Colorado Rockies: I Need to See More From This Team

The Colorado Rockies currently sit at a record of 44-51, a full 13 games out of first place and eight games out of the second Wild Card. Coming out of the All-Star break, the team won the series in Atlanta, but then inexplicably dropped their series to the lowly Tampa Bay Rays, losing the last two games by a score of 21-4. Despite bouncing back last night with a 7-3 win, the Rockies continue to disappoint in various ways. I need to see more.

Last night’s game was a classic example of a Colorado Rockies team underachieving, then achieving, and finishing off by underachieving again – all in the same game.

Atlanta’s Mike Foltynewicz is a decent pitcher. He has good stuff, but he has a losing record (3-4), has an ERA of nearly four and has given up 12 home runs, the third-most on the team. The Rockies had just seen him less than a week ago, so they were familiar with his stuff. However, despite him issuing a season-high five walks, it took the Rockies hitters over five innings to finally score off him.

The Rockies were saved by Carlos Gonzalez‘ mammoth 3-run 459 foot HR in the bottom of the fifth, which broke a scoreless tie. Coors Field continues to haunt the Rockies offense – Gonzalez’ blast was just the team’s seventh run in their last 23 innings at home.

With the team having scored 581 runs at home so far this season, this mark is not good enough. The team did eventually manage to score seven runs for the game. But, once again, I need to see more.

The Rockies went in to the top of the 9th inning with a comfortable six run lead after scoring three times in the bottom of the eighth. It was a perfect opportunity for closer Carlos Estevez to get the night off, having needlessly pitched the day before in a 11-3 loss.

Why Weiss?

Jason Motte was tasked with getting the last three outs. Since the All-Star break he has a 6.75 ERA in just 2.2 innings pitched. But not surprisingly Motte simply could not get it done. In 2/3 of an inning, he gave up 3 hits, 2 ER and had to throw 32 pitches, which basically makes him unavailable for tonight.

But more importantly, his poor showing forced a save situation with two runners on and the tying run on-deck, which forced Weiss to bring Estevez into the game when he should have never been called on. He only threw two pitches, but the fact he was forced into the game was just not on.

Not good enough by Motte. I need to see more. He has been very ordinary this season. As noted by the Denver Post’s Patrick Saunders:

Maybe it’s just me, but when was the last time the Rockies had a clean, easy game where they didn’t make life hard for themselves in a victory? It seems almost every game they make life difficult in one way or another – either by pitching poorly, not hitting in key situations or making boneheaded plays in the field or on the basepaths.

In the Rays series, it looked like they were sleepwalking in the last two losses, as noted again by Saunders:

In Wednesday’s game, the Rockies hitters struck out a season-high 15 times. That followed a game where they struck out 12 times. The Rockies boast hitters such as Nolan Arenado (23 HR), Gonzalez (20), Trevor Story (23), Charlie Blackmon (12) and Mark Reynolds (10).

Is it all or nothing for these guys? How can they possibly strike out 27 times in two games? I admit the Rays have good, young pitchers, but these guys are not Nolan Ryan or Randy Johnson either.

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Once again, I need to see more.

There were some issues with last night’s performance, but they got the W. Tonight they face Braves ace Julio Teheran, who held them scoreless on just three hits last Sunday through his seven innings of work.

Can they make the adjustments this time to avoid the same result? We will know by 8:00 p.m. tonight or so. Simply put, the Rockies are a better team than the Braves. They need to win this series.

If we do see more tonight and over the last two games of this series, this can occur.

Next: Colorado Rockies: Offense Backs Up Strong Start by Bettis

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