Sorry it has been a while since my last post.  It's been a busy week.  And unfortunately since my last post, the Rockies have been losing.  They've been close games that the Rockies have been in throughout, but losses nevertheless.  And yesterday was no different.  A seemingly lucky hack at a 97 mph fastball by Mark Reynolds tied it up, and a single took the lead and the Diamondbacks never looked back, taking the series 2 games to 1.

Ubaldo Jimenez was pitching an amazing game.  Through 5 and 2/3, he hadn't surrendered a hit.  He was cruising along with all his pitches working.  Two walks later, the D-Backs most dangerous hitter, Mark Reynolds, stepped into the box.  Ubaldo had him to his last strike.  One more and the no hitter stays in tact.  But a belt high, 97 mph fastball, was driven past left field and into the stands.  Tied ball game.  Arizona tacked on another run and held on for their 33^rd win.

Obviously Ubaldo threw a great game.  To go that long without giving up a hit is a feat in itself.  There's no shame in giving up a homer on a 97 mph pitch, all the credit goes to Reynolds.  Ubaldo is taking the steps towards being a great pitcher.  His velocity is there.  His control is getting there.  The one thing that stands in his was is his composure after giving up or cutting into the Rockies lead.  That should come, too, in time.  He had eight strikeouts in 6 1/3 innings pitches.  He currently has 93 strikeouts, good enough for 11^th, along with fellow Rockie Jorge de la Rosa.  He has the stuff to be great.  The work ethic is there.  Now all that needs to come is the composure, but he is only 25, so he still has plenty of time to mature and grow into an All-Star.

Another guy who is taking steps towards superstardom in Troy Tulowitzki.  Coming off a rough sophomore season, Tulo is evolving into a homerun hitter.  He is hitting from a more upright stance, which really allows him to drive the ball.  Tulo has hit 13 homers this season, second most of any shortstop in baseball, behind only Hanley Ramirez.  He is looking a lot like the guy form his rookie year that hit 24 homeruns and drove in 99.  The defense has always been there, and with the offense that he is beginning to produce, it won't be long before he is a superstar.

The Rockies hit one of the leagues best pitcher in Dan Haren very well.  Ubaldo was able to knock the ball just to the left of Haren to get things going.  Seth Smith followed up with a single, and Ryan Spilborghs and Todd Helton were able to drive in a run each.  The following inning Tulo was able to go deep.  Unfortunately, Arizona did what they haven't been able to do for Haren with much consistency; give him run support.  Well, I guess if you can call 4 runs support, but they got the job done.  Haren is only 8-5, but that record is a little misleading when you look at his 2.19 ERA and his 119 K's.  To me, Haren is the second best pitcher in baseball, only behind Zach Greinke, but Haren probably won't win the Cy Young due to what could be a pedestrian W-L record.

The Rockies look to get back on track Against the Washington Nationals.  At 24-55, they are by far the worst team in baseball, so logic says the Rockies should be able to win, but that's why they play the game.  Jason Marquis (10-5) goes for his Major League leading 11^th victory against Craig Stammen (1-3).  I'll be at the game Monday night, my first in a while, to cheer the Rox back to their winning ways!        

This game is an example of why a game is never over until the 27^th out is recorded.  The offense had a spectacular night.  Jorge De La Rosa threw a great game.  The bullpen, however, was not sharp at all.  Aside from Huston Street, the bullpen had an atrocious game.  Lucky, the Rockies were able to establish an offensive rhythm early, so the bullpens damage was minimized.

What a difference from the previous night offensively.  The start an hour earlier helped the ball avoid that thick air and find it's way into the seats.  The Rockies hit four home runs in the first four innings.  After that the ball didn't leave the yard.  It's amazing to see that big of a difference in such a short amount of time.  Brad Hawpe, Ian Stewart, Clint Barmes, and Seth Smith were all able to go yard in a game that the Rockies dominated with the bats.  The Rockies are able to play any kind of ball and win lately.  They can put up big numbers, they can win the pitchers duels, they can come from behind.  All the Rockies do now is win games no matter what.

