Mini-Momentum

Quite to my surprise, the Rockies have managed to string together a tidy four-game win streak, taking the latter two in Arizona and the first two in San Francisco, with a chance to sweep tomorrow at 2:05 MT, Taylor Buchholz vs. Noah Lowry. The last time Buchholz faced the Giants, they cut him to shreds en route to a steamrolling 15-2 victory, but Buchholz has developed a mercurial streak in which he can be good if the team he is facing is from Missouri; he had a good start against the Cardinals and a great one against the Royals. Still, the challenge will be establishing the right mental focus and going out there and attacking them, as Taylor has shown a tendency to nibble in the past, then lay it right down the pipe and get hurt. He'll have to come up with a new game plan to pitch to a now-very-familiar San Francisco lineup, but it seems as if Chris Iannetta will be catching him, which is good, as he guided Buchholz to his previous 7-inning, 1-unearned-run stint against the Royals (sadly, the only game the Rockies ended up winning in that series. Oy, that was frustrating... I prefer to forget that it ever happened). Lowry opened the current Giants homestand with a brilliant 4-0 victory over the Astros, but the Rockies managed to punish Matt Morris tonight with a little help from circus Giant defense. Aaron Cook pitched a complete game, Matt Holliday picked up 3 RBI, and let's hope they can keep the momentum going before they hit that long homestand.

The Rockies have managed to climb from nine games under .500 to five under, but they've still got a long way to go to get out of the cellar, much less think about mounting a challenge for the division. The Dodgers are way out in front and the Rockies have numerous problems of their own, so it's far too early to herald this mini-surge as significant of anything. They have the ability to turn around and lose four or five straight, as well, but there have been a lot of dissatisfied sportswriters penning bitter indictments of the way this franchise is managed, a number of which I happen to agree with. However, the players themselves have stepped up their game over their streak; I haven't seen stupid mental mistakes or botched plays. Eventually they'll need to hit a home run, as this is the first time since their inaugural season of 1993 that they've won four straight without the help of a round-tripper, but bloops, errors, bunts, and one or two RBI doubles (including one from Garrett Atkins, which warmed my heart) have been enough for them. Still, four games isn't enough for me. I want to see five, maybe even six or seven, and then we'll talk. I also don't want to see them follow it up by stumbling, bumbling, and swooning to a 10-20 June or something, as they might do. One of those nice long glorious winning streaks would be most welcome, and at the least I've stopped feeling as if watching this team makes me want to put out my eyes with hot bamboo spikes. I even watched the game in its entirety on television tonight, something that I actually haven't done in a while, and spent most of it unable to get over how adorable Brad Hawpe is and how much he fails when trying to look fierce. Using MLB.com Gameday seems to detach me from the frustration a bit.

After tomorrow, the Rockies come home for ten against the Cards, Reds, and Astros, and I'll probably be attending a game against each opponent. I'll be behind home plate (hooray for good free tickets!) on Thursday against the Cardinals, and somewhere in the second or third deck (not entirely sure) for the Reds, and Photo Day, on Saturday. (This is a very good thing. Also, fuck the Monforts for raising ticket prices again. Last year, the free Ladies' Night vouchers could be redeemed for any tickets under $26; now they're only redeemable for tickets under $20, which means that my sister and I can't sit in our favorite spot in the right field mezzanine. Charlie and Dick, you guys are a pair of, uh, the latter. But, well). After that, we'll probably buy cheap tickets for the Wednesday Astros game and re-start our collection, as we used them last time for Photo Day. We also bought an extra ticket for my sister, who's coming home from school on Friday and will be accompanying us. (She has a crush on Atkins, something that I discovered to my great surprise, and for some odd reason is terrified of getting a picture alone with him -- she's going to make our younger sister go with her. Whatever).

It'll be a fun week. Two baseball games and then we're going to see the musical Wicked on Sunday. We may even get in another showing of Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, which isn't your movie if you're looking for nuanced cinematic greatness, but is just the ticket for a sit-back-and-turn-off-your-brain rollicking summer popcorn blockbuster. I usually lack a social life and fun activities, but hey, at least I'll get some of them in. I also have training for my job on Wednesday -- as I expected, I'll be working at Starbucks over the summer. I still can't entirely get over the fact that I didn't get the Rockies job, but Starbucks isn't too bad. I'm just a little addicted to Frappuccinos, and have this feeling that I won't be able to evict my dad, who's a coffee hound, from the place during business hours....

Oh well. Point of all this is, I want to see the Rockies win tomorrow and then keep going. Although it's a great shock to me, I think I'll actually be rooting for them over the Cardinals on the Thursday game that I am attending. I do want the Cardinals to turn it around, and they have a prime stretch of schedule coming up, but I have to admit, I love the Rockies too damn much to allow it to happen at their expense. Not that I, you know, have any say in this matter, but for what it's worth, that's my two cents.