Nineteen days of extreme futility finally ended on a cool, Tuesday afternoon. It has been 19 days since the Colorado Rockies last had a positive trend in the win column. Two days of NL West success — 7-4 and 5-3 wins against the defending champion San Francisco Giants — have the Rockies back in first.
Leading the charge: Huston Street was money-in-the-bank, keeping possession of hard-fought victory. His two save opportunities brought only one hit with two strikeouts. Hopefully, Street is finding his groove after some shaky saves and one blown save. If this team wants to make a push to the playoffs and try to go yard, then they need Street (along with other key ingredients) to be the man.
Speaking of pitching, the Chief, Ubaldo Jimenez had a siesta of a start. His pitching was picked off quickly for three runs after a 1-2-3 top of the 1st. Then, he shutdown the Giants offense with six strikeouts after only getting one before the third inning. Seven innings later, he had to leave with another no-decision — leaving his record, still, at 0-3.
The game remained intact, I believe, due to Felipe Paulino and Franklin Morales not touching the mound once. Glad somebody decided to yank those two clowns. Rafael Betancourt continued to be infuriating with his pre-pitch OCD rituals. That sideshow act he performs earned him a balk advance and some harsh words at my modest LCD TV. He didn’t cause much more damage, and for that, fans remain thankful.
Also, a guy named Troy Tulowitzki improved to .255 after the two-game set, with three RBIs and a solo shot into the waiting hands of a happier person than myself, who was not at the game. Then, some other guy called “CarGo” (Carlos Gonzalez) managed to knock out five RBIs on only two hits.
Consistently winning is how the Rockies held first place for over a month, and winning big games and series’ is what they are going to have to do to stay there. Having a 3-8 record against the Giants isn’t good enough, but that kind of record may be just enough when it counts.