Game #78: Francis vs. Santana

by Rox Girl on Jun 28, 2006 4:29 PM MDT in Rockpile

First of all, congratulations to Patrick Roy for being selected to the Hockey Hall of Fame. Now, as for the Rockies game later tonight, Roy's fellow Canadian, Jeff Francis, takes on Ervin Santana who hails from a less hockey friendly country. Santana's stuff has made him the speculation of multiple trade rumors this season, and tonight's game won't be a cake-walk. That will be especially true if Francis continues to have the struggles he's had his last two outings. If he's on, the Rockies will have a pretty good shot at winning, but we really need Franchise to step up here to take the series.

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Lineups up

The Angels are going with an all right handed approach:

COL

Carroll 2B
Sullivan CF
Helton 1B
Holliday LF
Atkins 3B
Hawpe RF
Piedra DH
Closser C
Barmes SS

LAA

Izturis 3B
Rivera LF
Cabrera SS
Guerrero RF
Napoli C
Salmon DH
Quinlan 1B
Murphy CF
Kennedy 2B

It's not that threatening except for Vlad, and of course Napoli has been an impressive player this season. At any rate, I like our chances.

by Rox Girl on Jun 28, 2006 7:21 PM MDT reply actions

All "right" except for Kennedy

The rest hold true.

by Rox Girl on Jun 28, 2006 7:22 PM MDT up reply actions

Nice start, a one out double by Cory

Now hopefully Todd and Matt can drive him in.

by Rox Girl on Jun 28, 2006 8:12 PM MDT reply actions

Do we have

a long reliever?

by David "ohno" on Jun 28, 2006 8:26 PM MDT reply actions

the good news is Francis got out of the inning

the bad news is he looked very shaky in doing it. Ervin's dealing, but he already has twenty-two pitches so hopefully he won't last long either.

by Rox Girl on Jun 28, 2006 8:34 PM MDT reply actions

The second inning was quicker

but he still doesn't look sharp. This night might still get interesting...

by David "ohno" on Jun 28, 2006 8:45 PM MDT up reply actions

Francis is now starting

to get in a bit of a groove. He still pitched into a bit of a jam, but he's running out of time to implode, which was looking inevitable in the first inning.

It's also nice to see Santana go the other direction from his early start. Hopefully his control continues falter.

by David "ohno" on Jun 28, 2006 9:35 PM MDT reply actions

Yeah

It's nice that even when Jeff doesn't have his best stuff we're still winning.

Of course... the bullpen could still blow it.

by Rox Fan in TN on Jun 28, 2006 10:17 PM MDT up reply actions

Only Vlad...

Saying that Vlad isn't the only "threat" isn't true they still have O. Cabrera who had a .306 avg and 44 RBI and speed with 11 steals. Outside of their lineup there is the starter E. Santana who has been great at home this year and if he goes lets say 7 innings and in comes Scot Shields and K-Rod if it is a save situation they make it a 7 inning game.

by Rox Rock on Jun 28, 2006 10:29 PM MDT reply actions

what was that.....

about Shields and Santana making it a 7 inning game?

by DenverBears on Jun 28, 2006 10:34 PM MDT up reply actions

ok

Don't get me wrong I am a die hard rockies fan I was just saying don't knock on the Angels

by Rox Rock on Jun 28, 2006 11:05 PM MDT up reply actions

Alright, so Anahem has the OC

I was just saying that in years past you would have a much broader threat factor to their lineup (and I was talking about the lineups in that comment so Santana and Shields and company in the pitching staff weren't referenced). It really showed tonight, too with several chances missed. It actually kind of reminded me of our team earlier in the season when we had the potent heart of the order but nothing going on around it.

by Rox Girl on Jun 29, 2006 3:15 AM MDT up reply actions

this really says something.....

Closser walked to get to Barmes.

Ouch.

by DenverBears on Jun 28, 2006 10:38 PM MDT reply actions

Interesting quote...

Im watching this game on the local channel feed from LA, and the play by play announcer brought up an interesting point. He said unlike the Rockies, he feels the Angels have struggled to score runs this year due to a "lack of continuity". He mentions that with the Angels, a player comes to the ballpark not knowing if he is going to DH, play LF, play 1B, bat 2nd or 5th, or if they are going to even play...

