Half Empty or Half Full?

Half Full: Rockies are in First Place
Half Empty: Dodgers are going to get hot soon.

Winning Small

Through the first 15 games the Rockies have only been able to score more than 4 runs 6 times, and have lost 2 of those games.   On the other hand their opponent has only scored more than 4 runs 6 times, and the Rockies have lost all 6 of  those games.  The surprising stat is that the Rockies have held their opponents to less than 5 runs 9 times and they are 8-1 in those games losing only to Atlanta 4-0 this past Sunday.  The pitching has contributed the way the Rockies set it up, with very few bad starts.  Jon Gray and Tyler Anderson came out of the gate going a combined 6 1/3 innings and giving up 10 runs between them.    Since then the Rockies Starters have averaged 5.41 innings per start which has alleviated the load on the bullpen early. 

QUIRKS OF THE SCHEDULE:   The new Collective Bargaining Agreement provides for 4 more off days per season, which is why the season started on a Thursday this year.  The Rockies have only had one scheduled off day, April 1st after playing an excruciating three game set in Arizona.   They are now in the midst of a 17 day game schedule before having their 2nd off day next Thursday, which will be the longest stretch they play all season with another 17 day stretch in July and August Meanwhile, the Giants, Dodgers, D-Backs  will have 3 days off from April 2nd through 18th.  The Padres are also playing 17 straight, including 7 of them against the Rockies.   The Rockies will have 3 total off days in April, 5 in May, 3 in June,  4 in July (not including the All-Star Break), 3 in August, and only 2 in September.  This means they only have 5 days off after July 26th, playing 61 games in that span. The Padres have 5 in September alone. All four of the other NL West teams have 8 days off after July 26th. 

QUICK START: In 2017 the Rockies got out to a 10-5 record in their first 15 but were tied with the D-Backs at that point.  This year the D-Backs have jumped out to a 10-3 record and are in first by themselves.

It Was A Very Good Year

It wasn't fun to go out after one game, and I'm not a fan of one game "Series" in baseball, but that's another story.

In the end, outside of the Wild Card Game, the Rockies were let down by their hitting, more specifically their run scoring.   The Rockies had 8 Starting Pitchers, 4 Rookies and 4 "Veterans", and if this year is an indication, the near future could be pretty bright.

The Rookies combined for 93 Starts with 552 Innings Pitched and a 38-28 Record.  The Veterans only had 69 starts for 390 innings and a 26-29.  That of course includes Chad Bettis who amazingly came back for the last two months of the year, and barring any more setbacks should be stronger next year.

But if I told you in February that the veterans who were expected to make up 80% of the rotation this year would have less than 400 innings pitched this year, you probably would have told me this would be a down season. But the Rookies got their chances and made the best of it, and now the Rockies have 7 experienced starters going into 2018 before the hot stove league heats up. 

The Rockies were exciting, getting off to a 47-26 record in the first 2.5 months, and staying in the thick of a three-way race with the Dodgers and D-Backs.  Then came the 8 game losing streak part of a 5-15 stretch that saw the Rockies fail to win more than one game in a row. while the Dodgers went on a winning run the likes of which haven't been seen in a long time.  By the end of July, the Rockies were 14.5 games behind, but still in contention for the home wild card and comfortably ahead of Milwaukee for the Visitors Wild Card.

In the end, the Rockies finished with an 87-75 record--third best record of all-time behind 2009 and 2007.  They never had a losing record and for the 2nd time had a winning road record.

There's plenty to improve on in 2018, but there is a good core to start with pending the Free Agents, Trades and signings

Free Agents (from 40 Man Roster):

Greg Holland
Carlos Gonzalez
Jonathan Lucroy
Pat Neshek
Jake McGee
Tyler Chatwood
Mark Reynolds
Ryan Hanigan
Alexi Amarista

The Rockies have offered Holland a Qualifying Offer which preserves their rights to a draft pick if Holland is signed by someone else.

