Rockies Register

SAN FRANCISCO — Colorado salvaged some of their season in the final regular season game against the San Francisco Giants.  They avoided getting swept for the third time in their last four series as they defeated the Giants 6-3 Wednesday afternoon.

The game had little meaning as the defending champs had been eliminated from the division and wild card last week.  But Colorado needed this win to have something positive to head into the offseason than dropping 11 of their last 14.

Colorado jumped out early and never looked back in the regular season’s finale.

Eric Young hit the first pitch of the game to right field for a lead-off triple.  Dexter Fowler then singled to drive in the first run of the day for Colorado.  Later in the inning, Kevin Kouzmanoff doubled to advance Fowler to third, allowing Seth Smith to groundout to second base, scoring Fowler for a 2-0 lead.

The Rockies doubled their lead in the fifth as both Kouzmanoff and Jordan Pacheco hit RBI-singles, giving Colorado a 4-0 lead over the former World Series champions.

However, in the bottom of sixth, San Francisco crawled to within a run of the Rockies as they piled up three runs in the inning.  Justin Christian led-off with a double and Jeff Keppinger brought him home on his RBI-single.  Brett Pill hit a two-out double to put runners in scoring position for Mark DeRosa and he delivered a two-RBI single to center as the Giants now only trailed 4-3.

In the seventh though, Kouzmanoff and Pacheco drove in two more runs as the Rockies doubled up the Giants 6-3 in the final regular season game of 2011.

The Rockies will have to reevaluate a lot of things after this season.  Their rotation will look very different without Ubaldo Jimenez in uniform in mid-February.  Another concern is Todd Helton.  He is getting old, 38, and maybe not be able to be an everyday position player.  His best option now would be to join the American League as a designated hitter.

In addition, the Rockies need better production out of Troy Tulowitzki, Ty Wigginton, and Carlos Gonzalez for an entire season.

DENVER — Colorado closed Coors Field on sour note.  In their final three game series in front of their home fans, the Rockies got swept by last-place San Diego, losing for the seventh straight time.

The Padres oddly enough won each game against the Rockies with all-around solid pitching.  They allowed a combined total of three runs in the series, shutting out the Rockies in the finale.

Colorado managed just one extra-base hit that came at the hands of Dexter Fowler who also broke the no-hit bid San Diego starter, Anthony Bass, had thrown through 3 2/3 innings.  The Padres starter pitched five-innings of two-hit ball for his second win.

San Diego’s offense was no surprise as they compiled four of their nine hits in the first alone en-route for a four run inning.  Those would be the only runs the Padres would score the rest of the game as aside from Cameron Maybin’s leadoff double in the first, San Diego never had another batter go for extra bases.

Jeremy Hermida took four sinkers from Aaron Cook and headed to first on the walk.  Chris Denorfia followed with a bunt groundball for a single, loading the bases for Chase Headley with nobody out.

Headley drove in the first run of the afternoon on a sacrifice fly to left-field.

Another walk from Cook to Luis Martinez loaded the bases again and Alberto Gonzalez took advantage of the runner standing at third, driving in Hermida for a second sacrifice fly.  Anthony Rizzo and Andy Parrino both followed by hitting back-to-back RBI-singles for the third and fourth run respectfully before Bass even stepped on the mound.

Both teams have six games left with the Padres closing PETCO Park with two three game sets with the Dodgers and Cubs.  Colorado also takes on a NL Central foe in the Astros before heading to San Francisco in what may be the last games played at AT&T Park this year.  Colorado could end the Giants playoff hopes if San Francisco somehow manages to win or sweep their series with Diamondbacks this weekend.  But I see champagne being unleashed Saturday night in Phoenix.

DENVER — Welcome to the major leagues Drew Pomeranz.

In Sunday’s finale with the Cincinnati Reds, and Colorado eliminated from playoff contention, it was time for some minors to get big league experience.  Pomeranz joined three other rookies on the field as he made his first major league appearance.

Needless to say, the southpaw did not display his nerves to the fans or opponent.  The lefty pitched five-innings as he was limited to a 60+ pitch count by manager, Jim Tracy.  For those five-innings, Pomeranz did nothing but impress the fans and coaching staff, allowing just two hits to a team who earlier in the season was competing for the NL Central crown.

His counterpart, Edinson Volquez lasted five-innings too, but gave up the runs to Colorado that would lead to a Rockies victory.

Scoreless through 3 ½-innings, Ty Wigginton put Colorado on the board with his solo home run to left.  The very next inning, Eric Young hit a grounder up the middle for a one out single.  Young would steal both second and third before Jordan Pacheco, another rookie, drove in the Rockies second run of the afternoon.

