Rockies lose opener to Nationals

     The Rockies lost the game tonight to the Nationals by the final score of 5-1. The debut of Roy Oswalt did not have the result that he was looking for but it gave hope for what he might be able to bring to the Rockies for the rest of the season. Oswalt finished the night throwing five innings allowing nine hits and four runs but he struck out 11 batters. The 11 strikeouts was just one off of his career high. Oswalt's stuff looked electric and his fastball was higher than it has been in a couple of years. He sat consistently around 92 MPH on the gun and even ran it up as high as 94. His changeup was in the lower 80's and it had good late movement on it and was a great out pitch that he had in his repertoire. His curveball looked just like it did when he led the league in wins in 2004. It was a big breaking pitch that had 12-6 movement on it. All in all it was a good start for Oswalt, and even though he gave up some hits and runs, they were nothing that is concerning as he was just shaking off the rust from not pitching this year at the Major League level. This is a start that he will look to build upon as he he moves forward. One thing he will look to improve upon is his pitch count and working deeper into the games. He threw 102 pitches in five innings of work which will need to get better in order to get deeper into games.

     Offensively the Rockies were unable to muster much against the strong performance by Jordan Zimmerman. Zimmerman went eight innings allowing six hits, one run and struck out nine hitters. DJ LeMahieu and Todd Helton each had two hits tonight and Michael Cuddyer was able to extend his hitting streak to 18 games when he got a single in the first inning. Other than that the rest of the Rockies were stifled at the plate except for Nolan Arenado who had a single on the night. The Rockies have struggled offensively on the current road trip as they have now lost four straight games and have failed to hold a lead in any of the games.

     It does not get any easier for the Rockies tomorrow night as they will be facing Stephen Strasburg. Tyler Chatwood will be the pitcher for the Rockies and he will be looking for his fifth win on the season. First pitch for the game tomorrow night is at 5:05 PM Mountain time.