Colorado Rockies vs. Atlanta Braves

For some teams, the All-Star break cannot come soon enough and is a welcome break to a long season. For others the break is not welcome. While they enjoy the ability to spend time with their families and away from the daily grind, it could upset their momentum. The Colorado Rockies are a team definitely in the latter.

The Rockies (45-39) have been on a tare lately to shake off an awful start to the season to climb six games over the .500 mark. They hope a four-game series at home against the Atlanta Braves (41-43) will push them even more north of the .500 mark.

The Colorado Rockies are easily the majors’ best team since June 4, going 25-7 and 12-3 at home. They will be seeking their fourth straight victory on Thursday after sweeping the lowly Washington Nationals. It was their third sweep in their last five home series.

To keep the hot streak going, the Rockies will turn to Aaron Cook (8-3, 3.76), who has posted a 1.98 ERA in his last six outings, including allowing just two earned runs, three overall, in five innings of an 11-7 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks. Cook did not figure into the decision.

He will face another red-hot pitcher in Tommy Hanson (4-0, 2.25). The rookie can become just the first Braves hurler to start 5-0 in their rookie campaign since 1978, which is a pretty good feat considering all the great pitchers the Atlanta Braves have churned out since the late 1980’s.

Hanson pitched well enough to get a victory in his last start when he left the game with a 3-1 lead after allowing a run on three hits over seven innings, but his bullpen mates could not hold the lead and the Nationals came back to win that game 5-3.

The Atlanta Braves have quietly climbed back into contention in the NL East after winning seven of their last 10, including taking two of three from the Chicago Cubs.

Atlanta is four games behind first-place Philadelphia and trails second-place Florida by two games.

The teams split a four-game series in Atlanta back in May before the Rockies went on their tare.

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