Jamie Moyer is officially the oldest pitcher to win a major league game as a starting pitcher. There was still some drama along the way to the historic win, with two errors by Tulo bringing his total to six for the season. Tulowitzki only had six errors all of last season, so he is for sure working on some fielding issues.
On the second Tulo error the Rockies were up 3-0 and a ball hit right at Tulo, tailor-made double play ball, skidded under his glove and into left allowing the Jesus Guzman to score.
Thankfully the team got two insurance runs in the 8th thanks to a Cuddyer double and a Rosario sac fly that plated Todd, all off of our previous closer Huston Street.
The last three outs were as nerve-racking as ever. Betancourt didn’t make it easy, giving up a solo shot to Nick Hundley to begin the ninth and almost giving up a 2 run shot that was only short because the extreme wind kept it in the park.
But at the end of the night it was all Moyer, who pitched masterfully going seven innings, six hits and no earned runs. This was the best showing of a Rockies pitcher this year and we are all very thankful and relieved!!!
CONGRATS JAMIE, THANKS FOR MAKING THE ROCKIES YOUR HOME!
EXCELLENT STATS FROM MARC STOUT
1.) MOYER is now 4-2/3.23 (an ERA exactly 1 run lower than his career ERA) in his 6 career starts on April the 17th.
The first happened in 1991 w/STL; he pitched on this day 3 times w/SEA…1x w/PHI…and yesterday.
2.) MOYER beat SD for the 10th time for career win #268.
He now has exactly 10 or more wins against 15 of baseball’s 30 franchises.
He has at least ONE win vs every franchise, with his fewest, ONE, against Colorado.
3.) Tuesday marked MOYER’S first EVER win @ Coors Field.
He has a victory in 42 different ballparks…13 of which are no longer in use.
The 49 year old has pitched in a total of 49 different ballparks…7 in which he has never won (3 of the 7 are still in use – CINCY/NY-Citit Field/SF)
4.) JOE WEST was behind the plate Tuesday night.
MOYER now has his most career wins, 9, with WEST calling balls and strikes.
In 12 JOE WEST umped starts; MOYER is 9-2 with a spectacular 2.45 ERA
5.) JIM TRACY is the 13th man to manage MOYER.
MOYER has a victory under 12 of the 13…he went winless in 8 appearances for STL in 1991 with JOE TORRE managing.
6.) MOYER picked off CHRIS DENORFIA in the 2nd inning.
It was the 50TH PICK OFF of his career.
7.) By my count there were 16 managers, coaches, and/or broadcasters in the ball park last night that either played with or against or where active MLB’ers during MOYER’S career.
SD:
Bud Black
Daryl Akerfelds
Glenn Hoffman
Phil Plantier (0-1)
Alonzo Powell (1-3)
Dave Roberts (1-8)
Rich Renteria
COL:
Vinny Castilla (1-7)
Glenallen Hill (4-22)
Carney Lansford (2-4)
Tom Runnells
BROADCASTERS:
Mark Grant (0-2)
Bob Scanlan
Mark Sweeney (1-3)
Jeff Huson (1-2)
George Frazier
COMBINED BA = (11-52) – .212
OTHER HISTORIC BASEBALL NOTES FROM 4/17:
1820:
ALEXANDER CARTWRIGHT, sometimes referred to as the “father of baseball”, is born.
1869:
The Cincinnati Red Stockings play the first “professional” game of baseball.
Team captain and HOF’er HARRY WRIGHT had all of his players “under contract”
1951:
19 year old right fielder, and future HOF’er, MICKEY MANTLE, goes 1-4 in his big league debut with NYY
1955:
20 year old right fielder, and future HOF’er, ROBERTO CLEMENTE, singles in his first big league at bat with PITT
1976:
Future HOF’er MIKE SCMIDT hits 4 homers in a game at Wrigley Field.
SCHMIDT would hit .444 off of MOYER in his career.
