Colorado Rockies: Trying to make sense of the first four weeks

It has been exactly four weeks since Opening Day of the Major League Baseball season and there has been a lot to dissect, especially for the Colorado Rockies.

With the Colorado Rockies getting a much-needed day off on Thursday, it is the perfect time to try to make sense of the roller coaster ride of the 11-14 start to the season.

To say the least, the first four weeks have been wild. Since winning the first two games of the season, the Rockies proceeded to lose 12 of their next 13 games, dropping their record to a franchise worst 3-12. Thankfully, they turned things around, having won eight of the last 10  games to get within a respectable three games of .500.

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Making sense of it all has proven to be rather difficult. After searching high and low through the stats for any sort of trend, there is only one conclusion that can be made: The Rockies have been consistently inconsistent.

With all of the injuries they have suffered, including five of nine Opening Day starters and two of five in the starting rotation having spent some time on the Injured List, it is no wonder why they haven’t been able to find any kind of consistency. The injuries have led manager Bud Black to pencil in a total of 24 different lineup combinations in the first 25 games.

The return of Daniel Murphy on Wednesday should help alleviate this problem. Will his presence fix the Rockies’ offensive woes? Most likely not, but it will give the lineup a comfortability factor that they haven’t known since Murphy went down in the second game of the season.

As for the pitching staff, when they have been good, they have been lights out. However, when they have been bad, the numbers have been ugly. In the Rockies’ 11 victories, they have given up only 24 runs (2.2 runs a game). However, in the 14 losses, they have been torched for 88 total runs (6.3 runs a game).

With a struggling offense, the pitching staff has to find a way to find consistency and limit these bad outings as the days of the Coors Field shootouts seem become fewer and far between. Also, a completely healthy and blister-free Kyle Freeland in the rotation could help eliminate one of the bad outings every fifth day.

Over a 162-game season, players have to be able to find an everyday routine. For the Rockies, multiple injuries have not allowed them to do just that. As players work their way back onto the roster, more consistent and better results should follow.