Colorado Rockies Prepare for Important Series Against Mets

The New York Mets come to Coors Field for a three-game series against the Colorado Rockies starting on Friday in what will be an important set of games for both teams.

The Mets bring a 21-13 record to Denver, good enough for a tie atop the National League East. Part of New York’s success early this season has been the long ball as the Mets are tied with the St. Louis Cardinals for the most home runs in Major League Baseball with 51. That’s been the good news at the plate for the visitors. What’s the bad news? They’re 21st in MLB with a .237 average.

The other part of New York’s early success has been their pitching and their well-publicized rotation that includes Matt Harvey, who will take the mound in the opener on Friday night. With a 2.86 ERA, New York’s pitching staff ranks second in MLB and is more than two runs better than their Colorado counterparts, who sit at 28th in the league with a 5.12 ERA.

Speaking of Harvey (3-4, 4.50 ERA), he will square off against the ever-improving Jon Gray (0-1, 5.40 ERA) on Friday night. Logan Verrett (3-0, 1.27 ERA), who made his MLB debut last season, will take the mound for the Mets on Saturday against Eddie Butler (1-1, 3.86 ERA). The finale of the series on Sunday is scheduled to feature Jacob deGrom (3-1, 2.12 ERA) against Colorado’s Tyler Chatwood (4-3, 3.09 ERA).

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With the Rockies sitting at 16-18 and just 1.5 games behind the Los Angeles Dodgers and the San Francisco Giants in the National League West, any games are important. However, with Colorado looking to re-establish its home-field advantage before hitting the road for a nine-game road trip, these next three games loom especially large.

As always, the key to a Colorado Rockies win will lie with their pitching staff. Can the Rockies keep New York from continuing their torrid home run pace? Of course, Colorado offers its own home run power in Nolan Arenado and Trevor Story, but this series could hinge more on base hits than blasts.

Colorado is hitting almost 40 points higher than the Mets so if it comes down to a game of hitting versus power and the Rockies can revert to the small ball ways that paid off for them recently in San Diego, much-needed good things may finally happen for the Rockies at Coors Field.

Next: How Key Colorado Players Looked During Their Double-A Days

Our prediction

Rockies take the series, 2-1.

Want to learn more of my thoughts on the series? Check out this podcast I did with Mets Musings where we talk about everything from the series to what’s going on with Jose Reyes.