9 in a Row! Ubaldo Jimenez and Rockies fight for gritty 6-4 win over Mariners
by Rox Girl on Jun 12, 2009 10:24 PM MDT
in Rockies Game Wraps
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PrintJim Tracy pushed buttons that Colorado Rockies teams haven't pushed in a long time for Friday night's come from behind Rockies win over the Seattle Mariners, some of the moves were so old school it's a wonder that the young team even realized they existed.
The pivotal sequence came with the Rockies trailing 3-4 with one out and runners on first and second in the bottom of the sixth. Tracy let Jimenez hit, but rather than going for a sacrifice, the pitcher slug bunted a single past the drawn in infield for Troy Tulowitzki's game tying run. With runners now on first and third, Tracy then had Dexter Fowler push a suicide squeeze bunt to score Ian Stewart who made a fantastic slide under the tag of Mariners catcher Rob Johnson for the first Rockies lead of the night.
Jimenez stayed in the game the rest of the way, picking up his first complete game of the season on 127 pitches, despite having a dubious start where he fell behind 3-0 by the third inning on an Adrian Beltre double. He and the Rockies offense showed some impressive resillience in clawing back, however. Troy Tulowitzki, who showed his Long Beach Dirtbag roots in this game, wound up scoring three of the Rockies runs, the first on a solo home-run in the bottom of the fourth to pull the Rockies to within one, the second on the Jimenez slug-bunt, and the third on a wild pitch after he got on base, stole second and reached third on a throwing error by Johnson. The other two Rockies runs were scored in the third when Todd Helton hit a two out single to score Chris Iannetta and Brad Hawpe reached on an error (First Baseman Russ Branyan was pulled off the bag on a Jarrod Washburn throw) to score Clint Barmes.
The Rockies improved to 29-32 with the victory, and are now just 3.5 games behind St. Louis in the NL Wild Card race.
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I don't see how this win can be "gritty"
David Eckstein is in LA tonight.
"Admirably obsessive." - Uni Watch, March 24th, 2009
NA34 | HK | RMN
San Fran,
not much closer.
I wonder how long we’ll go before someone like Barmy or Stewart gets the “gritty” tag?
"Admirably obsessive." - Uni Watch, March 24th, 2009
NA34 | HK | RMN
Nope, can't ever be an OF.
The only grit in the outfield is on the warning track or something. I don’t know why, it’s just a rule.
you sure?
Trot Nixon was gritty player no 1 for the Red Sox. They just called him a “dirt dog” instead.
Every rule has its exceptions...
Trot Nixon’s definitely one to this rule. That’s about 3,000 Google results for Trot Nixon + gritty. David Eckstein has 3,510.
David Eckstein
Should just please go away, and leave me in peace. He has been nothing but serious pain in my rear for far too long.
Get on that, wouldcha?
And how far back are we now?
Barmes probably already has it. I know in some circles, just not a nationally known gritster
Too bad it can’t ever be an outfielder, or a pitcher. Ubaldo was gritty.
Ubaldo's Latin. Latins aren't gritty.
Gritty = white guy.
Staying on the sunny side of Blake Street since 1993.
The Shawn Chacon Experience - Life as a Rockies fan, one day at a time: Because we're all still recovering from those nine blown saves.
by Franchise26 on Jun 12, 2009 10:38 PM MDT up reply actions
Right. And short, preferably.
"Don't tell me about the world. Not today. It's springtime and they're knocking baseballs around fields where the grass is damp and green in the morning and the kids are trying to hit the curve ball." -Pete Hamill
AWESOME
Tracy continues to show tremendous confidence in his players. I loved seeing Ubaldo back out there for the ninth, and I really loved seeing Tracy come out and leave Ubaldo in, effectively saying ’You’re our stud, you’re our horse, and you’re winning this game for yourself." 127 pitches is a lot, but Ubaldo’s got an extra day of rest before his next start, he can handle it.
Did we really score our last three runs on a slug bunt, a squeeze, and a wild pitch? Is this high school? What the hell is going on with this baseball team? I LOVE IT.
High fives, everybody. Between this and one of the best Game 7s I’ve ever seen in any sport (congrats, NHL, you have a fan again – and I rediscovered how much I like watching the Red Wings lose), tonight was a lot of fun. I think I need to go run a few laps.
Staying on the sunny side of Blake Street since 1993.
The Shawn Chacon Experience - Life as a Rockies fan, one day at a time: Because we're all still recovering from those nine blown saves.
Thank you
For the line about Tracy. I’ve been kind of wondering what you thought about him since he took over. Some of your earlier posts about his managerial style had me a tad worried when he took over. I realize that he’s coaching for a 2010 contract, but he really seems to getting some good stuff out of this team.
As you said, AWESOME.
