Rox And Phils: Let's Play TWO! (of The NHL Classic?????)

Oh, it’s spring time in the Rockies, which means SNOW.  YEA!!!  The Rockies and the Phillies will get to play two games today in a Day/Night double-header split due to the rain out on Tuesday night.  There’s a chance the teams will come out in Avalanche, and Flyers jerseys and play hockey instead of baseball.  The high temperature will be around 40 degrees, and the weather folks are saying that will only be for a short time before the mercury starts to drop again.  

The Rox and Phils should get the afternoon game in just fine.  The snow has stopped around the metro area, and Coors Field actually has heating elements in its field and there won’t be any snow left on the field when the teams play the early game.  The first game is scheduled to start at 1:10pm MT, or 3:10 Eastern.  

The 2^nd game will be a little trickier to get in.  The weather forecast is for the rain and snow to start again, about game time which right now is set for 6:10 pm MT, or 8:10 Eastern.  MLB might let them play through a cold rain, but they don’t like games to be played in the white stuff.  It’s hard enough to hit a baseball, but to hit a white ball traveling at 90 miles an hour though other white stuff, just isn’t fun.  OK, Moyer is pitching the second game, so the baseball will be traveling closer to 70 mph but it’s still hard to hit in the snow. 

The big issue for the two teams to get the games in today is that the Phillies and the Rockies don’t play again here in Coors Field the rest of the year.  The Rockies have the Washington Nationals coming to town for a four game series starting tomorrow, so there’s no opening for Thursday.   Well, the Phillies don’t have a game on Thursday, and there is a chance the Rockies could actually play a doubleheader tomorrow with a day game against the Phillies, and a night game against the Nationals.  I don’t remember that ever happening in baseball, and my memory goes back a long way.  If that’s not an option, the Rockies and Phillies would make the game up either at the end of the season, or some time for a one game stop over when both teams have a free day later in the season.

The first game today, features for the Phillies Colorado’s own Roy Halladay from Arvada West High School, making his first start ever in Coors Field.  So when you see those Phillies fans in #34 jersey’s there’s a great chance it’s his family and friends.  If you haven’t heard, Halladay doesn’t suck.  Too bad, he’s only the 2^nd best pitcher in the National League, behind our boy Ubaldo.   Ok, so he’s REALLY good, coming into the game he’s supporting a 6-1 record, a 1.45 ERA and 48 K’s to 7 walks (CRICKEY!).  He’ll be going against Aaron Cook, who’s season is going south with the team.  Cook has been one of the worst starting pitchers in the National League, with a 1-3 record, a 6.03 and has given up 18 walks to only 18 strikeouts.   The only hope the Rockies have in winning this one is maybe the nerves of pitching in front of his home town gets to Halladay, and Cook somehow finds his hard sinker on this cold day.  

The night cap if it gets in would have 84 year old Jamie Moyer for the Phillies vs. Jason Hammel fresh off the disabled list who was on it with a case of suckiness.  Jamie Moyer was a dead ball era pitcher, and still seems to make that style work.  If he could handle the 1927 Yankees “murderers row” he can handle the Rockies.  Don’t get excited about Hammel coming back from the DL.  In his rehab start in AAA he did pitch 7 innings he gave up 9 hits and 4 runs, and that was to AAA hitters.  The Phillies are 3^rd in the NL in BA at .272 and also 3^rd in Runs Scored with 174 so far on the season.  You know it’s sad when you look at a pitching match-up and the other side has Jamie Moyer, and he’s the better pitcher. 

Yeah, there’s a pretty good chance the Rockies get swept by the Phightin’ Phils today. 

The Rockies do get Carlos Gonzalez back from his bereavement leave today, so we have that going for us.  Hopefully he won’t be too worn out from that trip to Venezuela.  The Rockies will have to make a roster move to add CarGo.  The question is who that will be.  Will it be Eric Young Jr?  Will it be Seth Smith?  Will it be Jason Giambi?  It SHOULD be Giambi, but he’s a favorite of the players, and Tracy has defended him and he actually hit the ball on Monday night.  EY2 has options and can be sent down, but the Rockies need an infielder with Tulo’s strained quad, who may be available to play today (why in this cold weather the Rockies would play a guy with a tight quad is beyond me).  Smith maybe is the one out.  That will really make Hitler mad.