Aaron's coming off one of his two deepest starts of the season against the Giants, a complete game in fact (the other time he threw nine shutout innings against San Diego in April but the Rox lost in extras) and he's gone 4-0 in May. That's a little deceptive because his May 5 start against Cincinnati was a win thanks more to the offense than his pitching, but since then, Cook's been as solid as we could ask for.
Thompson has only made it out of the sixth inning in one of his four starts, but some of that is due to him still being stretched for starter's work. The guy gives up his fair share of hits, but as his 44/16 GB/FB ratio on outs since starting attests to, he has almost as much sink on his pitches as Cook, and he's been a lot stingier on giving up walks. Honestly, this could be tough. Thompson looks like another Dave Duncan success story for the Cardinals right now, moreso than more heralded names like Kip Wells, Anthony Reyes and Adam Wainwright have been this year. Thompson's been a bit more susceptible to the home run ball than Cook, so let's look for a couple of timely knocks with baserunners aboard to get a quick lead. Working deep counts should help chase him early so we can work against that soft bullpen of theirs.
The Rockies need to clinch the series win tonight, we can't have another repeat of our last homestand where a four game split with the Giants started a chain of misery against the D-backs and Royals.
Go Rockies!
Oh, and before I forget, congratulations to fellow Purple Row blogger Russ on his graduation today!