And how far back are we now?
Well, I guess there's still time
for Tracy to tell Jimenez to pitch more like Jose Lima or something.
But yes, color me pleasantly surprised by Tracy right now. He’s been just what this team needed, and I think he deserves a good deal of credit for the surge in confidence that we’ve seen from the players.
Staying on the sunny side of Blake Street since 1993.
The Shawn Chacon Experience - Life as a Rockies fan, one day at a time: Because we're all still recovering from those nine blown saves.
by Franchise26 on Jun 12, 2009 10:53 PM MDT up reply actions
Jose Lima?
Our Texas Ranger blogger won a dress worn by his wife.
"If we never try, we shall never succeed." - Abraham Lincoln
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The most impressive thing to me about 'Baldo last night is
that he was throwing just as hard in the 9th as he was in the 1st. Dude can really bring it.
Say this much for big league baseball - it is beyond question the greatest conversation piece ever invented in America. ~Bruce Catton
yep very impressive effort by him
throwing 95 still in the 9th…especially after a rough start to the game.
by TuLoRocks2008 on Jun 13, 2009 12:54 PM MDT up reply actions
Odd night in baseball
Did you see how the Mets lost?
Milton Bradley forgets how many outs there are.
Also, apparently the umps missed a call on what would have been an extra-innings walkoff for the Phillies; they called the ball foul and didn’t go to replay. I don’t have a video link for this, unfortunately. (and no mlb.tv sub.)
They got the call right.
But they did refuse to go to replay, so if it had been wrong….
by Greg Stanwood on Jun 12, 2009 10:43 PM MDT up reply actions
I've read about ten posts about this on different boards.
All of them, came to the conclusion the call was correct.
by Greg Stanwood on Jun 12, 2009 10:45 PM MDT up reply actions
Yeah. What a disaster.
I’m trying to queue up the Phillies game on MLBTV to see for myself what happened.
by Greg Stanwood on Jun 12, 2009 10:51 PM MDT up reply actions
They didn't seem to make a big deal about it.
Manual asked for a replay and was denied, but the ball was definitely foul, and Manual went back down without much of a fuss. He actually thought it was foul too, but wanted them to check just in case.
by Greg Stanwood on Jun 12, 2009 11:02 PM MDT up reply actions
Just saw the highlight on the mlb network
It looked foul. It was close though, even on slow mo, so I’m surprised they didn’t go to replay for a potential HR in the bottom of an extra inning.
Thanks for the links.
I love seeing stuff like this, but I never feel like going to find the videos myself.
Already posted in the game thread, but I'll do it again here
Morales has been activated and optioned to AAA, Buccholz has one last pitching session tomorrow, then is expected to begin rehab in Modesto on Tuesday
Interesting call on Morales
Do they feel he is ready, just that it’s better not to disturb the team right now? I wouldn’t mess with the rotation right now, but thought he might replace someone in the pen.
I think they got it right.
In my opinion, Hammel is better than Morales right now, although I hope to all that is good in this world that that will change. I think he could still use some work in AAA, his last start was kind of rocky.
That's sort of what I was wondering
If he’s not ready, AAA makes sense. If he was ready, I wouldn’t disturb the rotation, but he could be learning in long relief rather than in the Sky Sox rotation. Either way though, no problem. He’ll come back up at some point.
We don't have any serious holes in the pen right now either,
by Greg Stanwood on Jun 12, 2009 10:54 PM MDT up reply actions
If the various Rockies staff felt Morales was ready
I would carry him as a long man over Fogg. I’d carry a potential starter over a marginal major leaguer.
And I wouldn't mess with anything on this team that doesn't have to be.
Fogg’s been great. If he hadn’t been, that’s a different story. No reason to fix what isn’t broken.
by Greg Stanwood on Jun 12, 2009 11:16 PM MDT up reply actions
Hammel
Isn’t better than Morales. Give Hammel a start at home and watch the fireworks.
WOOT!
Padres lose. Rox are now in 3rd place, NLW.
Hey – small victories. One at a time. Go Rox!
And how far back are we now?
Great Game
I was there. I always purchase a scorecard every time Ubaldo pitches and I’m in attendance. The reason is twofold: first, I want the scorecard as a souvenir if and when he pitches a no-hitter, one which I will get autographed. Second, I purchase one to prove that I was there. It will happen one of these days, I promise.
"Horton is win."
--Horvil Tiki
Don't know if you guys saw this...
but Bedard isn’t going for them tomorrow due to elbow inflammation. They got Morrow going on a pitch count tomorrow (think I read 60)… so here’s hoping they get into the bullpen early!
I got nothing.
130-32
it’s doable!
Yea winning! It’ so much better then sucking. (well winning as in games and this week….soon to have a winning record)
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