The Rockies will likely pursue Lucroy, and a couple of the relievers like Neshek or McGee along with Holland.  It's also likely they will move forward without Reynolds who has made great contributions at first the past couple of years.

All in all the Rockies had a very good year, and will look to make it a great one in 2018.

The Long and Winding Road That Leads To Your Door

Baseball is a long season.  162 games played over 6 months is the longest season in American Pro Sports.  Baseball still has the shortest post season, as the entire playoffs will take place over 29 days in October and possibly November 1st.

Let's admit it--after the first 2.5 months, we didn't think it would come down to the last weekend for the last Wild Card position, if anything we were hoping for a chance to clinch the West Division.  But the past 3.5 months have told a different story.

Going into the weekend, FiveThirtyEight.com gives the Rockies a 94% chance to make the playoffs and Milwaukee only has 6% chance.  But remember 2007 where San Diego went into Milwaukee needing 3 wins and/or Rockies losses to get the Wild Card Spot with 3 games to play.  On Friday, the Padres won while the Rockies lost to the D-Backs ending the 11 game winning streak and putting the Magic Number of 1 which meant they would have to lose 3 in a row including a Tie Breaker game, while the Rockies would have to win all 3 (which meant the Rockies magic number was essentially 6.)

Everything broke the Rockies way in their improbable win to the 2007 World Series, so don't start the celebration yet.  The Rockies also have made the playoffs 3 times as a Wild Card entry and all three times they have clinched the Wild Card on October 1st.  Expect this to go down to Sunday.  In 2018 the season ends on September 30th, but we will deal with that later.

It should be a fun weekend, just like this has been a fun season.

I Gotta Feeling That Tonight's Gonna Be a Good Night

Today is the 10th Anniversary of the start of THE greatest run in Rockies History and one of the greatest runs in MLB history, the 2007 drive to Rocktober.

The Rockies had just returned from a split of a four game series in Philadelphia, and promptly lost the first two games to the Marlins 7-6 and 10-2, and had the 7th best record in the NL at 76-72 4.5 games behind the Padres with 14 regular season games to play.   On Sunday, the Rockies casually won the series finale against the Marlins 13-0 where Todd Helton hit his 300th Home Run, and had Monday off.

On Tuesday, a double header was scheduled with the Dodgers, and Jeff Francis pitched a 3-1 gem during the day game, and the Rockies, while the night cap came down to the 9th inning trailing by a run, facing Dodgers Closer Takashi Saito, who the Rockies were hitless against for the season.   Saito got a ground out and strikeout, and faced Matt Holliday, who singled on the first pitch to Right Field.   Todd Helton came up and on a 1-2 pitch hit home run #301 to Right Center Field to win the game, tossing his helmet as he came home and the run was on.

As the Rockies drive to the playoffs once again, many of the retired 2007 Players returned for a reunion Friday night at Coors Field, to celebrate the improbable finish.

Oh, Yes, They Call Him the Streak

The Indians today set an American League record for consecutive wins with their 21st.
Last night, the Dodgers ended their longest losing streak in Los Angeles at 11.
Tonight, the Rockies go after their season high tying 7th win in a row and thier franchise tying 9th win in a row on the road.

Winning streaks are fun, losing streaks are frustrating.  And streaks don't just end with the one win or loss, you have to sustain it over a period of time.  The Dodgers earlier this season, won 59 of 72 games, the Rockies in 2007 won 20 of 21.  In 2009 they won 17 of 18.  In 2010, they won 10 in a row and 13 of 15 before turning it around and losing 13 of 14 to finish the season.

The point of all this is just to temper the excitement that comes with a winning strreak or keep perspective when your team is losing.  Cleveland has won 20 regular season games which means nothing other than their seeding in the playoffs. The streak will end at some point, will it go straight into a nosedive like the 2010 Rockies, or take them to the World Series like the 2007 Rockies.

