Weekly Race In Review August 3-9

The Rockies had only their 2nd non-winning week since the end of May as they managed to split the week 3-3. The good news in that is they had the best week of the NL West Contenders, as the Giants also went 3-3 and the Dodgers were 2-4. Even in the Wild Card Race, the only teams to have a better record than the Rockies were St. Louis at 4-1 and Atlanta who went 5-2 beating the Dodgers 3 out of 4 in the process and coming oh, so close to a sweep.

Results:
8/4 ROCKIES 8 Phillies 3
8/5 Phillies 7 ROCKIES 0
8/6 Phillies 3 ROCKIES 1
8/7 ROCKIES 6 Cubs 2
8/8 Cubs 6 ROCKIES 5
8/9 ROCKIES 11 Cubs 5

The Giants and Rockies have now both closed to 5.5 games of the Dodgers with LA headed to SF starting Monday night in the first of 24 games down the stretch among the top 3 in the West. The Giants have 9 each left with the Dodgers and Rockies, while the Rockies and Dodgers still have to meet 6 times including a season ending 3 game set in LA.

In the Wild Card the Rockies and Giants are again tied for the lead with the Cubs 2 games behind, Florida 3 games behind, and Atlanta closing to within 3.5 games. Everyone else is at least 6 games behind and below .500.

The Rockies close out the Cubs Series Monday night, followed by hosting the Pirates for 3 and then heading to Florida for a weekend series.


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ROCKIES NOTES:


Hits Don't Count--Runs Do: Much has been made of the Cubs outslugging the Rockies 17-14 on Sunday but losing by 6 runs. It's not uncommon for the losing team to have more hits. Despite the horrendous call at 2nd in the 2nd Inning, not enough credit is given to Jason Hammel for not walking anyone, although he did hit one batter. Hammel clearly struggled, but he didn't lose control, and worked out of it, without giving the Cubs a big inning. The Rockies defense making plays is a big part of the Rockies success this season, and gives the Rockies pitchers renewed confidence that they don't have to be perfect to get out of the jam. We will see how Hammel performs in Florida and Washington in his next two starts, but I think despite the so-so outing today, may lead to more success down the stretch.

Love the NL Central The Rockies continue to be dominant against the NL Central even though their streak of wins was snapped at 15 Saturday night. Overall they are 19-9 against the Central with 14 games remaining.

Streaking: Todd Helton now has a 14 game hitting streak, tied for his 2nd longest streak ever, the last time being July, 2003. His longest streak ever was in June-July, 2003 of 17 games. He went hitless in the game on July 3, 2003 and put the two streaks together to hit in 31 of 32 games.

GoDex Part Deux:Dexter Fowler and Carlos Gonzalez were one-two for the 2nd time, going a combined 4 for 9 with a walk 4 runs and and RBI and an SB. In the two games with this lineup, the Duo has gone 9 for 19 has an OBP of .500 6 runs, 2 SB, 2 2B, 2 3B. Best of all, the Rockies have scored 3 runs in the first inning of both games.