For whatever reason, the most minute pressures of day to day living that most people seem to take with relative ease tend to get blown out of proportion for me. I'm not sure why my mind wants to make mountains of every menial molehill that crosses my path, but it's the way I operate for some reason. Seriously, something so simple as eating breakfast sometimes seems like a monumental achievement for me. The personality flaw is certainly not endearing to me, as it's made making a living more arduous than it should be and the carryover into my social life has made me one of the most reclusive people I know. Which really isn't saying much, since I'm so reclusive and don't really know a whole lot of people. 

For obvious reasons, I really don't like mentioning this aspect of my life as it's not the most flattering of traits. I bring this up because with my family in town last week, I got sort of overwhelmed with those issues and dug myself into my hermit shack for the last three days with the hopes that I could re-emerge by the time the Rockies come to town tomorrow. Happily, I think all systems are go. I finally got out and went grocery shopping yesterday and today I might even get my hair done.

Anyway, it also helps that the Rockies are once again in a Coors Field induced state of hopefulness, having gone 6-1 over the seven game stand. Fittingly, Brian Fuentes, in what could very well be his last game in Coors Field in a Rockies uniform, tied the franchise record for saves in the final game of that homestand.

What's more, however, this homestand showed a much more dangerous team than we've seen all season, with three wins in which we beat the Dodgers or Pirates better than five runs. We've had six such contests in July so far, with only ten combined in the other three months. A team pariah for the first two months in the season, Brad Hawpe's hitting .301/.400/.548 in July after ane even more sensational June. Jeff Baker really is proving himself an asset, Clint Hurdle is giving Chris Iannetta a greater majority of starts and Ian Stewart has hit safely in all five games since his most recent call-up. As Russ mentioned yesterday, Ubaldo Jimenez has been a revelation and our bullpen has been phenomenal this month.  While that bullpen's chemistry may be disrupted with a Fuentes trade, there's no doubt that we've got some legitimate quality parts in it right now. The team's issues, which early in the season seemed to numerous to count are basically down to just a couple of major concerns:

1. A recovery of Troy Tulowitzki
2. Finding a number three starter

That second one, despite Kip Wells's disaster of an outing in the fifth starter slot on Monday and the scariness of relying on Glendon Rusch to continue to walk the fine line he's been going at, or for Jorge de la Rosa to banish bad Jorge for good, really boils down to finding just one more quality starter among a pack of possibles and then as last season showed, you can sort of fudge quality with enough quantity in the other two slots.

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The latest leveraging by teams interested in Brain Fuentes to try and get the Rockies to back off their demands is to kick up rumors about interest in other directions. So you see stories of teams looking at George Sherrill instead, and saying that the Rockies are asking for too much. Meanwhile, included in that note is that the Rockies are scouting the Angels Nick Adenhart. It could just be a lot of last minute posturing by both sides. The Rockies want to be indicating that they have an Adenhart offerm other teams want to indicate that they have other options. Something's going down soon, that much is clear.

Colorado Springs, W 8-4 - Franklin Morales went up against the Angels' Nick Adenhart and both came up short. Adenhart allowed eight runs in 4 2/3 IP and Morales saw four runs in four innings. Morales walked four. Cedrick Bowers (3 IP, 2 H, 2 BB), Josh Newman (1 IP), and Matt Daley (1 IP, 1 H) held Salt Lake scoreless after Morales left the game. Salt Lake's bullpen also did the same once Adenhart exited.

Jayson Nix hit his seventh home run to start the bottom of the first inning. Three more runs scored on a bunch of singles and a ground out. One of those singles was by Matt Holliday, who went 4-for-4 with a two-run double in the fourth inning. Christian Colonel had an RBI double (16) an inning earlier, scoring Matt Holliday.

Tulsa, L 5-8 - Chaz Roe had mixed results in his first start for Tulsa. He went six innings and struck out seven. He allowed five runs (four earned) on six hits and three walks. Half of the hits went for doubles. The first three frames saw only one opposing batter reach base (on a walk). Roe, however, did not factor into the decision. Aaron Fultz came up empty again after entering a 5-5 game in the eighth. He allowed a homer to the first batter he faced. Casey Weathers allowed two runs in the top of the ninth.

Dexter Fowler (6) and Matt Miller (7) both had solo shots as part of their 2-for-4, two RBI night. They both scored twice, and Fowler had an RBI triple (5). Eric Young Jr. stole his 13th base. Daniel Carte received an outfield assist on a throw to home plate, but Neil Wilson erred on the catch.

Modesto, L 5-10 - Brian VanderBeek narrates the brawl that erupted between the Nuts and the Ports last night (plus news that Modesto will be part of the Rockies organization through 2010). Before that, it wasn't a good night for Aneury Rodriguez. The Ports' five-run second inning was quite troublesome. The damage was done only by singles, a couple of walks, and a fielding error. Rodriguez allowed four more runs over the next three innings before hitting Matt Sulentic and the start of the brawl. Tommy Baumgardner allowed one run and walked three in the next three innings. Andy Graham and Simon Ferrer had clean innings in the eighth and ninth to end the game.

Victor Ferrante had a three-run homer (5).

Brian VanderBeek's interview with Shane Lindsay is up.

Asheville, L 3-7 - Things started off well for the Tourists with three runs in the first. Jeff Cunningham hit a two-run homer, his twelfth of  the season, and Helder Velazquez doubled in Darin Holcomb. Holcomb (24) and Mitchell (15) both had doubles that inning also. Five more hits came but no runs. Kevin Clark also had a double (14). Velazquez had a fielding and throwing error, Cunningham only a fielding one.

Cory Riordan took his fourth loss after pitching three batters into the seventh inning without recording an out. He allowed seven runs (three earned) on seven hits (one being a three-run homer) and two walks. He struck out five.