ts.Bielema and Arkansas offensive line coach Kurt Anderson

DENVER -- A brief road trip for the Philadelphia Phillies and a short homestand for the Colorado Rockies will take both clubs to the All-Star break.They teams begin a four-game series Thursday night at Coors Field.The Phillies, who just finished a 5-1 homestand against Kansas City and Atlanta by sweeping a three-game series with the Braves, have won eight of their past nine games. Philadelphia, 19-23 on the road, has won three consecutive series, one shy of its season high.In their first 71 games through June 20, the Phillies scored a major-league-low 221 runs, an average of 3.1 per game. In their past 15 games, they have scored 87 runs, an average of 5.8 per game.The Phillies hit 24 home runs in their past 15 games, going 10-5 in that stretch. In their previous 24 games, they went 4-20 while hitting 24 home runs.Maikel Franco has homered in four straight games, the first Phillies player to do so since Ryan Howard accomplished the feat Sept. 19-22, 2012.Franco is one shy of the Phillies record for homers in consecutive games. Chase Utley (twice during the 2008 season), Bobby Abreu, Hall of Famer Mike Schmidt and Dick Allen homered in five straight games for the Phillies. Franco has yet to homer at Coors Field, where he is 4-for-15 with a double and three RBI in four games.Franco hit .375 with six homers and 16 RBI in his past 15 games, coinciding with the teams 10-5 surge. When the Phillies werent hitting, Franco was overly aggressive. In the 15-game surge, however, he has drawn nine walks in 66 plate appearances, including a key walk in the eighth inning Wednesday ahead of Freddy Galvis game-winning, two-run homer. Franco drew 16 walks in his first 263 plate appearances this season.Sometimes when you get frustrated, when you see the team not doing (well), thats the first thing you think about -- you want to go out there and try to do something, and obviously at that point you try to do too much, Franco said. But right now, I just feel comfortable at the plate. The teams showing a lot of energy. Were playing as a team.Aaron Nolas turn in the rotation comes up Thursday, but manager Pete Mackanin said the Phillies want to give Nola, who is in his first full season in the big leagues, time to clear his head. Nola is 0-4 with a 13.50 ERA in his past five starts, though he retired the final 10 Royals he faced Saturday with six strikeouts.Rather than make one more start before the All-Star break, Nola will throw a simulated game at Coors Field during the series, and left-hander Adam Morgan, who is 1-6 with a 6.31 ERA in 13 games, 11 starts, the last on June 22, will replace him Thursday. Morgan will face the Rockies for the first time.Morgan just left the rotation to become the long man in the bullpen when Vince Velasquez was reinstated from the disabled list June 27.The Rockies, who have lost seven of their past eight games, are returning home after a 1-5 road trip to face the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Francisco Giants. They scored one run in four of the losses and were shut out in the other.The one win came Tuesday at San Francisco. Giants ace Madison Bumgarner left after six scoreless innings, and the Rockies erupted for seven runs in the seventh and eighth and won 7-3.A night earlier, after the Rockies lost their season-high sixth consecutive game, first baseman Mark Reynolds said, Its a snowball going in the wrong direction. We have to get out of this hole we dug ourselves into.They did -- for one night. Then San Franciscos Johnny Cueto limited them to five singles Wednesday night in his complete-game 5-1 win.Chad Bettis, who is 6-6 with a 5.85 ERA, will start the first game with the Phillies. He lost his last start Saturday at Los Angeles when he allowed four runs in six innings in a 6-1 defeat. In his past two starts, Bettis is 0-1 with a 9.00 ERA, having allowed 18 hits and 11 runs in 11 innings.The right-hander was 4-2 with a 4.18 ERA on May 17. In eight subsequent starts, he is 2-4 with an 8.24 ERA.After getting pushed around on the road by the Dodgers and Giants, the Rockies will play their next four series, totaling 14 games, against teams with losing records. That stretch starts against the Phillies, albeit a hot Phillies club at this point, and gives the Rockies their latest chance to assert