Angels 4, Rockies 3: Late game bunt blunders end Colorado's streak
by Bryan Kilpatrick on Jun 23, 2009 11:31 PM MDT
in Rockies Game Wraps
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PrintA late rally by the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim put an end to the Rockies' 6-game winning streak, as the Halos were able to come away with a 4-3 victory.
Things unraveled for the Rockies (37-34) in the bottom of the eighth, when Ubaldo Jimenez (6-7) walked Jeff Mathis (the ultimate thorn in the side of Jimenez) to lead off the inning. Then, Ian Stewart failed to properly play a bunt off the bat of Erick Aybar. To make matters worse, Stewart couldn't get a foot down on the bag on the next play, which was also a bunt, when Jimenez fielded a bunt from Chone Figgins and tried to force Mathis out at third. With the bases now loaded and nobody out, Bobby Abreu chased Jimenez with a two-run single that put the Angels up for good.
Troy Tulowitzki was the hero offensively for the Rockies, as he drove in all three runs, thanks to two home runs off of Sean O' Sullivan. Tulo now has 12 home runs on the year - 7 of which have come in the month of June. Todd Helton (1-2, 2 BB) and Seth Smith (1-1, BB) were factors at the plate, as well. Clint Barmes, Ian Stewart, and Carlos Gonzalez did not help the Rockies offensively, as they combined to go 0-for-13 with 6 K's.
Ex-Rockie Brian Fuentes slammed the door on the streak, as he was able to strike out Garrett Atkins and Barmes in back-to-back at bats, after allowing Chris Iannetta to reach second via a HBP and sac bunt by Ryan Spilborghs.
Ubaldo's final line was 7 IP, 7 H, 4 ER (although that seems a little high, given the circumstances), 1 BB, and 5 K.
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Tomorrow: Two WINNARS (Jason Marquis and Joe Saunders) will square off in the rubber match of the series - same time, same place.
I'll try to talk someone else into doing the game thread next Tuesday. :(
Like I said last week - don't panic, and GO ROCKIES!
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Better version than the one in the thread:
"DAMMIT! No, calm down. Learn to enjoy losing." --Hunter S. Thompson
I'll never forgive that a-hole for jinxing us.
"What's money? A man is a success if he gets up in the morning and goes to bed at night and in between does what he wants to do." -Bob Dylan
by Bryan Kilpatrick on Jun 23, 2009 11:40 PM MDT up reply actions
to Kruk with all the stupid bunting and giving away outs late in a game.
No more asking please for wins, now I'm telling you: YOU WILL WIN.
"Good is not good when better is expected." -Vin Scully
by The Lodo Magic Man on Jun 23, 2009 11:46 PM MDT reply actions
I can't really say I'm uber disappointed.
Or even really disappointed or upset at all. After all, we’re still 17 for our last 19. This is a very good team and we’re playing on the road. Losing is inevitable. Even if you’re the Rockies.
It is disappointing for me
in that this was a game the Rockies should have won. Oh, well….
by J. Henry Waugh on Jun 24, 2009 12:19 AM MDT up reply actions
We probably won a couple in that run that we shouldn't have...
Not that I can think of any off hand with my purple glasses, so karma comes back around.
We've gotta lose some. So from that standpoint, I understand.
What really fries me is we lost not because of anything LA did well but because of poor execution on our part.
"I've had pretty good success with Stan Musial by throwing him my best pitch and backing up third." - Carl Erskine
by pedalpusher on Jun 24, 2009 12:52 PM MDT up reply actions
It's probably about time to start thinking about benching Barmes again
Or at least batting him 8th. His hot streak is officially over and now we have many 0/4, 1/5 performances to look forward to.
Benching him in favor of who?
And how do we know this isn’t just a two-game cold streak that is a blip in the radar of his hot streak? I think you have to give it more than two games.
That's it
let’s panic and act like Hurdle and bencha guy after 2 bad games. never mind he’s hitting .333 for June. Some of you really need to relax, we lost the game by going 0-10 with RISP ans some shaky defense. We are playing .760 baseball since Tracy took ove and we are back in contention. We need a 6-3 or 5-4 road trip.
If we go .550 the rest of the year we are the favorite for the WC. breathe deep.
I rarely agree with you,
And as for benching Barmes, there’s not really a better alternative plan right now, but the dropping him in the lineup is a good idea. I have no idea why Seth Smith has been batting ninth these last two days.
