Cook vs Olsen

No trades for the Rockies, as the trade deadline has passed. The heck with it, I don't any of us are surprised that the Montfort brothers weren't aching to spend more money on our Rockies.

Nonetheless this upcoming series has a lot of potential with Cook going against a somewhat mediocre pitcher. Assuming Cook will be the Cook of his last 3 starts, this game should almost be automatic, especially since the opponent is coming home from a rough road trip. And to assure the victory, accuscore has us winning 53%-47%: I like those odds!

Seing that BK is pitching tomorrow, the series win is almost a lock. I don't care about his success after the trade, he still sucks.

Ah! Were already up a run! Huh? Whammy?

The Lonesome Crowded NL West

With the Rox big win today, 3 1/2 games separate the division leaders from the 4th place Rox. Looks like there will be be meaningful games to be played in August. Although the bullpen thought getaway day happened about 3 pm this afternoon, sufficient insurance runs were garnered beforehand. It was a little too close for comfort after Corpas gives up back-to-back singles in the 9th to put the tying run at first. Thankfully, he got Ethier to strike out and secure the victory. That would've been a meltdow of the Cubs comefromfiverunsbehindinthetopoftheninethonlytohaveFuentesblowitinthebottomoftheninth game proportion. Maybe it was because Tulo didn't have a jack in today's game that they decided to hold on to win. Props to the kid Ubaldo for his first vitory.

The upcoming roadtrip with the Marlins and Braves is of course huge. I believe Cookie goes on Tuesday night. Will O'Dowd make a move and add to the roster before Tueday night's game? Maybe Chris Iannetta for a #2 starter?

Enjoy the day off tomorrow Petrocks (extra day off if you reside in the bullpen) .

(Note - I was mistaken in earlier comments remarking about weak Dodger batting. They are actually ranked 2nd in the NL in average. With their pitching staff, how the hell are they not running away with this division?)

Packed Crowd Last Night

I show up 45 minutes before the game to get some rock pile tickies, but apparently 45 minutes isn't early enough as they were already sold out. I wound up purchasing the $9 tickets instead, figuring we could still sneak into our somewhat descent upper deck seats. But I guess I didn't take into account the fact that the mile high city has recently fell ill to a bad case of Rockies fever. There was no sneaking into better seats at all for us. It'll please some of you that the $9 tickets actually wound up being very close to but-crack (even though none were spotted). I took a picure of the crowd for posting, but I can't seem to email it to myself for some reason.

Awesome game to be at also; lots of rockies fans, with sparsely scattered dodger fans. There's something very satisfying about seeing face/body painting dodger fans, sitting and pissed.

So, its' official Denver loves their Rockies... my rockies.

Billingsley-ly vs. Jenny Craig

I am starting to feel real sorry for the Rockies ground crew. Look what they have had to deal with this series. First Penny and his 275 lb lard ass. Then Broxton comes in to pitch the 8th and he is generously listed at 325 lbs. A rain out on Friday and now the pear shaped Billingsley.

Lets take it to them Rox!

Franchise vs. Tomko

Big game for the Rox. Need to bounce back and prove they can compete with the Dodgers. By the way, the Rox have never finished in front of the Dodgers in the standings for any season since their inception. The Rox have got to play loose and with a little swagger. It is no time to start pressing. Hopefully Hurdle is not dropping playoff seed bombs in their head as he needs to keep this club focused and make sure they take it one game at a time from here on out.

I suppose I may try to catch Barry's at bats over on ESPN.

Vin Scully will have the call out here in Dodger land.

Let's sweep these puds!

As far fetch as it seems to sweep a 4-game series against a team that usually hands us our asses, it certainly is not impossible, especially with the way we've been playing at home over the past 2-3 months. I think we have to at least take 3 of the 4 games if we expect to contend in the division race. A sweep however, would make us only a half a game from the Dodgers (and possibly 1st), and it'd make this town fall in love with my rockies all over again.

