Rockies on a Roll...........

First of all I’d like to take this opportunity on this 8th anniversary of September 11, 2001, one of the most tragic days in American history, to express my deepest sympathies and prayers to all of those who lost friends or family members on that horrific day. Those of us who are left to pick up the pieces and carry on have become stronger as a nation because of it and we will carry the collective burden of the losses together and persevere as one.
What better a topic to transition to……… our National Past-Time of Baseball.

The Rockies have now won 7 in a row and are 4 ½ games ahead in the Wild Card Race and only 2 games behind the Dodgers for the division lead.

If the Rockies catch the Dodgers it will be the biggest come back in MLB history as they will have come back from a 15 game deficit to win a division title.

The Colorado Rockies keep losing players and winning games. Starting pitcher Jose Contreras came out in the third inning with a strained quadriceps Thursday, his second start for injured Aaron Cook.

It's chugging along at full steam these days.

By sweeping four games from the Reds, the Rockies wrapped up a 9-1 home stand — one of their best in franchise history. Next, Colorado embarks on a nine-game road trip that includes three in San Francisco.  All this despite losing pivotal players.

We are playing great baseball," Jason Giambi said. "I'm excited that we are doing the little things, moving runners, getting big hits when we need it and getting great pitching. That's what you want to do down the stretch."

With Troy Tulowitzki and Ian Stewart sitting out a third consecutive game with back stiffness, the team again had to rely on a patchwork lineup. The Rockies went with Clint Barmes at shortstop, Garrett Atkins at third and Eric Young at second. The team even gave first baseman Todd Helton the day off, starting Jason Giambi instead.

Still, the lineup produced.

The Rockies are 63-32 since Jim Tracy took over.

Notes: Ubaldo Jimenez had his next start pushed back from Saturday to Tuesday due to a hamstring he tweaked while running the bases Monday. They are going to need their Ace if this run has a chance to continue. – Gregory Shapiro 

Greg is an orthopedic surgeon that has a number of professional athletes including MLB players as patients. He’s an avid MLB fan and rotisserie player with some unique insight into the world of professional athletes.

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Atkins to Reds - Sanchez for Sanchez?

Everyone says that Garrett Atkins is going to the Boston Red Sox, I don’t think so. I think he’s going to the Cincinnati Reds. Here’s why.

It’s was widely reported earlier this week that the Red Sox have talked with the Rockies about Atkins. They need to be prepared to get a bat if Mike Lowell (hip injury) is out long term. They have bullpen depth to give that makes Takashi Saito expendable. But it’s hard to see the Rockies sending Atkins to Boston in a deal unless it involves Manny Delcarmen and these teams have so much bad blood in botched trades, Boston remains a long shot.

My sources say that the Reds considered trading him for Yorvit Torrealba last winter; they didn’t pull the trigger (money was the reason), but haven’t lost interest. The Rockies are reportedly asking for reliever Nick Masset making only $418,000 or David Weathers who has $1.6 million left on his salary. Atkins is owed about $3.4 million for the remainder of this season and that’s still a problem.

Also, I continue to hear buzz that the Giants are making a strong play for the Pirates’ Freddy Sanchez. I say the deal that gets done is Jonathan Sanchez for Freddy Sanchez. I know they’ve had discussions about it previously; I think that there is a good chance that they do it now (I don’t think the Randy Johnson injury helped.) Let’s see how Jonathan does tonight against the Padres. - Blake Kearny

Blake Kearny is a retired baseball scout from Los Angeles, California. He currently runs a baseball school for children in Los Angeles.

Garrett Atkins..... a second opinion

We’ll, it’s come to this. When Garrett Atkins gets an at-bat, news wires are reporting it.

The thought was that with games against American League clubs this week, Atkins would get plenty of opportunity to straighten himself out, but before yesterday all he got was 1 pinch hitting appearance in the 1st two games of the Angels series.

The good news is that in the last 10 days Atkins has made the most of his playing time and gotten 8 hits in his last 16 at-bats and went 3-4 yesterday with a HR. Perhaps he’s turning it around? Hey, maybe he’s on the Atkins Diet?

I’m with Rob Fairchild on this one. I'm going against popular opinion too. I think Dr. Roto has made a premature diagnosis here and jumped off the boat too quickly. Perhaps he got the patient chart mixed up with someone else. He’s only 29 years old and has hit .305 with 75 HR’s and 330 RBI the past three years. Unless he’s off the juice (I can’t even believe I have to say that – but that’s the world we live in) he should be picked up if he’s a free agent. If he’s on someone’s roster, trade for him for a box of Crackerjacks if that’s all the other guy is asking.

I agree Ian Stewart should be playing and if he’s going to be playing 3B then the writing is on the wall. Atkins is going to have a good 2nd half. The question is whether it is for the Rockies or for someone else. -David Fry

David Fry is an independent sports photographer currently covering Major League Baseball. David will be reporting on observations as he sees them in MLB stadiums throughout the year.