DODGERS QUIETLY CLINCH:  The Dodgers have clinched a spot in the playoffs, althourgh many people will tell you that they still have a magic number of 2 ESPN actually has this correct.  The Reason:  The Cardinals need to win all but one of their games to catch the Dodgers and Milwaukee would have to win all of their games plus a tiebreaker game against the Dodgers (and the Dodgers would have to lose all their games.)  The Cubs can win all but 4 to catch the Dodgers if they lost all their games. Problem is the Cubs have 7 games against the Cardinals, and 4 against Milwaukee, while Milwaukee and St. Louis have the final 3 games against each other.  Only one team could possibly win all their games, which would give them the NL Central Division, while the H2H would knock the other two out of reach of the Dodgers.  Therefore the Dodgers have clinched the Visitor's Wild Card.

Oh Baby, Don't Mess With Me

The Rockies could have made it a lot easier on themselves by winning just a few more times in June, July, August, and Early September.  

But they didn't.  So they entered the current 8 game road trip with only a 2 game lead over St. Louis, and 2.5 over Milwaukee for the Visitor Wild Card Spot, and 7.5 games behind the D-Backs for the Home Wild Card Spot.

Realistically, they were looking at falling behind St. Louis or Milwaukee by the end of the trip as they were 1-5 in these two parks in June, and losing 24 of their past 33 on the road (although they had won 3 of their last 4 on the Road Trip.)  The most optimistic person, may have hoped for a 5-3 record, but more realistically it would be 3-5.

Instead the Rockies have put together a 5 game winning streak, and guarnteed that they will head home Friday night with the Visitor Wild Card lead.   They are also now 1.5 games ahead of the NL Central leading Cubs.

Nolan Arenado got annoyed by the fans behind the on-deck circle and transformed it into a 3 run homer in the 8th.

Magic number is now down to 16 over the Cardinals for Visitor Wild Card, 23 for the Home Wild Card.  

Lightning is Striking Again

It hadn't happened in 24 years, but it happened when it needed to:  The Rockies swept a four game series at Dodger Stadium for the 2nd time in their history, and the first time since August 8-11, 1993.
The Rockies used a good mix of starting pitching, timely hitting, and fantastic relief pitching to win the four games, go 6-1 for the week.  By Thursday, the Rockies had stretched their Visitor Wild Card lead back to 3 after Milwaukee closed to 1/2 game last Sunday, but the Cards and Brewers all swept their weekend series, to keep pace with the Rockies.  Meanwhile the D-Backs dropped 2 of 3 to the Padres as the Rockies closed to within 5 games of Arizona as they head to Phoenix for a 4 game series.

The Dodgers have lost 10 in a row, which is the longest losing streak in MLB this season, and ties the longest in their Los Angeles history. It also happened to them in 1961 and 1987.  They have also lost 15 of their last 16. Prior that they lost 15 games out of 74 from May 31st to August  25th.  9 of the last 15 losses have been at home.  They now go on a 10 game road trip to San Francisco, Washington and Philadelphia.  As bad as the Rockies 3-6 homestand last week, the Dodgers went 0-7 on this one.

The good news is the Rockies passed the Central Leading Cubs by a game, which means two of the three Central teams Cubs, Brewers and Cards have to pass them for the Rockies not to make the playoffs, but all three play teams with losing records early in the week, but over the final 17 days of the season, 2 of the 3 Central teams will play each other, meaning there are 14 losses between them.

