Colorado Rockies: Is This Season a Sinking Ship?

I had to work late today which prevented me from going to today’s game. The game is not on TV. So OK then, I’ll follow the game on MLB.com Gamecast. Surely the Colorado Rockies can’t be any worse than last night, right? 10-1. Get one hit on a guy who looked like he was still in high school. Score one run at the end of the very game against a team which is 20 games under .500 at home. But now today. Oh dear. What a blessing to not have this game on TV.

The Colorado Rockies took two out of three against a poor Atlanta Braves team on the road. Though a sweep was attainable, it didn’t happen. Those things can occur. Not the end of the world.

The Rockies returned home to face an AL team, the Tampa Bay Rays, that was sitting 18.5 games out of first place in their division and 21 games under .500. A real opportunity was knocking. Loudly.

In Game 1, the Rockies, despite a little bit of a struggle took care of business 7-4 and were well on their way to earning a much-needed sweep. However, starting with last night, the Rockies season took an abrupt turn and now the season is sinking faster than the Titanic.

Who knows what caused last night’s debacle, but it was bad. 1 run facing a guy who was 1-4 and had an ERA over three. Were out-hit 13-4 versus a team with 749 runs scored on the year (worst in the AL) and a team batting average of .239 (again worst mark in the AL).

Tyler Chatwood looked like he was sleepwalking. Whether the long rain delay influenced him the wrong way or not, Chatwood was a shadow of his old self. He simply didn’t have any command – he labored badly. Most of his pitches were fat “hit-me” pitches right down the pipe which Evan Longoria and co. said thanks.

Jordan Lyles was serviceable (four innings pitched, 3 hits, zero earned runs) and Jake McGee got through his inning unscathed. But once again (and for no rhyme or reason), Gonzalez Germen was brought in again. Maybe it was to help with this confidence after his poor performance in the walk-off loss to the Braves. But he gave up three ER on just two hits and further enhanced the misery of the Rockies fans who had sat through the rain delay.

Today was another opportunity to win the series. But the Rockies have dropped the ball again. After taking a 2-1 lead after the second inning, Jorge De La Rosa imploded for 7 ER on 11 hits in just four innings.

Tampa’s Chris Archer is not a terrible pitcher, but he ain’t good either. His record for 2016 is 4-13 with a 4.68 ERA. As I write this piece, the Rockies have managed a grand total of two runs on four hits through 5-plus innings.

So let’s sum this up – in the last one and 2/3 games, the offensively-challenged Rays have scored 20 runs on 26 hits. The Rockies have been outscored by 17 runs in 17 innings. The Rays are 17-27 on the road.

But for some positive news, here is the highlight of today’s play:

https://twitter.com/Rockies/status/755840971171069952

This Rockies performance is a close repeat of the Los Angeles Dodgers series in the first three days of this month when the Rockies were outscored 15-2 in LA. The difference is the Dodgers are a good baseball team. The Rays are a punching bag. Or they should have been.

This series has continued the trend of the Rockies getting blasted at Coors Field by teams having no business in doing so. For whatever reason (mental block, not preparing properly, not getting the proper message from Walt Weiss, taking the opposition too easily), this series is about to be another missed opportunity.

The Rockies season is done. There is no coming back from here. Since the All-Star break the Rockies have gone (assuming the Rally Hawk doesn’t work his magic), 3-3 against teams with a combined 69-119 record. It won’t matter if they sweep the Braves over the next four games. The Rockies are simply not good enough. They just prove this point more often than not.

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• Colorado Rockies: Charlie Blackmon out for the season
• Colorado Rockies: Injuries shift look of roster ahead of Dodgers series
• Colorado Rockies: Has Sean Bouchard earned a second look in 2023?

The Rockies have no other option now but to sell, sell, sell and continue to build for the future. It would seem most logical for the team to trade Carlos Gonzalez, Charlie Blackmon, Boone Logan and Jorge De La Rosa, and demote or release Gonzalez Germen, Jason Motte and Jake McGee. They can shore up the bullpen with the return of Chris Rusin and Christian Bergman, and take a developmental guy or two and blood him/them in the big leagues to gain experience.

The Titanic hit an iceberg. The Rockies have hit second-half expectations. 2016 is another lost season for this franchise, and the same mistakes continue to occur. As a fan, it is now beyond frustrating. There is a lot of talent on this squad but it will be the seventh-straight year without a playoff berth.

What gives?

Next: Colorado Rockies: What If They Held a WWE-Style Draft?

All statistics, records and accolades courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com and MLB.com unless otherwise indicated.