For simplicity
I think Tracy just doesn’t was to move the whole lineup around. I would flip Seth and Cargo and let Barmes figure it out. Now if you give Barmes a day off then pu Seth in the 2 hole and q 9th.
Lefties
Putting Seth Smith at #2 would give you a line up of
Fowler S
Smith L
Helton L
Hawpe L
Tulo R
Stewart L
Barmes R
Which really looks lefty heavy in a row.
BUT…..Barmes has been VERY streaky in the past, and I too, think he’s hitting a cool cycle.
Can I bring up Eric Young Jr. now?
Iannetta R
wow..
bad editing on my part. Iannetta…of course /should/would be after Barmes…and not after my notes.
I thought you meant he's just that good
I mean, he kinda stands out down at the bottom of the order.
Free Seth Smith!
Maybe it's time to move Tulo back up, he is the hot hand right now
I would have the lineup like this:
Dex
Tulo
Helton
Hawpe
Iannetta?
Smith/Spilly/Cargon
Barmes
Stewart
I don’t think Barmes does well batting eighth, but Stewart has a 1.016 OPS there.
I think
Eric Young Jr. should bat 2nd
and I don’t need a straight L/R split ala Clint Hurdle…but 3 lefties in a row really makes it easy for the other managers on when to bring in their LOOGY.
And Barmes is terrible in the 8th hole which is why I put him 7th. Iannetta is better at pitch selection, and has pop to clear the bases every once in awhile.
You can't have EY2 and Barmes in the same lineup, though
And really, I don’t think EY2 would be a better option right now than Clint. My lineup above doesn’t have three lefties in a row, Tulo and Netta sandwich Helton and Hawpe and then Smith and Stewart are broken up as well. The Rockies are really a left hand heavy team to begin with, so some LOOGY issues will be unavoidable, but that’s why Spilly and Atkins can be real assets on the bench and make your point kind of moot. Even if you have three left hand batters in a row, you can switch one out in late game LOOGY situations.
I want
Murton, Smith, Barmes, CarGo, and EY2 all in the same field. Why can’t I have 12 guys in the line up….this is a football town! 12 players on the field is what we know!
Apparently not much of a football town
if we don’t know that there are only 11 men allowed on the field.
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 24, 2009 11:44 AM MDT up reply actions
That's what makes the bad defense so hard to take
12 players on the field and they still get riddled.
Free Seth Smith!
In the couple of ABs I saw
it didn’t look like Barmes was chasing crap pitches, but it did look like he was trying to pull pitches on the outer half. Hopefully a quick fix to try to keep the shoulder in a drive it. I know he’s streaky but if Baylor could somehow right the ship and lessen the trough.
Listen, this signature line is a big part of who I am.
by frightened inmate #2 on Jun 24, 2009 9:45 AM MDT up reply actions
I wouldn't bench him, but he probably does need a night off.
"I've had pretty good success with Stan Musial by throwing him my best pitch and backing up third." - Carl Erskine
by pedalpusher on Jun 24, 2009 12:53 PM MDT up reply actions
Stupid rest of NL West
All winning. Clear Garrett Atkins should not have put glue on his shoulder. I think Barmes did a reasonable job in the last at bat of the game. And since the alternative to Barmes is what, Quintinilla I think I’d rather Barmey.
Who would have thought that the opposition bunting would be the cause of our downfall. Maybe we should bunt like the Angels instead the way we’ve being doing it, or just get the out at first.
New streak starts TONIGHT!
here we go
"We made too many wrong mistakes." ~Yogi Berra
"The ballplayer who loses his head, who can't keep his cool, is worse than no ballplayer at all." ~Lou Gehrig
JFK
Works for me. I'd take 5 wins then a loss then 5 wins then a loss and on and on and on
"I've had pretty good success with Stan Musial by throwing him my best pitch and backing up third." - Carl Erskine
by pedalpusher on Jun 24, 2009 12:57 PM MDT up reply actions
We all knew that we wouldn't continue playing .944 ball
91 games left. I figure the magic number for a Wild Card berth is 90. 90 – 37 (current wins) = 53. So If we go 53 – 38 the rest of the way (about .600 baseball), we’re still in the hunt. Rox have demonstrated that they can play at that caliber. Fear not RowBots, there’s a lot of baseball left.
offense was culprit last night
we had a man on third 3 times with less than two outs and did not score them. That’s what we were doing the previous 2 months. During the streak we have been doing a great job of getting those guys in and giving ourselves breathing room so small mistakes like the 8th inning don’t come back to bite us.
Aku, Soku, Zan
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