Rusch's career record against the Dodgers: 0-5, 14.21 ERA. Motivation to pitch well?

Go Rockies!

Yesterday's complete game may satiate Ubaldo Jimenez for awhile, but he's probably still starving to accomplish a shutout. The improvement he's made each month, however, is much more important. Just take a look:

As Clint Hurdle remarked, "He's growing up right before your eyes." It's unfortunate, though, that Jimenez can't grow another one of himself for Tuesday since it's a distinct possiblity that Kip Wells may, gulp, make that start against his old team, the Pirates. But if Ian Stewart brings his hot bat on the road with him, that will make things easier.

Woody Paige has no small task for Dealin' Dan: trade 10 players in order to keep Matt Holliday.One of those 10 players is Brian Fuentes, who's asking price has made teams shy away. Apparently, the Rockies are asking for Wade Hellickson from the Rays. I guess the Rockies are asking the Rays to do some surgery on Wade Davis and Jeremy Hellickson in order to combine them into one player.

Josh Fogg was hit in the face by a Joey Votto line drive during BP and received 30 stitches. He's still scheduled to start on Friday, for now.

Colorado Springs, W 7-6 in 12 innings - Greg Reynolds allowed one run on two hits and two walks in five innings, but Alberto Arias allowed four runs in the sixth inning. Jayson Nix went 3-for-4, hit the game-winning homer in the 12th and drove in a total of three runs. Cory Sullivan had a triple.

Tulsa, L 8-11 - Adam Bright took the loss in this contest since the runner he allowed on base in the eighth scored, but that runner crossed home plate while Casey Weathers was on the mound. Weathers allowed two runs himself and walked two. Of course, Chaz Roe takes a lot of the blame in this game, as he allowed eight runs over 5 2/3 innings. He walked five and allowed two homers.

Jeff Kindel drove in four runs, two on his ninth homer. Matt Miller and Neil Wilson (back from a broken finger) also hit homers. Corey Wimberly stole his 46th base and Dexter Fowler his 18th.

Modesto, W 9-5 - Jhoulys Chacin, on a pitch count, went five innings, allowed one hit, and struck out four. Someone sees a debut by the end of 2009 for him.

Chris Nelson hit his first homer since for Modesto, a two-run shot in the third. Nelson's had only two at-bats in each of his two games, being replaced by Cole Garner at DH last night. Nick Haley and Jay Cox each had two hits, but Haley had three RBI to Cox's lone one. Daniel Mayora and Mike Paulk had both had three hits and combined to score three times. Mayora, however, committed two errors (31 on the season).

Those two errors came in a three-run seventh inning for Visalia. Andy Graham allowed those three unearned runs. David Patton struck out four over the last two innings.

Asheville, W 6-5 in 12 innings - Brian Rike struck out thre more times last night, but he also singled in the winning run in the bottom of the 12th. David Christensen went 3-for-5 and hit his 10th homer. Mike Mitchell also had three hits, two for doubles, and stole his 42nd base; not to be out done, Everth Cabrera swiped his 60th base in the 12th before scoring the winning run. Helder Velazquez hit his seventh homer.

Sheng-An Kuo allowd four runs in six innings, walking five and striking out four. Edgmer Escalona allowed a homer in the seventh to blow the 5-4 lead. He went three innings before Craig Baker pitched the 10th and 11th innings, striking out three.

Tri-City, L 5-6 in 10 innings - Bobby Paschal must want the last inning of this game back. David Parker walked two and recorded two outs before Paschal came in to finish the inning. Paschall attempted to throw out the runner at second, but committed a throwing error. He walked the next batter and then delivered the pitch that turned into the game-winning single. Tri-City used seven pitchers in the game.

Austin Rauch, Thomas Field, and Leonardo Reyes each had solo homers and drove in two runs as part of their two-hit nights.

Casper, W 3-2 in 10 innings - Marco Duarte struck out six over five innings while allowing one run on three hits. Brandon Walker allowed a run in the sixth to tie the game at two, but the relievers after that did what they had to do. Over the last four innings, Isaiah Froneberger, Adam Jorgenson, and Kurt Yacko allowed no hits and struck out a combined five batters.

Wilin Rosario, Nick Valdez, and Kane Simmons drove in the runs. Carlos Martinez, who had two hits, scored two of the runs.