Young singled again in the seventh, and once again, stole second for his third steal of the day.  He later advanced to third as Fowler followed with a single, putting runners at the corners with no outs.  A wild pitch by Ramon Hernandez with Pacheco batting gave Young the easy opportunity to score while advancing Fowler to second.

Fowler later took third on Pacheco groundout, scoring on Kevin Kouzmanoff’s groundout for a four-to-nothing lead through seven.

NL MVP, Joey Votto, broke the scoreless innings for the Reds, as he sent home run number 28, a solo shot, into the right field stands.  But starter, Jason Hammel pitched the final four-innings after Pomeranz debut, earning his first save of the season.

Colorado could do their division foe, the D-backs, a favor if they can pull out some victories over the Milwaukee Brewers.  With just games left in the regular season, the only competition left in the National League is to determine who will get home field advantage after the Philadelphia Phillies, where they posses home field throughout the post-season unless they get knocked off.  Gotta love the Midsummer Classic mean so much for post-season play.

DENVER — For the first time in a long time this season, the Diamondbacks bullpen was unable to preserve a lead, falling to the Colorado Rockies after allowing seven unanswered runs to score in the eighth.

The D-backs led 3-1 through 7 ½-innngs, but entering the bottom half of the eighth, the bullpen was throwing beach balls to Colorado batters.  Arizona’s relief pitcher, David Hernandez got the first and third batter out on ground outs, but after the second out, the Rockies had the next nine batters reach safely, despite two outs already recorded.

Arizona got its offense going in the first after Aaron Hill and Justin Upton both hit one out singles to begin the first.  Miguel Montero then followed by grounding out to the second baseman, allowing Hill to score the first run of the game.

The Rockies tied the game in the fifth on Jordan Pacheco’s groundout to third.  Seth Smith scored the tying run as he tripled to leadoff the inning.

But over the next two innings, it seemed guaranteed that Arizona was going to win this game with the confidence they possess as division leaders.  Paul Goldschmidt led-off with a double in the seventh, advancing to third on a wild pitch.  Gerardo Parra hit a one-out RBI-single to break the tie, giving the D-backs a slight 2-1 advantage.

Montero tried to give his D-backs some insurance support by singling home Hill, who doubled earlier in the inning.  Leading by a pair of runs in the late stages of the game, there is no doubt Arizona was calm and cool and did not expect what was about to come in next few minutes.

With two outs in the ninth, and Dexter Fowler at first, things looked bleak for the Rockies as they have all season.  Colorado has struggled to score runs all season, while Arizona’s bullpen has been strong in late game situations in the second half of this season.  Must have been Opposite Day at Coors Field.

Colorado proceeded to score seven runs in the eighth as nine straight batters reached as a result of a hit, walk, or hit batsman.  Troy Tulowitzki smacked a two-run homerun to give Colorado a 5-3 lead.  Smith would get an RBI on his triple that kept the lineup moving.  With the bases loaded, the twelfth batter of the inning, Fowler, took a seven-pitch at-bat that eventually led to the seventh run being walked in.

Arizona starter, Josh Collmenter, had a solid effort as he went 6 1/3 innings, allowing one run on five-hits.  His counterpart, Jason Hammel, however went 7-innings, surrendering just two-runs in that span.

Arizona could not buy a hit off Colorado’s, Rafael Betancourt, who got all three batters he faced to fly out to Smith in left-field.

SAN DIEGO — San Diego was shutout yet again.  For tenth time this season, the Padres suffered to score runs in front of their home fans as Colorado blanked them through nine.

Kevin Millwood pitched for the Rockies, and went seven shutout innings as he allowed seven-hits while striking out eight.

Aaron Harang (12-5), the Padres best pitcher by far this season, struggled with his command against a sub-par season from Colorado.  He gave up three runs through seven, striking seven.

It was a pretty clean game through three-innings, but in the fourth, Colorado broke the tie for two-runs.  Dexter Fowler tripled to leadoff the fourth, scoring on Jonathan Herrera’s ensuing RBI-single.  A throw to the plate allowed Herrera to take second and later advance to third on a wild pitch.  Tulowitzki’s groundout scored the Rox second run of the night.

Tulowitzi would drive in a second run on a single to right in the sixth in increase Colorado’s lead, 3-0.

San Diego had eight hits in the game, but the reason for zero runs was due to the fact that not one of those hits went for extra bases.  Singles do not win games and San Diego found that out last night in a 3-0 loss.