Diamondbacks hand Rockies seventh straight loss

The Colorado Rockies are really, truly a mess right now. The Arizona Diamondbacks beat them up once again on Thursday night en route to a 12-7 victory and a series sweep at Coors Field.

The Rockies have lost seven straight games.

More from Colorado Rockies News

• A Colorado Rockies Thanksgiving
• Colorado Rockies: Charlie Blackmon out for the season
• Colorado Rockies: Injuries shift look of roster ahead of Dodgers series
• Colorado Rockies: 3 things we appreciated from Tuesday in San Francisco
• What Bill Schmidt’s comments mean for the Colorado Rockies in 2023

Not since the days of the Blake Street Bombers and guys like Mike Munoz, and well, Mike Munoz, has there been a bullpen in Colorado that looked so truly inept. Nobody can get hitters out, not even guys who were reliable a while ago (Matt Belisle) or more recently (Adam Ottavino).

The Rockies’ bullpen currently owns a 4.59 ERA, 28th in all of baseball. Over the last seven days, which also happens to be this losing streak, the Rockies’ pitching staff as a whole owns an astounding 8.24 ERA.

8.24! I’m not even mad anymore. That’s just kind of amazing…horrifyingly amazing.

But hey, at least you can get one of these Rockies’ sasquatch things soon…

It’s not good right now, folks. Even with the offense clicking, it’s just not good right now.

The Starting Pitcher

Juan Nicasio struggled, again. He labored through 5 1/3 innings (likely because the bullpen was shot) and surrendered seven earned runs on 11 hits. He issued only one walk, but that doesn’t mean his command was good. It just means that he missed spots and got knocked all over the yard.

I campaigned to move Nicasio to the bullpen for a while. Then I backed off. Recently I wondered if I would flip-flop again in my belief that Nicasio belongs in the bullpen. I will probably keep flip-flopping, trying my best to avoid knee-jerk reactions but inevitably riding the highs and lows depending on how he pitches.

Well, if he keeps stinking up the joint, he might just make the decision easy for the Rockies. Plus, he would present a gigantic upgrade to a bullpen that is truly a disaster.

The Bullpen

Not a typical feature in my game recaps, but seriously: how about that bullpen, eh guys?

The Manager

I mean, what the heck is Walt Weiss supposed to do? Other than pinning the losses on him blindly because “THEY’RE LOSING SO HE MUST SUCK,” I struggle to find fault with Weiss. He held his nose and sent Nicasio out for the 6th inning knowing that his bullpen was shot. He has been aggressive when it comes to taking his shots on offense, creating bases loaded at-bats for Carlos Gonzalez, Troy Tulowitzki, and Justin Morneau as pinch-hitters over the course of this losing streak (and getting zero runs for it).

Weiss can’t stop people from hurting themselves and he can’t do much when literally nobody in the bullpen can be trusted. So seriously, what is he supposed to do? And if you think he is a bad manager because of his disposition in postgame press conferences or because he doesn’t get mad enough or whatever, you need a hobby.

What’s Next

Eddie Butler is in the spotlight Friday night. That was already true for any number of reasons (facing the Dodgers at home, on a weekend, etc.). Now it is even more true because this Rockies team desperately needs to end its losing streak.