He points out that the Rockies have more continuity than many other teams, and that you must give Hurdle credit. His players come to the ballpark knowing if they are going to play, and where, and where in the lineup they will bat, etc....

by Rockiesbiggestfan on Jun 28, 2006 10:58 PM MDT reply actions

Interesting theory

but I don't buy into it too much. The Angels are just relying on more traditionally streaky hitters, or hitters past their prime. Izturis, Molina, and Murphy are still trying to prove their worth in the bigs, Kennedy, Figgins, and Rivera have always been streaky hitters, and Salmon and Anderson are closer to league average than Angels fans want to believe.

by David "ohno" on Jun 28, 2006 11:03 PM MDT up reply actions

I agree...

the Angels hitters are nothing to brag about. It was thought by many before the season that they would have a below average offense. I was just making mention of the quote he made.

It doesnt help that the Angels have good prospects (Kendrick, etc), but they dont give them consistent AB's...but thene expect them to contribute.

by Rockiesbiggestfan on Jun 28, 2006 11:06 PM MDT up reply actions

Why don't they just DFA Jeff Weaver

and move Kennedy to the bench or utility, and let Jered Weaver and Howie Kendrick play? It's obvious after the AAA series that these two players cannot be more ready. I don't think the Angels can afford to continue playing the higher salary guys instead of the better, cheaper players, competitively speaking. I know that's a lot of money tied in those two contracts to just throw away, but sometimes you have to make decisions based on the on-field product and not the pocket book.

by David "ohno" on Jun 28, 2006 11:12 PM MDT up reply actions

Totally agreed

I could not agree with you more...they dont even seem commited to winning. Theres no way you send Jered Weaver down and keep his brother in the rotation if you are serious about winning.

by Rockiesbiggestfan on Jun 28, 2006 11:17 PM MDT up reply actions

not that easy......

There are some personnel problems with waiving someone's brother to promote a younger brother.

The Angels are trying to work a trade for ANYTHING....spare parts even, to get rid of Weaver.....but its a poor personnel/clubhouse move to simply dump Weaver.

It would be a little bit different if it wasn't his older brother...

However there's another layer to this......if the Angels flat out waive Weaver....does Jered forgive them by contract time (if he's successful at the major league level).....etc...etc...

Now I agree they need to dump Weaver...but sometimes its not as easy as just DFA him...

by sg8335aa on Jun 29, 2006 6:41 AM MDT up reply actions

At the same time

what meassage are you sending the rest of the team? The twenty four other players in the clubhouse have seen the younger Weaver come up and dominate in starts, while the elder practically removes all chances for victory in his starts. I would imagine that starts to simmer with some of the vets looking for the team to get competitive before they're past their prime. Couldn't it also be said that the rest of the young talent might remember the team's failure to readily improve the team when an inhouse option presented itself, and consider the team not competitive enough for his/their liking? I think you can take it both ways.

Baseball is a business, and I'm sure the Weavers understand this. It would be one thing if Jeff didn't deserve such treatment, but he has done very little to assist in finding an alternative solution with his play.

by David "ohno" on Jun 29, 2006 9:39 AM MDT up reply actions

Yeah, but...

the Rockies are struggling to score runs, too. Not in this series (thanks, Jeff Weaver), but I'm still remembering the stat I saw on the scoreboard at Busch Stadium that the Rockies are 3rd in the league in batting average but 14th in runs.

You're right, though, that the continuity in the Rockies' lineup breeds chemistry to a certain extent. Guys know what their role on the team is, and they know what they need to do for the team to win. Even the bench players seem to be somewhat accepting of their roles.

by Rox Fan in TN on Jun 28, 2006 11:25 PM MDT up reply actions

Currently

We've still 3rd in batting average but our recent hot streak has moved us from 14th to 9th in runs scored. Hopefully this trend will continue because it's nice seeing fewer and fewer runners stranded in scoring position.

by rockiesfan06 on Jun 29, 2006 1:16 PM MDT up reply actions