The Pitching Staff

It was bound to happen. Multiple injuries to the pitching staff. After the incredible string of successive starts last year from mid-April when Franklin Morales went down, to late August, when Aaron Cook went down for a month, the Rockies starting staff had been pretty reliable.

In 2010, Jeff Francis, who was out all last year, went down after his last start of Spring Training, and for the first month of the year including tonight, the Rotation has gone, Jimenez, Smith, Cook, De la Rosa, Hammel. The last two are now on the Disabled list and Smith got annihilated on Wednesday, before the Rockies came back, and subsequently the bullpen ultimately blew the game.

Tomorrow, a guest starter will be in the lineup--expected to be Esmil Rogers, and Jhoulys Chacin will take the hill on Sunday against the Giants.

Let's go back to Smith. Smith pitched the first game of the DH on Saturday, and pitched Wednesday on only 3 days rest. Whether that had something to do with it, we will see on Tuesday in San Diego.

I'm not going to sugar coat it, the Pitching has been a problem all year. With the exception of Jimenez who is a strong candidate for Pitcher of the Month at 5-0, none of the starters have really been consistent. Cook showed signs of his former brilliance last Saturday in the nightcap, when his sinkerball was finally working. If he follows that up tonight with a good outing, then that for now, will alleviate one of the problems. The big question will be when does de la Rosa return? If it's only a couple weeks that he's down, then the Rockies can probably weather this storm, but if it's a month or longer, a trade may be necessary for a veteran starter, because the Rockies can't afford to be patient with their young pitchers, like they have the past few years. Chacin, Rogers, or Smith will have to either come through and then Francis and Hammel will have to come back from the DL strong.

You could see the change coming--Miguel Olivo has been tremendous in the early going while Chris Iannetta was mightily struggling in his starts. Iannetta was sent down on Monday to get more AB's while the Rockies continue to ride Olivo's back, both offensively and defensively. I expect Iannetta to be back--the Rockies have invested too much in him to be done with him--but for now, Olivo is an exciting player to watch.

With a win tonight the Rockies will have their first winning April since 2006 when they were 15-10. Even with a loss it will be their best April since then. They have been 10-16, 11-17, and 8-12 over the past 3 years.