The Colorado Rockies Season of Horror continues this evening at Coors Field in Denver as the St Louis Cardinals hit town looking to gain ground on Pittsburgh and Cincinnati in the National League Central. The Cards trail the Pirates by 4 and the Reds by 7. St Louis sends staff ace Kyle Lohse (10-2, 2.71) to the hill against Colorado left-hander Jeff Francis (3-2, 4.97) for a 6:40 start in Lodo.
Francis, whose ERA had steadily declined to 4.76 before a July 21 start at San Diego, when he surrendered 5 runs in five innings, is coming off an excellent start Wednesday in Phoenix, when he beat the Diamondbacks on 2 runs in six innings of work in an unusual Rockies victory. Lohse will aim to sustain a run of quality starts dating to June 4. The right-hander is 2/3 of an inning short of averaging 7 innings per start over that stretch, mind-numbing longevity for followers of the local nine.
Colorado came out of the All Star Break hot, beating the Phillies to cobble together 3 of 4, but has since competed at a blistering .267 clip, running out to a 4-11 record since the break, on pace for 102 losses in 2012. The citizens of Colorado continue to relish the march to infamy, with nearly 39,000 turning-out Friday, over 42,000 Saturday, and 29,430 for the coup-de-gras in a 3-game sweep by the Reds. Among those attending was Jared Dean Blanchard of Utah, thought by many to be the cause of this most-recent slide.
The weather in Denver has cooled since a mid-afternoon shower and is expected to be in the high 70’s throughout the game, and more rain is expected, especially early. Winds will be gusty, from the north-northwest at 8 to 10 mph. Relative humidity will be around 40%.
Eric Young Jr is leading-off for the Rockies with Jeff Rutledge again in the 2-hole. Todd Helton is in the lineup at first and DJ LeMahieu continues at second. The Cardinals will lead-off with Daniel Descalso at short and Allen Craig at first-base. Jon Jay is in center-field and Skip Schumaker’s at second.
The Root Sports cast of dozens is on tap for TV, and Jerry and Jack will handle the radio on KOA 850 am.
| ST LOUIS (54-48) SS Daniel Descalso 1B Allen Craig LF Matt Holiday RF Carlos Beltran 3B David Freese C Yadier Molina CF Jon Jay 2B Skip Schumaker P Kyle Lohse |
COLORADO (37-63) CF Eric Young Jr SS Josh Rutledge LF Carlos Gonzalez RF Michael Cuddyer 1B Todd Helton C Wilin Rosario 3B Jordan Pacheco 2B DJ LeMahieu P Jeff Francis |
IN GAME CHAT
[quick-chat room=”roxBucks73112″ height=”600″] .
Me with RMH on guys night out tickets he hooked me up with!
So…thoughts on the lack of activity by the Rox at the deadline today?? For being termed “sellers”, we don’t seem to have sold much.
I’m looking forward to hearing phrases like “lack of value”, “crazy demands”, “didn’t need to make any deals”, “market wasn’t there”, etc.
“None of the offers wowed ’em,” dude.
There’s been a lack of “wow” for a long time.
Take that how you will…
i had a lengthy save caustic post and deleted it. I’ll just say, “clueless”.
Best in Baseball…
It didn’t really surprise me. I think much of the noise was generated by Renck on twitter.
The bottom line, Tracy Ringolsby was dead on.
What did he say?
The middling guys (Victorino, etc) who got traded didn’t bring much in return, so I’m fine with keeping Betancourt. I really would’ve liked them to dump Ramon Hernandez’s salary, but they can always swing a waiver deal for him in August. It’s not like anyone’s gonna kill that by claiming him and the right to pay his 3 million buck salary next year. But he’s got to play to show he still can play. Who knows, maybe he can’t play… Read more »
On a long road-trip a couple of weeks ago, I was fortunate to be able to take in a game at Target Field in Minneapolis. Liked the venue a lot…simple and not over-stated…certainly in my top-ten of visited fields. One play during the game sticks out…Willingham was in left field. On a drive to left-center, he barely moved (think Barry Bonds-statue-in his twilight). Span (CF) ranged over and collected the ball on the bounce and returned it to the infield.… Read more »
And last night a hustle safety on the botched 20 foot throw by Schumaker.
Hanging at the game with my boy RMH. He hooked me up with a ticket, sweet seats down the right field line. Beautiful night for bad baseball 🙂
Do you guys know why cuddy came out?
No. Drew + George also wondering.
RMH, you rock! Thanks again for letting me come to the game with you…great seats, great conversation…crappy game 🙂
I forgot about the game and missed the first 5 minutes. By the time I turned it on we were down 4-0. Watched bits and pieces but mostly watched the Olympics. I can’t watch the Rocks continue to lose. Didn’t see enough to comment on who played well or didn’t. Obviously not enough guys for us played well.
Actually,and in response to Agbayani,EYjr.had a great game.Several excellent catches-as good as Dex-plus 3 hits.I love his excitement factor,and god knows we need some reason to watch.But,I partially agree with Ag,in that he should be at second part time to keep his speed in the lineup.I mean we’ve kept him around for 2 years,so use him as much as possible.Honestly he has done everything asked of him,is said to be a tireless worker,and hustles his butt off on every play.Good… Read more »