The Rockies turned to the man who is quickly becoming ace #2 to stop their two game slide before it became a full on streak. Call him the Goose to Ubaldo Jimenez's Maverick, or the Sundance to Butch, but Jorge De La Rosa is emerging as a legitimate shutdown pitcher for the Rockies. In the 2010 home opener for the team, he made a clear statement that this is the case by pitching seven, one hit, shutout innings with nine strikeouts against the Padres to lead the Rockies to a seven to nothing victory and a two and two record.
When De La Rosa wasn't frustrating the Padres by striking them out, he was mocking them (and his home park) by keeping them in the infield, with a 10-2 GB to FB rate on balls in play and just one hit leaving the infield. Combined with the single innings of relief from Rafael Betancourt and Esmil Rogers, Rockies pitchers allowed just one Padre to even advance into scoring position MLB Recap and box
Coming home was also a boon to the offense, which broke their RISP demons by going 6 for 12 with runners in scoring position, including a crucial two RBI single by Ian Stewart with one out in the bottom of the fourth to open the scoring, and a three run home run by Clint Barmes in the eighth to put the game out of reach. Troy Tulowitzki and Brad Hawpe both had multiple hit games and scored twice, Miguel Olivo also added a pair of hits and a run and an RBI in the win.
In the all important Purple Row Game Thread Mojo Cup competition, Rox Girl takes the lead with a 1-0 record. Clearly my threads are best at not jinxing the team.
Jorge de la Rosa was obviously the biggest win contributor, racking up over 40% on the pitching side (but a -3.8% batting takes some away from that). Clint Barmes, despite the three run HR to seal the game, was seen as the weak link thanks to some uninspiring AB's early when the game was still close.
Roll Call: phishbate, GoRockies!!, Resolution, Shoemaker, pedalpusher, Teekalong, Rox Girl, Charlie77, Muzia, Tom (RFTN), Maria M, SDcat09, butterfly, fantasyfencing, alex colfax, Maris6161, Jeff Aberle, Chrysicat, airforcefoo, haj_saitou, tulolgit2quit, Silverblood, arpagamos, MarshallMcCard, holly96, realmenwearpurple, NYCskibum, RoxFan1701, Andrew Martin, DTown_Rox, Andrew T. Fisher, rdf8585, Colsportsfan, RoxnSox09, moomacher, 3nS, Doublezebra, RockiesDave, BrazenAbyss, TuloRocks, ejskater, dsmba, TuLoRocks2008, bleedspurple, ColoRocks, bucimislover, controlled_slide
Total Users: 47
Total Posts: 1430
Total Threads: 2