Probably can't have a worse first inning than last night's. . . .

Go Rockies!

Trying something out, so just click on the play button to be amazed . . . or disappointed.

The Rockies are about to finish a deal with Tyler Massey today, their 14th round draft pick. The story indicates his signing bonus will be close to what second rounders are getting this year, but this article from the RMN mentions a $400K signing bonus, just under what second rounders have received. Massey can play either first base or the outfield corners and will report to Casper after signing.

The second link above also mentions that the Yankees and Rays have scouts in town for the series against the Dodgers in order to see Brian Fuentes pitch. They'll want to watch him in close- and late-inning situations, but more games such as last night's and that won't happen.

At least we know Kip Wells won't be in the rotation for long:

"We're looking for somebody to help us solidify the starting rotation," manager Clint Hurdle said before the game.

"(Wells) is going to get the first shot at that. This is not going to be eight, 10 starts to figure it out. This needs to be something you come in, you embrace, you make pitches, you keep the ball down, you throw strikes and we'll go from there."

But then it's likely that anyone the Rockies plug into the rotation for Wells wouldn't be able to do what Hurdle wants him to do. Josh Towers? Franklin Morales again? Jason Hirsh? They're just as likely to fail in the rotation, but there's always Valerio De Los Santos.

Todd Helton says the Rockies don't want him hitting yet because they believe one swing could aggravate his injury again.

Colorado Springs, L 0-2 - Christian Colonel, Edwin Bellorin, and Jeff Dragicevich each had two hits, and Cory Sullivan had a double for the lone extra-base hit for the Sky Sox. Valerio De Los Santos allowed one run on two hits over six innings and struck out seven.

Tulsa, W 12-3 - In his rehab start, Jeff Francis allowed one hit in 3 2/3 innings and struck out two. Jarrett Grube finished he fourth inning before Ching-Lung Lo went the final five innings.

Tulsa hitters combined for 15 hits, only three of them for extra bases. Matt Miller and Tony Blanco each had a double in their 3-for-4 and 3-for-5 nights. Both drove in two runs. Daniel Carte drove in two, Brian Esposito had a triple and an RBI, and EY Jr., Dexter Fowler, Jeff Kindel, Corey Wimberly, and Justin Nelson each drove in a run. Young stole his 30th base and Wimberly his 45th.

Modesto, W 4-3 - Matt Repec's homer in the eighth tied the game at three and Mike McKenry's hit into an RBI groundout in the ninth to give Modesto the lead. Mike Paulk had a two-run single in the second. Anthony Jackson had two hits and stole his 29th base.

Brandon Durden and Chris Malone each went four innings, the former allowing two runs. Andrew Johnston pitched in the ninth for his 22nd save.

Asheville, L 5-6 in 10 innings - Everth Cabrera and Mike Mitchell each drove in two runs. In the bottom of the ninth, Cabrera and Mitchell had back-to-back RBI singles to tie the game at five. Bo Bowman received a promotion from Tri-City to Asheville and went 2-for-5 in his debut.

Robinson Fabian struck out nine in six innings, but also allowed four runs. Matthew Reynolds took the loss after allowing the winning run on a single. He started the inning by retiring the first two batters. The third batter hit a double and advanced to third on a throwing error by Rike.

Tri-City, L 2-3 - Parker Frazier allowed an unearned run on four hits in six innings and struck out two. Carlos Luna allowed two runs in the bottom of the eighth to blow the save and lose the game.

Chad Lembeck tripled in Patrick Rose in the second inning and Charlie Blackmon scored on a throwing error in the following error. Blackmon singled and then stole second before moving to third on that play.

Casper, L 0-5 - Kane Simmons and Zack Murry each ahd two hits in this quiet contest for Casper. Jeff Fischer went six innings, allowed two runs, and struck out six. Ronny Lopez allowed another two and Kurt Yacko saw the other run score. Isaiah Froneberger struck out two in his scoreless inning of work.

Kip Wells makes his return to the majors tonight, his first start since the second Opening Day and his first appearance since April 28. It goes without saying, but a good start in Wells' return would be huge. The Dodgers are 2-1 at Coors Field this season and 6-3 overall against the Rockies. It would be nice to see that at 6-6 after Wednesday's afternoon game (but I'm getting ahead of myself).

Let's see the Rockies get the better of Eric Stults tonight!

