Saturday, July 30, 2011

Rock Solid Recap: Hammel punches back against Padres

That was Jim Tracy's headline quote in the postgame describing Jason Hammel's impressive outing and victory over the San Diego Padres.

Rockies 3, Padres 2 (boxscore)

Apparently Hammel had a sitdown talk with some coaches after his last start and the gameplan for Friday night was to pitch inside more. It appeared to work, although I'd be lying if I said I paid real close attention to his location in comparison to previous starts. I just know he was throwing the ball with some zip, and was able to overcome the small doses of traffic he dealt with. I'm encouraged by that even if it was against a sorry offense in a very pitcher-friendly park.

Hammel's line: 6 1/3 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 3 BB 5 K

The important thing for Hammel now is to make this start his foundation for rebuilding his season that crumbled around the last month or so. A home date with the Philadelphia Phillies next week will make that a difficult task, though a good start there could go a long towards rehabbing everyone's confidence in him, including his own.