Here's the remaining schedule (all series 3 games unless noted) Bold Playoff Contenders:

Los Angeles: Home (6)--San Francisco, San Diego; Away(13)--San Francisco, Washington, Philadelphia, Colorado

Arizona:  Home(10)--Colorado (4), Miami, San Francisco; Away(9); San Francisco, San Diego, Kansas City

Colorado: Home(9)--San Diego, Miami, Los Angeles; Away(10):  Arizona (4), San Francisco (2), San Diego (4)

Chicago:  Home (9)--New York Mets, St. Louis, Cincinnati; Away(10) Tampa Bay(2) Milwaukee(4), St. Louis (4)

Milwaukee:  Home (10): Pittsburgh, Chicago (4), Cincinnati; Away (9) Miami, Pittsburgh, St. Louis

St. Louis: Home (10): Cincinnati, Chicago (4), Milwaukee; Away (9)--Chicago, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh

The Nearer Your Destination The More You're Slip Slidin' away

The Rockies offensive woes continued despite winning their first game in the last 5 tries with a 4-3 win over the San Francisco Giants.  The hitting drought has reached 6 weeks and 37 games, where the Rockies have gone 15-22 since July 23rd.  

It's September and the stretch drive and while the D-Backs and Brewers (along with the Cubs) have gotten hot over the past two weeks, the Rockies are decidedly not hot.  But they haven't been cold enough (yet) to relinquish the Visitor Wild Card lead.   It was down to 1/2 game over Milwaukee yesterday and increased to 1.5 games today as both the Reds and Rockies got walk off wins.

As the  Rockies approach a key road trip with four games each in LA and Phoenix, the Rockies cannot afford to languish in their hitting doldrums any longer.  They need to find several people to step forward and lead the scoring effort, as the pitching continues to do well.

Meanwhile the Dodgers have been in their first prolonged funk of the year.   After losing 3 in a row and 5 of 7 back in early June, the Dodgers ran off winning streaks of 6, 10, 11, 9, and 6, en route to an amazing 56-11 run and taking them to a 91-36 overall record.  Over the past 10 games however they have now lost 9 of 10 and had their first 5 game losing streak and swept in a series for the first time.

Just When I Thought Our Chance Had Passed

The Rockies have been on a extended downer for the better part of the past ten weeks compiling a 24-31 record after reaching a high water mark of 47-26 on June 20th.    The Dodgers ridiculous run during that period winning over 80% of their games has exacerbated the effect of the Rockies swoon.  
But the month of August and really, the past 5 weeks have shown how frustrating the season has been.  On Sunday, July 23rd the Rockies had worked themselves up to 58-43 after a 5-1 homestand.  At this point since June 20th the Rockies were 11-17.   A drop off for sure, but the Rockies still had a 4.5 game lead over the Brewers for the Road Wild Card position and a game ahead of the D-Backs for the Home Wild Card position.  

In the 30 games since then, the Rockies have had a 13-17 Record including 6-11 on the road.   More concerning is that the Rockies have only scored more than 5 runs 5 times in those 30 games.  They have scored 5 runs four times and 4 runs five times which leave 16 games where they did not score more than 3 times going 4-12 in those games.

By contrast, the first 30 games of the season, the Rockies score 6 or more runs 8 times, 5 runs twice and 4 runs three times, which left them with 17 games where they scored three runs or less.  They were 6-11 in those games and 18-12 overall.  

The Rockies pitching also held the opponent to 5 or fewer runs in 20 of those first 30 games, going 16-4.  In the last 30 games the Rockies Pitchers have held the opponent to 5 runs in 21 games, but the Rockies have only won 12 of those games.

Thirteen of those early games had Rockies Saves, only 7 of the last 30 have had saves.  

The Rockies are coming up on the final 32 games, 18 at home and 14 away, 26 will be against the NL West.    It is imperative that they win close to 90 games, which means they have to go 19-13 in the remaining games.  This will require them to win on the road, something they haven't done very well since early June.

Every Now and Then I Fall Apart

First of all--it's been two weeks since my last post and a lot has happened that I'd like to comment on:

RIP Don Baylor:  Don Baylor, the Rockies first Manager died on August 7th at the age of 68.  There have been many nice accolades given him, but from my standpoint, the fact that he took an expansion team to the playoffs in it's third year, is one of his biggest accomplishments.  The Arizona Diamondbacks became the first expansion team to win the World Series in it's fourth year, 2001. (Florida Marlins did it in their fifth year in 1997.), but Baylor made the Rockies pretty successful right off the bat:

Here are the Records for expansion teams first year.

