Rockies News: All-Star voting, troubles on the road, and Matt Kemp

The Colorado Rockies have reached a critical point in their season.

By losing the first game of a 10-game home stand after a disastrous road trip, the Rockies have now lost five straight games. We still probably have not reached the point in the season where games can be called “must wins,” but they need to turn things around on this home stand if they want to stay afloat in the difficult NL West.

Speaking of the NL West, the Dodgers will be in town this weekend. As if their drama wasn’t enough, the Rockies will trot Eddie Butler out there on Friday night to make his big league debut in the rotation spot previously occupied by Franklin Morales. In the meantime, Carlos Gonzalez continues to struggle. Yesterday we saw his name in the headlines thanks to an argument that he should be traded and then another early exit from a game.

Here’s what else is happening with the Rockies and around the rest of baseball.

From Zachary Rymer: 2014 MLB All-Star Game’s Latest Voting Update, Biggest Takeaways (Bleacher Report)

"2. But How Much Longer Can Charlie Blackmon Hold On?Elsewhere in the National League’s outfield, you have to wonder just how much longer Charlie Blackmon can hold on. He’s still in line to start, but he’s no longer on top of all other NL outfielders in the voting, and there’s not much cushion between him and guys like Andrew McCutchen and Carlos Gomez."

From RhodeIslandRoxFan: The Rockies’ unknown identity (Purple Row)

"2) The pitching staff you’ve seen so far is not the staff you’re going to see going forward.…There’s of course two ways to look at this. The optimist will say the Rockies are still .500 despite getting nothing from this huge chunk of the rotation, and from there argue that this team will really start to reel off some wins if they ever get these guys on track. The pessimist on the other hand will say that Chacin is broken and that you can’t rely on getting anything from Anderson and Chatwood going forward and that the rest of the pitching staff will then collapse under the weight of the marathon season. The truth probably lies somewhere in the middle."

From Chris Vetter: Los Angeles’ Matt Kemp dilemma (Call to the Pen)

"Trading Kemp may be a difficult task for General Manager Ned Colletti if ultimately that is what the Dodgers decide to do. The Dodgers have Kemp under contract for another 5 years, owing him $107 million during that timeframe. Most likely they would have to pay a large sum of Kemp’s remaining contract, which due to recent history would not seem like a problem for Magic Johnson and the Dodgers ownership regime."