Uh-Oh, Tulo

SAN FRANCISCO -- The happiness over the Rockies' all-hands-on-deck, 3-2 victory over the Giants on Tuesday night was tinged with concern that shortstop Troy Tulowitzki's upper left quadriceps strain -- the cause of much of the scrambling -- could be an ongoing issue.

Rockies head athletic trainer Keith Dugger said Tulowitzki will fly to Denver on Wednesday morning, and the club hopes to arrange an MRI for him by the afternoon. He's likely to be placed on the 15-day disabled list.

"He is in a lot of pain and discomfort, and a lot of spasm after the injury," said Dugger, who refused to speculate on how much action Tulowitzki will miss.

Tulowitzki limped off during the bottom of the first inning, leaving the Rockies to put catcher Chris Iannetta at third base for the first time as a pro and move third baseman Garrett Atkins to second base -- for the first time in his life. Clint Barmes moved from second to short.

The reason a catcher ended up in the infield was Jeff Baker, who was supposed to start at second with Barmes at short while Tulowitzki (batting .152) sat, suffered a broken blood vessel in his right middle finger while throwing a ball during workouts about a half-hour before the game. There also is no speculation on when he can return.

Add those to the Rockies' other injury situation that arose Tuesday. Right-handed relief pitcher Kip Wells, who has a history of circulation problems and once underwent surgery for a blocked artery, was sent to Denver on Tuesday morning for "diagnostic tests" on his right hand for what appears to be another circulation issue.

Rockies manager Clint Hurdle announced that infielder Omar Quintanilla has been called up from Triple-A Colorado Springs, and was making his way to San Francisco from Nashville, where the Sky Sox were playing Tuesday night.

Adding Quintanilla (.329, one homer, eight RBIs in 20 games at Colorado Springs) corresponds with the Rockies' decision to option left-handed starting pitcher Franklin Morales to Colorado Springs.

The club figures to call up a starting pitcher at some point and would need to replace Tulowitzki if he goes on the DL. The Rockies may also need to replace Baker if the swelling doesn't subside and he needs to be put on the DL as well.

Baseball Fever

Kevin and I have such bad Baseball Fever. We cannot wait for opening day of our favorite team, the Colorado Rockies. Maybe part of our anticipation and excitement is because of what the Rox did last year as they made their run to the World Series. Maybe it's in part because we love the whole atmosphere of baseball games - the hot dogs, the scorecards, the cheers, the songs, the 7th inning stretch, the peanuts, the crowd, the wave. Maybe it's because we are both big fans of baseball as a sport, and because we both understand what's going on all the time (Kevin's an avid sports fan and I played competitive girls fast-pitch softball for 4+ years). We've even turned our little girl into a baseball fan. Whenever we drive by Coors Field, she sees something baseball related or we mention the Rockies, she'll raise her arms and scream "Go Rockies!"

We only have exactly one more week left until opening day festivities and to see our men in purple in action as we cheer from our seats, a row above the out-of-town scoreboard. This day marks the beginning of a busy weekend for us as we have the opening day game next Friday, our anniversary on Saturday, the second game on Sunday and a Wiggles concert on Monday. But, hey, we couldn't be more excited!!

As a sidenote: It probably doesn't help our anticipation any that we started playing a baseball video game last night. It was a re-match from the World Series .. the Sox against the Rox and the Sox won again. I was "controlling" the Rockies, and let's just say, I left a lot of bases loaded, but I did have one amazing home run thanks to Matt Holliday.

Down 0-2 -- ARGHH!

We watched the game in it's entirety last night. We even had Brooklyn playing the role of lil' cheerleader: "Go Rockies!!; Come On, Come On."

We cheered when Taveras (or Travers as I call him) got on base albeit because of getting hit. We cheered when Matt Holliday singled sending Taveras to third thanks to Lowell's mishap with the ball. We cheered when Todd Helton got a RBI sending Taveras home. 1-0, top of the first inning! We cheered as young Ubaldo looked real good and settled from the get-go. We cheered when he struck out arrogant Big Poppy.

