Chacin pitches well but punchless Rockies lose sixth straight
There was a Troy Tulowitzki sighting but not much else for the Colorado Rockies, who squandered a good outing by Jhoulys Chacin, came up short in the ninth inning and lost 2-1 to the San Diego Padres.
The loss was the sixth straight on this homestand for the Rockies, who are 38-42 at Coors Field and play their final home game Wednesday. In the two losses to the Padres, the Rockies have scored three runs on nine hits. The Rockies fell to 21-27 in one-run games, 7-12 at home.
Mat Latos, whose only complete game and complete game shutout was May 13, 2010, at San Francisco, held the Rockies scoreless for 8 2/3 innings. He gave up six hits, two in the ninth. With one out in that inning, Dexter Fowler blooped a double into short center field, off the glove of second baseman Orlando Hudson, who hit the ground on the play and had to leave the game.
Jordan Pacheco grounded a 1-2 pitch up the middle for a run-scoring single that finished Latos. He threw 123 pitches, 82 strikes, and gave way to closer Heath Bell. He fell behind Kevin Kouzmanoff 2-0, and Kouzmanoff sliced Bell’s next pitch into right field for a single.
Bell ended matters and picked up his 40th save by getting Wilin Rosario to strike out on a 2-2 pitch that was at his eyes.
Latos, who struck out nine, held the Rockies hitless until Eric Young Jr. bunted for a hit with two out in the third. Catcher Nick Hundley threw the ball up the right field line, and Young went flying around second only to be thrown out by right fielder Jeremy Hermida. Latos, covering third, made a nice play to catch the ball on a short hop and tag Young.
Chacin pitched six innings, the first time in four starts he has gone that distance. He gave up an unearned run in the first when Jason Bartlett singled and third baseman Kouzmanoff couldn’t handle Hundley’s hard grounder that was hit right at him. The runners moved up when Kyle Blanks hit into a fielder’s choice, and Hudson singled home a run.
Consecutive one-out doubles in the sixth by Hudson and Hermida netted the Padres second run. Chacin then walked Aaron Cunningham but struck out Andy Parrino and got Latos to line out to shortstop Tommy Field.
Tulowitzki made his first appearance since Sept. 13 when he pinch hit in the eighth after singles by Rosario and Field. Latos got ahead of Tulowitzki 1-2 and caught him looking at a dandy curveball. Young then grounded to third.
Young had tripled off the wall in right-center with two out in the sixth. But second baseman Hudson dashed into short right field and jumped to catch Mark Ellis‘ soft liner.
Was Giambi unavailable tonight? I counted four times that he’d have been my choice to hit. The last one was when Rosario came up with 2 on/2 out. Now, Rosario may yet develop into a big league hitter, but he’s not there yet. So Giambi rusts, while Wilin whiffs.
Was JT asleep? Did he have a TIA? What’s up with this inaction? Managers are supposed to make their presence felt in the 7th, 8th, and 9th.
Has JT pulled a Jim Leyland, and retired during the season.
…and EYJ, thanks for running right to where the ball was coming down, and NOT CATCHING IT.
Duh.
JT’s post game talk led off with how well they battled. Geez. Padres are In the division cellar. So now we are battling a last place team, at home and lose, with RISP and proven pinch hitters watching from the bench. Good grief, what a joke of an organization.
How about commenting how Rockies fan’s are battling tbe urge to throw up in their ball caps?
Hasn’t Giambi,the good soldier,earned the right to play?I never understand why tracy doesn’t use him in the 7th/8th sometimes,especially since he often doesn’t then use him in the 9th.To me it’s like losing a close game in football/basketball yet having unused timeouts with the game over!
Oh yeah,while I think of it.All season we all commented on Tracy’s resting Ianneta every other day to keep him fresh.Fresh for what?To sit on the bench.If JT’s theories on rest were true,Rosario would have had a stroke,or coronary,or both by now.More BS!
Get out your brooms. Will this team get to 72 wins? A couple of months ago I predicted 72-90 in disgust, and now even that looks optimistic.
Hey Gary, JT is resting players cause next Sept is brutal on the schedule!!
“It’s an embarrassment. This season has been an utter disappointment”
Dan O’Dowd
DUH!!
I can’t believe what I just read in the DP this morning, that the Rox are actually thinking of going young next season and shedding payroll. Are they serious after the disaster of this season? Talk about instilling confidence in your season ticket base.
If the Rockies want to think at all about contending in 2012 they will need to make significant trades or free agent signings this offseason… Now no that doesn’t mean go out there and sign someone like Albert Pujols, CJ Wilson, or Prince Fielder but I definitely hope someone out of the group of Wandy Rodriguez, Carl Pavano, Matt Garza, Lance Berkman, Michael Cuddyer, or Carlos Beltran lands in a Rockie Uniform…
I dont get with Dan O’Dowd’s statement on going young… This is supposed to be fan appreciation week but that doesn’t mean loose as badly and quit like what they have been doing…
I hope seriously guys like Cook, Spilborghs, and Stewart are all gone and hopefully SIGNIFICANT moves will be made this offseason.. Hopefully we can see this team contending in 2012!
The one name mentioned in that DP article who would make us instantly credible is David Wright. Cargo, Tulo, & Wright at 3, 4, & 5 would fix a lot that ails this team. Of course they need pitching. But this year we had some pretty good pitching in stretches. We just lacked timely hitting over and over again. Wright is under contract for 15M next year and a club option the year after.