A tough one tonight with Lopez going against Cy Young candidate Brad Penny. Penny is in the midst of some riduculous hot-streak, so I say he's due for an old-fashion colorado rockin'. Many of us will not be able to watch the first part of the game due to a certain Das Boot game. I don't know, there's something weird in the Denver air today; it almost even smells like a Das Boot and Rockies dual victory.

Some of the Kubiak to Hold writers will be in attendence for Friday nights game. I agree with TroutDog, we should be given press passes to those puppies.

Kubiaktohold Day Off

Ok, so it's Sammy Winder's b-day today and Troutdog turns 24 tomorrow, so we decided to go the ball game. What a ball game it was. Scored some primo seats for $21 and took these photos. Cook has a better batting average than C. Iannetta (by a lot, can you spell T-U-L-S-A?), J. Carroll (who is starting to come back into favor-he's with leather), and gaining on G-dawg (nice game). Holliday almost hit for the bicycle and it was hot in the sun with beers in hand. Hope everyone had as much fun at work today as we did at that 10-2 beatdown! F-the dodgers!!!

Working man's delight

Any of you cats making it out to the ballpark today? Lets hope Cookie can continue the mini-roll he's been on. Reading the game preview on ESPN.com reveals some nice trends in the Rox favor for this game. Cookie has been solid in the past against the Padres and the Rox have roughed up the scrub San Diego is putting on the hill today. Plus AcuScore gives the Rox a 55% chance of winning, and that thing is correct almost 50% of the time.

How about giving K-Mat the day off today Hurdle and lets get J Carrol in the two hole. We need to get on the board early and get into that Padre bully as well as get 7 strong from Cookie.

With regards to last nights game, I saw the highlights on Sports Center and it looked like Willy T may have misplaced that ball in the 8th a bit. Any thoughts? Also what the freak gives with Rameriz? Isn't this the same pattern as last year where he was lights out in the beginning of the year and dump towards the end.

Some 7th Inning Hitting

After TroutDog and myself get turned down by some young punk at the batting cages (closing early) during the middle of the game; it might have been a blessing in disguise, so we could witness the great rallying here in the bottom of the 7th. G-Dog, Hawpe, Yorvit, Super Spilly all dishen some timely hitting.

All tied up going to the 8th. Can our bully keep up the past few shutout innings? 2-3-4 spot coming up in the 8th, let's get some runs!

Francis Woes Lost in 8th Inning Euphoria

While the game last night did provide lots of smiles and happy canines, I'd be remiss not to mention my concern with our latest ace turned meatball chef, Jeff Francis. I love ya kid, but that's two pretty rough outings in a row. And last night's shell-job was against a very weak hitting Padres team.

More paws at park

Here are the Sammy Winder photos:

You can also check out the more professional shots at:

http://www.printroom.com/ViewGallery.asp?userid=Rockies&gallery_id=772815

Did Rema ever figure out how to steal those from the website? I couldn't do it.

Dogs and Dinger

Some of the madness at the game last night.

Mr Corpas.....more like Mr. Freeze. Yeah, Mr. Freeze for sure

When Manny comes in the game is one ice. Giles was frozen by Mr. Freeze tonight as he couldn't get the bat off his shoulder in the final at bat. What heart by Mr. Feeze battling back from a 3 - 0 count.

Nice to see the bats finally wake up in the 8th and in a big way. Very clutch. Now it is time to ride the mo. Lets go Rox!

Will we ever score a run again?

Great managing being displayed by Clint Hurdle here in the 7th. Take out our pitcher, who had just pitched 6 shutout innings, and let our streaky bullpen finish the game. It's not like any of our batters is hitting extremely well with runners in scoring position, so why not let Fogg take a shot at it with 2 outs.

When we had Atkins on 3rd with 0 outs, you could already sense that he wasn't going to score.

As TroutDog had mentioned yesterday: The Rox bats are so not Now.

Rox Move into 3rd Place so Goodman and Frazier Take Day Off

What?!? No TV for a Sat. afternoon game?