We were real happy, feeling pretty confident. Then it happened, Ubaldo started to walk batters. Uh oh! We can't just help them out by putting them on. When Mike Lowell drew a one-out walk, taking third on J.D. Drew’s single to right, and scored on a Jason Varitek fly ball to center all in the fourth, we started to get worried. We started coaching young Ubaldo trying to get him to settle down and just get out of the inning. Done. In the fifth, he looked good again, 2 outs right away, then walked Big Poppy with Manny Ramirez up to bat. A single sending Big Poppy to second and soon home with Lowell's double to left.

Great. Now we're in real trouble, 1-2 bottom of the fifth inning. Not good! Especially since we can't seem to get our offense started lately, and we're leaving lead-off batters stranded. We got excited as Holliday got a hit off Jonathan Papelbon in the top of the eighth with two outs. But, oh how we cringed when Holliday got picked off first base with Helton up to bat, ending the inning.

And, seriously Spilborghs, stopping resting the freakin' bat on your shoulder and swing it, or we're gonna bench ya!

So we are down 0-2 in the Series, but we are coming back home for three games. Let's see how those arrogant, stuffy Sox do in our thin air. Hmph!

GO ROX!!!!!

World Series, Game 1 TONIGHT!
!!!!!! GO ROCKIES !!!!!!

I found this in the Boston Herald this morning, and thought I would share. Enjoy Michael Marallo's city matchup, but we'll see who gets the last laugh!!
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Let’s face it, there’s not much history between Boston and Denver, the capital of Colorado, where the Rockies play their home games, and the World Series will decide who’s got the better ball team. But in a head-to-head matchup between the cities, Boston’s already got Denver beat:

Category: Nickname

Boston: The Hub, Beantown

Denver: Mile High City

Verdict: Denver - Can’t beat that kind of elevation.

Category: Tallest Skyscraper

Boston: John Hancock Tower, 790 feet

Denver: Republic Plaza, 714 feet.

Verdict: Boston - It’s close, but admit it: you don’t know what the Republic Plaza looks like.

Category: Major League Baseball History

Denver: 15 years

Boston: 108 years

Verdict: Boston - The Rockies might be making history, but the Red Sox define it.

Category: Home Ballparks

Denver: Coors Field

Boston: Fenway Park

Verdict: Boston - Our bleacher culture beats out the Rock Pile.

Category: Best Local Beer

Boston: Sam Adams

Denver: Coors

Verdict: Boston - Is Rocky Mountain water the only thing they put in those Coors bottles?

Category: Fancy Suspension Bridge

Boston: Leonard P. Zakim Bridge

Denver: Millennium Foot Bridge

Verdict: Boston - Our bridge spans water, their’s a rail yard.

Category: Regional Theme Song

Boston: “Dirty Water,” the Standells

Denver: “Rocky Mountain High,” John Denver

Verdict: Boston - Our victory song is everywhere.

Category: Best Gross-Out Food

Boston: Secret 24-hour kitchens in Chinatown

Denver: Fried bull testicles, aka Rocky Mountain oysters

Verdict: Denver - It takes courage to go to Chinatown at 4 a.m., but it takes testicles to eat testicles - at any hour.

Category: As Seen on TV

Boston: “The Practice,” “Lucky Louie,” “Cheers”

Denver: “The Bill Engvall Show,” “Real World 18”

Verdict: Boston - The “Real World” went to Denver?Was Puck involved?

Category: Cool Movie Title

Boston: “The Departed”

Denver: “Things to Do in Denver When You’re Dead”

Verdict: Denver - Our proximity to Lowell leaves us partial to Jack Kerouac references.

Category: Hometown Celebrities

Boston: The Afflecks, Lenny Clarke, Eliza Dushku

Denver: Tim Allen, David Fincher, Karl Rove

Verdict: Boston - We’re currently Hollywood’s darling.

Category: Famous Baby Daddy

Boston: Tom Brady

Denver: Travis Henry

Verdict: Denver - The Broncos’ Henry allegedly has nine kids with nine women. Let’s see Brady throw six TDs with that many mouths to feed.

Category: Best Bands

Boston: Dropkick Murphys, Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Dresden Dolls, Mission of Burma, Bang Camaro

Denver: The Fray, Jill Sobule, DeVotchKa, Apples in Stereo, Dressy Bessy

Verdict: Boston - C’mon, the Fray? That’s the best ya got?