Tagged: Win
GAME RECAP: Rockies Beat Astros 5-3 in Opening Day Victory
Well, I called it. Not to brag or anything but it is pretty exciting that the Rockies have started the season on a great note, with a win. It was cool to see the Rockies come together and see the Rockies offense work together right, and to see the pitching work well together. The Rockies had the right combination of risk, skill, and teamwork to make sure they overcame the Astros and secured their first win if the season, on their first game of the Regular Season.
Jeremy Guthrie pitched well, to hold the Astros to four hits, but three runs, in the Rockies victory. Guthrie played with the Oriels last year, and while pitching there, had little run support to help back him up. Well, tonight the Rockies were there to back up their new number 1. starter with five runs in the exciting nine inning game. Guthrie pitched for seven of those nine innings, pitching up to his purpose of being an innings eater. For more information on Guthrie here is a post I posted yesterday: ROCKIES 2012 SEASON PREVIEW: New Pitcher; Looking at Jeremy Guthrie; The Rockies’ #1 Opening Day Starter in 2012 .
In the third inning, the Rockies scored three of their five runs in response to the one run scored by the Astros in the first inning. In the end of the Rockies’ at-bat in the third inning, Marco Scutaro, Dexter Fowler, and Todd Helton had all scored. Carlos Gonzalez, Troy Tulowitzki, and Michael Cuddyer were the men behind those runs scoring (other than Scutaro, Dexter, and Helton) and it just goes to show ho important a strong lineup all the way through is. For a post I wrote as a LIVE GAME UPDATE for those runs here is the link: LIVE GAME UPDATE: Rockies Score Three Against Astros In Third, Tie Game 3-3 .
The Rockies were not done scoring yet, though as Eric Young Jr. scored after a butchered play by the Astros. New Rockies catcher Ramon Hernandez hit a single, and manager Jim Tracy decided to bring in EY as a pinch runner. EY proceeded to be, well, EY, as he stole second base with Chris Nelson at bat. Then, EY attempted to steal third, but the Astros caught him halfway between second and third and it looked like EY would not stand a chance. Lucky for the Rockies, Astros catcher Jason Castro hurled the ball into the outfield in an attempt to catch EY. Young would pop-up slide into third, see the loose ball and fly home at an incredible speed. For my LIVE GAME UPDATE post on this run click this link: LIVE GAME UPDATE: Rockies Score on Butchered Pick-off Play .
The final scoring run of the game was Troy Tulowitzki’s monster homer out of the park at Minute Maid Field. Tulo blasted the baseball clear out of the park, and trotted around the bases. Tulo may have only scored one run on his solo shot to right/center field, but the insurance run gave the Rockies, well, insurance. To read my post on this click this link: LIVE GAME UPDATE: Tulo Homers to Make Rockies Lead 5-3 .
Really, the only alarms that went off for the Rockies blew in the bottom of the ninth as hopeful Rockies closer Rafael Betancourt came to the mound to replace stellar Rex Brothers. Betancourt gave up a double and a walk to the Astros after two groundouts, but for the Rockies, the risk of the Astros walking off with a win (pun intended) was not an appealing one. Luckily Betancourt was able to recover and get the last K to end the game with a 5-3 Rockies win.
If the Rockies can secure a good closer for their season to come, I think it is only a matter of time until the Rockies are in full motion, and winning games. Perhaps Rex Brothers, who had an impressive outing, is the closer of the future, as a ROOT Sports announcer suggested. Who knows?
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(Spring Training) Game Recap: Rockies, 7; Cubs 5; Rockies On a Roll in AZ
Happy Saint Patrick’s Day! If you’re wondering why I’m posting this now, maybe this will help; the Grand Canyon is pretty cool. I’m looking forward to going to the Dodgers vs. Rockies game in a few minutes, but before that I want to give a recap on the Rockies winning against the Cubs on Thursday.