No matter for TroutDog, as I will be up enjoying some mountain golf at Keystone today, but I still feel angry for all of those around the TV and will have no Rox to watch. At least Fox is televising the Dodgers-Mets game and the Cubs-Dbacks game is on WGN, so there is a lot of NL West action on the tube.

cmon?

Jorge Julio defnitely tried to rice up this game in the 8th. The game has a bad feel to it, leaving tons of runners on base. Will 2 runs be enough for Corpas here in the 9th?

Spilborghs amking some huge plays in right field. That home run rob was quite sick.

So no blogging about last nights game? Missing the game due to a certain das boot game, it sounded like there was quite a bit to vent about for angry rockies fans (especially those who think Hurdle lacks a brain).

Oh, and a solid job by cookie tonight.

We own the bucs

A solid start for Francis from what it's sounding like. Julio taking care of the 8th. Our bullpen has been solid over the past couple of weeks. And on that same topic:
I heard during last night's postgame that Fuentes will be back on Thursday ( I guess he was put in some innings at Asheville)

I must say I missed the first couple of innings due to my first visit to Big Lots! I was tempted to buy a $3 broom, but decided against it, but I didn't want to jinx the sweep by getting too cocky. When I was done shopping at that strange-ass store, I was delighted to come back to my car and here Hawpe's dong.

5-2 at the top of the 9th (with a mini rockies rally): Come on Bully!!!

That's just Good

That win was just good. I guess it's our first series win at PNC Park... weird! Good game offensively by JC and G-At. And another solid job by Yorvit, who's batting average is approaching a level that is almost 100 points higher than ahhhhhhhh, our other catcher. Fogg looked tough after that 1st inning, retiring 10 straight I think it was, but mostly going 7 innings is pretty key, since the other starters have been strugling early in games and with their pitch count.

Affeldt with a good bounce back appearance, and another good game by TroutDog's main man (and hopefully our new closer) Corpas.

It kind of sucks that game ain't televised tomorrow morning/afternoon. I guess I'll be working from home with Mike and Jack.

Head back to the bullpen Taylor!

I don't think there's going to be 1 easy win for the rockies this season, due to our pitchers's lack of interest in keeping leads. Let me just say that after the 5th inning, I was suddenly not in the mood for acuracake. I was fairly certain that Hurdle didn't give a shit about winning the game when he put in Martin, who proceeded to put a couple of runners on. But eventually Hurdle put down the crack pipe and got Hawkins on the mound.

Luckily for us our better pitchers in the bully (Jorge, Hawk, and Manny) were able to get the job done and secure the win.

Fogg tomorrow. It'd be nice if he took care of a little biznas.

How about a laugher for the Rox?

Man, this Van Benschoten dude is awesome. When he's not beeming people, the rox are just slapping the ball around. Maybe the rox feel like the they have something to prove after all of the bad pub they got yesterday on kubiaktohold.blogspot.com

It'd be nice if Buchholz settles down after that shakey first inning, so the team (and the fans) can get a stress free victory. A hit and an RBI for Taylor just now: Respek!

Mr Jeremy Affeldt

Hey TroutDog, your main man Affeldt sucks. If we were going to put someone in to blow the game, we mightas well have put in Martin, and lossed by 15.

A double play from Holliday with the bases juiced? We might need to give that Nickelback fan a few more days off.

This game be trippin!

I think that sums it up. Don't put in Fuentes, even if he is healthy. It's great to have the baseballs back, at least for the time being. I reserve the right to revise that mark pending the next three innings. See Deathtruck for more extensive coverage. I blog econo.

Whacky-Ass Rockies Game

It's only like the 6th inning and each team has like 10 HRs each. Must be the thin air up in Milwaukee. Francis is having his 2nd straight poor performance, but thanks to the hot bats, will probably get the W. Of course that's all pending how the bullpen does in these last few innings. Judging from our last road trip, a 4-run lead is anything but safe.

