Colorado Rockies Prove They Cannot Hang with the Big Boys

There is no way to sugarcoat it – the Colorado Rockies were simply awful in their recent series against the LA Dodgers, getting swept and being outscored by a score of 30-10. Only Tyler Anderson and Jon Gray did much out of the pitchers, and Nolan Arenado and Charlie Blackmon out of the hitters, though it was good to see Pat Valaika hit his first career home run.

This series proved the Rockies have a looong way to go if they want to be part of the conversation in the NL West in 2017.

The team had been playing well against contending teams until the last week. They dropped two-of-three to the St. Louis Cardinals and then got swept on the road on Vin Scully appreciation weekend.

The crux of the issues were highlighted Saturday evening. Blanketed by Clayton Kershaw (only three hits gained) and another bullpen meltdown highlighted by Eddie Butler resulted in a 14-1 hammering.

Then in the final game, after David Dahl stroked a home run in the top of the 9th to give the Rockies a good chance to win, another blown save by Adam Ottavino and another bad home run allowed by Boone Logan (to of all people former Rockie Charlie Culberson) let the Dodgers pull off the sweep.

The Dodgers have won 17 more games than the Rockies, and you can see why. They have a much bigger payroll than the Rockies, which helps them immeasurably. However, they also have tough hitters from top to bottom in their lineup, a true Number 1 pitcher, and a closer who has 47 saves and a 1.86 ERA.

After the first two losses, the last two games had a certain air of inevitability to them. The Rockies looked overmatched and the trend continued over the weekend. The team has great players, such as Arenado, DJ LeMahieu, David Dahl and Carlos Gonzalez just to name a few. Out of the pitchers, you have Gray and Anderson, and to a lesser extent Tyler Chatwood and Chad Bettis, all of whom are good to decent-enough pitchers but none of them “wow” on a consistent-enough basis.

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If the Rockies could pitch, they could be hanging with the big boys. Three damning statistics stand out – 4.81, 5.05 and 5.02, the respective cumulative ERAs of the starters and the bullpen, as well as the free agents the Rockies acquired last offseason, per Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post:

4.81 — ERA for starting pitching, fourth-highest in the National League, but still a step forward from the 5.27 mark posted by the 2015 rotation.5.05 — ERA for the bullpen, the worst since the 2004 relief corps posted a 5.53 ERA. By comparison, the bullpen for the 2007 World Series team had a 3.85 ERA.5.02 — Combined ERA of Jake McGee, Chad Qualls and Jason Motte, the three veteran relievers added to the club during the offseason. The trio has served up 20 home runs in 100⅓ innings. By comparison, left-hander Chris Rusin, the club’s long reliever, has given up four homers in 80 innings.

These numbers sure make for ugly reading. If the Rockies had a more effective pitching staff, the 12-7 season series loss to the Dodgers could have been different.

Next: Purple Monday: Colorado Rockies Who Are Impressing

The Rockies youth is exciting. For 2017 to be a improvement and for the team to be able to hang with the big boys, this youth will need to grow up quickly, on both sides of the ball.