What happened:
The offense continued to disappoint on the road, and the team had to scratch out a series win against the Brewers at home for a 3-3 mark on the week.
What went right:
1. Starting Pitching. It was not by any means dominant, but the starters kept the Rockies in every game. Of their three losses, two were by one run and the other was a 4-0 shutout at the hands of a brilliant Johan Santana. Jim Tracy recently pointed to the starting staff as a part of the team that must be more consistent (article by Jim Armstrong in the Denver Post), but if their job is to give the team a chance to win, they were solid for the week that just passed. Their efforts were book-ended by two brilliant outings from Ubaldo Jimenez. Sadly, neither start got him a franchise record 18th win.
2. Tulo. For the second week in a row, Tulo raked from the clean-up spot and continued to thrive batting behind CarGo. One could argue that he single-handedly salvaged the week for the club; his 3-run home run in the 8th inning off Kameron Loe on Friday night was the difference in a 5-4 victory, and he had a walk-off single to bail out Clint Barmes and Huston Street on Sunday (more on this later).
3. Rafael Betancourt and Matt Belisle. The duo of set-up men combined for 0 earned runs for the week, all in high pressure appearances. Belisle's only run was unearned, and Betancourt worked a scoreless week. Betancourt came up especially big on Sunday, striking out Ryan Braun with men on the corners to end a disastrous top of the 9th and set up Tulo's walk-off single.
What went wrong:
1. Huston Street. Again. His command issues continue, and he has become a real question mark as time continues to run out on the Rox. He was the losing pitcher in the 10 inning loss to the Brewers, and was a train wreck again on Sunday. To run down the series of events: Dexter Fowler robbed Chris Dickerson of a home run to lead off the inning with a loud out. Huston then had 2 outs and a 1-2 count on George Kottaras (.195 BA) and surrendered a single. With 2 strikes on former Sky Sox great Craig Counsell, he issued a walk. With 2 strikes on Ricky Weeks, he hit him. Street appeared to be out of the inning when Clint Barmes inexplicably missed a fly ball. But the point is this: with all of those 2 strike counts, they should never have been in that position in the first place. He has no command and cannot put away hitters. It's easy to say the Rockies need to make a change at closer; it's a lot harder to say who, because seemingly everybody tried to close games and failed when Street was on the DL.
2. Road offense: Mike Pelfrey had allowed 5 runs in consecutive starts and was almost pulled from the Mets rotation before his start against the Rockies Tuesday night. He outdueled Ubaldo and threw 7 shut-out innings. Johan Santana had a filthy change-up on Thursday afternoon, so it's harder to be critical of that hapless offensive effort. However, the Rockies scored 6 runs the entire Mets series, all in two innings Wednesday night. That is, quite frankly, pathetic.
3. Seth Smith. He is hitless in August, so this is more an observation of his month than this week alone. His struggles against left handed pitching are becoming more glaring, and his lack of production has led to a series of starts for Ryan Spilborghs and even one in left field for Eric Young, Jr.
What's next:
The Rockies head west to play three at the Dodgers, a thought that should make any fan cringe since they seemingly never score when they play at Chavez Ravine. They then travel to Arizona to play 3 at the Diamondbacks. At this point in this season, they must win both series to stay relevant.
Division update:
San Diego Padres - Their torrid play continued, as they swept the Pirates and took 2 of 3 at the Giants. Remember how huge it was for the Rockies that all 5 starters finished with 10 wins or more a year ago? The Padres are mirroring that success, with Kevin Correia winning his 10th and Wade LeBlanc sitting at a somewhat misleading 7-10 (3.46 ERA) and still having a realistic chance at 10. The Fathers play 4 at the Cubs (already won the opener) followed by 3 at the Brewers. They are 4 games up in the division and have a chance to run and hide this week.
San Francisco Giants - They took 3 of 4 from the Cubs and dropped 2 of 3 to the Padres, leaving them 4-3 on their homestand. Maybe Jonathan Sanchez should keep his mouth shut next time. His smack talking ("...we're going to beat them three times. If we get first place, we're not going to look back") did not appear to provide any kind of spark for the Giants, and the Padres continued to quietly win games and play good baseball. The Giants were active in acquiring help for the stretch run as they added middle infielder Mike Fontenot and troublesome slugger Jose Guillen. The Gigantes head out on a brutal road trip this week, playing 3 at Philadelphia and 3 at the Cardinals. They are currently in a 3 way jostle for the wild card with the Phillies and Cardinals, so their games this week are huge.
The Rockies sit a staggering 9 games back of the Padres in the division and 5 back of the bunch at the top of the wild card standings.
Other thoughts...
...what about Jonathan Herrera? Eric Young Jr. is going to get a long look as lead-off hitter to try and spark the offense as the team embarks on its road trip. Clearly the difference here is E.Y.'s game-changing, electric speed. But Jonny still seems to have been slighted, as he was a consistent contact hitter on a team that continues to strike out too much.
...for now, the roles of the Rockies catchers need to be reversed. Miguel Olivo, to a fan's eye, looks so uncomfortable at the plate that it's uncomfortable to watch. Iannetta, for now, is a steadier presence who works longer at-bats, and he came up with two situational RBI's this week: a sacrifice fly on Wednesday night and a hard groundball on Saturday night. We aren't going to pretend those are season changing moments, but they are the kind of situational at-bats this team needs if they're going to score more runs on the road.
...it will be sad to see Brad Hawpe go, but it's time. The Rockies placed him on waivers, where he will presumably go unclaimed. Whether they work a trade for him now or buy him out in the offseason (rather than pick up his $10 million club option), he seems to be on his way out. Fans who remember his heroics during Rocktober and at stretches last year cannot help but feel an attachment to Hawpe. But 7 home runs and 37 RBI's from a guy who plays power positions won't cut it.
...tune into Clemson football this year. The Rockies agreed to terms with Kyle Parker, the Clemson QB, who will still play for the Tigers this season. So watch to cheer for his success and for an injury-free season. The terms of the contract do protect the Rockies if he injures himself playing football. Parker is not considered a "can't miss" prospect, but he may be able to bring some much needed power in the years to come. They drafted him in the first round for a reason...right?
The week's links
http://www.denverpost.com/rockies?source=nav_ins_sports
http://clemsontigers.cstv.com/sports/m-footbl/clem-m-footbl-body.html
http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/teams/col/schedule
http://twitter.com/TracyRingolsby
http://www.insidetherockies.com/category/write-em-cowboy/
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