One of the unsung heroes for the Rockies this year is Clint Barmes.  He went 3-5 tonight with a HR and scored 2 runs.  This is the guy who sparked everyone's interest his rookie year.  After a couple of down years, Barmes has finally found his spot with this ballclub.  He's has been solid defensively at 2^nd.  At the beginning of the year, the Rockies didn't know who would be their 2^nd Baseman.  Now there are no questions who that is.  Hitting out of the 2 hole, Barmes has been a beast.  It is so nice to see this guy settle in and become the player everyone knew he could be.

Jorge De La Rosa put together another nice start, going 6 innings and allowing 2 runs on 5 hits while striking out 5.  There no question Jorge can strike guys out, but he tends to overthrow his pitches, and that is where he makes his mistakes, but lately, he hasn't been doing that.  As good as he has been, I still think that he will better serve the Rockies as a reliever if the Rockies are able to pick up another starter via trade.  He can go out for an inning or two at a time and strike guys out.  Not only that, but you put another left hander in the bullpen, and you can never go wrong with that.

To the bullpen we go.  During this winning stretch, this hasn't been a problem, but for some reason, the usually solid bullpen just didn't get the job done out there.  With an 11-2 lead, there is no reason that your closer should even have to warm up.  The bullpen didn't get that memo, and gave up six earned runs in two innings of work.  Luckily, Huston Street wasn't affected by the funk that hit the rest of the relievers.  Matt Daley had a decent outing, striking out 2, but still he still gave up a run in one inning of work.  Daley has been a big surprise to me.  Ever since coming back from the DL, Daley has pitched surprisingly well.  Daley, Street and Joel Peralta have hands down been the most solid arms in the Rockies pen this year.  As long as this funk was a one game thing, I'm not too worried.  Better to get a bad game out of their system on a night where the bats are working rather than one in which the pen is relied on for the victory.  They'll bounce back, though.

Aaron Cook will try and get the sweep for the Rockies against Oakland's Vin Mazzaro.  Another member of Oakland's baby rotation will look to get back on track after starting 2-0.  He has dropped his last two starts.  Cook, the franchise leader in wins, with try and grab his 8^th victory of the year.  Break out the brooms, the Rox are looking to do some sweping!         

Now that's the way to get back on track!  Jason Hammel Pitched a gem out there.  Well, at least to his standards he did.  An all around solid performance from the Rox.  The offense came through when they needed to.  The bullpen kept the game in check, and there was really nothing to complain about.  The Rox really played Great.

Jason Hammel is really starting to come into his own as a starter.  He's now a nice 4-0 in the month of June.  Hammel has great command of his pitches and know what he wants to do out there on the mound.  He doesn't try and do too much, and that is what Hammel needs to do to be effective.  This has turned out to be a great trade for the Rockies to really bring their rotation together nicely.

The offense didn't need to do a lot for the Rockies tonight.  Oakland is such a bad offensive team, so you don't have to score a ton of runs on them to win.  Todd Helton was able to drive in 2 runs, making him the second Rockie with 50 RBI this season, joing Brad Hawpe.  For all indications, Mr. Rockie is back from his injury woes and should have a few more solid seasons left in him.  As a Rockies fan, I couldn't be happier that such an important figure in franchise history is having success as Todd is.  

Another guy on the comeback trail, Garrett Atkins, drove in the other 2 runs for the Rockies.  He has been on fire as of late.  Now the question becomes whether to trade Atkins or platoon him with Ian Stewart now that Stewart's bat has cooled off.  Atkins could start against left handed starters, and Stewart could go against righties.  Ultimately, though, I think the Rockies need to trade Atkins to get another starting pitcher to really nail down their rotation, but we with see with the deadline slowly drawing closer.

