Tyler Chatwood Pitches Tonight; Oswalt To Pitch On Sunday

Frank Victores-USA TODAY Sports

Woah woah woah. Is paired pitching back? You guys can’t do this to me, not even for one day.

Did Roy Oswalt ever think he would have to make an appearance as a piggyback pitcher long reliever to earn a spot in the Rockies’ future plans?

As football in college and in the NFL hits full swing, any baseball series that doesn’t involve the playoff race is going to get pushed aside. Certainly a late-night, west coast series between the Padres and Rockies is not going to get a ton of attention. But tonight and tomorrow are significant for the Rockies as they try to solidify their pitching plans moving forward.

Tyler Chatwood takes the mound tonight, and while he is not competing for his spot, this is still a good opportunity for him to build on his resume for the season, log more innings, and keep hiking that groundball rate up.

Tomorrow it will be Chad Bettis and then Roy Oswalt, but please don’t call it paired pitching (seriously, please don’t). Each is being limited on Sunday for different reasons: Bettis to gauge his innings down as his first season with the Rockies winds down, Oswalt to continue the gradual process of building his arm strength back up.

The thing is, we know the Rockies like to ere on the side of the familiar when they have a need to fill. That will be the case as they look to figure out the back of their rotation next season. And while Bettis and Oswalt aren’t sure things, there is more hope with either of them than there would be with the usual fliers the Rockies take on guys like Jeff Francis (no offense, Jeff).

As the Rockies try to end the season on a strong note, pitching appearances like those this weekend in San Diego are worth monitoring.