themselves at Coors Field.Given their historic road woes, the Rockies need to dominate at home, but are just 18-20 in Denver this season. Jesse Barfield Blue Jays Jersey . Wilson hit Schenn from behind during Tuesday nights game in Philadelphia, earning a five-minute major for charging and a game misconduct. He has a phone hearing with the department of player safety, which limits any potential suspension to five or fewer games. Bud Norris Blue Jays Jersey . The 29-year-old from Port Colborne, Ont., has nothing but good things to say about former U.S. marine Liz (Girlrilla) Carmouche ahead of their co-main event Wednesday on the UFCs "Fight for the Troops" televised card in Fort Campbell, Ky. http://www.bluejaysonline.com/blue-jays-devon-travis-jersey/ .Y. -- Sabres forward Drew Stafford has witnessed plenty of turmoil during his eight seasons in Buffalo. Marcus Stroman Blue Jays Jersey . "It doesnt get any better than that," Giambi said. "Im speechless." The Indians are roaring toward October. Giambi belted a two-run, pinch-hit homer with two outs in the ninth inning to give Cleveland a shocking 5-4 win over the Chicago White Sox on Tuesday night, keeping the Indians up with the lead pack in the AL wild-card race. Randal Grichuk Blue Jays Jersey . Pence singled in the winning run with no outs in the ninth inning to give the Giants a 7-6 victory over the San Diego Padres on Sunday. FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. -- Frank Ragnow knew better than most how the Arkansas offensive line was struggling for much of the game against Louisiana Tech a week ago.Thats why the Razorbacks guard was so desperate to convince coach Bret Bielema to give the line a chance to redeem itself by putting the final touch on the narrow win over the Bulldogs.The coach listened to the pleas of his linemen, who then led the way for a fourth-and-inches conversion with just over a minute remaining to secure the 21-20 season-opening victory.I think we were all kind of pumped up at that moment and we realized that maybe we hadnt played the greatest game, but we wanted to seal it, Ragnow said. Me and (left tackle Dan Skipper) were definitely looking in (Bielemas) eyes and telling him, `Hand the ball off, we can get them.The late fourth-down conversion helped Arkansas avert a familiar early-season disaster, similar to a shocking loss to Toledo a year ago. It also gave a much-needed boost of confidence to an offensive line that featured three new starters from a year ago and allowed four sacks in the win over Louisiana Tech.I really thought, `I need to do this for our offensive line. I need to do this for what we need to do to seal the game and win it, Bielema said. I felt it was important to do.To put the first-week blocking woes into perspective, consider that the Razorbacks allowed a total of 14 sacks in each of the last two seasons -- and only eight in Bielemas first season in 2013. And after averaging 5 yards per russh a year ago, Arkansas gained only 106 yards on the ground on 40 carries against Louisiana Tech, an average of 2.dddddddddddd7 per carry.Ragnow and Skipper are the lone two returning linemen from last years talented group that featured current Tennessee Titans guard Sebastian Tretola, among others. This years newcomers -- Colton Jackson, Hjalte Froholdt and Jake Raulerson -- played well at times last week, but they were also slow to react to Louisiana Techs adjustments.Bielema and Arkansas offensive line coach Kurt Anderson said several of the mistakes, and sacks, were a result of miscues by players not on the offensive line.However, they also know the line must rapidly improve as it prepares to face a TCU team that had four sacks in a season-opening 59-41 win over South Dakota State. The Horned Frogs averaged nearly 2 + sacks per game a year ago, and that was without injured defensive end James McFarland.McFarland, who led TCU in sacks two years ago, returned and had a sack in last weeks victory. The senior plays opposite fellow end Josh Carraway, who had nine sacks last season, to give the Horned Frogs a rush tandem that should test exactly how far Arkansas offensive line has come in one week.No one likes giving up sacks; every sack is on the offensive line, Anderson said. If (the quarterback) wants to stand back there for 14 seconds, we have to block for 14 seconds. ' ' '