4.29.2007
"This Game's Had Everything!"
So gushed Rockies FSN broadcaster Drew Goodman as this Sunday afternoon Coors Field slugfest rolled into extra innings. And he was right:
•Diametrically opposing starts from Atlanta's Kyle Davies and Colorado's Aaron Cook. The former "needed a map and a GPS tracker to find the strike zone" (said Goodman) as his control problems handed the Rockies a four-run second inning, while Cook was turning in the usual efficient, workmanlike stuff we've come to expect from him. But Cox showed faith in Davies, who recovered and got through five innings on a day when Atlanta's bullpen would dwindle down to tumbleweeds; meanwhile, Cook imploded as a sixth-inning hit parade tied the game back up at 5-5.
•A breakout day for Scott Thorman: 4-for-4, home run, 2 R, 4 RBI, and a ground-rule double to lead off the tenth against a tough lefty, Brian Fuentes.
•A tight situation in the seventh inning, with the game tied 5-5 and Chipper Jones batting with runners on first and second, no outs. Chipper is working hard to get to a full count, laying off some tough sliders from somebody named Zach McClellan, and when the runners Johnson and Renteria take off for the payoff pitch, Chipper shoots a liner up the middle, normally an easy single but this time catching Troy Tulowitzki the rookie shortstop right in stride as he comes over to cover. Catch, force out, tag out: ladies and gentlemen, you have just experienced the rarest documented event in baseball, the unassisted triple play. Only the thirteenth in major league history, don'tcha know. Having witnessed it in the normal run of play and not as part of a Sportcenter highlight, I can now legitimately check it off from my list of Things I Have Seen in Baseball. My life is officially slightly fuller, richer, and more complete than it was just a moment ago.
•Stellar relief work by the Braves, right up until Wickman waddles in for the ninth to protect a 7-5 lead. Wickman has been the picture of okay since coming over from the Indians last year, but today he's got the yips and issues two walks, a hit batsman and a couple of dink hits to cough up the lead.
•A big moment in that ninth with Garrett Atkins up, tying runs on first and second, no outs. A mound visit from Roger McDowell, immediately after which Goodman starts wondering aloud, in a tone betraying near disbelief, why Ryan Langerhans is playing straightaway left-center and leaving nearly a third of the outfield wide open to a right-handed pull hitter. Well, Atkins puts a charge in the second pitch he sees and the crowd reacts as if the game is about to be won...except that the ball lands in Langerhans' hans, without any running required.
•A tough call from Bobby Cox on when to pull your closer in such dire straits. He opted for bases loaded, two outs, tie game, winning run on third, Clint Barmes the batter. Out goes the shaky Wickman, in comes the uninspiring Tyler Yates. Barmes lines the second pitch he sees into right for what would almost always be a game-winning single, but Jeff Francoeur comes streaking from the right field line to make a diving, twisting, rolling, game-extending catch. Francoeur is currently tied with Pedro Feliz atop my list of most frustrating players to watch on account of their hammerheaded plate approaches, but in the interest of equal time I will admit that Francoeur is on fire the last couple weeks and when that's happening, he can carry a team (none of which is true for the dismal Feliz).
•Thirteen walks and two hit batsmen by Atlanta pitchers, a disgusting total only slightly evened out by their batters outhitting the Rockies 16-8. But even going back to Atlanta's middle-innings comeback, you got the feeling they were living on borrowed time at an usurious interest rate. So when Matt Holliday drove a fastball off Steve Colyer (who?) in the eleventh, the resulting 9-7 final was cause for exhalation and resignation as much as anything else. The Braves have always hated coming to Coors and seeing their pitchers get completely worn out -- baseball here is plainly just harder than it is anywhere else -- so stealing this game and completing a weekend sweep at Coors would have really exorcised some long-running demons and given another major burst of momentum to a team that's already starting to resemble a contender. Failing that, we march on regardless. Rockies 9, Braves 7.
•Diametrically opposing starts from Atlanta's Kyle Davies and Colorado's Aaron Cook. The former "needed a map and a GPS tracker to find the strike zone" (said Goodman) as his control problems handed the Rockies a four-run second inning, while Cook was turning in the usual efficient, workmanlike stuff we've come to expect from him. But Cox showed faith in Davies, who recovered and got through five innings on a day when Atlanta's bullpen would dwindle down to tumbleweeds; meanwhile, Cook imploded as a sixth-inning hit parade tied the game back up at 5-5.
•A breakout day for Scott Thorman: 4-for-4, home run, 2 R, 4 RBI, and a ground-rule double to lead off the tenth against a tough lefty, Brian Fuentes.
•A tight situation in the seventh inning, with the game tied 5-5 and Chipper Jones batting with runners on first and second, no outs. Chipper is working hard to get to a full count, laying off some tough sliders from somebody named Zach McClellan, and when the runners Johnson and Renteria take off for the payoff pitch, Chipper shoots a liner up the middle, normally an easy single but this time catching Troy Tulowitzki the rookie shortstop right in stride as he comes over to cover. Catch, force out, tag out: ladies and gentlemen, you have just experienced the rarest documented event in baseball, the unassisted triple play. Only the thirteenth in major league history, don'tcha know. Having witnessed it in the normal run of play and not as part of a Sportcenter highlight, I can now legitimately check it off from my list of Things I Have Seen in Baseball. My life is officially slightly fuller, richer, and more complete than it was just a moment ago.
•Stellar relief work by the Braves, right up until Wickman waddles in for the ninth to protect a 7-5 lead. Wickman has been the picture of okay since coming over from the Indians last year, but today he's got the yips and issues two walks, a hit batsman and a couple of dink hits to cough up the lead.
•A big moment in that ninth with Garrett Atkins up, tying runs on first and second, no outs. A mound visit from Roger McDowell, immediately after which Goodman starts wondering aloud, in a tone betraying near disbelief, why Ryan Langerhans is playing straightaway left-center and leaving nearly a third of the outfield wide open to a right-handed pull hitter. Well, Atkins puts a charge in the second pitch he sees and the crowd reacts as if the game is about to be won...except that the ball lands in Langerhans' hans, without any running required.
•A tough call from Bobby Cox on when to pull your closer in such dire straits. He opted for bases loaded, two outs, tie game, winning run on third, Clint Barmes the batter. Out goes the shaky Wickman, in comes the uninspiring Tyler Yates. Barmes lines the second pitch he sees into right for what would almost always be a game-winning single, but Jeff Francoeur comes streaking from the right field line to make a diving, twisting, rolling, game-extending catch. Francoeur is currently tied with Pedro Feliz atop my list of most frustrating players to watch on account of their hammerheaded plate approaches, but in the interest of equal time I will admit that Francoeur is on fire the last couple weeks and when that's happening, he can carry a team (none of which is true for the dismal Feliz).
•Thirteen walks and two hit batsmen by Atlanta pitchers, a disgusting total only slightly evened out by their batters outhitting the Rockies 16-8. But even going back to Atlanta's middle-innings comeback, you got the feeling they were living on borrowed time at an usurious interest rate. So when Matt Holliday drove a fastball off Steve Colyer (who?) in the eleventh, the resulting 9-7 final was cause for exhalation and resignation as much as anything else. The Braves have always hated coming to Coors and seeing their pitchers get completely worn out -- baseball here is plainly just harder than it is anywhere else -- so stealing this game and completing a weekend sweep at Coors would have really exorcised some long-running demons and given another major burst of momentum to a team that's already starting to resemble a contender. Failing that, we march on regardless. Rockies 9, Braves 7.
Labels: atlanta braves, colorado rockies, game reports, unassisted triple plays
