No fireworks tonight; Rockies go quietly against the Dodgers, 6-1

The Rockies must have left their bats in San Francisco, as Dodger pitching stifled the lineup to the tune of one run on four hits. Meanwhile, Tyler Matzek couldn't get anything going. The Dodgers blasted line drives all over the yard (and benefited from some good BABIP luck), putting base runners on every inning. It was ugly ugly ugly, and the result was a 6-1 loss.

Let's start with Matzek. After striking out seven Braves five days ago, Matzek couldn't record a single punch out. He allowed ten hits and two walks in his five innings, a decidedly less impressive second outing. He got some big outs when he needed them, and departed having only given up three runs, but it looked much worse than that. The stuff still looked pretty good, but the Dodgers lineup is much better than the Braves', especially in avoiding the strikeout. A number of grounders sneaked (snuck?) through holes, but then again, a number of line drives found gloves too. So Tyler is still a work in progress, as we all know.

The Bullpen didn't fare too much better, as both Chris Martin and Nick Masset allowed multiple runs (the only Rockie pitcher to avoid giving up runs was Matt Belisle).

This was also a brutal game defensively. In the third inning Dee Gordon (who went four for freaking four; I hate that guy) slapped a liner down the third base line. Charlie Blackmon kept trying to chase that rabbit down in the corner, but he kicked it around at least three times. What should have been a double turned into a triple and error as Gordon cruised all the way around the bases.

Charlie Culberson had yet another terrible night at the hot corner. He must have had half a dozen difficult but doable chances that he did not convert. Nolan Arenado would have made at least three or four of those, and three or four extra outs is enormous. If he could handle a short hop in the third inning Charlie Blackmon would have thrown out Puig; he threw a backhand pickup wide of Morneau; a couple hard liners and ground balls got under his glove. None of these are easy plays, but Jeez do I miss Nolan. Obviously Culberson went 0-3.

Troy Tulowitzki got charged with an error on yet another single off Culberson's glove, as he threw home to try and cut down a runner. The ball predictably got away from Wilin Rosario, and a runner advanced.

Rosario had a typical Rosario night. He made a couple defensive miscues, and in my viewing cost Matzek some strikes with bad frame jobs. Then again, he also threw out Dee Gordon on a steal attempt and homered off Ryu (who threw him an 0-2 fastball, perhaps the dumbest thing that occurred tonight).

Kyle Parker finally got to the big show. Walt Weiss had him pinch hit in the seventh inning, where he was promptly set down on strikes, but after such a crazy day a little butterflies in the stomach are to be expected.

The Giants series was a welcome respite of positive craziness, but that kind of thing just won't keep going. The Rockies are going to need better pitching and a better approach at the plate if they want to put a sustainable product on the field. That's hard to do with so many hurt players.

At the end of the day Matzek showed considerable guts to battle through a tough start. It wasn't enough, unfortunately. The Rockies have a tough couple of days upcoming against Greinke and Kershaw; time to man up.

<iframe src="http://www.fangraphs.com/graphframe.aspx?config=0&static=0&type=livewins&num=0&h=450&w=450&date=2014-06-16&team=Dodgers&dh=0" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" height="450" width = "450" style="border:1px solid black;"></iframe><br /><span style="font-size:9pt;">Source: <a href="http://www.fangraphs.com/livewins.aspx?date=2014-06-16&team=Dodgers&dh=0&season=2014">FanGraphs</a></span>

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<tr class="alt"><td>Story URLs</td><td><div><a href="http://www.purplerow.com/2014/6/16/5816384/game-thread-matzek-vs-ryu">http://www.purplerow.com/2014/6/16/5816384/game-thread-matzek-vs-ryu</a></div>
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