Flashes of Brilliance

The 2016 Rockies had an up and down first third of the season.  Playing .500 on the road, but flailing at home until the last homestand, they struggled to a 24-31 start.   They have blown numerous big leads and 15 leads overall, while coming from behind 11 times.  

Three players have over 15 Home runs, two players have 4 triples and four players have over 15 doubles.  One player, Trevor Story, is on all three of those lists.

The Pitching rotaion has primarily involved seven players, with impressive starts by most of them, and some consistency showing among Chatwood, Butler, Gray, and Rusin.  Bettis was good early but has struggled the last few weeks.  Add Tyler Anderson's impressive debut Sunday against the Padres, and the Rockies may have the makings of a strong rotation.  It won't rival the Dodgers and Giants, but it may suffice for the Rockies, as they have already racked up five shutouts including an impressive 1-0 game at Dodger Stadium last week.

So can they make a run this season and contend for the Division or Wild Card?  If they are the time may be now in the next 50 games over the next 8 weeks.  Currently one game under .500, they play 25 of their next 50 at home and have only two off days besides the 4 day All-Star Break.  13 games are against the West, and play their remaining 15 Inter-League Games, with the rest of the 22 games against the NL East.  That's right, 0 games against the NL Central where they are 7-13.  (Their next NL Central game is August 19th against the Cubs.)  

Will they take advantage of this stretch? Stay tuned.

Tulo Whatzki?

I was determined not to make a pun of Trevor Story's name in the first post about the new shortstop of the Rockies, so I didn't even though this  players first three games were like no other before him.

Trevor became the Rockies starting SS after Jose Reyes had some domestic issues and currently is not suspended but also not allowed to play at the moment.  Entering spring training it was a battle between Trevor and Cristhian Adames who played some games in September last year.  Both players ultimately made the roster with Story getting the starting assignment at SS in the end.

In case you missed it, Trevor Story hit 4 home runs in his first three games in the majors, some thing no other player has done before.  In addition only 26 other players in the history of Major League baseball have hit home runs in the first 3 games of the season.  Of those only 4 other players have hit 4 home runs in those 3 games

Now Story comes to Coors Field and has a chance to match the longest Home Run streak to start a season which would tie him with Mark McGwire and Willie Mays.  Nobody has hit home runs in the first 5 games of a season before.

The 2016 Rockies

I remain optimistic that the Rockies can improve over the past few years, but they are going to need a lot of improvement in pitching.   Offensively they look solid from top to bottom.  Defensively, they have some of the best players, but the pitching cannot blow large leads on a regular basis as in the D-Backs series this week.  Although they won two of the three, they let the D-Backs get back into every game after taking a good lead early.

But a 2-1 opening on the road is good although last year they won their first 6 on the road.

NOTES:   The San Diego Padres come into Coors Field on Friday night looking for their first run after getting shutout in their first 3 games to the Dodgers.  Another MLB first for a team to start the season getting shutout 3 times.  The flip side is the Dodgers are the first team to get 3 shutouts to start the season.