The excitement of my first Spring Training game may be hard to beat, but even my second game was great. Despite not having the same feel to it, seeing the Rockies beat the Cubs in a close game, was a cool experience. I had felt since I entered the park, that given the game was not a SS (Split Squad) game the Rockies would have a good chance a taking the win against the Cubs. But after the second inning, when the Rockies had scored two runs, I was almost certain they would win.
While Spring Training games are just, in fact, Spring Training games, they are still important to the teams and to the fans. If a team goes into a season with a losing record in Spring Training, it could affect the moral of the players and the morale of the fans, and without fans, teams have a tough time. So, when Wilin Rosario shot a homer to left field scoring Chris Nelson, the hum and shouts of vendors and general chatter turned to a roar as the ball sailed by to put the Rockies on top. From that point on, both teams followed a scoring pattern.
The third inning went down with neither team scoring, but in the fourth the Cubs scored one, and the Rockies’ lead was sliced in half. But to the joy of Rockies fans, the Rockies regained their two run lead in the bottom of the fourth, as Charlie Blackmon scored on a sac fly after walking and stealing second and third. Blackmon was out for the season after he fractured his left foot rounding second, mid-season last year. It was a frustrating injury for the Rockies as they lost a promising rookie, but Blackmon is now back on the field, and playing well. In the fifth inning, both teams went down without putting any runs on the board, but both teams struck in the sixth. In the top of the sixth inning, the Cubs brought in three runs, as Junior Lake hit a two-out three run bomb to score his teammates Joe Mather and Brian LaHair. That definitely made the Rockies fans a little nervous, as the Cubs had tied the game at four in the sixth inning.
But the scoring pattern continued as the Rockies struck back bringing three home to regain the lead as the sixth inning ended, 6-4 Rockies. With only three innings left to play, it looked as if the Rockies could handle the rest of the game fine until the Cubs scored in the seventh. The damage was limited to one as the Rockies got three outs before their lead could be threatened any more. But, to follow the pattern and get a higher lead, the Rockies picked up a run as well in the seventh to make the score 5-7 Rockies.
The rest of the game would go down run-less as the Rockies secured another win in Spring Training and continued their six game winning streak. If you didn’t already figure it out, the scoring pattern was that after the second inning, both the Cubs and the Rockies scored the same number of runs in every inning for the rest of the game. But, actually, in some respects the game on Thursday was more exciting than the game on Wednesday given the score was close and there was a lot of scoring and close moments.
Unfortunately for the Rockies, pitcher Jhoulys Chacin was forced to leave the game with a blister on his right index finger. Chacin, a righty, said “It was really hard to guide the ball [because of the blister], but I could still make my pitches. I’m proud of my control of my fastball. I kept throwing my fastball for a strike, got people, out, and threw more innings. That’s the way you get deep in games.” Despite the fact he was not on top of his game on Thursday he nor manager Jim Tracy are expecting the injury to change his pitching schedule.
Unfortunately, the Rockies’ six game winning streak was broken yesterday as the Reds got the best of the Rockies and stole a 4-3 win at Goodyear Park, Spring Training home of the Reds. But, the Rockies could get lucky on this Saint Patrick’s Day with a beginning of a new winning streak, you never know.
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Spring Training Game Recap: Rockies, 7; D-Backs, 4; A Game to Remember
You know it’s something special when within five minutes of being in the park you see a three run homer by Carlos Gonzalez, and when you finally sit down, you come about five feet from being hot with a foul ball. But, that’s exactly what happened to me last night.
It was a busy day.
I got to DIA (Denver International Airport) found out my flight was delayed, got to the gate, found out the gate had been changed, went to that gate, boarded the plane, and then was stuck on the plane for about an hour (at least) at the gate and on the runway. When we finally landed the pilot even said they failed “miserably” to get us to AZ on time. When we finally got all our bags together, we had to get the rental car, and it seemed like an eternity later we finally piled in, bags and all, with fifteen minutes to navigate from the Phoenix airport to Salt River Fields at Talking Stick. But, in retrospect it’s not the worst I’ve had to deal with as far as travel goes.
