Thursday Recap
The Colorado Rockies lost the final three games of a four game series against the Houston Astros including Thursday’s 5-4 loss at Coors Field. The Rockies have fell to 30-30 and are six games back of division leader Los Angeles. Their recent struggles may be attributed to a bit of bad luck, so a turnaround is still in the cards.
The Rockies have outscored their opponents by 37 runs but still sit at .500. To put that in perspective the Texas Rangers have also outscored their opponents by 37 runs but are 6 games above .500 and are in first place in their division.
“We still have confidence,” said Rockies outfielder Carols Gonzalez, “We’re a good team, we need to prove it.” (ESPN) Gonzalez almost hit a homerun with two outs in the ninth that would have tied tha game, but it was caught by Astros left fielder Carols Lee.
Jhoulys Chacin took the loss and fell to 3-5 on the season. He pitched six innings and gave up four earned runs.
The Rockies lost the second game in a row to the Houston Astros 6-2 in 10 innings. The Rockies scored first in both the games the lost but the bullpen faltered down the stretch culminating in Carlos Lee’s grand slam off Matt Belisle in the 10th inning.
Aaron Cook had another solid performance limiting the Astros to two runs on five hits in seven innings. The story of the game was the Rockies offense, or lack there of. The Rockies sit in fourth place in the NL West and are one game above .500. There is still time to turn the ship around with 2/3 of the season left to play, but they better stat hitting or they will have no hope of a surge.According to Troy Renck’s twitter page who writes for the Denver Post the Rockies offense is dead last in terms of runs from the fifth inning on.
Tuesday’s Game Recap
The Rockies lost the second game of a four gamer series at Coors Field to the Astros 4-3 despite taking a 3-0 lead after the first inning. Rockies starting pitcher Jeff Francis was very effective. He pitched for seven strong innings, limiting them to two runs on seven hits and zero walks during that time. It seems Francis is back to his 2007 form when he won a record 17 games for the Rockies. He sat out most of 2009 after undergoing surgery on his throwing shoulder that was sore in 2008.
Francis left the game with a 3-2 lead but Matt Belisle, who has been incredibly effective from the bullpen this year, was charged with two runs are the Rockies relinquished the lead in the top of the eighth. The Rockies bats were almost non-existent after the first inning.
Troy Tulowitzki remains hot in June. He went 2-3 with a double and two RBI.
Tyler Matzek Update
The 2010 Major League Baseball Amateur Draft concluded on Thursday. The Rockies took Clemson University Outfielder Kyle Parker. I would like to take a look and see how last years first round pick is doing in the Rockies farm system. For those of you who don’t know, Tyler Matzek, a left-handed starting pitcher from California, was taken with the 11th pick in the 2009 draft.
The Californian youngster won’t turn 20 until October but he received the honor of being named the top prospect in the Rockies system by Baseball America.
He made his professional debut for the Asheville Tourists late last month. He has made three total starts. His most recent start was his most impressive. He gave up one run on four hits plus two walks, and struck out eight Sand Knats.
Matzek is expected to be in the minors for at least one more year. The Rockies want to make sure they don’t rush this young arm.
Colorado State University President Tony Frank says the Colorado State Recreation Center renovation project will continue as planned despite budget shortfalls.
Since construction began in May of 2009 the economic climate of the university has taken a turn for the worse. For fiscal year 2010, the expected budget shortfall is expected to be around $33 million.
There have been questions as to why the construction projects are not being reconsidered. Tony Frank responded, “These projects are financed with bonds and have no state funds associated with them”.
The bonds that finance the projects were established in 2008, and legally obligates CSU to construct the projects the bonds were designated for.
The new recreation center’s total cost will total $32.2 million. The project will be finished before classes begin in the fall of 2010. Beginning that semester student fees will increase $35.
The finished product increases CSU’s total fitness center by 60,000 sq ft, totaling 165,000 sq ft. The new additions include an indoor rock climbing wall, as well as one in the indoor swimming pool.
Several other features include two state of the art massage rooms. Both the men’s’ and women’s locker rooms are being completely renovated.
Maybe the most necessary addition is the doubling of fitness areas from two to four. One of the criticisms of the old recreation center was that it was overcrowded and intimidating. One of the employees of the recreation center said that the doubling of workout area was a good investment. His full comments can be heard below.
Of course the new additions to the recreation center will only benefit those who use them. The additions were made to let students, faculty, and staff, take advantage of a state of the art fitness center, as well as a place to relax. A ‘lazy river’ addition to the indoor pool is designed just for that purpose.
For more information please visit the Colorado State University recreation center website
