Colorado Rockies: Positives and negatives from a nightmare homestand

Wow! I have no idea where to even start. What started out as a solid nine-game homestand for the Colorado Rockies ended on Sunday with a absolute thud as the Los Angeles Dodgers completed a three-game sweep.

After winning four of the first five games, the Rockies were a complete disaster and lost the final four games of the homestand. I stated lasted week that the Rockies needed to go a minimum of 6-3 to consider the homestand a success … and obviously the 4-5 record was the nightmare that they needed to avoid.

The Rockies began this homestand looking to find their offense. In the process, they forgot how to pitch.

Here is a rundown of the positives and negatives of the last nine games.

The Positives

The struggling offense finally found its groove … for the most part. During the nine games, the Rockies hit .315 and an even better .365 RISP and averaged 6. 4 runs per game.

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Welcome back DJ LeMahieu. In his three games back from the disabled list, DJ was 6-14 (.429) with five runs and four RBI.

Ryan McMahon was much better after being recalled from Triple-A Albuquerque on May 26. Even though he struggled on Sunday, going 0-4 with two strikeouts, he is 7-for-24 (.291) since he replaced Pat Valaika on the roster.

The Rockies have a day off on Monday before going to to the National League’s second-worst team, the Cincinnati Reds.

The Negatives

What in the world has happened to the pitching, especially the bullpen? I previous stated that the Rockies averaged 6.4 runs per game during the homestand. Well, the opponents averaged 6.8 runs. To make it even worse, the last four games, the opponents averaged an even 10 runs.

The bullpen, as we all know, has been absolute garbage during this losing streak. In the four games, they gave up 20 runs in 16 innings of work, which is an ERA of 11.25. That shoddy performance led to the pen taking credit for all four losses. Not that that takes the starting staff off the hook. Their ERA in the last four games has also been an atrocious 8.10.

The loss of Adam Ottavino to a sore oblique is one reason for the pen’s struggles. By not having his absolutely filthy slider coming out of the pen, it has placed a lot of pressure on the other guys to fill different roles … which they certainly did not.

Earlier I stated that the offense had found its groove … for the most part. I say for the most part because the offense has disappeared after the third inning. In the last four games, the Rockies have scored 18 runs in the first three innings. In innings four through nine, they have managed to score only five total runs.

The Rockies are now 1.5 games back of the Arizona Diamondbacks in the NL West. This day off on Monday will be used to give the bullpen some much needed rest before squaring off against the Reds on the road, where the Rockies have played much better so far this season.

Next: Could trading for one of these pitchers help the Rockies?

As long as the offense doesn’t cool off and the pitching enjoys not being at Coors Field, this four-game nightmare should be short-lived.