Rockies Finish April 17-8

It certainly wasn't a pretty month, but it was a successful month. The Rockies finished their 2nd best April ever with a win over the Pirates 4-1 on Saturday night. Only 1997 saw a better April, with a 17-7 record, so the 17 wins ties their best April Mark as well.

The Rockies also finished April 7-5 at home which equals their Home record of 2010. A local writer today referred to this as "struggling at home" when in reality, the Rockies rarely get off to a winning record at home early, even though at the end of the season, they usually approach 50 wins or more.

The last time the Rockies had an overall winning April was 2006 when they started off 15-10.

Jim Tracy finally took my advice and dropped Carlos Gonzalez from the 3 hole in the lineup. He only dropped him to 5th, but in his first two at bats he got two hits. The first hit--a double to left field led to 4 runs in the 2nd.

The Rockies have managed to win 17 games 14 by starters, none of them named Ubaldo.

SEASON SERIES: Sunday will be the last game of the season between the Rockies and Pirates and will be the first opponent they are finished with. The Rockies would be done with the Cubs also, but the rainout continued the series to June. Going into May, the Rockies have already clinched 3 season series against the Mets (4-0 with 3 games remaining); Cubs (4-1 with 1 game remaining) and the Pirates (4-2 with 1 game remaining).

The Rockies currently lead in one other series 2-0 vs. the Dodgers with 16 to play.

They are tied with the D-Backs 1-1 with 16 to play, and trail against the Giants (1-2 16 to play) and the Marlins (1-2 with 3 to Play in August @Coors)

The Friday Curse Continues

Once again the Rockies were felled by Friday, getting shutout by the Pirates 3-0. This brings their 2011 Friday record to 1-4, while the other 6 days has them 15-4, with no more than 1 loss on any other day. They are still a perfect 6-0 on Wednesdays and Thursdays--two days they didn't play this week.

Alfredo Amezaga a 33 Year old journeyman made a successful return to the Rockies Friday night. A defensive replacement for Seth Smith in a double switch, Amezaga grounded a single to right in the 8th inning, and made it to second on a passed ball. Amezaga last played for the Rockies in two games in 2005, and has 1332 Career At Bats mostly with Anaheim and Florida. He wore number 99 last night previously worn by Turk Wendell in 2004.

Dexter Fowler struck out 3 more times Friday night and now has 34 K's in 111 Plate Appearances...Carlos Gonzalez got his first hit since April 18, with a bunt single in the 9th...Since April 14th after homering in 4 straight games in New York, Troy Tulowitzki has 4 Doubles and a Triple as his only extra base hits.

Hurdle Returns to Manage at Coors Field

Tonight marks the return of Clint Hurdle as a Manager at Coors Field, for the first time since May 27, 2009. Clint is currently on a 5 game losing streak as a Manager at Coors, as his team had been outscored 27-51 in his last 5 games. His last victory at Coors was a 12-1 win over the Astros on 5/12/09, the last of 7 wins they had in 2009 with Hurdle as the Rockies Skipper against 13 losses.

I'm curious to see the welcome that Hurdle will get this weekend from the crowd at Coors Field. I'm hoping it will be warm when he's announced in the pre-game lineups. After all, he was the right manager to have when the young players needed some coddling. He's in a similar situation with the Pirates, and I wish him well--after Sunday

Off Days

For the second time this month, the Rockies have had the last game of a series postponed just before an off day giving them two consecutive days off. The first happened on April 3, and the 2nd happening yesterday. This combined with the Rainout in NY resulted in the Rockies having 6 off days in April (Barring a rainout tomorrow or Saturday.) Plus they have an off day on Monday.

This may be a bit of a blessing for the Rockies as they have been playing in fairly rotten weather most of the month. It also gives the pitching staff some rest, good for the bullpen, but may not be so good for the Starters. Depending on what they do after Chacin pitches Friday, Esmil Rogers and/or Jason Hammel may skip a start completely.

Here are the last starts:
4/22 @Fla--Chacin
4/23 @Fla--Hammel
4/24 @Fla--Jimenez
4/25 @Chic--Rogers
4/26 @Chic--de la Rosa

Here's my ideal Rotation through Mid-May:
4/29 Pitt--Chacin
4/30 Pitt--Jimenez
5/1 Pitt--de la Rosa
5/3 @Ariz--Hammel
5/4 @Ariz--Rogers
5/5 @Ariz--Chacin
5/6 @SF--Jimenez
5/7 @SF--de la Rosa
5/8 @SF--Hammel
5/9 NYM--Rogers
5/10 NYM--Chacin
5/11 NYM--Jimenez
5/13 SD--de la Rosa
5/14 SD--Hammel
5/15 SD--Rogers

The following week brings two games against the Giants at home followed by two in Philadelphia. The Rockies would be set up to pitch their top 3 starters in the first 3 games of those 4.

