The Rockies may have only gone 3-3 over the past week, but it's clear that their Hitting is starting to sizzle. After scoring 3 or less runs in 15 of 17 games, the Rockies have now had 5 or more runs in 8 of the last 9, a period in which they are 6-3.
The Rockies have found over the last several years that interleague play can be a big boost. Although the Rockies had their first inter-league game of the season last night, the rest of the division played 3 games in May while the Rockies were swept by the Brewers. Last night the NL went 4-10 against the Junior Circuit, with the Rockies, D-Backs, Cubs, and Nationals winning. I find myself rooting for the AL in the non-Rockies games, because we don't actually compete with the AL for playoff spots. Another reason I don't really like Interleague games.
The Rockies are now 29-8 at Home against the AL in the past 6 seasons and 49-30 overall.
Saturday, June 18, 2011
Saturday, June 11, 2011
Winning Streaks
The Rockies managed to hold on to a 6-5 win last night to get their 3rd winning streak of more than two games. The first two were their first two winning streaks of the year--a 4 and a 7 game winning streak en route to a 11-2 start.
Since then, the Rockies have won 2 consecutive games only twice, going 17-30 with 15 individual wins. Their longest losing streak this year has been 4 games (twice) and 3 games (twice).
If you can take a positive away from the winning streak drought, then you can take heart in the fact that nobody in the West or even the entire NL has run away with anything. Not one Major League team is over .600 going into Saturday's action. That has never been the case on June 10th, since before the Rockies came into the Major Leagues. This works in their favor if they are indeed in the middle of a turnaround.
Last night the Rockies strung together 6 consecutive singles scoring 4 runs and scored another on the 6th single in 8 batters. Just an example of how little hits can be productive. It also helped to have an error and a wild pitch, but contrast the game where they got 14 hits and only 1 Run on May 30th. In fact the Rockies over the past 3 games have had only 2 Home Runs both Solos, among their 40 hits scoring 23 runs. In the previous 9 games the Rockies scored a total of 16 runs with four home runs.
Since then, the Rockies have won 2 consecutive games only twice, going 17-30 with 15 individual wins. Their longest losing streak this year has been 4 games (twice) and 3 games (twice).
If you can take a positive away from the winning streak drought, then you can take heart in the fact that nobody in the West or even the entire NL has run away with anything. Not one Major League team is over .600 going into Saturday's action. That has never been the case on June 10th, since before the Rockies came into the Major Leagues. This works in their favor if they are indeed in the middle of a turnaround.
Last night the Rockies strung together 6 consecutive singles scoring 4 runs and scored another on the 6th single in 8 batters. Just an example of how little hits can be productive. It also helped to have an error and a wild pitch, but contrast the game where they got 14 hits and only 1 Run on May 30th. In fact the Rockies over the past 3 games have had only 2 Home Runs both Solos, among their 40 hits scoring 23 runs. In the previous 9 games the Rockies scored a total of 16 runs with four home runs.
Friday, June 3, 2011
The Flip in the Standings
Exactly 4 weeks ago, the Rockies headed into San Francisco sporting a 4 game lead over the 2nd Place Giants. The Giants promptly swept the 3 game series and have been rolling since going 16-9 in the past month. The Rockies as we know have gone in the opposite direction, going 8-18 in the past 4 weeks.
Tonight the Rockies head into San Francisco, trailing the 1st Place Giants by 4.5 games. Although not a must win situation for the Rockies, it's imperative that they avoid being swept again. By Sunday, they could be either 1.5 games or 7.5 games behind the Giants depending on the results, and they will not see them again until September 15th.
Tonight the Rockies head into San Francisco, trailing the 1st Place Giants by 4.5 games. Although not a must win situation for the Rockies, it's imperative that they avoid being swept again. By Sunday, they could be either 1.5 games or 7.5 games behind the Giants depending on the results, and they will not see them again until September 15th.
Thursday, June 2, 2011
It's J--imenez, U--baldo's N--ifty E--ffort!
Ok, so it's a new month and only one game, but it was great to see the old Ubaldo back. Getting his 2nd complete game of the season but only his first win.
It's hard to lose a shutout, and the Rockies only managed 3 runs on offense, but it's a win nonetheless.
An off day today, followed by 3 crucial games by the Bay. Juan Nicasio gets his 2nd start on Friday against Matt Cain.
STATS: The Rockies last won 3 games in a row April 13-15 at the tail end of their 7 game winning streak through Pittsburgh, New York and the first game against Chicago...The Rockies continue to score rather consistently during the first 8 innings, Ranging from 36 runs in the 1st Inning to 23 in the 8th, but still have only scored 3 runs in the 9th inning. Totals in inning order 36-30-25-30-29-32-34-23-3. Meanwhile the opponents are scattered from 17 to 36 runs in any given inning: 36-20-35-28-20-25-30-19-17...Only 13 of the Rockies first 55 games have been decided after the 6th inning. That means that 76% of the time you can turn off the game at the end of the 6th and know the decision...But wait, 5 of those games were tied going into the 7th inning and in 2 the team leading after 6 still won, so with 1 team leading after 6 innings you've known the outcome 88% of the time..The Rockies still have not had a walk-off win after 28 Home games...There have been 0 Grand Slams by the Rockies or their Opponents 1/3 of the way through the season...The Rockies have 10 3-Run, and 11 2-Run Homers to go with their 32 Solo Homers. That's 21 multi-run Homers vs. 32 Solo's.