2001:
BARRY BONDS hits his 500th career HR.
5 of which had come against JAMIE MOYER.
2010:
UBALDO JIMENEZ throws the first no-hitter in Rockies’ history
Congrats Jamie!!! Tulo is killing this team though…it’s borderline ridiculous…
Congrats to Jamie! Was fearful for a moment that Tulo’s error would cost him the win. Agree with Neil….I would sit Tulo for a game or two.
Moyer was great. Actually he’s pitched well all season. Tulo needs tomorrow off and with Thursday an off day, maybe he’ll get back in the groove by Friday night. Tracy is always about giving a guy a day off, well Tulo needs it. Maybe his errors are tied to getting hit by Ubaldo?
Fun game to be at. Congrats to Jamie!
Congratulations to Jamie Moyer. This was pretty special. Hopefully it is the 1st of say 10 or so more this season.
Left hand pitchers rock especially when they are 49.
We just got back from the game. We were sitting in Sect 128 (behind HP), row 16. Awesome seats!!! I was living the dream tonight. Great all round game by the Rockies. Even “Bill Buckner” Tulowitzki managed to contribute by waking and scoring the eventual winning run. I really like Cuddyer and Scutaro on this team. A few general comments. * Moyer looked great. He really had SD off balance – everyone except Denorfia that is who went 4-4. I… Read more »
Interesting reading, Miketober. I’m really loving Cuddy – I knew he was a solid favorite in Minn. and got to see him some on the MLB package, but this guy is just what the Rockies needed. I hope Tulo is not hurt and hiding it. Or developing Steve Blass Disease (!). I didn’t catch him not-running on one of his grounders; that’s disturbing. The night was about a fine achievement by a man who seems like a genuine good guy,… Read more »
Pfft…the Mothership showed Nats ‘Stros highlights before Moyer on Sportscenter.
Pfffft. Oops, I forgot, the Rockies barely exist. Even when historical achievement is center stage.
That is strange it was a Nats ‘Stros and not a Mothership darling like the Red Sox/Yankees…huh, weird…
I suppose they also had to remind everybody about 20 times that the NFL schedule just came out and the Broncos have the second toughest schedule blah blah blah and New England has an easy schedule blah blah blah.
Great moment for Moyer after the game Mark Stout interviewed him and I thought he was going to cry you can tell he really loves the game like he said its all he knows. To bad more players cant put the effort in like Moyer but I guess that is what makes some players special and others just others.
I’ve been wanting to throw this point out for some time, and will make it now after reading about Betancourt’s drama according to Miketober (I missed the game last night). Betancourt supposedly had a rough ninth inning in the opener in Houston. However, I contend that had Tulo not homered in the top of the ninth, all other factors being equal it would have been a 1-2-3 inning. With two outs and nobody on the Houston batter doubled on a… Read more »
Good comments Bob. I’m with you on the fielding being somewhat alarming. The sample size is small as some suggest but I also subscribe to the saying “You can’t win the division in April but you sure can lose it.”
Even though the names have changed maybe it’s the typical Rockies April start?
Wonder if Tulo got too muscle bound bulking up with Giambi? He doesn’t look as smooth/fluid as in years past.I was on pins and needles pulling for Moyer.Reminded me of how exciting Jack Nicklaus’ charge to win the Masters at age 48 was.The fact that Jamie is far and away the best starter right now is great and also horrifying!
I thought it strangely touching that Moyer seemed most bewildered, + I mean this in a good way, that his feat occurred for the Colorado Rockies in Denver, Colorado at Coors Field. It was kind of like inevitable he would get the win, but HERE? Where he’s played for less than 3 weeks? For a team that didn’t even exist when he debuted in ’86? Way to go, “Ace.”
Moyer is officially the Rockies Ace! Way to step up Moyer and Congrats!
Maybe Ubaldo put a curse on Tulo when he hit him in ST.
