Where did we last leave off with the D'Backs? After having lost all three home games in the first series against the Snakes, a week later the Rockies traveled to Chase Field and lost the first two games. Then the team's savior, Aaron Cook, took the mound against Edgar Gonzalez and we wound up with this:
Atkins, Barmes, and Holiday each had a homer in the game. Let's see triple the number of wins for the Rockies in this series against the D'Backs after Thursday's game. Over at the Snakepit, snakecharmer previews the pitching matchups and (surprise! surprise!) gives the advantage in each game to the D'Backs. I'd give a push to the the first and third pitching matchups and the advantage to Owings in the second game. That's really only a result of having seen De La Rosa reach both extremes in his two starts. Well, that is to say, those may be his extremes. If his first start is more indicative of his performance . . . Oh, and the slumping offense needs to show up this series as well.
We know Garrett Atkins is one of those guys getting it done on offense, but
somehow he gets overlooked, his name usually popping up only on message boards with fans clamoring for the call-up of Triple-A prospect Ian Stewart.
And do you know what Stewart has to say about Atkins?
"Atkins is a great player. There’s just no room for me right now . . . But I also look at it as I just barely turned 23 (on April 5), second year in Triple-A. I would think a lot of guys would take that at my age. So I just try not to worry about it."
At least Stewart isn't "clamoring" for his call up; if he was, I guess he's not a "message board," so that would be slightly better.
We might see Julian Tavarez in a Rockies uniform soon, if a source close to the situation is correct.