Rockies Finally Starting to Figure Themselves Out

Rockies 7, Diamondbacks 4

Maybe these are the Rockies we know and love: slow starters who figure everything out in the end. Sometimes it’s too late, but they get there. Last year was the anomaly, where they started strong and then faltered. This is preferable, I think, though obviously there’s no way of knowing how this plays out in the regular season.

Dazzling

How I love Juan Nicasio! If I didn’t have a baseball team to root for, I’d root for the Rockies simply because of the Juan Nicasio story. Another brilliant outing today; this time he went 4 innings and allowed only 4 runners. He did balk once, but he didn’t let it get to him and got out of the inning without costing the team a run. One run scored on his watch but it was unearned thanks to an error. And he struck out 3. Can we please initiate a “Nicasio for opening day starter” campaign?

Nolan Arenado finally had a big hit: a 2-out, 3-run double in the 3rd inning. I think we can expect more of that from him as he grows and gets better.

Jonathan Herrera is kind of tearing it up, and I hope that continues so we can find a place for him on the bench. Last night he was 3-for-3 and scored twice. Solid effort from a solid utility guy.

Josh Roenicke is still looking good, and if your friends are taking bets on how long his 0.00 ERA will last this time, you should go over. He pitched 2 scoreless innings last night, allowing 2 hits and walking none. I feel good about him coming out of the pen as a specialist or set-up guy.

Carlos Gonzalez finally had a break-out offensive performance, 2-for-3 with 4 RBI thanks to a 3-run home run. Just what we need from the man who will hopefully stay put in the 3-hole all season long.

Disappointing

Michael Cuddyer can do better than 0-for-4 with 2 strikeouts. Much better. At least, he better.

Another tough game for our beloved Brandon Wood. No hits and a fielding error. But he’s still preferable to Casey Blake, who didn’t play today because he’s old and stiff.

The Rockies take on the Cubs today and try to keep this winning streak going.

Like Rox Pile on Facebook and follow us on Twitter here and here and here