From what I remember Fuentes was put on the 15-day DL right before the All-Star break... what can I say, if I was a gambling man (which I certainly am not) I'd be putting some money on the rockies for the next couple of weeks.

Summer League with the Nug-Pups

Here is a little blurb written by a certain young bear (I guess he'll setup his account, once he has time):

I know, I know. It is early July, not the normal time to start fretting or overanalyzing the state of the local round-ball team, the Denver Nuggets. However, for this guy here, the Nuggets’ season never ends, it just evolves. After last season’s tumultuous (to say the least) roller-coaster ride, a quiet, if not boring off-season was probably exactly what George Karl, Melo, AI and company could use.


The Nuggets had no draft picks and despite rampant rumors, they did nothing on draft night to alter their line-up. So the rest of the summer becomes an open tryout for has-beens, D-leaguers, and rookie free-agents. The NBA does all of this “showboating” in the form of summer leagues. Currently the Nuggets are holed up in some swanky joint on the Las Vegas strip. While the usual suspects of Iverson, Anthony, and Nene are assuredly nowhere near Sin City’s city limits, there are a dozen or so men in powder blue and gold repping our loveable Nuggets.


Today marks the start of a series of reports on how this group of pseudo-Nugs is performing. Mainly, my reports will be a chance to see if any of these dudes warrant any shine at the Pepsi Center come November. The names might be completely unknown to the casual fan, but there is one in particular that all around the 303 are unfortunately familiar with, Nikoloz Tskitishvili, or Skita. The former 4th-pick in the draft is back trying to make a roster he started for in the first year of the Jeff Bzdelik (holla Buffs) regime.


Yesterday was game 1 and the Nuggets built a 26-point halftime lead on the LA Clippers before holding on for a 4-point, 108-104 win. Like many teams playing in July, the Nuggets have a few dudes from the “geriatric set.” These are guys a bit past their prime, but still looking to catch on with a team. LaMond Murray (CAL) and Jelani McCoy (UCLA) both were earning NBA checks in the mid-90’s, but are now both unemployed. The tandem led the Nuggets last night, with Murray, a torrid, if not streaky scorer, going for 17 on just nine shots, while the immensely talented, but egregiously underachieving McCoy added 17 and 13 boards.


Two other names who also look to be potential signings should be the aforementioned; Skita (14, 7, and 3 assists) and recent Villanova grad, big man Curtis Sumpter, who added a solid 16 and 6 in just fewer than 15 minutes of action.


The summer league games are viewable on www.nba.com, so if you’re bored, hoops crazed, or some combination of the two, check ‘em out.


I’ll be back through the summer with thoughts on all things Denver sports. As some of you know, I do, occasionally get paid to cover the game of basketball, so my ramblings, thoughts, comments are also available in SLAM Magazine and its website, www.slamonline.com.

Lopez v Moyer

I guess Moyer got rocked his last and only time he pitched at Coors. How old is that guy anyway? 62?

Hopefully getting rid of the fu-manchu will allow Lopez to go further than 4 innings. Troutdog, you still thinking about going to the game? I could maybe be talked into it. It'd be awesome to go to all 3 games of a sweep. Huh? Whammy?

Nifty Win

A pretty nifty win tonight by the Rox. I'm just glad I decided not to go to the game. It would've been brutal to be held randsom by the 7th inning beer curtailment. It was great to be able to enjoy the last 4 innings post-Gaetanos with fresh beer, swamp cooler, and HD Vizeo action. Actually, I'm sure it was great to be at the game. And eight slinky's beers later, I'm sure DeathTruck would agree. Might have to go to Coors tomorrow and see the Fumanchu-less Lopez take game 2 of the series.

My Rox?

Although I'm sure most of my rantings willl be about the misfortunes of the Rockies, it's nice to see them wup up on the Mets for the 2nd straight night; especially after that kickass roadtrip. This blog setup will probably need a bit of a facelift; I'll see if I can screw with the html code. If not we might need to have a different provider.

Are there suggestions for better names (other than denvertakes) ?