UPDATE: It appears the Rockies will skip Esmil Rogers altogether, until Next Saturday, May 7th:
4/29 Pitt--Chacin
4/30 Pitt--Hammel
5/1 Pitt--Jimenez
5/3 @Ariz--de la Rosa
5/4 @Ariz--Chacin
5/5 @Ariz--Hammel
5/6 @SF--Jimenez
5/7 @SF--Rogers
5/8 @SF--de la Rosa
5/9 NYM--Chacin
5/10 NYM--Hammel
5/11 NYM--Jimenez
5/13 SD--Rogers
5/14 SD--de la Rosa
5/15 SD--Chacin

Give and Take

Over the course of a 162 game season, there are going to be several games that you point to and wish you had back, as well as others that you look at as being handed to you. The Rockies took the latter, and the Dodgers gave the former on Monday night. As the Marlins were down to their last out, before rallying to beat the Dodgers in Miami, the Rockies were capitalizing on 4 Cubs errors to win the Opener at Wrigley 5-3.

The Rockies have now held their opponent to 3 runs or less 6 times and have a perfect 6-0 record in those games. Meanwhile they are 3-6 in games that they scored 3 or less runs, their only loss with more than 3 runs was opening day when they scored 6 in the loss.

Time for Cargo to Go Down?

No, no, no. Not to the Minors or even the bench. But watching Carlos Gonzalez struggle this season, especially with runners on base, makes me wonder why Jim Tracy hasn't tried moving him down to 6 or 7 in the order and moving Seth Smith up to #3.

He is currently mired in an 0-18 slump, and is batting .228 for the season. No doubt he will turn it around, but for now does it make more sense to move him lower in the lineup?

Meanwhile, Dexter Fowler is answering questions about his ability to hit from the left side. Although his Batting Average is only .277 from the left side vs. Right (.294), all 14 of his walks have come from the Left side, giving him a .400 OBP vs. the same .294. He does need to cut down on the whiffs though, as he is striking out about 1 in 3 times no matter which side of the plate he hits from, 27 Total.

Worst Week of the Season and Still 3 Games Up

No doubt about it, it was an ugly week. The Rockies have now lost 5 of the past 8 games, and their bats have been stifled--three times in the past 6 games they have entered the 6th inning without a hit.

And although their record dropped from 11-2 to 14-7, the Rockies still maintain at least a 3 game lead over the Dodgers and 4 over the Giants. In fact since Friday, April 15th, the Rockies, Giants and D-Backs have all gone 3-5, Padres 2-7. Only the Dodgers have won more than 3 games in the West going 6-3.

Rockies Win; Rest of West Loses

The Rockies regained their 4 game lead on the Giants and Dodgers, as they eeked out 3 runs on a single, Sac Fly and suicide squeeze play as Jason Hammel kept the Marlins at bay. The Rockies prevailed over the Fish 3-1.

Meanwhile, the Giants, D-Backs and Padres all lost for the 3rd time in a row, while the Dodgers lost to the Cubs at Wrigley. Hammel won his 2nd game, and Huston Street shut the Marlins down in order in the 9th, to secure his league leading 7th Save.

Sunday, Ubaldo Jimenez takes on Josh Johnson in the Series Finale.

Rockies lose in Florida

Marlins 4 Rockies 1 as Fowler breaks up No-hitter in 9th

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Getting Untracked

It probably sounds absurd to say that a team that is 13-5, needs to play better, but it really feels that way with the Rockies. But then looking at the stats, it seems like they are playing well, it just doesn't feel like it. They are 2nd in the league in runs scored per game, at 5.50 rpg. They are 9th in the league in Average, but 3rd in OBP. It also seems like they are striking out less often, but in reality, their K's per game are slightly higher than last year. And with all the talk of Dexter Fowler's improvement, he leads the team in strikeouts with 22. That's way too many for a leadoff hitter.

The pitching has not been too bad, but it's only average in League terms. ERA is 9th in the league at 3.74. Strikeouts are 12th, Walks are 8th. They are 1st in Wild Pitches.

I point this out not to disparage the team as a half-empty perspective but actually to look at it from a half-full perspective. The wins have depended a lot on their defense and league leading Double Plays. But the 13-5 record including 7 straight wins, has not been because of any kind of solid roll, but because key things happen in each game.

When the Rockies put their hitting and or pitching together consistently with the fielding, this team could go on a serious winning streak.

For now, we can be happy that we are the Rockies at 13-5, rather than the Mets at 6-13.

As Expected: 3 Pitcher's Duels Or Not

16-14

What was expected to be some good pitching matchups instead turned into 3 one-sided games two of them in favor of the Giants. Tim Lincecum lived up to his billing, throwing a no-hitter for 6 1/3 innings in game 1, before the Rockies pieced together two hits to get on the board. But 5 runs in the first and 8 in the first 3 innings was too much to overcome and the Rockies fell 8-1.

