The Colorado Rockies got a start on their traditional September Surge last week, pointing, of course, toward Rocktober, which I’m told will last 4 days this season. The local nine won two and lost two against National League West opponents San Francisco and Arizona, owing primarily to the heroics of right-fielder Carlos Gonzalez and 3rd-baseman Nolan Arenado, who had something like 11 home runs and 16 RBI between them for the week. Chris Rusin turned-in a second complete game on Thursday, and Jorge De La Rosa held the Giants to one over 7 on Friday for victories, and the newly constituted 40-man bullpen can take credit for the earlier wins over the Dbacks.
Colorado heads now to the west coast, where an excellent opportunity to rent a fleet of RVs awaits for a cruise up and down the Pacific Coast Highway, with stops in San Diego, Seattle, and Los Angeles. It’s a short turnaround for the boys, who finished-up with San Fran about 5:30 yesterday afternoon and headed to DIA for the flight west and a 2:10 MDT Labor Day start against the Padres this afternoon at Petco Park. RWO favorite Kyle Kendrick (4-12, 6.29) gets his second start back after a stint on the Disabled List with shoulder soreness. Kendrick went 4 in his first try back last Tuesday, giving-up a solo shot to Paul Goldschmidt among 3 hits, 2 walks and 2 strikeouts. The right-hander will contend with fellow righty Ian Kennedy (8-12, 3.88) of San Diego, who threw Wednesday against the Rangers, allowing 2 runs in 7 innings and striking-out 12 in an eventual 4-3 San Diego loss.
@Kate_Nazty’s brother, Charlie Blackmon, is back in the lead-off slot for the Rockies, and DJ LeMahieu is back in the 2-hole, hitting ahead of Arenado and Justin Morneau. Oft-winning Daniel Descalso will handle the shortstop duties for Colorado and hit 6th. Wil Myers leads-off for the Padres in center, and San Diego will run a murderer’s row of Matt Kemp, Justin Upton, and Jedd Gyorko in front of Rockies killer Derek Norris against Kendrick.
If you can believe it, temperatures at Petco will be in the low 80°s under sunny skies. The wind will be brisk, blowing-in from left at about 11 MPH. The dreaded Marine Layer, it is hoped, will float harmlessly above the fray. You get your usual broadcast choices, ROOT for the TV and radio on KOA.
| COLORADO (56-80) Charlie Blackmon (L) CF DJ LeMahieu (R) 2B Nolan Arenado (R) 3B Justin Morneau (L) 1B Kyle Parker (R) LF Daniel Descalso (L) SS Brandon Barnes (R) RF Dustin Garneau (R) C Kyle Kendrick (R) P |
SAN DIEGO (65-72) Wil Myers (R) CF Yangervis Solarte (S) 3B Matt Kemp (R) RF Justin Upton (R) LF Jedd Gyorko (R) SS Derek Norris (R) 1B Cory Spangenberg (L) 2B Austin Hedges (R) C Ian Kennedy (R) P |
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Nothing like coming inside to cool off and flipping on the TV just in time to watch Kyle Kendrick serve up a 2-run shot. Back outside now. Maybe my next visit will coincide with Gopherg. He’s still on the roster, right?
If we are not bringing back Kendrick next year, why keep starting him when we need to evaluate pitching for spring training 2016????? Kendrick is far worse than Gopherg.
Because he’s our new power hitter!
I apologize in advance to the female contributors/visitors to the RWO site……that being said……have you seen Kendrick’s wife? She was on the Survivor TV show three times. Tough lady. Let’s give her a start or two.
I think your wife can do better than Kyle! 🙂
Hey, it wasn’t me who voted you down, Carp! She is definitely camera-ready. Probably not major-league mound ready though.
It’s OK to be mad at our RWO comments, Kyle. Thanks for a nice parting gift of a 500 foot HR.
Not Rockies related – but something to watch: Coming into this season, the Blue Jays had one of the best young SPers in baseball – Marcus Stroman. However, Stroman suffered a torn ACL in ST and was presumed out for the season. But Stroman has apparently had a rather miraculous comeback (unlike TJ surgeries, quick comebacks from ACL’s do seem sustainable) and had his first rehab start Friday. 4 2/3 innings. Electric fastball. No hits, 7 Ks. He could be… Read more »
Bunting with a two run lead???? Still waiting to fire WW.
Well, perhaps the lesser of two evils prevails. Lousy defense by Padres, including the fence-banger by Matt Kemp. Perhaps he’s actually finally tapering off as he had two Tulo-like GIDPs with RISP. For all the money SD spent, not much of it’s showing up on the field at this point in the season.
Guys (and girls) – sorry I passed along bogus info last week (that Jon Gray had been shut down for the season). He’s scheduled to start tomorrow. My bad. Never trust the Internet!
The minor league seasons are ending today. Not much good to report from most of the games, but in the Modesto Nuts game, Tyler Chatwood pitched two innings, and gave up zero hits or walks and struck out four. It’s exciting that he could be in the mix for next season.
Julian, great news on Chatwood. They played it very conservatively with him (a luxury teams long out of the playoff hunt have), so he should be fully ready by spring. By the way, I respectfully disagree with sdcarp, who thinks Chatwood should be turned into a reliever to save his TJX2 arm. Chatwood’s a free agent after 2017, so I say try to get whatever you can out of him the two seasons you have him under club control. Meanwhile,… Read more »
He can’t locate pitches.My favorite,Justin Miller,looked GREAT with super nasty stuff and 4 straight K’s.His ERA under 4.00 but was sent down initially so Bloberg could continue to be Walt’s pet.His stuff tonight looked as good as anybody we’ve sent out to the bump all year.Arenado needs to stop trying to catch balls that are 3 rows deep.
Yes, Butler was a huge disappointment. I think that he’ll start next year in AAA, along with Hoffman, Musgrave, and Carle, and maybe another of the AA pitchers (Carpenter or Flemer). A name that I think we haven’t seen even once on this blog is Mike Tauchman, a rightfielder for AA. He very quietly put together a good year and was an Eastern League post-season All Star. I saw that the Rockies still need to pick an outfielder to send… Read more »
Nice summary, Julian. Sam Moll and Carlos Estevez both pitched well yesterday, and both are headed to the AFL. Gives me something to watch for this fall. As far as prospects who are already in MLB – Kyle Parker is off to a brutal start. I still say play him (why not?), but not a whole lot to be encouraged about so far.
Sounded yesterday (from the Root guys) that Parker is on the bubble and his ABs are going to dwindle, especially if Dickerson makes a late season appearance. He looked awful at the plate yesterday, seems to have no approach and no confidence.
Maybe they should send Parker to the AFL.
Yet another TJ cautionary tale is unfolding before us. Nathan Eovaldi – the ridiculously talented, yet raw pitcher (until about the last 3 months) that came through the Dodgers and Marlins before finding a home and exploding with the Yankees is out with an elbow injury. The Yankees are holding their breathe. Eovaldi has quietly become their ace – much like Arrieta has become the Cubs ace. Here’s the kicker – Eovaldi has previously had TJ surgery. That part isn’t… Read more »
As a Yankee fan I’m hoping that it’s just a two week rest and that’s it but I know where you are coming from. I think 700 IP limit is just a number, Tommy John had 2 or 3 times that after his surgery. But the age (see what John Smoltz said) of the pitcher who has TJ surgery is very important. As is the fact that kids specialize in one sport at much too young of an age. By… Read more »