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Rockies Win! Rockies Win! 5-3 Victory Snaps 17 Game Sunday Skid

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Huzzah, Rockies fans. Huzzah! For the first time in 18 Sundays (126 interminable days), I am able to write about a Rockies victory. And all I had to do was get up off of my butt and go to the game. Colorado's 2011 Sunday record when I attend: 2-0 (6-1 overall). The Rockies' record when I do not: 1-17. The starting pitchers of those wins: Alan Johnson and Kevin Millwood. That's a large enough sample size for me to decide that I need to be attending more Sunday games.

Today's contest, a sold-out affair against the division rival Dodgers, featured two key 2 run homers by the Rockies -- one a laser by Carlos Gonzalez (21) in the first, shortly after I reached my seat, to give Colorado the early 2-0 -- and the other a seventh inning bomb to the second deck in right by Seth Smith (14). Against all odds, Colorado managed to put up more runs than they had hits (5 to 3) -- heck, Smith's HR was the only hit they got after the first inning. That's right, you read that correctly -- the Rockies got two HRs and one single and won the game.

Kevin Millwood, who possesses the heart of a champion and the reactions of a cat, was decent against everyone except James Loney (4-4, 2B, HR) and Matt Kemp (2-4, 2B) while making several great defensive plays. He lasted 7 innings, giving up 3 runs on 7 hits while striking out 4 to get his first win of 2011 (1-1), while Rafael Betancourt recorded his 2nd save. It should also be noted that Chris Nelson acquitted himself with style and aplomb at the hot corner as well.

It was a wonderful day at the ballpark, and I look forward to the pleasure of being invited to many such events at the behest of the Rockies, eager to stop me from watching Sunday games at home.

Graph:

20110821_dodgers_rockies_0_20110821182630_lbig__medium

via www.fangraphs.com

Beautiful graph is beautiful

We Salute: Smith (.404 WPA), Matt Belisle (.134), Millwood (.112)

We Are Disappointed In: Eliezer Alfonso (-.083 WPA)

Panda Rating: Jubilant Panda