It's an interesting dynamic that manager Jim Tracy held a closed door meeting before Tuesday's game vs the San Diego Padres. It was the second time this season Tracy gathered the troops together to chew some ass. The interesting part to me is, since rookie pitcher, Juan Nicasio's English is not yet fluent, did he need translation during Tracy's probable tirade? I don't know, but he seemed to get the message. Nicasio went out 3 hours later and weathered a rough start by surrendering a leadoff home run to RF Chris Denorfia, plunking the #2 batter, SS Jason Bartlett and allowing him to steal second and third, then striking out the side. Nicasio, whose record improved to 2-1 after his 4th Major League start, pounded the strike zone as he notched 9 strikeouts in his six inning, 108-pitch (67 for strikes) effort. The Rockies are now 3-1 in Nicasio's starts. The key: 18 strikeouts, only 5 walks.
The Rockies' 6-3 win was a gratifying contest for Tracy, and Rockie fans, as the squad put together a complete game. The aforementioned leadoff home run, and the way that they were retired 1-2-3 in their half of the first inning, would have normally spelled out the recipe for another don't-get-up-off-the-canvas defeat for these 2011 Rockies. Left fielder Ryan Ludwick single-handedly fashioned a SportsCenter highlight reel by making three diving, sliding and hit-preventing catches off the bats of Carlos Gonzalez, Chris Nelson and Todd Helton, in the first inning! Luckily for the home team, Ludwick went on to strike out three times in the game, twice with runners at third and twice to end Padres innings. Matter of fact, the Padres struck out a total of 14 times in the game and left twenty runners on base. The Rox left sixteen runners on the base paths, so this game coulda, shoulda been higher scoring, given the traffic and scoring opportunities.
The Rockies overcame their early 2-0 deficit (the Padres scored a single run in the 4th), by scoring 3 in the bottom of the 4th. 2B Chris Nelson led off with a walk, stole second and rode home on Todd Helton's single. Troy Tulowitzki smacked a ground-rule double to left-center, saving Helton from having to slide at home, as he was forced to hold at third. 3B Ty Wigginton laced a sharp single to right as Helton jogged home (his 1,300th run scored) and Tulo held at third (wise move by third base coach Rich Dauer). LF Charlie Blackmon gritted out a classic at-bat before singling to center on a low changeup, driving in Tulowotzki with the third run of the inning. Five men up, five men on, three scoring. Bravo! Stringing hits together hasn't exactly been very commonplace for the Rockies lately, so this was a good sign.
The home half of the 6th inning provided the cushion that the Rockies' bullpen could rest upon. Wigginton led off with a double to the wall in left center. Would Blackmon sacrifice him to third? Well, sorta, he hit a grounder to the right side of the infield, which is usually as good as a sacrifice bunt, and something that all hitters are trained to do with a runner at second, with none or one out. Only this time, Padre manager Bud Black had the infield drawn in expecting that perhaps Blackmon would bunt, so 2B Alberto Gonzalez fielded the ball and threw to 3B Chase Headley (from Fountain, CO), to easily tag out Wigginton at third. Blackmon then stole his 4th base (in 4 attempts so far in his 8-game career, farewell Dexter Fowler). Blackmon at second, so instead of Wiggy being at third with one out, the Rockies now have a faster runner at second with one out. RF Ryan Spilborghs drew a walk and up came C Chris Iannetta. Padres reliever, Pat Neshek had entered the bottom of the 5th to relieve starter, and loser, lefty Wade LeBlanc with a runner on and Tulo up to bat. Neshek has one of those deliveries that takes getting used to, a side-winding, corkscrewing right-handed specialist, and he retired Tulo to end the 5th. But, with Iannetta, he hung an 86 mph slider on the outer half of the plate that the Rockies catcher muscled over the left field wall for Colorado's 11th three run homer of the season. (No grand slams yet this year, one of only three teams in MLB to be denied so far).
The 6-2 lead would be enough to keep the Padres at bay, as Matt Lindstrom, Rex Brothers and Huston Street mopped up, with Street surrendering the final Padres tally in the ninth, in a non-save situation.
The crowd of 35,045 went home happy, and the Rockies have a chance to take the series today with a 1:10 start as the Padres send righty Mat Latos (4-7) to the mound to face Rockies new ace, Jhoulys Chacin (7-4). This will be Latos' 4th career start against the Rockies, third at Coors Field, where he is 1-0, one no-decision. Chacin will be going after his 8th win in only his 2nd career start against the Padres (0-0, one no-decision).
Every one-game winning streak breeds new optimism, every series win brings hope, but we're still 6 games behind the Giants.
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