Yawn.
Yesterday's game was exhausting. While I found it entertaining for the most part, you could just feel the pseudo-tangible fatigue setting in on each pitcher as they labored through their respective innings. Though the current use zombie comments are mostly referencing yesterday's conclusion to the Tennis Apocalypse, I fear the real zombies right now may be the Rockies (and us, their men fans). I wouldn't be surprised at all to see a little less bounce in the step of our team tonight, not because of any lack of motivation, simply because they'll still be stranded emotionally in last night's game somehow. Just thinking about it really does remind me of some sort of dreamy, sublime mental prison. Hopefully the team does not have to play tired tomorrow, but one thing is for sure, we're going to need Jeff Francis to pitch as much of the game as possible. Zombies supposedly have a strong weakness to Angels and their holy spells. Anybody have any cleansing tonics? Or an Esuna spell? The "key to tonight's game", if I may borrow from my friends at FSN, is to not fall asleep during the game (or go hunting for Brian Fuentes' brains).
Rockies News
To start things off, a brief nod to the rehab appearance of Taylor Buchholz last night. He pitched a clean sixth inning, three contact outs. Steve Foster of Inside the Rockies also highlights Tyler Matzek's performance last night. For more details on both outings, please see the Pebble Report.
MLB.com's John Barone gives a short preview of our final interleague series of 2010.
Our friend Troy Renck at the Denver Post gives us some quick tidbits. Jason Hammel's scoreless streak ultimately ended at 28.1 innings, making it the second longest streak in MLB this year, with only Jason's teammate Ubaldo "The Unimpressive" Jimenez pitching a longer streak. Further, Renck expresses concern for Franklin Morales' roster spot. While Tracy Ringolsby has claimed this past week that Morales has option years remaining, his transaction history says otherwise. Getting rid of Morales to open a spot for Buchholz could mean a trade, or it could mean a designation for assignment.
News from around the league after the jump.
Dave Cameron at Fangraphs analyzes the potential positive and negative effects of the Red Sox swapping Daniel Bard into the closer's role. While Bard's numbers against righty batters have impressed, Cameron believes Papelbon's ability to fool batters onj both sides of the plate should be reason enough to stick with him in the 9th. Jack Moore (yes, that Jack Moore) also provides a step-by-step breakdown of a dual Dodgers baserunning blunder that occurred on Wednesday night. Reed Johnson and Russell Martin both made significant baserunning mistakes that likely cost the Dodgers the game. Video of the play is also available in Moore's article.
Some former Rockies have been on the move. Shane Lindsay, whose up until now relatively consistent baseball career has been shattered by a series of organizational opportunities at the hands of waiver claims, as been designated for assignment once again by the Cleveland Indians, and may be on the move again. Lindsay was DFA'd to make room for another former Rockie, Jayson Nix. The Rockies had supposedly been linked to Nix before the announcement that the team intended to stay out of the business of player acquisition for the time being.
Dan Connolly of the Baltimore Sun believes the arrival of Brad Bergesen and Koji Uehara from the disabled list will likely spell the end of Garrett Atkins' time in Baltimore. Atkins struggled greatly there, producing only one home run and a sub .220 batting average. Atkins continues to be a sad story of great talent falling into a bottomless pit. Atkins will have trouble finding himself a major league when indeed he does leave the Orioles.