The Mets bullpen have been the best player for the Rockies for the third game in a row, playing as bad as the Rox are playing good. You wouldn’t know it by looking at the 1 in NY’s errors column tonight, but the play on the field was anything but pristine, and nobody is complain’.
Well, nobody other than Mets fans that is.
Tonight’s game followed the same pattern put down over each of the previous two games: outlast the starter and then let the real game begin. Just like last night, when Chris Young came in and really put the screws to Rockies hitters by striking out the first four he faced on his way to six strikeouts of the first 12, Matt Harvey came in tonight and dominated the Rox for six innings. He only gave up one run, a sacrifice by Wilin (tonight’s RWO MVP) Rosario, and left the game tied at 1-1, with nine strikeouts to his name.
That was when the fun began.
Wilin Rosario welcomed former Rockies pitcher Ramón Ramírez to the game by taking his second pitch deep into the left field seats, making it 2-1 for the Rockies.
Next up was Tyler Colvin, and he saw six pitches before doubling to left. Chris Nelson moved him over, and faster than you can say “suicide” DJ LeMahieu laid down a perfect bunt to bring Colvin home.
The comedy of errors that Coach Collins warned his team about, and requested it come to an end in a pre-game meeting, continued. On the squeeze play Ramirez missed the ball and ran into the catcher Shoppach, which gave LeMahieu all the time in the world to make it to first. Then in the ninth, after Colvin singled and with Chris Nelson batting, Colvin stole second. The throw by Shoppach was horrible, giving Colvin third standing up. Nelson proceeded to single him home and then with a Josh Rutledge pinch-hit double to bring in Nelson, the score settled on a nice 5-2 number and that was pretty much all she wrote.
Well, that is unless you count the nail-biting ninth where Rafael Betancourt needed 25 pitches, 18 of them to Turner and Cedeno, to retire the Mets. He pretty much kept throwing heaters and they pretty much kept fouling them off, pitch after pitch. It was nice to see Rafi win the battle, what with the tying run at the plate, and as luck would have it the Rockies got all of the breaks.
Speaking of luck, some bad luck once again hit the Rockies in the form of injury. In the top of the fourth Dexter Fowler singled and then moved to second on a bad throw. As he was stepping on the bag he twisted his ankle severely and had to be helped off the field.
It was just one of those weird things that happened…It doesn’t feel good now, but I don’t think it will be a DL situation.
OTHER NOTES:
- Jeff Francis was solid, scattering five hits over five frames with only one earned given up. He did walk two, but made up for it by striking out four.
- Tyler Colvin was 2-4 with a double and two runs.
- Rosario’s home run tonight gives him 20. That is the most HR’s of any rookie in the National League, and second only to Mike Trout in the Majors.
- The ankle Fowler hurt was the same one he messed up in Miami on the dugout steps.
- The Rockies have won eight of their last 10 games. They have also won seven consecutive games at Citi Field going back to April 11, 2011.
another fun game…where’s my broom again???
why can’t we just play the Mets, in Citi Field, for the first 50 games of the season – that only seems fair!
I am not a Troy Renck fan and I think when the Rocky folder the Post should have done everything in it’s power to try to lure Tracy Ringolsby to be their baseball man. Perhaps they did and Tracy turned them down. More likely they didn’t because they already had Renck under contract.
Anyway, in Renck’s report on tonight’s game which is on the DP online and I presume in Thursday’s print edition he applauded the squeeze and hoped that the contact play was now history. Many of us on this site have had similar views and I hope he is right. The terrible TV due of Goodman and Frazier said after the squeeze that Jim Tracy loves to do this but earlier in the year he was was always down 4 or 5 runs. BS. Many times earlier this year we had the exact same situation and he didn’t squeeze but ran the contact play and the runner was thrown out at home. Granted you can’t squeeze all the time, but if you wait until August when you are out of the race it really doesn’t matter.
Yes, another awful performance by the ROOT booth. Now “revisionist history” has become a major element of their palette.
The primary problem is Drew Goodman gets out of bed in the morning making excuses for people he’s acquainted with/works for/works with. This characteristic is SO dominant it has essentially become his (as they say in LA) “schtick,” what he is “known for.” He’s been making excuses for the Rockies so long it’s become “grating.” Each time he launches into a new justification the listener just rolls his eyes, put his hands over his ears, and says “oh no, here we go again.”
But it’s just his nature; it’s “what he does.” There’s nothing to be done. Had he been covering the Broncos he’d have been droning on about how misunderstood the “genius” of Josh McDaniels was. He’s more of a “spokesman” for the teams and people he covers than a journalist. He’s got to go. He’s depressing.
