Wednesday’s First Pitch

Leading Off
If Seth Smith finds a steak and lobster dinner in his locker in the Rockies clubhouse tomorrow afternoon, it’s a good bet it’s from Matt Belisle. Belisle continued to struggle Tuesday night, as he and fellow reliever Rafael Betancourt both gave up runs in the eighth inning. Smith bailed them out as he hit a ninth inning solo home run to put the Rockies up 4-3, and Huston Street came in and worked through trouble to record his 22nd save.

The Good
The Rockies’ offense was very good Tuesday, racking up four runs on 11 hits. Jason Giambi hit two doubles, his first two of the season, and Seth Smith hit two home runs and brought in three. Both Giambi and Smith went 2-for-4 at the plate. Carlos Gonzalez went 2-for-4 with a run scored on a Jonathan Herrera RBI single. Gonzalez’s average now stands at .285.

Another bright spot is the fact the Rockies are now above .500 for the first time since May 24th, when they were 24-23.

Jhoulys Chacin also allowed just two hits, losing his no-hitter bid with two outs in the fifth inning. He threw an absolute gem last night without question.

The Bad
Jhoulys Chacin walked six, and avoided trouble until the sixth inning when two walks and a base hit cost Chacin the no-hitter and a shutout. Other than the walks, Chacin’s outing was nothing short of fantastic. He lowered his ERA to 2.71, best in the NL West among starters.

The Ugly
I might as well copy and paste the same thing that I’ve written for the past few nights. The bullpen has been unreliable at best. Rafael Betancourt, Matt Belisle, Matt Reynolds, Clayton Mortenson, and Huston Street have all been shaky recently, and show few signs of breaking that funk. What was once a strong point of the team has become a big problem, and though they haven’t cost the team a big game yet, you can’t have a shaky bullpen and expect to contend for very long.

Game MVPs
Seth Smith: 3-4, 2 Runs, 3 RBIs, 2 Home Runs (.316 average)
Jhoulys Chacin: 6.2 Innings Pitched, 2 Hits, 1 Earned Run, 6 Walks, 7 Strikeouts (2.71 ERA)

On Deck
Hope you all enjoyed the writeup on the Rockies and the American League. I had a great time researching and writing it, and I hope you all liked reading it as much as I did writing it. Today, expect your Daily Matchup. I won’t be around as much today, but I’ll try to get that Minor League report out, as well.