The Rockies must look forward to the San Francisco series, not backwards at LaTroy Hawkins' latest blown save

The Rockies are still licking their wounds from Sunday's tough loss to the Cubs. Thomas Harding has some quotes from Rockies closer LaTroy Hawkins following yesterday's game after he came withing one strike of sending the Rockies to a 5-1 record before serving up a home run to Dexter Fowler.

Bryan Kilpatrick also had a good review of the game last night, so we really don't need to dig deep into the specifics much more this morning. The only thing I will add, however, is that this game felt important for the Rockies. It was a potential series win, at home -- where they have to play well, and a chance to get off to an excellent 5-1 start. While it's also just one of 162, the Rockies are a team that can't lose many games like that if they want to be playing meaning baseball deep into the season. There's just too many weaknesses on this team to not hit the high notes in a game like yesterday. If Hawkins doesn't convert his next save opportunity, whenever that happens to come, the pitchforks will come out in full force (although some already seem out after last night).

Looking forward, Eddie Butler will get his second start of the season today in San Francisco. He'll need to build on his outing from last time out because the bullpen is already a bit taxed from the Tyler Matzek and Kyle Kendrick starts on Friday and Saturday. Add in Jorge De La Rosa needing to make one more rehab start on Tuesday and Christian Bergman taking his place tomorrow, and the bullpen could be in a world of hurt by the end of this series if things don't go well.

The other reason the bullpen isn't operating at full strength is John Axford's absence. The righty has an excellent reason to be out however as his son, Jameson, is still recovering from a rattlesnake bite at the end of spring training. Here's Jameson's first attempt using a new wheelchair last night. Best wishes to John and his family as we all continue to hope for a full recovery.

On the other side of today's clash, San Francisco has lost three games in a row coming into this series, so it should be quite a feisty match up.

The folks at Baseball Prospectus have some thoughts on David Dahl if you're a subscriber. The No. 2 PuRP here is looking to continue to build off his 2014 season, where he first returned from a lost 2013. This is a player who could rocket up prospect boards in the next three to four month if he puts in a monster season.

Finally, the situation between the Angels, Josh Hamilton, and MLB is getting quite interesting. The Angels want to get out of paying the Hamilton's bloated contract, but MLB and the Player's Association are having none of it, and from everything I've read, they are on the right side of the language in the Collective Bargaining Agreement.