1961 Los Angeles Angels, Bill Rigney, 70-91
1969 Kansas City Royals, Joe Gordon 69-93
1993 Colorado Rockies, Don Baylor, 67-95
1998 Arizona Diamond Backs, Buck Showalter, 65-97
1962 Houston Colt .45's, Harry Craft 64-96
1969 Seattle Pilots, Joe Schultz, 64-98
1993 Florida Marlins, Rene Lachemann, 64-98
1998 Tampa Bay Devil Rays, Larry Rothschild, 63-99
1961 Washington Senators, Mickey Vernaon, 61-100

1969 Montreal Expos, Gene Mauch, 52-110
1969 San Diego Padres, Preston Gomez, 52-110
1962 New York Mets, Casey Stengel, 40-120

Baylor had the 3rd best successful start of an expansion team in it's first year, and in 6 years had 3 winning records and finished with a respectable 440-469 .484 Winning percentage.  

Chad Bettis:  The return of Chad Bettis on Monday night, along with the Baylor tribute, was one of the more emotional nights in Rockies history.  Chad pitched 7 shutout innings, but missed getting a win as the Rockies would not score until the bottom of the eighth.  Bettis goes again tonight vs. the Brewers.

Pitching Setup: Bettis' return gave the Rockies seven starters with Tyler Anderson still on the DL.  The Rockies opted to put Chatwood and Senzatella in the bullpen for the time being and sent Hoffmann down to the minors probably until September 1st.   I expect depending on how the race goes, all eight starters will get starts in September, as the Rockies set up their potential postseason roster and rotation.   As of this moment, I would include Bettis, Gray, and Marquez for sure, with Freeland, Senzatela and Hoffman mixed in.   I like Chatwood in the bullpen for long relief or even as a late inning setup guy.  

Wild Card Race:  After the two remaining games with Milwaukee, the Rockies have only the 7 games against the D-Backs and potentially the 3 games at home against the Marlins with direct games against wild card contenders.   They also have seven games against the ridiculous LA Dodgers and three against the Royals next week who are in the AL Playoff hunt.  The other 22 games are against also rans.   The D-Backs are playing Minnesota this weekend and finish with 3 games in KC, and have the Rockies for 7 and Dodgers for 6, and Miami for 3 for 21 total contender games. 

The NL Central has four contenders for both the Central Title and Wild Card opportunities, although the Pirates may fall out of both soon.  Altogether the four teams have 40 games against each other.

ChC(21)--Pit(7), Mil(7), STL(7)

STL(20)-ChC(7), Pit(8), Mil(5)

Mil(18)-Chc(7), STL(5), Pit(6)

Pit(21)--Chc(7), STL(8), Mil(6)

In Addition, Milwaukee 12 games left against NL Playoff teams Colorado(2), LA(3), Washington (4), and Miami(3)

Pittsburgh has 8 games left LA(4), Washington (4)

Cubs and St. Louis have none outside the division left with contenders. 

I include the Cubs in the analysis, because the Central Race is close. 

The Wild Card Standings look like this at the moment:

Team             W    L   GB(H)   GB(A)   GB(NLC)

Rockies         68-54        --          +1           N/A

D-Backs        67-55         1         --             N/A

Cubs              64-57         3.5      2.5           --

Cards             63-59         5         4              1.5

Brewers         63-60         5.5      4.5           2

Marlins         59-61          8         7              N/A

Pirates           58-64        10         9              6.5

What this all means is that of the 5 teams that are behind the Rockies and D-Backs three would have to actually pass them to knock them both out of the Wild Card positions. The Marlins have 6 games left to cut the lead of either team, and Milwaukee has 2 left against the Rockies.  The 4 NL Central teams will have 40 losses among them between now and October 1st.

