DENVER -- The Rockies not only took another step closer to the playoffs on Friday night, they also took an even bigger step toward having one of their best pitchers when they get there.
Aaron Cook, who had missed the past month with a sore shoulder, returned to the mound in the 2-1 victory and pitched five scoreless innings.
"Stunned, as to how sharp he was," Rockies manager Jim Tracy said. "Stunned. Really. You never know when there has been a layoff like that. I'm not suggesting I didn't think he'd pitch well, but I didn't know how much traffic he was going to have to work through to get out of innings."
SAN FRANCISCO -- After throwing two simulated innings on Tuesday, Rockies Opening Day starter Aaron Cook said he is healthy, and he expects to be ready to pitch for Colorado in the postseason, if the Rockies get there.
"It's not an issue," Cook told FanHouse. "I'm healthy. It's just a matter of throwing my pitches and getting back to where I need to be stamina-wise and getting position to where I can go out there. My shoulder feels great. My foot feels great. It's just a matter of where they need me to help the team."
Cook, who is 10-6 with a 4.47 ERA, has been on the disabled list since Aug. 22 with a right shoulder strain. He will throw another simulated game on Saturday. If that goes well, he could pitch in instructional league around Sept. 24 and possibly pitch once or twice for the Rockies before the playoffs.
From the Windup is Matt Snyder's extended look at some aspect of America's pastime each Thursday -- it's running Friday this week.
Earlier this week, Brad Lidge's nightmare 2009 season continued, when he allowed a walk-off homer to Andrew McCutchen. Ed Price covered the outing the following morning. The abysmal performance by the Phillies' closer underlines the only weakness of the defending World Series Champions.
Aaron Cook left Friday night's game early with soreness in his shoulder. He had given up four earned runs and walked two in just three innings before being pulled. The extent of the injury is unknown at this time.
He'll be re-evaluated Saturday but at the minimum will miss his next start, manager Jim Tracy said.
He [Cook] said the team doctor was cautiously optimistic he wasn't seriously injured but that he wouldn't know for sure until the swelling subsides.
"Hopefully it's just one of those things that came on real quick and we can get rid of it real quick," said Cook.
Even though Cook had won ten games this season, his 4.47 ERA has kept his fantasy baseball ownership at low level. But, 42% of fantasy GM's did have Cook on their roster. Let's talk about what to do now.
Starting Five is our wrapup of the previous day's baseball action, with a quick nod to what is ahead.
You Oughta Know ... That the Cubs might be making a charge.
Saturday's 5-3 victory over Cincinnati put Chicago five games over .500 for the first time in more than two months. And the Cubs now trail the first-place Cardinals by just a half-game in the National League Central.
"Let's not get euphoric about it," manager Lou Piniella said.
Categorically Speaking is designed specifically for Rotisserie GM's. The information is great for all fantasy baseball formats, but for those of you who could use some help bolstering a specific roto category, this is for you. We're going to pay close attention to players who might be readily available on your waiver wire or who you might target in non-blockbuster trade talks.
Keeping your team's ERA down is something of a fine art.
It's easy when you spent money early and guessed correctly on guys like Tim Lincecum and Dan Haren. But what happens if you guessed wrong on Francisco Liriano or are having injury issues with a few starters?
You'll need to run to the waiver wire and find starting pitching that won't kill your ERA and hopefully pay dividends in other categories as well.
Things are obviously going pretty well for any team that wins 11 in a row, but the Rockies are giving baseball people reason to believe they might be legitimate.
Pitching has been the Rockies' issue when they've struggled, and a scout who saw the Rockies sweep the Mariners over the weekend said that they seem to have some quality arms these days.
"They're all pitching well right now," the scout said. "Jason Hammel had a really good game and good stuff the day I was there. Jason Marquis had his sinker working and he pitched well. And the big guy, Ubaldo Jimenez, has great stuff. He was 95-99 consistently, with a good breaking pitch and his changeup was working. It's all going to boil down to if those guys keep doing what they do best, which is sinker-slider for Hammel and Marquis, and Jimenez is a power pitcher who is going to win as long as he throws strikes."
There are a plethora of two-start pitchers hurling in week five (Monday, May 4th - Sunday May 10th) of the fantasy baseball season. There are 58 total this week and you late sleepers are luck that all of the Monday games are night games. You won't need to set you lineups until 7:05 PM ET.
[Update: 7:48 AM ET] : Two games were rained out yesterday. The Mets and Phillies did not play and the Angels and Yankees were rained out as well. Here is the fallout from those two postponed games as it relates to two-start pitchers.
MLB Power Rankings:Where we care what you've done for us lately when we break down the who's who and the what's what in the baseball world each week.
Baseball is here. Only for three days so far, but that's enough for knee-jerk reactions and our collective excitement, certainly. Are the Yankees in trouble? Will Ken Griffey, Jr. lead the Mariners back to glory? Are the Orioles for real? Are the Braves bound for the playoffs again? Will the Marlins manage to save baseball and win the National League East? What happens when Jim Thome and Kyle Farnsworth meet in a hadron collider?
Find out the answers to these questions -- and more! -- after the jump.
As you set your fantasy lineups for week one remember that there are 43 starting pitchers this week who will start twice. I've broken these 43 pitchers into three categories. There are 19 "must start" pitchers, nine solid options, and 15 risky hurlers throwing twice.
For the record, since there is only one game tonight featuring the Braves and the Phillies, and it's a Sunday night game, you'll find that in most weekly leagues Derek Lowe and Brett Myers (tonight's starters) will only have one start in week one, even though they'll be starting twice in their teams first seven games.
Tim Lincecum looks to have a cake walk first week as he faces Milwaukee and San Diego. While Paul Maholm, Ian Snell, John Lannan and Scott Olsen have some of the toughest two-start schedules as they face tough teams in St. Louis, Cincinnati, Atlanta and Florida.
DENVER -- The Rockies not only took another step closer to the playoffs on Friday night, they also took an even bigger step toward having one of their best pitchers when they get there.
SAN FRANCISCO -- After throwing two simulated innings on Tuesday, 
Starting Five
Categorically Speaking
Things are obviously going pretty well for any team that wins 11 in a row, but the Rockies are giving baseball people reason to believe they might be legitimate.
As you set your fantasy lineups for week one remember that there are 43 starting pitchers this week who will start twice. I've broken these 43 pitchers into three categories. There are 19 "must start" pitchers, nine solid options, and 15 risky hurlers throwing twice. 