Frasier had a good night about a month ago after he’d been off for a couple weeks that made me wonder if I’d been too harsh on him. But now he’s back to his natural way, just babbling + babbling. And he’s an excuse maker, too. Probably impossible not to be sitting next to Drew.
And you can repeat that criticism for Huson.
I wonder what a booth of Dave Logan + Tracy R would be like? I think it might help to not have an ex- (baseball) player in the booth.
Personally I just hate Dave Logan’s voice. It’s probably just me, but his voice grates on my nerves. I would rather listen to Pee-Wee Herman for 3 hours.
I’m not saying Frasier is great, but he is better than Goodman by a long shot.
Bill, not sure why you don’t like Renck…personally I think he is more spot on than many of the guys that cover the Rockies (Tracy Ringolsby being the best in the business of course)…I haven’t done this very long (pre/post games almost daily) but have come to appreciate his work even more in the last few months than i did over the past few years…i interviewed him at the beginning of the season for a piece about him that I wanted to do as a feature and haven’t had a chance to transpose the hour+ interview – he was very accommodating and you could tell that he really got it.
As far as the squeeze, i brought this up during the last squeeze play after last Thursdays game (read my comments about it here: http://www.roxwalkoff.com/2012/08/17/keepin-the-streak-alive/), that the squeeze was way more preferable to the run on contact and it was a joke that the booth boys said Tracy likes to do the squeeze…history has shown that he is anything but prone to call the squeeze in any situation, so the last two he has called have been rare instances. Why they would say he likes to call it is a joke and Renck nailed it when he said that hopefully the success of the squeeze will keep him from the stupid go on contact play…
The squeeze makes perfect sense when you need one insurance run against a really weak hitting team, when you’re playing in an extreme pitcher’s park, when you’ve got your 8 hole hitter at the plate, and when you have a fast runner on 3rd. In other words, Terry Collins should’ve seen this coming. Maybe he should hold a closed doors team meeting with himself.
And Bill, Tracy Ringolsby definitely wasn’t offered the DP job when the Rocky folded. If you google a bit, you’ll find an interview with Tracy where he says he was in Arizona when the news came down, and the Rocky didn’t even offer to pay his way back home. That was it; it was over one day, you’re on your own, have a good life. And to his credit he has …
Randy Wolf released by the Brewers. Always seemed to give the Rockies fits, doesn’t seem spooked by Coors. Danno (or shall I say Billy G.), go get him! Another Jeff Francis reclamation awaits.
What is this business with the press not identifying Tulo’s “Philadelphia doctor?” Is this just lazy reporting or is something strange going on (his name is Dr. William Meyers)?
Jaredean – nice photo that accompanies this story!
Someone mentioned Randy Wolf – have to say I had exactly the same thought!
Some will take this a blasphemy – but I like the team without Todd Helton. Seems like more lineup flexibility. The potential 2K13 everyday lineup looks nice:
OF – Cargo
OF – Fowler
OF – Cuddyer/Colvin
1 – Cuddyer/Colvin
2 – Rutledge
S- Tulo
3 – Pacheco/Arenado
C – Rosario
Bullpen looks solid as well. Based on this info, its safe to say the focus of the GM should be narrow!
Thanks…photoshop rocks.
As much as I love Todd I have to agree.However,to paraphrase our resident stats man[Agbayani] this is a very small sample.If these kids keep this up it makes for a better 2013 then we might have thought just a few weeks ago.More amazing is the 4 man rotation[with variations]is actually starting to work.As many here said in April,we had a bundle of fifth starter guys but no real front of the rotation guys.Well,this crazy rotation actually gets the most of what we have by making #5′s into 2′s or 3′s by limiting the number of times they see the opponents line up.Wow,just some fun,well played,winning baseball,and I turn into pollyanna!
Jared. When I said I didn’t like Renck I guess I meant in comparison to Ringolsby. Renck has grown on me and he is certainly better than the guy who did it before him in Mike Klis who got into a fistfight with Ringolsby. Love to know what that was about.
Interesting that the print version of Renck’s story in the edition of the DP at my door (or close to my driveway) this morning did not have his comment of the contact play. Perhaps the editor of the sports page decided to do without it.
That is funny – i’ve never read him in print, only online, but i can see how an editor might want to “water” him down a little for the paper…good for him to still state it online because, as we’ve all said here, the go-on-contact play must be put to rest…