"He made a couple of mistakes to me. I was able to take advantage of them," Uggla said. "I saw him pretty well tonight."
Not so his teammates.
Jimenez brushed aside Atlanta's powerful bats along with all that trade talk, and Troy Tulowitzki and Carlos Gonzalez homered as the Colorado Rockies routed the Braves 12-3 Tuesday night.
Jimenez (6-8) won for the fifth time in six decisions, allowing two runs and seven hits over 6 2-3 innings.
"He's better than his numbers," Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez said. "He showed that today."
Jimenez struck out nine and walked two before soaking in a standing ovation from fans hoping he stays in purple pinstripes for countless more nights like this one.
Jimenez hopes so, too.
"This is the team that I've always been on. I love this team," he said.
Jimenez has rebounded from a slow start caused in part by nagging thumb and hip injuries, but the Rockies have underperformed all season, never reaching the heights they expected behind the Big Three O's - Ubaldo, Tulo and CarGo.
This night was the exception for Jimenez and the scuffling sluggers.
Tulowitzki and Gonzalez staked Jimenez to an early cushion with home runs off rookie righty Brandon Beachy (3-2), who couldn't find the necessary sink on his pitches to succeed at Coors Field.
"He had trouble getting the breaking ball to break," Fredi Gonzalez said. "You do that to pretty good hitters and get the ball up in the strike zone, you're going to get those home runs."
Beachy allowed six earned runs and nine hits while struggling through 4 2-3 innings.
"I felt great out there. I felt good physically," Beachy said. "I felt in control, never worried, never panicked. I struggled with the fastball early, especially to lefties. Full count to Tulowitzki, I throw a slider and it doesn't bite. I throw a better pitch there and we're out of the inning. And again to Gonzalez, I throw a backdoor slider and felt fully confident I was going to get him on it, just didn't get it there."
It was the first win for Colorado in six tries against the Braves this month.
"It was a rough night. Beachy was battling, they just kept taking advantage of his mistakes," Uggla said. "They were on tonight. The ball flies in this place. That's why it fun to come here for hitters, not so much for pitchers. I happened to catch a couple."
NOTES: Uggla extended his hitting streak to 11 games. He has 12 multihomer games in his career. ... Broadcaster Jerry Schemmel of the Rockies' flagship radio station KOA biked 112 miles Tuesday in memory of the lives lost on United Flight 232 from Denver to Chicago in 1989. Schemmel is a survivor of that crash.
Dan Uggla
http://accesswdun.com/article/2011/7/240457