It was really nice to see Matt Holliday out there.  It brought back great memories of the glory days in 2007.  He had a great game, yet he didn't hurt the Rox as a result.  That's one thing I want to see when I watch some of my favorite players take on the Rockies.  I want to see them get on, but that's about it.  In a blow out, I don't mind a home run form the guy.  Not only did Matt not hurt the Rockies, he actually help 'em out.  After doubling with one out, Jason Giambi came up and flew out to center field.  Channeling his inner-Milton Bradley, Holliday seemed to think there was two outs, and already at third by the time Ryan Spilborghs gloved it, leading to the easy double play.  Thanks for the help Matt!

Not only was this Holliday's reunion with the Rockies, Huston Street was able to close out the game against his former ball club.  In a pre-game interview, Huston said he would like to be able to get a save in each of the three games against the team he came up with.  Well, he's one for one now, throwing some of the fastest pitches he has thrown all year.  Much of that probably has to do to the fact that he is throwing against his old teammates.  But still, Huston has had a great impact on this ballclub.  He has come in and taken that closer spot and done a terrific job, already with 17 saves this season.  I think it's easy to say who is making a bigger impact with their new club between Holliday and Street.

In the next game against the A's, Jorge De La Rosa takes the mound against the youngster Trevor Cahill.  I have heard a lot of great things about this kid, so it should be a fun game to watch.  Jorge has been pitching much better as of late, and hopefully he can keep it going for the read hot Rockies.       

There was very little to be happy about in this game.  The offense did not deliver.  The bullpen was not nearly as sharp as they have shown in recent outings.  This was just an all around dud for the Rox.  But hey, when you play 162 games, you are going to have a couple nights like this.  As long as thee Rox don't make this a habit, they should be fine.

On a positive note, the Garrett Atkins Showcase went well.  He went 3-4 with a HR and 2 RBI.  Hopefully that can get some other teams excited in Atkins.  It a shame that a guy so important to the Worlds Series run in '07 has sunk this low.  I really do hope he figures it out soon and can have a successful career, but unfortunately, Colorado is not the place for him anymore.

Next up is Matt Holliday and the Oakland A's.  It'll be exciting to see how Matt does against his old team.  Oakland is nowhere near where Billy Beane envisioned this team to be, so chances are Matt will be on the move again.  Oakland has a terrible offense, so the Rox shouldn't be too hard-pressed to put up big numbers, but we will just have to wait and see.  Until then, we just have to hope that the Rox will get on the winning horse once again.

Of all of these players, the only one with a better AVG than Brad Hawpe is Carlos Beltran.  Only Beltran and Ryan Braun have a better OBP, and the only outfielder with a SLG is Raul Ibanez, who also has the only OPS among NL Outfielder greater than Hawpe's, as well as 6 more RBI.  No outfielder has more doubles than Hawpe, and he also has a respectable 11 home runs, one of the few offensive categories that he is not in the top five.  So why does he not even crack the top 15?

One reason is the fact that the Rockies were horrible to start the season.  Hawpe got no national recognition for having what appears to be an MVP type season.  It's funny to think that Matt Holliday was a starter for the NL last year with numbers not nearly this good, but the Rockies were still fresh in everyones mind from the previous World Series.

The other reason is that All-Star voting is a joke.  The big markets are going to dominate for thee simple fact that people see them more.  Look at Jimmy Rollins.  He is barely batting .200, he is having a year well below average compared to his standards, yet he is the leading vote getter for Shotstops in the NL.  How does that make since?  It doesn't, but because he is in Philly, he's going to be recognized.  That is why the fans shouldn't be allowed to vote, because they simply won't pick the right guys.  Going by the numbers, the NL outfield should be Beltran, Braun and either Hawpe or Ibanez.

So I guess what I am trying to say is who cares if Brad isn't selected to start.  He is going to be in St. Louis with the rest of them, he will have better numbers than most of them, and he stays under the radar.  In a way, that's good for the Rox.  They don't have all the pressure that guys in big markets have.  If they have a great game, it's sometimes recognized.  If they choke big time, it won't be analyzed on a national level.  So we should be thankful Brad isn't becoming a superstar.  He's getting the job done for the Rockies, and that is really all that matters.