Carlos Gonzalez of Colorado Rockies: "Car-Gone" Hits Another Gonner

Carlos Gonzalez is a little-known baseball player who came to the Rockies as part of the Matt Holliday trade, along with Huston Street, Colorado's closer.

At first, as the season began, it seemed GM Dan O'Dowd missed out on replacing Holliday with a solid outfielder, as Gonzalez struggled at the plate, though was speedy in the outfield and on the bases.

He has made some amazing grabs in his short time in Colorado, including three in a game in left field, one that robbed a hitter of a home run.

Gonzalez started getting playing time in June, and in that month flirted with the Medoza line with a .210 batting average. July showed Gonzalez was coming on with more at bats and experience with a .273 average, two triples and a home run.

But August is when Gonzalez has been explosive, as he is currently hitting .380, with 10 runs on 19 hits. But, included in those 19 hits, are six home runs, in the last eight games, and he had six home runs in his first 130 at bats in the majors!

Gonzalez did his magic again tonight, as this is the fourth game in a row he's hit a bomb, giving the Rockies a 5-3 lead over the Nationals that was enough to win the game.

Second baseman Clint Barmes hit a towering home run as well, his 20th, as he is showing that the Rockies can hit from all positions, infield and out.

Jason Marquis, the Rockies' "Minister of Wins" as Drew Goodman coined him tonight, pitched a very solid six innings allowing three runs on six hits and grabbed a strike out. He put himself in position to win another game, and did get his 14th tonight, to tie for the lead in the majors.

Huston Street, the other piece of the Holliday trade, came in to close the game and he gave the Rockies a scare with a first-pitch home run by the Nationals putting the game at 5-4 Colorado. Street though, just as he usually does, saved the game for the Rockies, as he is 31-32 in saves in 2009.

This win pushed Colorado (67-43) to 5-0 against the Nationals (43-77) in 2009, and in their new ballpark, and put the Rockies at 14 games over .500 for the first time all year.

Colorado is now only 4.5 games behind the LA Dodgers for the division lead, and on pace with the San Francisco winning earlier tonight only one game behind the Rockies in the Wild Card race.

Quick Hits

Colorado left 13 men on base, although the Nationals walked 10 and hit a batter as well. The Rockies need another win against Washington tomorrow to go over .500 on the current road trip, and with the Giants and Dodgers coming up at home, Colorado needs all the wins they can get.