Sunday’s First Pitch

Leading Off

The All-Star rosters were made official today and Troy Tulowitzki is not the starting shortstop for the National League. This is pretty shocking news because he was the leading vote-getter up until the very end. Jose Reyes from the Mets will be starting instead. He has better numbers this year to be sure, but I still thought the fans would come through for Tulo. Neither Bruce Bochy nor the players came through for any other Rockies. Tulo will be our only representative. However, Todd Helton is on the Final Vote ballot, so we all need to get ourselves over there and start voting.

The Good

Tulo hasn’t necessarily deserved his All-Star status all season, but after last night he has homered in three straight games. In general the offense was popping last night, scoring 9 runs on 15 hits against a beleaguered Royals’ pitching staff. Mark Ellis continued to exceed expectations, going 3-for-5 again. Everyone made some kind of offensive contribution and the Rockies put together a 6-run 2nd inning. Rex Brothers, Matt Lindstrom, and Matt Reynolds each pitched a scoreless inning in relief, and Huston Street came in with 2 outs in the 9th and completed a 1-pitch save.

The Bad

Greg Reynolds was called up from Triple-A to spot start last night, and he struggled. He lasted 5 innings and gave up 5 runs on 8 hits. His command was good: he only issued one walk, but too many baserunners overall. He’s been in the system long enough that the time has come for him to show what he’s got. If we don’t see anything better than this, it’s going to raise questions about Reynolds’s role within the organization long-term. He was recalled today in favor of left-handed reliever Eric Stults.

The Ugly

Rafael Betancourt isn’t doing himself any favors right now. He pitched in the 9th last night but gave up 2 hits in 2/3 of an inning and was pulled by Jim Tracy. For a time it seemed like our bullpen didn’t have a weak link, but Betancourt has been it for the past several weeks. I hope he works out his kinks soon.

On Deck

Daily Matchup coming very soon.