Rockies 6, Padres 1: Marquis wins 12th, Rox win 50th

Jason Marquis struggled in his last outing and was dealing with a middle finger blister and a strange schedule coming off his first All-Star game appearance non-appearance.  Opposing him was a green 21 year old fireballer making his MLB debut.  This is the type of game the Rockies likely lost in April/May.

It looked as if it were a possibility early, as Mat Latos (0-1, 4.50) struck out four of the first seven men he faced, allowing no runs and no hits the first two innings.  Carlos Gonzalez proved the Rockies were not Latos intolerant by manufacturing the Rockies first run all with his toolsy grittiness.  He singled on a bunt, advanced to second on a Marquis sac bunt, stole third and advanced home when Jose Lobaton threw the ball away. 

Latos still looked to have a chance to keep San Diego in the game, but he was pulled after four innings due to being kept on a strict pitch count.  He had thrown 75 pitches, just 24 less than it took Jason Marquis to polish off his eight innings of work.  Towering home runs by Ian Stewart (off Latos) and Brad Hawpe (off Mike Ekstrom) gave Marquis all he needed.

The Rockies' starter was almost Marquis de Dodger Stadium today, going eight innings, allowing just one run on five hits, walking no one and throwing just 96 pitches.  He helped the Rockies become one of three teams with 50 wins in the NL West (more on this tomorrow), and he has won nearly a quarter of those with 12, which leads the entire universe.  He even threw in a 2 RBI double for good measure.  Box Score

Notes

• The Rockies held San Diego to just 8 runs in the four games.  Their starting lineup did not homer and only had 5 RBI in the series.
• Two of today's six runs were unearned, and a third (the first run of the day) scored on an error.  It was recorded as an earned run when Seth Smith singled later in the at-bat.
• In fact, of the six runs, three were results of an error, two were results of home runs, and two were driven in by the pitcher.  I'm glad we don't lose games that way often.
• Since being inserted into the starting lineup July 11, Seth Smith is 10-for-25 with 2 HR and 5 RBI.  He has a hit in all 6 of those starts, and four of those are multi-hit games.  Good to see he's taking his opportunity to debunk that myth of only being valuable as a pinch-hitter.
• The Rox' limited damage done by the Padres in the series by neutralizing their two All-Stars - and really, their only two dangerous players.  Heath Bell made just one appearance, and Adrian Gonzalez only got one hit in the series.
• The bullpen allowed just two runs in 8.1 IP in the series.  Only six hits were allowed in those eight appearances.  That's a 2.16 ERA and 0.67 WHIP for a much-maligned unit.  The only ding was Chase Headley's pinch hit HR off Joel Peralta Saturday night.
  

Comment of the day:

30-10 last 40 games!

Go Rockies 50-42!

by TuLoRocks2008 on Jul 19, 2009 4:39 PM MDT

Join after the jump for the fangraph and the roll call.

WPA Heroes:
Jason Marquis (.353) - 8.0 IP, W, 1 ER, 5 H, 3 K, 0 BB.  1-for-2, 2B, 2 RB
Ian Stewart (.119) - 2-for-4, HR, RBI, 2 R

WPA Zeroes:
Clint Barmes (-.066) - 0-for-5
Todd Helton (-.030) - 0-for-3, BB

Row Call

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