It's hard to lose a shutout, and the Rockies only managed 3 runs on offense, but it's a win nonetheless.
An off day today, followed by 3 crucial games by the Bay. Juan Nicasio gets his 2nd start on Friday against Matt Cain.
STATS: The Rockies last won 3 games in a row April 13-15 at the tail end of their 7 game winning streak through Pittsburgh, New York and the first game against Chicago...The Rockies continue to score rather consistently during the first 8 innings, Ranging from 36 runs in the 1st Inning to 23 in the 8th, but still have only scored 3 runs in the 9th inning. Totals in inning order 36-30-25-30-29-32-34-23-3. Meanwhile the opponents are scattered from 17 to 36 runs in any given inning: 36-20-35-28-20-25-30-19-17...Only 13 of the Rockies first 55 games have been decided after the 6th inning. That means that 76% of the time you can turn off the game at the end of the 6th and know the decision...But wait, 5 of those games were tied going into the 7th inning and in 2 the team leading after 6 still won, so with 1 team leading after 6 innings you've known the outcome 88% of the time..The Rockies still have not had a walk-off win after 28 Home games...There have been 0 Grand Slams by the Rockies or their Opponents 1/3 of the way through the season...The Rockies have 10 3-Run, and 11 2-Run Homers to go with their 32 Solo Homers. That's 21 multi-run Homers vs. 32 Solo's.
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Miserable May Ends 8-21
I've watched baseball for a long time, and I can never remember a team with so much promise having such a horrible month. I've seen bad teams have months like this, but this is hardly a bad team--or is it?
A lot of people are talking about turning the page to June, as if somehow magically with a new month comes new ability or luck. There is nothing that I've witnessed lately that indicates this team will play better. In fact, as much as I hate to say it, this team looks beat.
1. Gonzalez and Fowler collide in the outfield on Monday, letting a ball drop. This is not only fundamentally unsound, the fact that it happened 50 games into the season is inexcusable, and indicates lack of focus.
2. Troy Tulowitski is constantly chirping with the home plate umpires about bad calls, some warranted, but many are good pitches. This is not a leader, it's a chronic complainer. Man up and take the lead. Also a lack of focus.
3. Seth Smith overruns 2nd base with the play in front of him last week. Smith has been arguably one of a very few bright lights this season both in the field and at bat, but this is also showing a lack of focus.
4. Pitchers have very few "clean" innings. By that, I mean 1, 2, 3. They rely a lot on Double Plays to get them out of jams, but if the pitchers wouldn't constantly get into jams, especially with the significant rise in walks this past month. I'd say rarely do the Rockies have more than 2 defensive 1, 2, 3 innings in a game. In the meantime offensively, they seem to go 1,2,3--5 or 6 times a game.
There is absolutely no outward signs of life in the veterans or manager of this team. The one spark that I see is the exuberance of Eric Young, Jr, Chris Nelson, and a couple of the new pitchers they've brought up in the past week.
The season is not yet lost, but this team has to turn everything around quickly and that will be a daunting task. The saving grace is that no other team in the NL West has yet to run away yet. At this point last year the Rockies were also 4 games behind, but were at 27-24. In 2009, they were 20-29, 13.5 games behind and in 2007, they were 25-29 and 6.5 games out.
A lot of people are talking about turning the page to June, as if somehow magically with a new month comes new ability or luck. There is nothing that I've witnessed lately that indicates this team will play better. In fact, as much as I hate to say it, this team looks beat.
1. Gonzalez and Fowler collide in the outfield on Monday, letting a ball drop. This is not only fundamentally unsound, the fact that it happened 50 games into the season is inexcusable, and indicates lack of focus.
2. Troy Tulowitski is constantly chirping with the home plate umpires about bad calls, some warranted, but many are good pitches. This is not a leader, it's a chronic complainer. Man up and take the lead. Also a lack of focus.
3. Seth Smith overruns 2nd base with the play in front of him last week. Smith has been arguably one of a very few bright lights this season both in the field and at bat, but this is also showing a lack of focus.
4. Pitchers have very few "clean" innings. By that, I mean 1, 2, 3. They rely a lot on Double Plays to get them out of jams, but if the pitchers wouldn't constantly get into jams, especially with the significant rise in walks this past month. I'd say rarely do the Rockies have more than 2 defensive 1, 2, 3 innings in a game. In the meantime offensively, they seem to go 1,2,3--5 or 6 times a game.
There is absolutely no outward signs of life in the veterans or manager of this team. The one spark that I see is the exuberance of Eric Young, Jr, Chris Nelson, and a couple of the new pitchers they've brought up in the past week.
The season is not yet lost, but this team has to turn everything around quickly and that will be a daunting task. The saving grace is that no other team in the NL West has yet to run away yet. At this point last year the Rockies were also 4 games behind, but were at 27-24. In 2009, they were 20-29, 13.5 games behind and in 2007, they were 25-29 and 6.5 games out.
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