keep stomaching them. Giambi had Madson and then bat was taken out of his hands on the 2-1 pitch that was called a strike. That’s baseball. Maybe strike call got to him and he was pissed and overswung like the O’s had before him. His at bat was best of the inning behind Smith’s. Not anything to overanalyze or call for trades from this game. Aggressive baserunning that backfired in the first and wild pitch cross up that hurt later.
It’s baseball. We move onto tomorrow and hope for better luck.
Yes, many guys played well. But the frustrating pattern is that our guys don’t string together small hits, like the Phillies and Giants do. That’s the difference between us and ‘probably the best team in baseball’. I agree again with Wayne. We could have used Herrera, Blackmon, EY2 or Nelson up in the ninth instead of Giambi. This one is at the feet of Tracy and DOD, as they’ve envisioned the personnel that can be put on the field.
Of course if someone had singled Smith in, it was Paulino and Morales up in the bullpen. So perhaps this outcome was more merciful.
Maybe Tulo realized if they didnt take the lead in the top of the 9th we’d be seeing a walkoff off one of the two stooges tandem of Paulino/Morales. His ABs still drive me nuts.
Cargo on the other hand seems to be doing a lot better this year with plate discipline. He isnt great but he is drawing a lot more walks than he did last year.
Giambi needs a month in COS.
Base running.
Base running.
Base running.
Oh, and maybe some situational hitting.
Everybody is talking about the 9th, but what about the 8th? Leadoff man on, but CI makes an out, DLR gets the sacrifice, but now 2 outs. If CI could get the bunt down, you PH for DLR and have 2 chances, same as the Phillies had in the bottom of 8th.
Oh well, hindsight is 20/20. You guys are right; if you go for the tie Paulino would probably give up the walk off.
All in all this game didn’t bother me. No shame in losing to a good team in a close game on the road. What bothers me is that Tracy was ready to put Paulino or Morales into a close game again. Everytime they blow a game, we all assume it will be their last. But they always seem to pop back up in close games.
Ditto, ditto, ditto. You’d think somewhere along the line, the studs would realize that situational hitting applies to them as well. The Padres always play the Rocs tough at Coors because they utilize the whole field. Baylor told them, Carney tells them, and heaven knows we remind them after almost every game–Trust the guy behind you. Yeah, right.
I am really glad to see people are not killing Giambi in here this morning. My heart broke for the guy last night! That was the big situation that the guy needed to come through. That second BULL SH!T strike call really changed the at bat. I really do blame it on Tracy and the way the Rocks are playing, there really has not had favorable situations for BIG G who looks rusted out. But he should have come through last night, that is his job. Sure would have been good for him to come up with a man on third and one out, a little less pressure. Lead off double and the heart of the lineup coming up and they don’t come through! That was absolutely ridiculous!
That’s the point, the heart of the order couldn’t move Smith to 3B. Someone has to be able to make contact (Cargo) and move the runner over to 3B. From there you are in a very favorable situation. Remember there are 5 ways to score from 3B, only 2 ways from 2B.
I like Giambi as much as anybody here, BUT come on, he’s done. True he got screwed by a homeplate ump who wanted to go home and avoid extra innings, but really the Giambino is cooked. This 9th inning formula by Tracy aint getting it. no outs, runner on second and 3 strikeouts, sheesh
While I agree it was a good close game the fact of the matter is these were the type of games that killed the Rockies last season. On the road 1 run games.
In the mean time the Giants are taking care of the Dodgers.
It seems that it’s pretty apparent that not getting a legit bat in the off season was a big mistake. They need to find another bat somewhere that lengthens the heart of the batting order. Won’t be easy, it seems like everyone could use an extra bat these days.
The pitchers have to be dying for some runs. Jhoulys would probably crap his pants if he had a four run lead to work with. It has to wear on them knowing that most nights they have to be close to perfect to win a game.
Scoring runs is the tonic to cure Ubaldo. Give the man something to work with so he can relax.
Ian, Chacin had a 7-1 lead on Saturday. I think he crapped his pants when he threw the ball over Helton’s head.
Ha Ha! Good point Wayne! He definately made a mess one way or another that inning.
The reason I’m disapointed with this loss is because of the hitting. Yes it was a good low scoring game(which I would rather see anyday over a 10-8 game) and yes, the one team that made the mistake was going to cost them the game. It was the rox that made the mistake. And yes, it was a tough loss on the road to a very good team. My question is this, do you play to win the game? Or do you play to stay competitive to very good teams? If the Rox want to win a division, or win a playoff series, or better yet win the WS. Then they need to do little things to beat the very good teams in low scoring close games. Rox or no team for that matter is going to win 8-3 come October. Not consistently anyways. You have to win those close games. And in those close games, the little things matter. Getting a leadoff double and then having your 3 and 4 hitter strike out by swinging for Neptune isn’t going to cut it.