Ubaldo Jimenez took the mound in Game 2, and was promptly rocked for 4 runs in the 1st. He settled down for 4 more innings, but the 4 runs were more than Jonathan Sanchez would need, as the Giants won again 6-3.

On Wednesday, Matt Cain waited until the 2nd inning to give up 4 runs, and the Rockies would tack on 6 more to hit double digits in Runs for the first time all season, Rocking the Giants in a 10-2 rout.

The Rockies maintain a 3 game lead over the Giants as they head out for 12 of the next 15 on the Road. Two six game road trips broken up by a 3 game series against the Pirates next weekend. Their next 4 series take place in 4 different time zones, going from Eastern to Pacific in order.

The Rockies will need to prove that the first road trip was not a fluke, and will try to improve on their 7-1 road start.

Giant Showdown

Through the first 15 games of the season, the Rockies are 4 games better than the Giants, who head into Denver for a 3 game series on Monday Night. The Rockies have only played 4 games against the West going 3-1, while the Giants have completed 12 against the West going 6-6. The Giants will be the first NL West Team to play all four of it's division foes with the games against the Rockies. The Rockies won't play San Diego until May 13th, the same day Arizona and the Dodgers play for the first time.

The Giants have started slowly on the road this season, starting off 1-4, but have won 3 of the last 4 on the road, losing Sunday to the D-Backs in 12 innings. The Giants will be the first Rockies opponent this season who had a winning record last season, while the Giants have already played the Padres and Cardinals, going 3-2 against those two teams.

Tim Lincecum will face Esmil Rogers in the Opener on Monday.

The Start of the Start...

Every spring you hear every team talk about getting off to a good start. But how do you measure when the start is over? Is it the first two weeks? The first month? Two months? Longer?

As I've talked about before, the season for me is broken into parts. The Rockies of 2007-2009 all hit the same point at 18-27 which is 45 games into the season, and then had different results after. A "start" would be somewhere in between the first 6th (27 games) and the first quarter which is 40 games. For the Rockies this season, without any more rainouts or snowouts, would hit 27 games May 1st, and 40 games on May 16th. May 1st would end their 3rd homestand and May 17th would end their 4th Home stand, so let's look at where they are on May 1st and May 17th.

But either way, a start is not the first two weeks of the season. In 1997 the Rockies got off to a 10-3 start on the way to a high point of 21-9 in early May before going 24-46 in the next 2.5 months, then finishing 38-24 and had a final 83-79 record.

There are highs and lows in any season, and the strange thing about the Rockies so far is that they haven't "looked" like they are on fire, but they are doing enough to get by with the wins, and admittedly they have been playing mediocre teams for the most part. Despite that, they have not had tremendous success in either Pittsburgh or New York.

Pitching has not been bad, and there have been a couple of strong starts, but not overpowering. And don't forget that Ubaldo has not really been in the picture yet, but you have to like the gutsiness of Greg Reynolds, and Esmil Rogers.

Tulo is the only player who has been anything like on fire. 7 home runs in the past 10 games and seems to be proving that last September was not a fluke. He has definitely taken over leadership of this team as well.

Lots of positives so far in the Rockies first two weeks. But the start is not over--yet.

BEST RECORD IN BASEBALL!

It may be short-lived (for now) but had to note that with the Rangers loss this afternoon dropping them to 9-3, the Rockies currently have the best record in baseball at .778 Winning Pct (7-2).

Curious to know if the Rockies have ever had sole possession of the best record in baseball in any of their previous 18 seasons.

Friday, Friday--Can't Trust That Day

The Rockies are off to a good start, going 4-0 on days without an "F" in them, and 0-2 on those that do have an F.

Not only that, but both of their losses have been extra innings, and one-run, so their back into the losing close game modes.

But let's look at the positives: The Rockies put together a 4 game winning streak between Fridays something they didn't do in 2010 until May 26th, and in 2009 June 7th.

They have been in first place a total of 3 playing days, which is one less day than they've been in first in the past 4 years 2007-2010 (does that surprise you as much as it did me?)

The Rockies have had some setbacks, most notably Ubaldo Jimenez struggling in the opener and going down for two weeks, Ian Stewart continuing to be slowed by an injury and illness. But they have also sparkled. Esmil Rogers pitched a gem on Thursday, and Jhoulis Chacin helped the Rockies record their first shutout. On offense, Jose Lopez and Ty Winnington have contributed as starters and helped get the Rockies off to the fast start.

But temper all the excitement with the fact that the Rockies have not played anyone yet who had a winning record in 2010, and won't until the Giants come to town for Game 16 on April 18th.

On the other hand, the Rockies had a combined 19-24 record against the D-Backs, Dodgers and Pirates, so the Rockies are doing exactly what they need to do at the start of the season.