Really, I’m not too frustrated by any of that, but I wanted to explain the reason I missed the first few pitches of my first Spring Training game.
On the way to Salt River Fields, I tried to get anything I may need at the game out of my bags, but I had kept my camera with me all day, and it’s a good thing I had it.
Carlos Gonzalez circles the pillows in the first inning against the Arizona Diamondbacks to put the Rockies on the board at Salt River Fields. © 2012 rockingroxfan
While I may have missed the first few pitches, I didn’t miss likely the most important moment of the game as I watched Carlos Gonzalez hit a moonshot homer to right field (as I tried to find my seats). That was definitely a great way to start my first trip to Spring Training. As I watched the ball sail by, the roar of Rockies fans, many of which who probably had waited since September to watch baseball (I’m one of them) cheered as they watched the Rockies work together to beat the Diamondbacks. CarGo put the Rockies on the board quick, and the rest of the game would breeze by with the Rockies utilizing a successful offense as well as a great pitching staff. While the Rockies’ offense was strong, they did get lucky a few times as the D-Backs had a couple of errors, which kept the Rockies going at some points. As well, Jonathan Herrera and CarGo both had hits in the third inning and big prospect Nolan Arenado smacked a three run double, and the inning would end with the Rockies picking up four runs, and ending the Rockies scoring at seven for last night.
Juan Nicasio pitches in the second inning in a Spring Training win against the D-Backs in a game to start a season after he was struck in the head by a line drive last season. © 2012 rockingroxfan
But while CarGo’s homer may have excited some fans, one of the things that I thought was great about his game was the pitching. It was all pretty good, but one of my favorite things to see was Juan Nicasio. Nicasio was injured last year after a come-backer struck him in the head, and he had head and neck surgery (more information here: Spring Training Pitching 2012: Nicasio; From on the Ground to on the Mound ) to hopefully get him back to pitching. But you would not have known that he has a metal plate in his head and screws in his neck from the way he pitched, throwing a great four innings, and giving up only one run (an unearned on at that). He accomplished all that and struck out three, as he placed a strong bid for the Rockies bullpen hopefully long into the future. The rest of the Rockies pitching staff also did a nice job, as Matt Reynolds and Rafael Betancourt were the only pitchers (besides Nicasio) to give up runs. Reynolds surrendered two and Betancourt (the Rockies’ closer) surrendered a solo homer to Jonathan Griffin, and Griffin now has a 1.000 batting average. All things considered though, it was a pleasure to see a young talent like Nicasio pitch great, get the win, and have the backup of a strong Rockies offense to give the Rockies the lead the entire game.
Those were a few of the highlights from the players and games itself, but likely one of the things that stands out most at Salt River Fields at Talking Stick is… well, Salt River Fields at Talking Stick. As you can maybe tell from some of my pictures, Salt River Fields is an amazing facility, and is home to the Diamondbacks and Rockies (the Rockies were the home team last night). This amazing facility is only two years old, as its inaugural year was last year, and it is on Native American grounds, making the entire facility even more special. From the seats, to the booths, to the shops Salt River Fields and Talking Stick is simply marvelous. The grounds are new, clean, and crisp, but the entire atmosphere of the park makes Spring Training so much more of a fun game, and lets the fans enjoy themselves. The broadcasting booths have a cool modern look, the outfield grass “seats” are a nice addition for fans, and the open feeling of being able to get from one place to another quickly makes Salt River Fields seem like a small ball-park with big potential.
All in all, the game was great, the park was great, and I am feeling confident the Rockies will keep rolling on their current five game winning streak today as they take on the Cubs. Stay tuned to the Rockies Reporting MLBlog for more news on Spring Training, game recaps, and much more, and to get updates on posts by email, subscribe in the “Follow Blog via Email” bar! Comment your thoughts on Spring Training in below!
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