Rockies nip Dodgers in 10

The Colorado Rockies ended the Dodgers winning streak at 7 games today by winning in 10 innings, 1-0. The day was not all bad, however, as the Arizona Diamondbacks lost to the Cincinnati Reds in 10 innings, so the lead in the NL West remains at 4.5 games.

I never thought I'd see the day where the game would be scoreless heading into extra innings, but that was the deal today. Greg Maddux and Aaron Cook were absolutely fantastic, as both deserved the win. Neither issued a walk, and both made it look like Coors Field switched locations overnight.

I had a fear yesterday that with Andre Ethier out due to the birth of his first child, Juan Pierre would be leading off. Unluckily for me, I was right. He responded with a 1-4 day, and was largely responsible for the winning run being scored in the 10th.

Here was the situation. Hong-Chih Kuo came on to pitch the 10th. Matt Holliday greeted him with a single, but Brad Hawpe struck out. Garrett Atkins then singled to put 2 men on. Ryan Spilborghs hit a lazy fly ball to shallow right center. Instead of taking command of the ball and easily making the catch, Pierre simply looked on and let Matt Kemp make a diving attempt, which he missed. The ball lands, and the bases were loaded. On an 0-2 count, Troy Tulowitzki singled home the winning run.

I know it's easy to pile on Pierre because of his bloated contract, lack of OBP, spaghetti arm... but good player or not, he has got to make that play. He turned a very simple catch into an adventure. Not getting on base and bad play in the outfield... yup, that's why he finds himself on the bench these days.

Ethier, good luck with the birth of your child... and please hurry back!

The offense didn't do zip today, but that's bound to happen at some point. I'll look at the positives, and that's the final line of Maddux: 7 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K. Cory Wade pitched 2 flawless innings, as he furthers his great year for someone that wasn't even on the roster to start the season. And look - Angel Berroa was 2-4, raising his average in September to .294.

Now comes an interesting road trip for the Dodgers. They have 4 in Pittsburgh starting Monday. The Pirates, without any doubt, are horrible. Big shock, I know. But, they are playing .500 ball at home (37-37), so it's not like they're completely clueless on how to win. They just don't do enough of it.

In my estimation, 3 of the 4 pitching matchups clearly favor the Dodgers. Tuesday night is the only tossup with Clayton Kershaw vs. Paul Maholm, and that's only because Maholm has been pretty good since August. Hiroki Kuroda goes tomorrow night looking to get his 9th win of the season. The Dodgers can't pull a "Washington Nationals" and get swept by an inferior team on the road. Time to finish this deal.

Over in Arizona, the DBacks will welcome the San Francisco Giants to town for 4. Doug Davis takes on Brad Hennessey in the first game. Thankfully, Tim Lincecum is scheduled to go in the last game on Thursday, which also means he won't pitch against the Dodgers this weekend. Ha!