The Springs, W 8-5: Joe Koshansky led the offense with three hits (two homers for 24 this season) and five RBI. His second homer, a two-run shot, came in the top of the ninth to give the Sky Sox some breathing room. Christian Colonel drove in two and Matt Miller knocked in the other run.

Mark Redman struck out six on his way to allowing three runs in six innings. Edward Valdez made his Triple-A debut and allowed a run in 1 1/3 innings. Ryan Speier struck out two on the way to his third save. Former Rockie Jose Capellan started the game for Omaha and was tagged for five runs in six innings. He also walked five.

Tulsa: The Texas League had the day off.

Modesto, W 4-3: Modesto scored its first three runs in the third inning on a Jason Van Kooten single, a wild pitch, and a Travis Becktel RBI double. Stockton would score three runs to tie the game before the top of the ninth, when Nick Haley scored on a Mike Paulk single after reaching on a walk and advancing to second on an errant pickoff attempt.

Brandon Durden went five innings and allowed two runs, but it was Jon George who came through when it counted the most. George allowed a leadoff triple in the ninth before following that with back-to-back swinging strikeouts and a fly out.

Asheville, L 2-4: Bo Bowman hit his second home run for Asheville in the seventh inning (then ejected in the ninth), and Everth Cabrera stole his 66th base. Cory Riordan allowed three runs (one earned) in six innings. He threw two wild pitches, walked three, and struck out five.

Tri-City, W 15-2: Christian Friedrich is back to form after a rough outing on July 31. He allowed both runs on four hits in 5 2/3 innings and struck out nine. Sean Jarrett held Spokane hitless over the next 1 1/3 innings while striking out three and walking one. David Parker threw in the final two innings of the game and saw no runs score.

The box scores for the hitters was filled with numbers across every row and column. Johnny Bowden hit his two solo homers, Chris Vasami smacked a three-run homer, and Charlie Blackmon was a homer short of the cycle in his 4-for-4, one-RBI night. He also stole his ninth base. Patrick Rose drove in three runs and hit a triple, Thomas Field had two doubles as part of his three-hit, one-RBI night. Except for James Sims, the other starters, Erik Wetzel, Scott Robinson, and Leonardo Reyes also drove in runs.

Casper, L 6-9: Dan Houston likes the big fly. That would be all right if he was a hitter, but he's a pitcher and those three homers he allowed last night don't fly well. He allowed seven runs (three earned) in 4 2/3 innings. He also struck out six.

Wilin Rosario drove in two runs on his ninth homer, Orlando Sandoval knocked in three runs (two on a triple), and Eliezer Mesa had the other two.

Omar Quintanilla may have to compete with Garrett Atkins for playing time at second after last night, but nonetheless Q gets one more shot at showing he's more than just a very good AAA player that can't make the jump to the MLB level. Fortunately for Q, perhaps, but a little more troubling for the rest of us is the fact that he actually figures to get a lot of PT with both Troy Tulowitzki and Jeff Baker going down with injuries last night.

Everything's pretty much blown up right now. Thoroughly demolished and the Rockies will certainly have to be creative to patch this stretch of games together. That's even before we get to the rotation issues for Saturday. As far as that goes, the options seem to be Josh Towers or Jorge de la Rosa . I would figure Jose Capellan is another option since he was used as a starter in Colorado Springs.

With Atkins and Iannetta's position switches, last night's game was truly a memorable one, and should go down in the Rockies all time weird games along with Brent Mayne's pitching performance and the Spring Training bee game among others. As is usually the case with those, it's made particularly special by the improbable win. One positive side effect from it, a silver lining to losing Tulo, might be that  this loosens the team up a bit. Thank goodness we were playing the Giants and not a real MLB team.

I feel a bit bad for Jayson Nix, as he was as much a victim of a lot of outside factors as he was his own inability to adjust quickly to MLB play. If Tulo hits well, if Helton and Hawpe get off to hot starts or Yorvit Torrealba somehow actually was as good as he himself said he'd be this Spring, than Nix probably would have been given more time. The same probably would have been true if the Diamondbacks weren't looking quite as good as they are, as it is though, there's not much margin for failure with the team right now.

Unfortunately, failure's about all we have going for us. Though they're numbered, this isn't in any particular order, but these are the positions on the Rockies that haven't been up to contender caliber thus far this season: 

1. Starting Pitcher #1
2. Starting Pitcher #4
3. Starting Pitcher #5
4. Second Baseman
5. Shortstop
6. Catcher
7. Relief Pitcher
8. Relief Pitcher
9. Relief Pitcher
   
10. Right Fielder
11. First Baseman
12. Center fielder

Some of these we can expect to turn around, and a couple, like Helton, are only marginally worse than what we should want anyway. Some of these will need outside help. We're not talking about one or two guys that are dragging the team down, but close to half the active roster. This will require more than a shuffling of the deck. More than a Jose Capellan spot start or two in replace of Jimenez or Morales or Redman.

The Rockies basically need to stand up and start playing as if their batters really are better than the Esteban Loaiza's of the world and as if their pitchers can actually retire Russell Martin once or twice. I'm not sure where to start, but considering all the wasted chances yesterday and throughout the season , right now I'm leaning toward the idea of calling up Ian Stewart instead of Omar Quintanilla to help kickstart the offense from the bench when we do decide to go back to twelve pitchers. I think we really need to get the offense in gear first, then we can address the arms.

Colorado Springs, W 12-3 - Ian Stewart and Joe Koshansky each had a homer last night, the fourth one for both. Jonathan Herrera collected two hits, three RBI, and his second stolen base of the season. Edwin Bellorin and Chris Frey had two-hit, two-RBI nights. Seth Smith and Sean Barker combined for six walks and four runs.

Jose Capellan struck out six and and allowed three runs on four hits and three walks in five innings. Those three runs, however, came in the second inning when he hit two and issued two walks. Alberto Arias, Josh Newman, and Steven Register threw four innings of one-hit relief. Register struck out all three batters he faced.

Tulsa, W 8-4 - Big night for the bats as the Drillers had four home runs. Dexter Fowler hit his third of the season in the first inning as part of a 4-for-5, one steal night, Jeff Dragicevich followed in the second inning with his first of the season, Eric Young Jr. also hit his first as part of a 3-for-5 night in the third inning, and Chris Nelson, not to be outdone, hits his first homer that same inning.

Tomas Santiago went five innings, allowed all four runs, and struck out seven. Adam Bright (1 2/3 IP) and Ryan Mattheus (1 1/3 IP) each allowed tow hits, but did not see a run cross the plate. Casey Weathers pitched the ninth and walked one.

The Drillers face a rehabbing Mark Mulder today.

Modesto. W 5-2 - Aneury Rodriguez held Lake Elsinore to two hits over seven innings. He struck out seven and walked two. Zach Simons pitching line says he allowed two runs, but Andrew Johnston replaced him with one out recorded after the bases were loaded on a single and two hit by pitches. Unfortunately, Johnston balked while facing his first batter, bringing in one run. The second run charged to Simons came on a ground out. Another ground out led to Johnston picking up his fourth save.

Cole Garner was the only player on offense not to record a hit. Mike Paulk, Victor Ferrante, Daniel Mayora, and Geoff Strickland all had two-hit nights. Strickland, however, had the only extra base hits of the nights for the Nuts. Both were doubles. He also had an RBI and a stolen base. Ferrante drove in two runs.

Brian VanderBeek had the chance to interview Dan O'Dowd when he visited Modesto to hand out rings. Check it out here.

Asheville - Postponed. Jason McGill has pieces on Brian Rike and Asheville closer Randall Taylor.