Cook (0-1, 14.54)
Webb (9-9, 4.04)
Let's sweep the Rockies. Their only player you've ever heard of, Todd Helton, has gone on the DL; early rookie of the year candidate Clint Barmes is still suffering from a venison-related injury; and Colorado on the road has a striking 12-41 record. This is exactly the sort of team...who will likely win all three games against us. Don't forget, when we played the major-league worst Royals here in Arizona, we blew an eight-run lead in the opener, then lost the next two by a combined score of 17-9.
But there are a couple of reasons why a sweep is important. It would probably put us back atop the NL West, since the Padres are playing the Nationals, and are most unlikely to match it. Secondly, after this series, we embark on the Road(trip) to Hell: Florida, Atlanta, St. Louis, with dessert in Cincinnati. Getting momentum for that is crucial, and a sweep would give us our longest winning streak since April. Hell, we haven't even won more than two in a row since May 20.
On the other hand, the Rockies came within one bad innings of sweeping the Giants, and their bullpen (which early on, was like a road-accident) has been pretty tight of late, with a 2.91 ERA and no homers over the past 15 games. Also, in the meetings so far, the Rockies have outscored us 44-41, though we've taken seven of nine games this season - the two defeats were by margins of 18-3 and 8-1. That was some time ago, however: May 15 was the last time we played Colorado.
Sadly, we won't get to face Kim; it'd have been nice to see him back at Bank One Ballpark. Instead, we start the series off against Cook - and just look at that ERA. Something in the home locker-room is drooling. It is, of course, a bit misleading, since Cook has only played one game this year, where he allowed 7 runs in 4 1/3 innings. Before that, he had surgery to clear blood clots in his lungs, which kinda puts everything in perspective a bit.
The Rockies Sportsblog entry is Purple Row, and Rox Girl does a fine job of keeping things busy over there, despite the Rockies' poor season. Worth checking out.