SWEEP!!!!

One of the reasons the Rockies have been 50-25 under Jim Tracy is that they really have the ability to go out and take it one game at a time. This has resulted in an ability to win a game after a win. During the first 46 games this season before Clint Hurdle was replaced, the Rockies managed to win only 5 times following a win and their longest winning streak was 3 back on the 2nd through 4th games of the season. In the 75 games since, the Rockies have won 35 games following a win--or in other words extended a winning streak. The flip side is that under Hurdle the Rockies lost 14 times after a loss, extending a losing streak. Under Tracy, the Rockies have only lost 9 times--and 3 of those were in his first 6 games.

So you wonder why the Rockies are where they are? Since June 3rd they have had only 6 losing streaks of 2 or more games, and only 1 of them was 3 games. At the same time, they have had 11 winning streaks with 4 of those being only 2 games. The others were 11, 6, 5, 4-twice and 3-twice.

They also have 8 sweeps of series. The surprising part of that stat? 5 of them have been on the road including a 4 gamer in St. Louis. They've also swept at Milwaukee, Oakland, Cincinnati and Washington on the road, while sweeping, Seattle, Pittsburgh, and Washington at home.

They've also feasted on the bad teams. Under Tracy, they've gone 5-1 against Pittsburgh, 6-0 against Washington, 3-0 against Cincinnati, and 5-1 vs. San Diego. That's 19-2 against teams that are 15 games or more under .500. If you throw Arizona (3-3) and Oakland (3-0) in there the Rockies are 25-5 against teams that are currently 10 games or more under .500. Meanwhile the Dodgers are 22-10 against the same teams, over the entire season, and the Giants are 23-15 against them. And just for full comparison, the Rockies for the season against those teams are 32-10.

The bad news about that is the Rockies are 36-43 against the other teams (23-15 under Tracy), and play 22 of their final 41 games against those teams. The Dodgers meanwhile have 25 of their final 40 against the terrible teams. Their only games left against decent teams are against the Giants and Rockies after the 3 remaining games with the Cubs this weekend. The Giants only have 15 games against the terrible teams and 26 against good teams.

As I mentioned yesterday the Rockies are slumping in different aspects of their game, but they are not falling apart. In New York they didn't score in the equivalent of 3 games, before getting 5 straight wins by essentially having good pitching and defense. The Cubs hit a ton getting double digit hits in 3 of the 4 games, but didn't score as the defense got out of jams and the hitting made the most of their hits. The fact that two of the three, Offense, defense, Pitching seem to pick up the 3rd missing part which seems to change daily, preventing the Rockies from going into an extended losing streak. And yeah, I know it's difficult to believe a team is in a slump and has 14-9 record during that stretch, but when we look back on the season, this just-completed 23 game stretch with 16 on the road and struggling as they have, may be the key to the whole season. They've managed to not lose ground and set themselves up well for the final 41 game stretch.

HOME SWEET HOME: Earlier this season the Rockies Played 30 of 45 on the road going 28-17 during that stretch. The counterpart of that problematic schedule is coming up as the Rockies now play 26 of the next 38 at home (not counting the final 3 games in LA). Just as an example if they win one game for every home game left and go 26-15, they will end up 94-68 which certainly would put them in the playoffs.


FACTORS REVISITED: Two weeks ago, I established a 90 game factor as a barometer of how well they were doing with the uneven number of home and away games. It's calculated by taking the home games remaining - the number of wins needed to get 90.

Let's update (Home Games - Wins to 90 - Projected Wins):

Rockies 26 - 22 - 94
Phillies 21 - 22 - 91
Dodgers 19 - 18 - 91
Cardinals 21 - 21 - 90
Giants 22 - 24 - 88
Braves 22 - 26 - 86
Cubs 24 - 29 - 85
Marlins 19 - 26 - 83

Interestingly, of all the teams listed, only the Giants and Cubs have losing records on the Road. The alternate calculation would be Road wins - Home Losses + 81, and the Rockies still lead.

(Road Wins, Home Losses, Projected Wins)

Rockies 36 - 23 - 94
Dodgers 34 - 24 - 91
Cardinals 33 - 24 - 90
Phillies 37 - 29 - 89
Giants 27 - 20 - 88
Braves 32 - 27 - 86
Cubs 26 - 22 - 85
Marlins 30 - 28 - 83