Go Rockies!

What do you say about the Rockies after their sweep of the Pirates? You could say this:

Suddenly, the Rockies are playing their best baseball of the season — at least at home, where they are 9-1 in their last 10.

At home, the Rockies are 29-21; on the road, the Rockies are 14-36. Now, that's shouldn't really be a surprise to anyone here. We have to go all the way back to the middle of June when the Rockies took two of three from the White Sox to win a series on the road. They also took two of three from the Dodgers in early June and two of three from the Padres and Astros in back-to-back series in April.

But that doesn't mean a whole lot for this upcoming series at home against the Dodgers. Maybe Troy Tulowitzki's return to the lineup tonight will. Though I think that was the same thought many had the last time Troy returned to the lineup. Troy had a hit in six of his last seven games before going on the DL, two of those being two-run homers. Yet, he only had one multi-hit game since his return on June 20, and that was in the next day's game. Will Tulo be the everyday shortstop upon his return? Maybe not.

But with Clint Barmes and Jeff Baker swinging hot bats and the team playing well, Hurdle is in no rush to say Tulowitzki is the everyday shortstop.

Hurdle is never in a rush to say or do something, but hot bats don't last forever, obviously.

Cook's next trip to the mound will be Friday, starting the opener against Cincinnati. That's a good way to start the series, but the question with the Rockies, as it always has been, is, how do they finish the series?

Here are some lovely photos of some lovely girls with some er, uh, uhm, hrrrm, ehh, Rockies players who can play lovely baseball. From time to time, that is.

Colorado Springs, W 6-5 - Poor Chris Frey was lonely yesterday, as he was the only starter to not have a hit. Even Frankie Morales, who we know was originally an outfielder, had a hit and an RBI. Most of the damage was done on singles, but Christian Colonel had a solo shot in the fifth. In fact, the first six batters all had at least two hits, with Adam Melhuse collecting three.

On the pitching side of things, Morales allowed only two runs on three hits, but he also walked five batters. Of his 103 pitches, 53 went for strikes. Matt Daley allowed three runs, allowing one hit and walking three. Cedrick Bowers actually saw two of those runs score before Alberto Arias and Steven Register closed out the game. Register picked up his 15th save.

Tulsa, L 5-6 - Jeff Kindel two-run homer in the eighth inning was part of a four-run ininning that tied the game at five. Alas, Darren Clarke put some men on in the bottom of the eighth and then saw Ryan Mattheus allow the go-ahead run to cross home plate.

Xavier Cedeno allowed two unearned runs over five innings. Justin Nelson hit a homer earlier in the game and Dexter Fowler walked three times.

Modesto, L 4-5 - Victor Ferrante and Mike McKenry each had a two-run homer in the contest, and that was about it for the offense. Keither Weiser allowed four runs on nine hits in six innings.

Asheville, L 3-4 in 11 innings - Gotta give a whole lot of credit to Riordan last night despite allowing a run in the ninth to tie the game. Riordan went nine innings and allowed three runs on 10 hits. He struck out eight. Craig Baker allowed a leadoff homer in the 11th. 

Helder Velazquez, Kevin Clark, and Beau Seabury each had an RBI, and David Christensen had two hits. Mike Mitchell stole his 41st base. Brian Rike continued to pileup the strikeouts, collecting three more.

Tri-City, W 5-4 - Austin Rauch's second homer of the season was a big one since it won the game for the Dust Devils. Down 3-4 in the ninth, Rauch stepped to the plate with ne out and hit the ball out of the park. Erik Wetzel had two hits and drove in two runs. Charlie Blackmon had two hits and stole his sixth base.

Christian Friedrich had a good start, striking out eight over five innings and allowing one run on two hits. Sean Jarrett, who's on his way back from injury and surgery, allowed three runs, but saw two of them score while Austin Chambliss was on the mound.

Casper, L 11-19 - Casper gave it a go in the ninth for a comeback, but only five runs scored. Dan Houston went three innings, allowing four runs on three hits. Alan Deratt allowed seven runs in two-thirds of an inning, and Andred Marrero saw five score in 1 2/3 innings.

Carlos Martinez, Wilin Rosario, and Shane Lowe led the offense with two hits each, but Lowe failed to drive in a run like the the other two. Almost everyone had an RBI, including the pinch-hitters, and it's too long to list.