Rockies Register

SAN DIEGO — If the Colorado Rockies are going to have any chance of catching the first-place San Francisco Giants, which are 11-games ahead of the Rox, that second-half surge needs to start now with the Rockies weekend series against divisional foe, San Diego Padres.

With only hours remaining till the end of the trade deadline, the Rockies have not made any clear indication if they are going to buyers or sellers for the final two-months of the season.  If they believe they have it in them to grab the division away from both Arizona and San Francisco, Ubaldo Jimenez needs to be locked up and the winning needs to start.  A 7-8 record since the break is not going to cut it, especially with Carlos Beltran now a part of the Giants.

Colorado starter, Jason Hammel bounced back from his previous two starts in which he allowed 12-earned runs, only surrendering two-runs in 6 1/3 innings.

After Hammel departed with a 3-2 lead intact, the Rockies bullpen was lights out, striking out five with only two-hits in the final 2 2/3 innings.  Huston Street earned save number 28 after striking out Luis Martinez and Logan Forsythe, and getting Orlando Hudson to groundout for the final out.

The Rockies jumped all over Padres starter, Tim Stauffer, in the second-inning for their three-runs of the game.

Troy Tulowitzki and Seth Smith hit back-to-back singles to open the second, advancing into scoring position on Mark Ellis’s groundout.  Ian Stewart’s RBI-single brought in the first run which was followed by another RBI-single for a 2-0 lead, with Stewart and Chris Iannetta at second and first respectively.

A double steal put both base runners into scoring position, coming to be beneficial as the inning progressed.  Stauffer balked, allowing the Rockies third and eventual game-winning run to cross home.

In the bottom of the third, Cameron Maybin would hit a one-out double, taking third on Hammel’s wild pitch.  Orlando Hudson’s RBI-single got San Diego on the board.  With Chase Headley batting, Hudson stole second, and scored pitches later on Headley’s single into right.

But Hammel settled down after that, only giving up one additional hit before handing the game over to his bullpen, which they preserved for his sixth win of the season.

DENVER — Tommy Hanson of the Atlanta Braves struggled early, but settled down as the offense later propelled the Braves past the Colorado Rockies.  But it was too many walks by Rockies starter, Jhoulys Chacin, and mistakes by the bullpen that gave Atlanta extra life to run away with this one.

All seemed well as the Rockies quickly grabbed the lead in the bottom half of the first with Carlos Gonzalez going deep for a leadoff homerun.  But in his third at-bat, Gonzalez would go out with injury to the same wrist that caused him to miss eight-games after he crashed into the outfield wall.  He has been activated to the 15-day disabled list with a strained right wrist.

Prior to the injury, Colorado would add a pair of runs after a triple by Dexter Fowler scored Ian Steward and Chris Iannetta.  Fowler then completed the rare steal at home after Braves catcher, Brain McCann, just misplayed the pitch from Hanson.  The Rockies led 4-0 after two and seemed to be on their way to a series victory over the highly potential National League Wild Card champs.

But after the second, things really began to fall apart for Colorado as they saw the Braves score nine total runs in just three-innings which was a result of poor pitching.  Chacin walked seven total batters in just 4 2/3 innings, but three in the third would really hurt the Rockies.

In the third, Martin Prado led off for the Braves with a walk and scored the first Atlanta run, coming home a Jason Heyward’s two-run homerun.  A single, and back-to-back walks that followed the homer loaded the bases with just one-out and Alex Gonzalez at the plate.  Despite grounding into a force-out, a run crossed home, and the Braves now trailed by just a run, 3-4.

In the fifth, a second solo homerun by the Braves, this one by Freddie Freeman, tied the game up at 4-all.  But two more walks by Chacin in the inning would lead to more damage as Nate McLouth would single after a pitching change to bring in Brooks Conrad and grab the Braves first lead of the day at 5-4.

Colorado though would quickly take the lead right back after Seth Smith’s RBI-triple and Chris Iannetta’s sacrifice-fly pushed the Rockies passed Atlanta for a 6-5 lead.

The seventh-inning though was not at all lucky for the Rockies, as Atlanta scored four in the inning to take a 9-6 lead on everything but a single.