I do wonder if maybe he is hurt and trying to work through it…hit throws to first are usually spot on and very fast…they haven’t been that way this season…
They did say he has been having the same issues with his hips (?)…not sure if that is it…
It looks to me like he is trying to do that sweeping side-arm throw, the one where he ranges deep into the hole, does a spinning jump, and fires side-arm to 1B. Except he is doing it on routine plays. The other night we all blamed it on the rain. But last night he tried the same throw with the same result.
Fortunately SD returned the favor after the between-the-legs-error. Helton’s pop-up was being blown in by the wind. The flags in LF were really blowing in, and right after that play I felt the sudden gust of wind. Todd couldn’t have timed it better. So the Baseball Gods were watching out for Moyer.
It was a fun game to be at. Moyer looked great while making the Padres look awful at the plate. I think MLB hitters try and swing too hard to hit him. It was hilarious to watch the kids swinging out of their shoes to try and crush the ball; the guys who hit him (Denorfia, especially) just tried to make contact. If he keeps up this pace, I think he’ll get us 10 wins.
CT, I think he gets us 10+, but probably the only one.
I was listening to the beginning of the game instead of watching it and because there were so many comments on the Tulo not running out the hit I had to go back and see it…on the radio they were saying it hit the bat twice and after watching the video I gotta say that I don’t feel he deserves the “should have run it out” thrown at him the way it is being said because it sounds like he… Read more »
I see several areas that’s bothering Tulo:
1. The shine from the Gold Gloves and Silver Bats seems to be affecting him.
2. He probably spent too much time with Giambi getting ready for the season. He should have taken more of a break.
3. He needs to loosen up, he looks tight as hell.
BTW
Any player knows that the ball is fair until the ump says it isn’t
#1 – I don’t think that is fair saying his success if making him a bad player…that and those saying his contract is the problem, i don’t buy that for one minute…he works way to hard to be seen as someone just living off his money and trophies #2 – This might be true, but we can’t have it both ways – getting on guys cases for not working hard in the off season and then getting on others case… Read more »
i have watched that replay a dozen times and I can honestly say that I am 100% positive the ball hit the bat twice. West missed the call. I really think he is the worst umpire there is, especially on balls and strikes. He just seems lazy. But Tulo did hit the ball twice.
I agree – i saw it hit twice and know Tulo felt it…
Jaredean, I completely disagree. I’m helping coach my son’s little league team, and if I had a nickel for every time I said “run hard all the way to 1st base – don’t assume it’s foul or that guy is going to catch it”, and “get your glove all the way down so it doesn’t roll under it”, I’d be rich. And here is Tulo breaking rules that 12 year olds know. I guess it’s a teaching moment that no… Read more »
as i said above, i personally think (and coach) that you need to run it out no matter what and hate seeing players not run full throttle to first (except for pitchers)…that is why i love Cuddy – he goes turbo to first…so, he should have gone to first, you are right…my point was that when i kept reading the phrase “he didn’t run it out” i was thinking he just jogged to first and that would have really made… Read more »
Hey all, i updated the article above with some more of Marc’s sweet stats on Moyer and yesterdays date…Thanks again to Marc for his information!
JT obviously sees Tulo’s tightness too. Out of lineup tonight.
Clear your head, Tulo. We need ya and we love ya.
I gotta back Tulo up a bit. He’s in a slump. He’s human. He’ll get over it. I think he will press less once he gets away from Coors. And yes he should have run in the first inning. But by the time he realized that Joe West got the call wrong the ball had already been picked. But the guy who was lazy was Joe West for A) not making the correct call and B) not asking the 1st… Read more »
Bill, after Tulo was called out, Jim Tracy came out to argue. West told Tulo and JT to wait by home plate while all 4 umpires conferenced by the mound. Nobody else was on the field.After a brief conference, West turned to Tulo/JT and shrugged his shoulders and Tulo/JT walked off. So West did ask for help, but it was the strangest “argument” I’ve ever seen.