Cargo has been laying a lot of bunts down lately, especially when he was slumping so bad. He was trying to get hits anyway he could and it was a good strategy. If they are going to give you a hit, then try it. Why couldn’t he lay one down in the 9th last night and get the runner to 3rd with less than 2 out? It would of been a whole lot better than doing what he did and striking out. That would of been doing “the little things” to win a close game on the road. But would that ever happen? Heck no. In this day and age small ball has lost it’s meaning. Your 3 and 4 hole hitter can’t do that, they have to drive the runner in. Whatever happened to doing your job and trusting the guy behind you? Doesn’t exist anymore. That’s the way it should be, it’s a team sport. One guy can’t carry a team. You get paid to hit homers and drive in runs. That’s why all the big swings nowadays. Who cares about moving a runner over and winning games. Everybody wants to win, but they want to win by hitting a homer. Not by sacrificing their average and hitting a rollover grounder to get the runner to 3rd. Polanco for the Phils is batting 3rd in their lineup and I guarantee he doesn’t try to do too much in that situation. Granted he is only in the 3-hole cuz Utley is hurt, but my point is there is a huge need in today’s game for a guy that does the little things to win.
The conventional wisdom (at least for basketball and football) is play to win on the road and to tie (extra innings) at home. If you go by that principle, JTracy’s decisions in the 8th and 9th make sense.
- Let Iannetta swing in the 8th. If he gets a hit, DLR can bunt and you have runners on 2nd and 3rd with 1 out, an excellent opportunity to get 1-2 runs. If CI makes an out, DLR can bunt and you have Mr. Clutch (Fowler) at bat with a runner on 2nd.
- In the 9th you can put in the contact guy (Herrera) and hope for the 2-out hit to tie. Or you can put in Giambi who has the ability for the 2-3 run hit. As it turned out Jason had a pretty good AB. (I think strike 2 was a reasonable call by the way.)
I don’t think JTracy’s late inning moves were that bad, except that they did not work out. Had CI or Giambi gotten a base hit, we would all be perfectly happy with his decisions. And had the Rox tied it in the 9th, Paulino would have just given up the walk-off anyway.
Maybe the Rockies should bring this person up:
OBP .510 — SLG .800 — AVG .375 — OPS 1.310
:>)
Horrible suggestion Mike. LOL
Pretty funny Mike. However I do think he ultimately needs to be and can be a big part of this team before it’s all said and done. Folks seem to act as though he’s never produced, but his big league numbers were not all that bad last year. I think Tracy is treating him much like Hurdle treated Tulo in early 2009. On the other hand, the kid is an employee and does have to do what they ask of him.
Perhaps, Jason Giambi (any lefty for that matter) should consider pushing a bunt down the third base line whenever the opponent “puts the shift on.” It’s better to get a single, and a probable run when a runner is on third, than to make an out due to an overloaded right field defense. If he does it frequently enough, opponents could very well go back to standard positions, thus, opening up the right field gap. When he’s called in to pinch hit in the 9th, a home run is what everyone is thinking. A bunt single with, perhaps, an associated RBI sure beats an out, especially when it’s a strikeout.
Did Tracy really have Paulino and Morales warming up late in the game? If so it would not have mattered if we scored one run. We need 5 or more to make it a safe lead.
By the way as Miketober said the conventional wisdom is to play for a tie at home and a win on the road late in the game because as the home time you always have last licks. However I’ve heard Goodman et. al say that Tracy believes in the Felipe Alou method which was to always play for the win. Which might explain some of Tracy’s dumb moves at home.
Helton drove in the only run last night. So of course today he is not playing!
Yeah Paulino and Morales were warming up late in the game. True dat we needed 5 plus to actually win. LOL
And I guess my thinking is what good is it to play for the win when you have to tie it first? Kind of like trying to hit a 5 run homerun.
Cameo, I thought the same thing about Cargo bunting. Worse case is runner at 3rd with 1 out. Best case is 1st and 3rd, no outs. Even Troy Renck tweeted last night about losing the game kept Paulino and Morales out of the game. When a total Rockies apologist like Renck says that, you can imagine what he is hearing. Unfortunately, they are kind of stuck with those two for now. I like Morales and think he is okay. Paulino is a waste of space and $. Bring up Brothers and you can use Matt Reynolds against RH. I think they are batting like .160 against him.