Can Cargo and Tulo force the Rockies into contention? Photo courtesy of denverpost.com
If the Rockies are going to pull off the unbelievable….again, then the next three days are arguably the most critical of the 2011 season. Today is the first of a three game series against the NL West leading Arizona D-Backs. The Rox trail Arizona by 11 games but have shown signs of life as of late, going 7-3 in their last 10. They play the D-Backs and Giants a combined 13 more times. Realistically, the Rockies can only afford one or two losses total in these games.
The Rockies can thank sluggers Carlos Gonzalez and Troy Tulowitzki for their recent revival into relevancy. Since coming off of the DL on August 6th, Cargo is batting .337 with 9 home runs and 30 RBI’s. Tulowitzki called Cargo’s .337 and raised him with a .387 batting average in August with 8 bombs and 21 RBI’s. If only this sort of offense was around for more than just this month, maybe the Rockies would be only a few games behind rather than 11. Expect big things from Cargo in this series. In his career vs. the D-Backs, he is batting .351 with 24 RBI’s.
The three game series in Phoenix will see recently called up, Alex White, in game one tonight. White looking to bounce back from a shaky debut, pitch against Daniel Hudson, who is having a great year pitching behind Ian Kennedy. Tomorrow will be Rockies’ Aaron Cook vs. some bro named Wade Miley. The series finale will see Esmil Rodgers for the Rockies vs. Josh Collmenter. Now, even a sweep of the D-Backs in this series will not be enough for the Rockies to be close to the NL West lead, but it might be enough to spark an unconscious winning streak, something the Rockies have made a habit of in recent years.