So from this standpoint, either the Rockies or D-Backs are probably safely in the Wild Card, not both yet, but stay tuned.  

We Pillage We Plunder, We Rifle We Loot

The Rockies were handed a win today, after they gave one to the Mets last night. It's gonna happen. Last night the Rockies blew a 5 run lead for the third time this season, but only the first time at home.  The other two came in Cincinnati and Los Angeles.   Today, the Rockies scored without a hit, gettin a Hit By Pitch, Intentional Walk and two straight unintentional walk to get their 2nd Walk Off win in 3 games and 4th of the season.  In 3 of the four walkoffs, Nolan Arenado hit the winning run in.  The fourth (which was the first of the year) was a single by Raimel Tapia.

Looking at the Wild Card Race, the conventional wisdom is that the Brewers are the team the Rockies and D-Backs have to watch out for.  I think it's the Pirates based on Home Road Factor.  The Brewers have played 58 home games to 52 Road games, leaving them 23-29 in their remaining games.  They already are -1 in the Home/Road factor.    Beginning August 18th when they come to Colorado, they will play 21 of 30 on the road.

Meanwhile the Pirates are more balanced having played 53 home and 55 road games.  They are also -1 in the Home/Road Factor, but seem to have a more favorable schedule.  We'll look at remaining games in early September as the stretch drive comes into play.

Even Steven

The Rockies hit the Century Mark in games played today, and have now played 50 at home (31-19) and 50 on the Road  (27-23).   This compares to the Dodgers who will hit the Century Mark on Monday, with 55 Home games and 45 Road Games,  and the D-Backs on Tuesday will be 53-47 in Home and Away games.  The Dodgers however have a better record on the road than either of the other two teams at 27-18, but the Rockies at one point were  24-10 before their 3-13 slide on the Road.

The Rockies will also be on the road this week while the Dodgers remain at home.  The D-Backs play three at home and then follow the Rockies into St. Louis next weekend embarking on a 10-game road trip.  The Dodgers will hit 60 home games next Sunday before playing an August Schedule of 19 Road and 8 home games including two trips into the Snake Pit in Phoenix. From Aug 1 to Sep 3 the Dodgers play 22 of 30 on the road, at which point they will also be Even Steven at 68-68.   Everyone will be even after 162 games ;-)

WILD CARD ADVANTAGE:  The 7 teams currently in the Wild Card race with the Rockies all lost today.  (The Cubs moved into a percentage point lead over the Brewers, and are now the Division Leader.)  The Rockies are now in the Home Wild Card position, 1 game ahead of the D-Backs, with Milwaukee now 5.5 behind the Rockies (4.5 out of Wild Card).  Everyone else is at least 8 in back of the Rockies.

FLOODGATES:  The Rockies drew over 40,000 fans to each of the three Pirate games and 4 of the 6  games on the Homestand.  In 6 games they drew 244,335 and after 50 dates have drawn 1,878,586 averaging 37,572.  At this pace they will draw over  3,000,000 for the first time since 2001.

How Do You Like Me Now?!

Baseball is a cyclical game.  It can have it's ups and downs.  If you break the season out into 16 game stretches, (and 17 leading into the halfway point), the Rockies hit the 60% mark yesterday.

It's interesting to see the results

Decile	Wins	Losses	Runs	Opp Runs	Run Diff
1st	10	6	54	62	-8
2nd	10	6	98	83	15
3rd	11	5	96	68	28
4th	10	6	89	52	37
5th*	6	11	73	111	-38
6th	9	7	105	86	19
Total	56	41	515	462	53

As you can see other than the 5th Decile, the Rockies have consistently won about 10 out of 16 games in each 16 game stretch.   In the first 16 games they were struggling on offense, and the pitching carried them.  The run production was fairly consistent in the 2nd-4th, and 6th deciles, although in the 6th, they scored nearly half their runs in the past 4 games.   However, pitching side has been all over the place with a low of 52 and a high of 111.