Conrad tied the game at 6-6 with a solo homerun.  Following Gonzalez’s double, McLouth tripled to bring in another lead changing run.  Wilkin Ramirez then reached first on a fielder’s choice which scored McLouth, and Heyward’s 13^th-double of the season scored the ninth run of the day for Atlanta.

Up by three in the ninth, it was time to send in the reinforcement.  Craig Kimbrel, the Braves closer, had an easy ninth to earn his Major League leading 30-save.

Colorado now will travel to Phoenix to take on the Arizona Diamondbacks in a crucial weekend series.  If the Rockies are going to have one of their magical second-half surges, it has to start against the D-backs.  Otherwise, their post-season dreams will have to be put on hold for another year.

DENVER — While there is very little chance that Colorado will climb back to 9-games over .500 when they were 17-8 at the end of April, the Rockies could find themselves over .500 by the end of the season if they keep the momentum going.  Colorado has opened up the second half taking two from a Milwaukee Brewers club that could win the NL Central in a four game series.

Colorado switched up the domination of the Brewers in Friday’s game, using offense in Thursday opener, the Rockies pitching staff shutout the Brewers in a four-hitter.  The only Brewers that reached were Nyjer Morgan and Prince Fielder, each reaching twice.

Juan Nicasio of Colorado got his fourth victory, throwing seven shutout innings in the effort.

The Rockies once again got a victory with the guys that matter the most to get wins, by reaching base and scoring runs.  The one-through-four batters accounted for 7 of Colorado’s 9 hits, and all participated in some way for all four of the Rockies runs.

Colorado jumped all over Brewer starter, Chris Narveson, early en-route to their victory.  Dexter Fowler doubled to lead-off the bottom of the first, and later scored on a wild pitch after which Fowler took third on a groundball.

In the third, another double led to a run.  This time it was Mark Ellis who doubled and scored the Rockies second-run on Todd Helton’s single.

With both Fowler and Helton on base due to walks, Troy Tulowitzki’s ensuing double scored Fowler for a Rockies 3-0 lead.

The seventh-inning seemed to be a mirror image of the third, as Ellis once again doubled and was brought home on a Helton single that now gave Colorado a 4-0 lead they would not relinquish.

Now only three-games under .500, the Rockies have the capability of a second half surge to go a few games over .500 for the season.  We have seen these second have comebacks in the past in 2009 and 2007.  In 2007, Colorado opened the second half at .500, but finished seventeen games over making the post-season.  In 2009, they opened the second-half 6-games over, finishing 22-games over on their way to another division championship.  We will see what 2011 brings in the coming weeks, so far they look positive.

WASHINGTON — Trailing by one-run after an inning of play, the Colorado Rockies would use a three-run fourth-inning to defeat the Washington Nationals in their final series before the All-Star break.

With two lackluster offenses meeting for the first time this season, it is no surprise that the opener would be a low scoring affair.  And it is not that either teams pitching is superb, which led to a less than interesting game, but that the offense just has not been there for either club.

Anyone who has followed the Rockies closely this season knows that this club has underachieved since the first pitch was thrown in an Opening Day loss to the Atlanta Braves.  Last year at this point in the season, Colorado was 10-games over .500.  Today, the Rockies find themselves 5-games under, with very little chance of catching the San Francisco Giants and may not even catch the surprising second-place Arizona Diamondbacks.

With just two games left before the All-Star break, I am going to make the bold prediction that Colorado will not be seeing extra life in October.  I agree with a saying I heard on ESPN the other day; that a baseball club has no chance of taking the division unless they are .500 or better at the break.  The Rockies have no chance to do this.  However, that statement is not favorable to the Nationals, who despite their 45-45 record, will not overtake the Philadelphia Phillies or Atlanta Braves for the NL East Crown or a NL Wild Card Berth.

But as for the game that was played last night, which snapped the Rockies five-game slide.

The Rockies Jason Hammel got the start looking awful to start the game.  He allowed a lead-off double, a walk, and single to open the inning, putting himself in a no-out, base loaded situation.  However, Hammel was able to get the next three batters out even though the first-out was sacrifice fly by Michael Morse that scored Roger Bernadina.

