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Wow. Just wow. The Rockies won another ballgame in exactly the same kind of fashion they've become accustomed to losing to these very same Giants in AT&T Park. Fate, it seems, is not without a sense of irony.
Welp, I was right!
I said there was zero chance that the Rockies would win another stupendously improbable game in the ninth inning.
They won it in the eighth.
Justin Morneau was the hero this time but my computer went asplode in the middle of this game and I am writing this wrap on a tablet keyboard! Fun! But who cares right now?
Do you guys know what just happened? We swept the Giants! In San Francisco!
In related news, swine is now regularly airborne, temperatures in the underworld have dropped to below freezing, and Halley's Comet has circled twice since the Friday the 13th full moon.
I think that's accurate. What is going on in Rockie land? If the first month of the season was just a quick start that we all should have realized would collapse, and the horrid road trip (and home series against the Diamondbacks) is who this team really is, how do you explain the last two games against Atlanta and this whole crazy series in San Francisco?
This has got to be one of the craziest, most memorable pre-All-Star-break series I've ever seen! (How's that for a baseball stat Bob Costas!)
I don't know how to explain what's going on but I can't see how any person could call themselves a Rockies fan and not be on the edge of their seats with anticipation about Tyler Matzek's start against the Dodgers tomorrow.
Editor's Note: Jeff Aberle adding some game notes and color to the above, as Drew's computer went kaput.
Troy Tulowitzki continued to murder the ball in June, as he went 3-for-4 with a two-run homer (18) in the second inning and added two singles and two runs for Colorado. Tulo is hitting .396/.434/.792 this month -- that's good right? Just the new normal for Troy in 2014.
Charlie Blackmon added three hits for the Rockies, while DJ LeMahieu scored three runs, including the go-ahead tally on Morneau's double. Josh Rutledge improved his batting line to .339/.413/.518 with an RBI double in the seventh that kinda sorta maybe should have been a little more, but Rutledge was called out at third base trying to advance on the throw home.
And now for a moment of pessimism: Juan Nicasio appears to have lost whatever had made him a halfway-effective starting pitcher. He pitched into the third inning but did not get an out there, ultimately allowing three runs on four hits and four walks in that time. It should have been much worse, but the Rockies were able to get out of the mess with minimal damage in both the second and third innings, a big reason why they won the game. That and the stellar relief work they got out of Chris Martin, Matt Belisle, Nick Masset, Rex Brothers and LaTroy Hawkins.
Nicasio has now been dreadful in his last four starts and raised his season ERA to 5.92 -- and in three of those starts, he didn't get through the fifth inning. It's a fair question to ask if Eddie Butler will be usurping Nicasio's place in the rotation when he comes off of the disabled list in two weeks -- or whether the Rockies will turn to an entirely different option before then.
That replacement probably won't be Franklin Morales, who got out of the jam Nicasio left in the third inning, but who also gave up four runs on six hits (three of them solo home runs, including one to pitcher Madison Bumgarner) in his three-plus innings of work and raised his ERA to 5.83 on the season. But let's not spend too much time on that; this is a joyous occasion!
For the near future, Rockies fans, this series will be your happy place, the shining moment during which the Rockies gave the Giants a sip of their own medicine for three days straight in the ballpark by the bay. Savor it but remember that you may need it during the long cold winter.
Graph
Source: FanGraphs
Ah, that's a beaut.
Roll Call
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