The Colorado Rockies have won 2 of their last 5 and are looking to make more trouble for the Los Angeles Dodgers tonight at 8:10 pm MDT at Dodger stadium in Chavez Ravine. The Rockies foiled an opportunity for the Dodgers to leap-frog the rival San Francisco Giants into first place in the National League West, shutting out LA 2-0 while the Giants were getting stomped by the Cardinals in St Louis. Los Angeles will have to deal with Colorado’s Alex White (2-6, 6.16), sending Aaron Harang (7-6, 3.76) out for a duel of right-handed hurlers.
The Rockies recalled White for last Thursday’s series finale with the Cardinals at Coors Field, and he responded with 5 shut-out innings in one of those curious Colorado victories, before surrendering 2 runs in the sixth. Harang hasn’t started since a loss to Arizona on July 30, when the D’backs punished him for 7 runs in 5 innings. He’s been generally steady in 21 2012 starts.
The Diamondbacks also lost on Monday, shut-out by the Pirates 4-0. They continue to trail San Francisco by 4 games and face Pittsburgh again this afternoon at 5:05 in PNC Park. The Giants go at the Cards at 6:15 at Busch Stadium, so the Dodgers will be able to watch some scoreboard. Weather at game time in Chavez Ravine will be generic LA, 75° F, 55% humidity and south-southeast winds at 3 to 5 MPH. Rockies’ TV’s on Root, radio KOA 850 am.
Colorado MFL Jim Tracy is going back to a more conventional line-up for the contest. Tyler Colvin is at first and Eric Young Jr is in right-field. Don Mattingly has more of the Dodgers’ regulars in his nine. Andre Ethier is back in right and Rockie killer James Loney at first.
| COLORADO (39-68) RF Eric Young Jr SS Josh Rutledge CF Dexter Fowler LF Carlos Gonzalez 3B Jordan Pacheco C Ramon Hernandez 1B Tyler Colvin 2B Jonathan Herrera P Alex White |
LOS ANGELES (59-51) LF Shane Victorino 3B Jerry Hairston Jr CF Matt Kemp RF Andre Ethier SS Hanley Ramirez 1B James Loney 2B Luis Cruz C AJ Ellis P Aaron Harang |
The Cowboy has a story on Helton on mlb.com that’s kind-of hard to find:
http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20120806&content_id=36228840&vkey=news_col&c_id=col
A lot of us have been hoping Todd will come back in the “Giambi Role” in 2013. I noticed in his interview with Drew and Jeff last night he said something to the effect of not wanting to come back to “go out on a 7-game road-trip and come back with one hit.” I took that as “I’m not up for the ‘Giambi Roll.’” Kind of tracks with how Tracy keeps rolling him out there. I think Todd’s pretty prickly about not wanting to sit.
You forgot to add the smog measure to the weather forecast…..
And more importantly, the traffic report.
Well, firstly how Tracy has used Giambi the passed 2 seasons (in non IL games) has been a horrible misuse of talent.
Ideally Giambi should be getting 1 AB every game. I heard last year on the radio when Alfred Williams and D-Mac interviewed Carney Lansford they admitted that Giambi turned down PH opportunities. I don’t understand that, but whatever.
Regardless, being unwilling to PH him in the 6th or 7th inning was overly conservative.
Now, with Helton’s glove an intelligent manager would find PH opportunities for Helton earlier in games and then keep him in as a defensive replacement. Of course, being in games for 3 innings is more stressful than just taking an AB. So Helton might be restricted to play every other day.
Still, that’s significantly more time than Giambi.
“curious Colorado victories”…classic
I can’t believe how incredibly baseball deaf the absurd pitch limit idea by the officially brain dead DOD is revealed to be in these two games. Both young pitchers are throwing shutouts, but they get pulled because of this abomination.
I’ve been gone, so I don’t know if this has been mentioned, but Krieger had a piece on his KOA site talking about DOD. DOD comes off as lost, defeated, and clueless; he basically lays all the blame on Coors Field. This is so defeatist for this club (for free agent pitchers for Todd’s HOF chances, etc.) that I can’t see how he remains here. I believe he must be fired the day after the last game if the Monforts really want to compete.
But Thistle … nothing wrong with this club that a franchise move to the Pacific coast wouldn’t cure. Or at least that won’t support O’Dowd’s excuse.
Runners on 2nd and 3rd, one out, chance to bust this game open … and Roenicke hitting for himself? This rotation/pitch limit thing is having some bad systemic effects on roster management. That’s the kind of thing they need to be taking into account when deciding whether to continue with it.
based on Pacheco’s success all night with bases jammed with Rox…I didn’t mind seeing JT keep Roenicke in for another inning.
keep it up ROX!
Two really good games, beating the most hated NL west team, and still un-satisfied customers here on the site
Gotta enjoy these wins when they come, which is very few and very far between.
Jared, this season has ruined me. I see that 3-0 lead in the 6th and I think “at least we won’t get blown out tonight.” Hey, two in a row! Maybe they can cure me of this pessimism yet.
yeah, it has been VERY hard – but for those of us still watching all of the games it is nice to see us win back 2 back (and a freaking series for once!) and to do it with pitching is icing…
Sure, we loaded up the bases and jordan failed…yes, going 2-15 RISP is horrible, BUT we won back to back and almost had back to back shutouts…and this is a pitchers park, so our hitting fell in line with that…
Rutledge and EYj were awesome and i really had fun the last two nights…
OUT!
hey, with EYj doing so well the last two games i was really hoping Pooter would show back up…haven’t heard from him in a while!
I had exactly the same thought.Pooter come back.Your loyalty to junior has in fact been rewarded!I’d flip flop Dex and Rutledge,altough Cargo has struggled in the cleanup spot.Dare we hope for three in a row?
Dodgers were obviously happy to give Cargo a free pass there to get to the Rockies #5 hole hitter – Pacheco. The Rockies are really starting to look like a small ball lineup, and I too would have flipped Dexter and Rutledge in the lineup. Rutledge’s initial power has really surprised me, although I realize this still is a small sample size.
Is it just me or does Rutledge seem to have the right stuff (physical stature, solid defense and plate approach) to be a solid MLB player for a long time?
Yes, Pooter and I still love our EY2!
We all love EY2 but it’s hard to overlook his defensive liabilities. If he keeps going Juan Pierre, I’m sure JT will keep trying to hide him in the outfield and justifiably so.
Great victories the past two nights–my Dodger buddies are almost as dumbfounded as I am. If Francis can pull off a victory tonight, I don’t think the Dodgers will recover.
One last thought–as great as these two wins have been, kinda ticks me off that it plays right into DOD’s excuse about Coors Field.
With Helton, Tulo and Cuddyer all on the DL, I almost (key word) feel sorry for our MFL J Tracy having to fill out a lineup card with so little power available. If the Rockies can dare to attempt a four man rotation, then maybe J Tracy will actually try some “small ball” while the power outage continues. Ya know “in baseball” it is still legal to bunt for a hit, steal a base, hit & run, suicide squeeze, etc – J Tracy you might want to try this stuff sometime – it just might work.