Colorado Rockies start key nine game stretch with uncertainty lingering

Chris Humphreys-USA TODAY Sports

The Colorado Rockies play their next nine games in the NL West against the San Francisco Giants, Los Angeles Dodgers, and Arizona Diamondbacks. Six of those games are on the road.

Survival mode should be this team’s M.O. for their brutal schedule to start the 2014 season (40 games in 42 days). In that sense a 10-10 record thus far has to be considered a success. If you subscribe to that thinking, then expectations for the upcoming stretch of games ought to be tempered appropriately.

A 4-5 record over these nine division games is not stellar, but it is not a disaster either. If they go 5-4 they creep over .500 and stay competitive in their own division. Wouldn’t either mark be considered a success?

This is not to suggest that the Rockies should strive for mediocrity. It is meant to suggest that the Rockies will have their chances this season to string together wins and make a run, but this week’s stretch is not one of those chances. Not with Jorge De La Rosa out of sorts, Brett Anderson on the disabled list, Jhoulys Chacin still working his way back from injury, and Carlos Gonzalez dealing with a knee injury. That’s not to mention the ebbs and flows of a bullpen unit that is quite solid overall but is still prone to an occasional meltdown, as we saw Sunday afternoon against the Philadelphia Phillies.

Survival mode is OK for the Rockies right now because of a lack of days off and some early injuries, specifically to the rotation. With uncertainty lingering for this key stretch against the NL West, a 5-4 record would be fine and 4-5 would probably be OK too.

The action starts Monday night at Coors Field against the Giants with Jorge De La Rosa starting opposite Ryan Vogelsong.