Honestly, this wasn’t a bad game for the Rockies. The pitching staff looked good, and Chacin was able to turn things around a bit. This won’t be what the Rockies lineup looks like next year. Take out 4 of your best hitters and that’s what happens. I’ll admit that 3rd base is kind of a black hole though. Hoping O’Dowd and company can shore that weakness up.
Jon
The game itself wasn’t horrible, but it does show you can’t count on certain players to prop up the team when other players are down.
Seth Smith going 0-4 in the cleanup spot is glaring to me. Even though his time has been limited, the guy isn’t showing up in the opportunities he is getting. This team could really use him to carry them and being a 4 year veteran with remarkable talent on occasion, he should be able to gut it up in these occasions.
Its pretty sad and telling that when Tulo, Helton, Cargo all went down the best players have been Pacheco, Rosario and to some limited extent Ellis. Not Fowler, not Smith, not Kouzmanoff.
I think Ellis deserves to come back. His defense and range have been very good, he turns a great double play, and a full season should see around .270 with 10 to 15 hr’s. Not bad out of 2B and 2 hole.
Cisco, that O’Dowd interview in the DP included one minor admission of mistakes on his part: “We’re not going to sign marginal players for average salaries.”. That, of course, is a reference to Wigginton and Lopez.
But I still think he’s not getting it. He should ask himself this: “Would this team have been better or worse this year if I hadn’t made any moves at all?” That is, if he stuck it out with Lopez at 2B instead of parading in Herrera, Nelson, Amezaga, and finally Ellis. If he’d stuck with Stewart in a loose platoon with Wiggy at 3B instead of handing the job to Wiggy, then trying Nelson, then going to Kouz and ultimately Pacheco or whoever else is around. If he’d stuck with Fowler in CF rather than giving Blackmon a tryout while the club was still, in theory, contending for something. If he’d stuck with Smith in a platoon. If he’d ordered Tracy to start Iannetta 125 games like every other starting catcher instead of giving almost 40% of the starts to various replacement level scrubs. If he’d stuck with Paulino despite his awful (and almost entirely BABIP-driven) April. If he hadn’t traded Ubaldo.
In short, if he hadn’t panicked.
There’s some big problems with this club, but has anyone really looked at the Dbacks this year? The Giants? The Dodgers? There was no need to tank the season, and even given the Ubaldo thing, there’s no reason to give up on 2012. Sometimes you get lucky and win a lot, like the Giants last year — guys like Andres Torres and Pat Burrell all of a sudden have career years or late-career resurgences all at once. Your starting 5 misses one start all season. All other key players stay healthy. Sometimes the opposite happens: Buster Posey rips up his knee, Andres Torres plays like Andres Torres, Jonathan Sanchez misses the season. Or Ian Stewart has an awful start and gets buried by his manager, or De La Rosa blows out his elbow, or Ubaldo has a very rough start. That’s baseball when you’re not the Yankees or Red Sox and you can’t go out and get a great replacement midseason. But it’s not cause to give up, Danno.
2008 and 2010 were “don’t panic” years and look where it got them. I can’t really fault them for trying…the problem was nothing worked and the players didn’t capitalize on their opportunities when they were in there.
Lopez, Wigginton, Stewart, Smith, Iannetta, Fowler. They are all decent, but did any of them grab the reigns?
This was the first game all season I did not even contemplate going to ROOT and watching. I have and will continue to defend DOD here because I think he is a good GM for this team’s limitations. But there are real issues and there has to be not panic but hard decisions this offseason. And while I think Ellis has been a nice pick-up, he is not going to hit .270 and 15. He is past his prime and those were good numbers in his prime. If we resign him expecting those numbers we really are admitting something about next year.
I think this team could compete for the division next year with a few key pick-ups, health, and career years from a few guys. Short of that next year could be painful. And count me, Dr Optomist, in the campe that says they have to make a move to shore up credibility before I get really invested again.
I just re-read the DOD article today. I am happy that he is upset. I am excited that he is seeing both our commitment to support the team (the attendance has been really good) and our frustration. What I would like to see him say is why he is retaining JT and giving him total control over the staff. JT did win the division in LA, but after an inital success his teams faded in the following season. JT never had a chance in Pittsburg, I think we can agree, but he also did not develop any players, a big issue for small market teams. And now we have CO. I think JT earned the Manager of the Year and then some in 09. I defended him 2010 when people ripped him for his choices. I defended him earlier this year as well. But as I see it he has several key jobs 1) win, obviously 2) develop talent 3) keep the excitement and passion among both the team and the fan base. Since 09 we have not seen any of these items happen. I can see giving him one more season, but the idea of giving him an extension is insane based on his W-L recond, the lack of player development, and the declining fan excitement.
Jack, STever or others at ITR, can you help us ignorant fans understand why there is even a discussion about an extension?
Would somebody (JG) pls give JT a Red Bull or 5-hr. energy drink right before the game so he can STAND UP, look interested and actively manage this team. Sitting, worrying and hangin’ his head gives the wrong message to fans, players, media … just about everyone. Look at Francona, Gardenhire, Scoscia, Girardi … you don’t have to be a hothead … just a LIVE body.
silver lining – and a big one i think – the way Betancourt came in and DOMINATED the 9th – wow! that is the type of closer we need next year…i love street, as a person, but don’t like him in the closers role…Betancourt is a true power closer…sure, he takes FOREVER to pitch, but honestly i’d take that if he can keep pitching like last night…3 backwards K’s…love it…