Colorado Rockies: 4 Interesting Stats Heading into the Week

At 2-8 over their last 10 games, the Colorado Rockies are officially in free-fall mode. The perfect storm has officially hit … and it doesn’t look to be letting up any time soon. This week, the Rockies will welcome the National League’s top two teams record-wise, the Washington Nationals and the Chicago Cubs, to Coors Field.

Philadelphia’s sweep of the Rockies in the City of Brotherly Love pulled the Phillies within a half-game of Colorado in the Wild Card standings. It also dropped the Rockies 5.5 games out of the hunt.

What showed its ugly head in Philadelphia has been building for some time. An offense missing some of its major pieces has combined with a pitching staff that hit rough times. Put those two things together and it doesn’t spell success for any Major League team.

There’s been a lot of good things happen this season, from the record-setting debuts of Trevor Story and David Dahl to Charlie Blackmon going on his recent home run binge. However, no matter how good the highlights might be, it’s not enough to overcome some of the problems seen far too often in the last 10 games.

Think back to the 12-2 demolition of the Los Angeles Dodgers on August 3. The bashing of the National League West rival raised the Rockies one game over .500 … but it also signaled the moment when things started falling apart in LoDo.

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On the morning of August 4, the day after the big win over the Dodgers, Colorado was 54-53. On the night of August 14, the Rockies are 56-62. So what happened?

At the end of the seventh inning, Carlos Gonzalez sprained his ankle trying to get out of the batter’s box and run to first. He brushed it off as no big deal after the game, but it has cost him a lot of playing time since the injury occurred.

Since then, the Rockies have been trying to replace the production of not only CarGo many times, but also the injured Story and Mark Reynolds. Thanks to home run binges by Chuck Nazty and Nolan Arenado, Colorado has tried to keep pace with their opponents … but those fireworks simply haven’t had enough bang.

Check out these four interesting stats compiled by the Colorado Rockies this month…

1. Despite all of the injuries, the Rockies lead Major League Baseball in August with a .310 average.

2. In the month of August, Colorado pitchers have thrown 2,073 pitches, which is the third-most in Major League Baseball. They’ve also faced the fourth-highest number of batters at 521.

3. Colorado pitchers have walked 56 batters this month, the second-highest amount in MLB. That, of course, pushes up the team’s WHIP, which stands at 1.59 in August, the fourth-highest total in the Majors.

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4. Six of Colorado’s nine losses in August have been by two runs or less. That’s one of the reasons that, despite their lowly record this month, the Rockies have just been outscored 73-63 since the night of August 3.