But that would be as intense of an inning as Hammel would allow the rest of the day.  Hammel did not allow another hit till the Wilson Ramos homerun in the bottom of the fourth.  Even after that, Hammel seemed comfortable on the mound, allowing just one more hit before being yanked after 6 1/3 innings.

On the other side, the Nationals starter, John Lannan, did not see much life, being lifted after 3 1/3 innings in which he allowed three earned runs in the fourth.

After ten straight Rockies went down without a hit or walk, Jonathan Herrera finally got on for Colorado’s first base runner of the evening.  That seemed to spark the Rockies as both Todd Helton and Ty Wigginton each followed with singles of their own, scoring Herrera for the trying run.

Mark Ellis would reach on a ground ball that forced out Wigginton at second, but advanced Helton to third.  A balk was issued by Ryan Mattheu scored Helton, giving Colorado the lead, and advanced Ellis to second.  Cole Garner finished the inning, sending a pitch that landed in front of the left-fielder, scoring Ellis before Garner was tagged out on a rundown.

Leading 3-1 in the ninth, the Rockies sent out their ace closer, Hudson Street, for the save.  Street earned his 25th-save despite allowing a leadoff single.  With the help of his catcher, Street was able to get the base runner out on a strike ‘em out, throw ‘em out play.  Street then got Rick Ankiel to strikeout for the final out.

DENVER — The Colorado Rockies have a lot to play for Sunday afternoon in their finale against the Kansas City Royals.

They are obliged to follow Saturday’s performance which saw seven-runs come around in two-innings.  The news that Troy Tulowitzki was named to the All-Star Game as a reserve.  And the Rockies have a chance bounce back to .500 again this season with a win and sweep over the Kansas City Royals.  A lot to take in for a simple Sunday afternoon game prior to America’s birthday.

Everything seemed to go Colorado’s way Saturday as fans saw the Rockies one through five batters go a solid 11-for-21 (.524).  Second-baseman, Mark Ellis, led the way going 3-for-5 with two-RBI’s.

Carlos Gonzalez singled for Colorado in the first and successfully stole second with Ellis batting.  Todd Helton, who is seeking one of the final All-Star roster spots, singled Gonzalez home for one of his two RBI’s on the day.

Already leading 1-0, the Rockies opened up for a six-run second, as not a single run was due to the long ball.  Back-to-back doubles to open the frame resulted in Seth Smith scoring and Ty Wigginton standing at second.  Charlie Blackmon’s sacrifice bunt worked beautifully as a throwing error by the Royals resulted in all base runners being safe.  Chris Iannetta’s single brought another run home.

A second sacrifice bunt in the inning was not as successful as the first, but did the job as it advanced both base runners into scoring position.  An intentional walk to Gonzalez loaded the bases for Mark Ellis with just one out.  Ellis doubled for his two-RBI’s.

Todd Helton then drove in his second RBI within two-innings as he sent a sacrifice fly to left.  Troy Tulowitzki also went to left, but his went for an RBI-single that would conclude Colorado’s six-run inning and would display the Rockies leading 7-0 on the scoreboard thru two-innings.

For a moment it appeared that Kansas City was going to make a run of their own over the next couple innings as they quickly scored four-runs.  Jeff Francoeur’s triple in the third got the Royals on the board and in the fourth, a three-run blast by Wilson Betemit now made this a ball game as Kansas City now trailed 7-4.

However, Colorado responded in the bottom half of the fourth with a sacrifice fly from Smith that gave the Rockies a more comfortable lead, 8-4.

But, the Royals seemed to show no sign  of death yet as Alex Gordon’s solo-homerun once again made it a three-run deficit.

Tulowitzki’s solo-shot to leadoff the sixth once again gave Colorado a four-run lead as they now led 9-5 with that homerun appearing to be the final blow to the Royals who were only able to muster another run off an RBI-single by Gordon.

Both pitchers had early exits.  Kyle Davies lasted just three-innings surrendering seven-runs on eight-hits during those nine-outs.  His opponent, Greg Reynolds of Colorado went just five-innings as he allowed five-runs on eight hits.

But five-innings was all Reynolds needed to get enough run support to earn his third victory.  Huston Street entered the game for one-out and recorded it by getting Francoeur to pop-out to end the game.  Street earned his 24th-save, which is good for a five-way tie for first in saves leader.