Don’t ever underestimate the heart of a champion. The Philadelphia Phillies proved that saying correct one more time on Sunday night. Although the Phillies got down early 3-1 against the Colorado Rockies, Philadelphia kept battling and ended up with a 6-5 victory.
With the game tied 5-5 in the top of the ninth, Ryan Howard hit a sacrifice fly to score Jimmy Rollins. In the bottom of the ninth, Phillies fans had to pray. Brad Lidge, Philadelphia’s closer who had a 7.21 ERA and an 0-8 record in the regular season, was able to record the save despite giving up a …read more

Not long ago, the Atlanta Braves appeared to be out of the NL Wild Card race. Now, after seven straight wins, the Braves are right in the thick of things. They trail the Colorado Rockies by only two games for the Wild Card playoff berth.
Monday’s win came against the Florida Marlins. Winners by a final score of 4-0, the Braves got five strong innings out of starting pitcher Jair Jurrjens. Jurrjens went seven innings and gave up only five hits and one walk to improve his record to 14-10 and lower his ERA to 2.61.
At the plate, Chipper Jones went …read more

With a lead of 2.5 games in the NL Wild Card race, the Colorado Rockies very much needed a win on Wednesday against the second place San Francisco Giants. Up 4-0 heading into the ninth inning, the victory appeared to be in hand.
Not so fast.
In the bottom of the ninth, the Giants began the inning with three straight singles. Eventually, Nick Schierholtz was at the plate with the tieing run at third base. However, Rafeal Betancourt struck out Schierholtz to end San Francisco’s rally.
The Rockies MVP of the game was undoubtedly starting pitcher Jorge De La Rosa. He went …read more

Tim Lincecum, arguably the best pitcher in Major League Baseball, will miss his next start due to a lower back injury. Lincecum is suffering from inflammation and spasms on the left side of his lower back.
Obviously, this is potential very bad news for the San Francisco Giants. Although manager Bruce Bochy thinks that Lincecum will be ready after only a couple of days, any type of setback would likely doom the Giants’ chances in the NL Wild Card race.
As it stands, the Giants trail the Colorado Rockies by three games for a spot in the 2009 baseball playoffs. The Rockies …read more

Since signing a $126 million contract with San Francisco Giants, Barry Zito has been a huge disappointment. However, in his third season with the Giants, he is finally starting to live up to his billing. On Saturday, he led San Francisco to a 5-3 victory over the Colorado Rockies.
In 8.1 innings, Barry Zito gave up only one earned run while striking out seven batters. On the season, he has a record of 9-11 and an ERA of 3.94. His ERA is lower than any point since leaving the Oakland Athletics following the 2006 baseball season.
Pable Sandoval provided the offense for …read more

Entering the 14th inning in the contest between the Colorado Rockies and the San Francisco Giants, there wasn’t much action. The game was 1-1 and the Denver crowd was quiet. But then one of the most exciting innings took place that featured a game-winning grand slam by Rockies outfielder Ryan Spilborghs.
In the top half of the 14th, Eugenio Velez hit a two-run triple and later scored on a ground out. Up 4-1, the Giants had to be confident. But after a bases loaded walk made the score 4-2, Spilborghs hit his game-winning grand slam that ignited a while celebration in …read more

Coming into this season, many baseball experts expected Miguel Tejada to continue his slide from stardom. However, the 35-year-old is making his skeptics look foolish.
On Tuesday, he added another chapter. With the Houston Astros and the Colorado Rockies tied at 2 in the bottom of the 11th inning, Tejada hit a solo homer to give the Astros a 3-2 victory.
And that wasn’t Tejada’s only big hit of the night. The native of the Dominican Republic tied the game in the bottom of the ninth with a single.
Tejada finished the game 4-6 and is now hitting .362 on the season, which …read more

In the 2007 World Series, the Colorado Rockies appeared to be a team on the rise. Despite getting swept by the Boston Red Sox, the Rockies had a lot of young talented and an excited fan base.
Times are changing. On Friday, Colorado fired manager Clint Hurdle — the same manager who guided the Rockies to the 2007 World Series. In the history of the franchise, that was the first and only trip to baseball’s biggest stage.
Going into Friday’s game, the Rockies had a record of 19-28. In the National League West, the squad was already 14.5 games in back of …read more

After losing closer Francisco Rodriguez to the New York Mets in free agency, the Los Angeles Angels found their new closer when they signed Brian Fuentes. Fuentes, who spent the last seven seasons with the Colorado Rockies, signed a two-year deal.
The total value of the contract is believed to be approximately $17.5 million. There’s also a potential third year of the deal that will be enacted based on performance.
Fuentes will definitely have big shoes to fill. Last season, Rodriguez set a Major League Baseball record with 62 saves. He broke the record previously held by Bobby Thigpen of the …read more

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This week we return to the current era. Outfielder Jeffrey Hammonds starred at Stanford from 1990 to 1992, playing alongside Mike Mussina, among other, less notable future big leaguers.
The Baltimore Orioles selected Hammonds with the fourth pick overall in the 1992 draft, two slots before the New York Yankees nabbed a high-school shortstop named Derek Jeter. Perhaps pushed too quickly, Hammonds made his big-league debut on June 25, 1993, against those Yankees, after just 257 minor-league plate appearances. Hammonds singled twice and walked in three trips to the plate that day, and hit .305/.312/.467 in 33 …read more