If they remain on the 10-6 pace the rest of the way, they will finish at 96-66.   It's a respectable pace and  should get them in the Wild Card Game.

TRADE DEADLINE:  The trade deadline approaches and as teams make moves, the focus is on the Rockies lack of moves.   I'm fine with that.  I'm not saying the Rockies could win the World Series with what they have, but they certainly don't want to trade a lot of prospects to get past the Wild Card Game with no guarantee against likely the Dodgers in a five game series. \

But let's look at some reality, the Rockies have 6 certain free agents not including Greg Holland who could exercise his 15 million option for 2018, and the Rockies are not likely to trade him during the stretch drive. 

Carlos Gonzalez

Jake McGee

Tyler Chatwood

Jordan Lyles

Mark Reynolds

Ryan Hanigan

McGee has been solid in the Bullpen, as a 7th or 8th inning setup man for Holland. Hanigan has been a steady influence on the young pitching staff and pairs well with Tony Wolters.  Tyler Chatwood is currently on the DL and will probably be so through the trade deadline, and is the most veteran pitcher on the starting staff in terms of games started. 

This leaves Cargo, Reynolds and Lyles.  CarGo is showing signs of breaking out of his slump and could go on another tear down the stretch.  Is that more valuable to the Rockies or some other team?  It's clear that CarGo may be finished in Colorado after this season, as the abundance of outfielders, even with Desmond actually moving to first base next year, makes him expendable.  That's part of baseball. 

Reynolds has been a spark at 1st Base, and could be expendable, while Lyles probably has little value to a buyer and not much to a seller.  

Trading any of those players is unlikely for good value.  I'm not sure you mess with any of the starting hitters or starting pitchers.   So can you trade relief pitching for relief pitching?  Unlikely.

This leaves prospects, and I'm not inclined to give away prospects for a short term fix.  Unless there is a prospect that has interest from other teams and the Rockies have depth in the position, I would say to let it ride, and use the excess starters as relievers like Senzatela, Hoffman or Marquez.

OUT OF THE WEST:   The Rockies completed their second round of play against the NL West and are now at 29-21 in Division Play.  They play their next game in the West on September 1st when they host the D-Backs, and play all but  3 of the final 29 games in the West.  Meanwhile they play 9 against the NL Central (6 home), 8 against the AL Central (3 Home), and 19 against the NL East (10 Home) prior to September 1st.   

Turn Around, Bright Eyes

The Rockies have been spiraling downward for about a month now, and last night for the first time since June 20th, recorded a win after a win.  The naysayers are talking about them falling out of the postseason, and it's still possible they could drop from the Wild Card altogether.

However there is a lot of baseball yet to be played.  The Cubs have won 4 straight games since the All-Star Break and have now closed to within 5.5 games of the Rockies, but are only 3.5 games behind the Division leader Brewers. They meet head to head next weekend.

It's easy to scoreboard watch, and panic, but the reality is the Rockies have to go out and win their game and then worry about the others.  Over the month long stretch (and I still maintain the slump goes back to late May, when there were signs of a slump but they managed to win after a couple of 3 game losing streaks,) the Rockies have done some irritating things that have led to their losses.

Pitching--Everyone talks about the walks, but the bigger problem is lack of clean innings where nobody gets on base.  There always seems to be traffic every inning which leads to stress pitching.   Even in their last two wins, there have been only 4 clean innings, while another inning only had 3 batters and included a Double play after a hit by pitch.   The Walks need to be cut down as well.

Hitting--Strikeouts need to be cut down severely The Rockies have struck out about 1 in 4 at bats, which is nearly 9 times a game.  Not putting the ball in play is one of the biggest reasons to not score.  Making contact has to be a big emphasis for the rest of the season.

Fielding--In the first 73 games, the Rockies committed errors in only 20 of them.  In the past 22 games they have committed an error in 11 of them going 3-8 in those games.