Rockies Throw Things at the Wall, See What Sticks

Rockies 2, Phillies 7

You know, I really thought that the Rockies had hit rock bottom last July when they traded Ubaldo Jimenez and it became clear that the end of an era was at hand. But I am starting to feel that I was wrong about that. The thing about the end of an era is, it means that new one is beginning, and at the time it seemed like one was. We had these fantastic, brilliant young pitchers we got in the Ubaldo trade, we were closing the door on the ace of the past and opening it on the ace(s) of the future. And then Dan O’Dowd went nuts in the offseason and picked up a bunch more pitchers, and some other guys too. Surely things could only get better from there, right?

Well that’s a rhetorical question if there ever was one. We started 2012 with the following starting rotation: Jeremy Guthrie, Jamie Moyer, Jhoulys Chacin, Juan Nicasio, and Drew Pomeranz. Where are they now? Bullpen, Baltimore, injured, injured, Colorado Springs. It’s not even midseason and we’ve already been entirely depleted! You would have thought that’d be okay, though, seeing as how we certainly weren’t wanting for pitchers on the roster. And yet: current starting rotation: Josh Outman, Jeff Francis, Alex White, Christian Friedrich. As you surely well know by now, all on a 75-pitch limit and being handed the ball every four days. While the bullpen, which has already pitched 230+ innings this season, will get to throw the rest of the pitches needed to finish a game. Awesome.

So how did that go last night? Well, Outman used up his pitches with 1 out in the 5th. In fact, Jim Tracy pulled him after just 72 pitches (does that mean he gets 78 on Saturday?). That’s probably because he had 2 baserunners cooking, and he’d given up 3 runs already. A 4th scored on Guillermo Moscoso‘s watch. Then Adam Ottavino came in and gave up 3 more, one of which was scored by the Phillies’ pitcher, Cole Hamels. In the 7th. Because on other teams, that’s how long the starting pitcher can pitch and is allowed to pitch.

Hamels ultimately went a full 8, allowing 2 runs on 6 hits. To be fair, he is an excellent pitcher. I’m not going to sit here and tell you that I think the Rockies should have pitched better than Hamels did, or even that the offense should have done more. This is about the outcome I’d expect in a match-up like this. The fun part is, we can expect just about every game to turn out this way, now that our pitching is basically the joke of the universe.

19 days till the All-Star break and the Rockies play on every single one of them. Does this have the potential to be the worst 3-week stretch in team history? That’s a clown question, bro.

The Rockies stand their biggest chance at a win this series against Joe Blanton tonight. Alex White gets the ball for Colorado.