Swept By The Mets

Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports

In the middle game of this utterly miserable series against the New York Mets, the Colorado Rockies were the victims of Matt Harvey‘s first career shutout. Whether they were in first place or last place, it’s hard to get too upset about that. Harvey is on the short list of the top stories in all of baseball this season, and he has been devastating lineups everywhere all year. You live with that.

The other two losses in the three game sweep? Not so easy to take.

Starting with Eric Young Jr.’s heroics on Tuesday and ending with a lifeless 2-1 loss on Thursday, the Rockies look like the team that was supposed to definitively finish in last place in the NL West in 2013.

Today started with bad news, as Tyler Chatwood was placed on the disabled list. That’s bad news. The injury that got him there is inflammation in his right elbow. That’s worse news.

So the Rockies called on Jeff Manship to make an emergency start. That is a recipe for disaster, of course. But that’s not why the Rockies lost. The next time we complain about the pitching staff surrendering only two runs on the road will be the first time.

Nope, today it was the offense, yet again, that sputtered and notched another one in the loss column.

Today’s lineup was met with disdain near and far, as manager Walt Weiss decided to rest Troy Tulowitzki, Todd Helton, and Dexter Fowler all on the same day. Third baseman Nolan Arenado observed that it looked like a “Sky Sox lineup,” and you can imagine the reaction on social media outlets (#Twitter #JimTracyLineup #SundayLineup).

Really, this lineup did no worse than any other lineup in recent weeks. This team is truly in the tank, and in a lot of ways it doesn’t make sense. For now the Rockies just need to get a couple wins to stop this land slide and to avoid ruining all the progress that we saw near the beginning of the season. A couple wins at home against the best team in baseball (yes, the Pittsburgh Pirates, that best team) would be a great place to start.

The prism through which we view this season has officially changed. The Rockies are not playoff contenders, so we now seek overall improvement.

After 2012’s disaster, 2013 needs to provide decided progress in the right direction. If it does, it can still be a successful season in the grand scheme of things. In order for that to happen, the Rockies need to play more quality baseball and make the drudgery of this 1-9 road trip an aberration rather than a repeated occurrence.