Colorado Rockies: Bullpen Missing in Action Once Again

The Colorado Rockies bullpen imploded for the umpteenth time last night against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Chavez Ravine, wasting another quality start by Tyler Chatwood. Seriously, when will this mess end? This is a major issue for this team going into a hopeful 2017 season.

There’s the saying that the three certainties in life are life, death and taxes. In 2016, this saying has been more like life, death and a Rockies bullpen implosion.

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Last night was another case of wash, rinse and repeat for this beleaguered unit. Chatwood pitched six innings only allowing two runs on five hits with five strikeouts. When Chatwood was relieved, the Rockies held a 4-1 lead.

Jordan Lyles came in and faced just pinch-hitter Andre Ethier, who in 15 at-bats held an average below .100. However, he mashed Lyles down the right-field line for a ground rule double.

Manager Walt Weiss brought in Boone Logan, which seemed like a good move with a series of left-handers coming up for the Dodgers. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts countered by bringing in another pinch-hitter (Justin Turner) who flied out to right.

At this point the game went haywire, or more specifically Logan self-imploded. He was not able to command the slider or his fastball and proceeded to walk the next three batters in succession – Yasiel Puig, Corey Seager and Adrian Gonzalez, the walk to Gonzalez forcing in the Dodgers third run.

At this point, the logical move would have been to remove Logan and go with another reliever, as Logan couldn’t throw a strike to save his life. However, in another bullpen mystery Weiss left Logan in the game.

Sure enough, Yasmani Grandal said thank you very much and smashed a home run to dead center for a grand slam and it was all she wrote for the Rockies. Logan was then removed from the game but it was too little, too late.

Any chance of a Rockies comeback was erased by a terrible strike three call on Nolan Arenado on a pitch almost three inches high out of the strike zone. A subsequent argument by Weiss and a further argument from Arenado saw them both ejected.

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This was another game the Rockies let slip away in a season full of them. If the team had any semblance of a reliable pen, instead of the current 73-80 record the team would probably be a couple of games over .500 and in the thick of it for a Wild Card spot.

Finding a suitable manager for 2017 is very important, but what is more important is coming up with a quality bullpen in 2017. There are too many bullpen arms currently who can’t throw strikes regularly or who look to be afraid to throw strikes and just nibble trying to find the corners.

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Logan has had a good season overall, with a 3.63 ERA and a .155 batting average against. Last night was not his night. But “not their night” has happened too many times for this bullpen. Whether its the coaching, the philosophy or the game plan, something has to change for this bullpen to become effective. Can the right formula be found?

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