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Wednesday’s First Pitch
By Editorial Staff
Leading Off
Time for a little “Good News/Bad News,” Rockies fans. Bad news first – the Rockies are now tied for fourth place with the Dodgers, 4.5 games behind the Diamondbacks for the NL West lead. Good news – May, the hardest month the Rockies have seen in a while, is finally over. The Rockies come limping out of May with an abysmal record of 8-21, by far the worst in the Majors. A bit of comparison for you here from 2009, the last time the Rockies made the playoffs. 2007 is in there as well, just for kicks:
June 1, 2009: 20-30, 13.5 games behind the Dodgers in the NL West.
June 30, 2009: 41-26, 7.5 games behind the Dodgers in the NL West.
June 1, 2007: 25-30, 7.5 games behind the Dodgers in the NL West.
June 30, 2007: 39-42, 8 games behind the Padres in the NL West.
Okay, so maybe the ’07 numbers aren’t helping my case. On paper, the Rockies have a better team than they did in 2009, the last time they saw October. June has also been a month where then team broke out the bats. Hopefully as the weather warms up, so will the Rockies.
The Good
Ty Wigginton is on fire. Period. He’s hitting nearly .400 in the past week, added yet another home run to his offensive barrage on Tuesday, and proved that he wants the starting job at third base full-time. Chris Nelson is also proving he’s ready for an extended stay with the big club, adding a double, and advancing to score on a pop-up from Clayton Mortenson that barely left the infield. Quite an impressive play from the rookie, one that should buy him some good time with the club.
Another bright spot? The ROOT Sports crew had Lindsay Vonn in the booth for the 9th inning of Tuesday’s broadcast. VERY good relief for a game as hard to watch as last night’s.
The Bad
The Rockies lost Tuesday 8-2 in a very hard game at Dodger Stadium. The Rockies only managed five hits, one night after breaking out 14. Matt Kemp hit a two-run home run off of Rockies starter Clayton Mortenson. Five hits just isn’t enough to win a game, especially when you can’t get anyone past second base.
The Ugly
The Rockies finished May 8-21, clearly the worst mark in baseball in that month. The Rockies typically heat up in June. Last year, they entered the sixth month with a record of 28-24, but finished 41-37.
On Deck
Coming later today, expect your normal Matchup and Battery. I may toy around with a daily minor league update instead of a weekly one, but that depends. As always, breaking news as it happens on RoxPile.