It was a game of wild emotion swings, extra fun, internet unreliability, and ultimately sweet, sweet victory for the Rockies. At least it was for me.
This game had the look of an easy victory, with Jason Marquis cruising with a three run lead (courtesy almost entirely of Ian Stewart) going into the bottom of the seventh. Then Laynce Nix hit a Marquis mistake out to right field for a three-run homer to even the game.
Okay, I said to myself, this isn't good. Then Troy Tulowitzki showed off his considerable power off of Arthur Rhodes in the eighth, going oppo to give the Rockies a one run lead. The Rockies looked solid...and then Jim Tracy out-thought himself, bringing in Joe Beimel for a lefty-lefty matchup against big bad Joey Votto. Boom, tie ball game on a monster shot to center. When the game went to extras, I had basically conceded this game as the most frustrating loss of the season--after all, the Rockies were the last team in the majors without an extra-inning win (they had previously been 0-4).
Thankfully, the Rockies' bullpen (Matt Daley and Franklin Morales) pitched well enough to get the team past Reds closer Francisco Cordero and to Nick Masset, who gave up the tie-breaking triple to Dexter Fowler, who hasn't started for four games. Garrett Atkins "beat out" an infield single, scoring Fowler, and Huston Street shut the door. Morales (3-0) picked up his second win in three days.
Other than the Nix blast, Marquis was once again marvelous, giving up only four hits over seven innings. Meanwhile, Stewart (2-4, HR, 2 RBI), Tulowitzki (2-5, HR) and Carlos Gonzalez (3-3, BB) were offensive stalwarts for Colorado.
With the victory (their fourth straight), the Rockies move to eleven games over .500 (and also to 17-8 vs. the NL Central), their high-water mark of the season--though it appears that they will remain tied with the Giants for the NL Wild Card lead. They will finish their ten game road trip with a three game set in Philadelphia beginning Tuesday.
Graph, Roll Call, and Panda Rating after the jump.
Jukebox Heroes: Fowler (.284), Stewart (.224), Tulowitzki (.188), Morales (.180), Gonzalez (.170)
William Hung Impersonators: Beimel (-.325), Omar Quintanilla (-.188), Brad Hawpe (-.161)
Rowbot Roll Call: The Lodo Magic Man, Mondogarage, GoRockies!! (silver), jrockies, Russ, theshiva, Rockie4Ever, Hollidayrain (most prolific), coolopotamous, Jabberwocky, SDcat09 (bronze), Since1993, Chrysicat, biondino, ch3cooh1, WalkInRight, holly96, frightenedinmate#2, WolfMarauder, fantasyfencing, bballrox4717, lizardlad01, FooMan, ALrockies, Rocktober 2007, free7694, Rebel14, pedalpusher, nkrause, herewereyouwish, alex colfax, alacy9513, Junction Rox, RockiesMagicNumber, Angélique C. Murray, walkoff59, NewMexicanSteven, Rox Girl, theoldgrizzlybear
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Total Posts: 1268
It was a monster thread in no small part due to after-game discussion and a lack of an overflow thread (mea culpa).
Panda Rating
Relieved Panda