Out of respect for Troy Renck of the Post, there will be no snow globe analogies in today’s pregame.
The Colorado Rockies face another tough test this afternoon at Coors Field as they host a San Francisco Giants team pointing toward the playoffs and aiming to sweep Colorado in the weekend series that wraps-up this afternoon starting at 1:10 MDT.
The Giants send two-time Cy Young award winner Tim Lincecum (5-11, 5.62) to the mound to face Colorado’s Tyler Chatwood (1-1, 7.62), recalled to take Christian Friedrich’s start from the AA Tulsa Drillers. Friedrich is on the 15-day DL with a stress fracture in a lower-back vertebra, and taken along with Jonathan Sanchez’ ineffectiveness, the Rockies’ starting rotation is in a scramble. Chatwood, obtained from LAAo’A in the Chris Ianetta deal, started the season in Denver but was optioned to the Springs in mid-April. He was generally ineffective there in nine starts, yet was recalled by the Rockies in June and made three appearances, allowing 6 runs in 5 innings. The right-hander was then optioned to Tulsa following a scoreless July 7 appearance. He pitched well there, going 1-1 with a 3.00, and striking-out 22 in 24 innings.
Lincecum is in the midst of a down year, and endured a “rocky” outing against Colorado at Coors Field on April 11, back in the days we were young and innocent. The righty is coming off a seven inning, one-run outing Tuesday against the Mets. According to my sources at Charlie Brown’s Bar and Grill on Grant Street, the rumors Lincecum paid a visit to the Mile High Green Cross over on Broadway yesterday afternoon are greatly exaggerated, insulting, and in fact may be untrue.
Rockies MFL Jim Tracy has gone with a whimsical look for today’s Sunday line-up, slotting veteran Todd Helton in a nostalgic no. 3 hole, with CarGo remaining at clean-up and and Jordan Pacheco hitting fifth.
Sunday afternoon weather in the Mile High City is spectacular. Game-time temperature will be 84° F under partly cloudy skies, pushing 90° F by 4:00 pm. Humidity is 24% and falling, with mild winds at 5 to 8 MPH out of the south-southeast. The starting nines:
| SAN FRANCISCO (58-49) CF Angel Pagan 2B Ryan Theriot LF Melky Cabrera 1B Buster Posey RF Hunter Pence 3B Marco Scutaro C Hector Sanchez SS Brandon Crawford P Tim Lincecum |
COLORADO (38-67) CF Dexter Fowler SS Josh Rutledge 1B Todd Helton LF Carlos Gonzalez 3B Jordan Pacheco RF Tyler Colvin C Wilin Rosario 2B Jonathan Herrera P Tyler Chatwood |
If only Mike Trout had played quarterback. We all know DoD’s affinity to take QB’s in the draft because they are QB’s or whatever Ask the GM in the biz his reasons. Unfortunately Trout played safety in high school so was not on DoD’s radar and he took Tyler Matzek instead. The jury’s still out on Matzek but it isn’t on Trout. He’s gonna be Rookie of the Year, maybe MVP and people compare him to Mickey Mantle. To be fair lots of other teams passed on Trout as well. But the best GM in the business should be able to spot hidden talent.
Jeem, I’m glad I’m not the only one who notice the Renck snowglobe analogy. Renck manages to come up with a groaner every other day. I don’t know what journalism school taught him that. Another emergency starter, another horrible result. Last year they had the sense to bring in Kevin Millwood to try to stabilize things a bit. This year? Jeff Francis, but nothing since then. Hey, Derek Lowe (washed up like Cookie, but still gets groundballs like Cookie) is out there. People say Lowe is a jackass. Maybe we need some of that.