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Colorado Rockies podcast: 3 things to look for in the St. Louis Cardinals series

By Noah Yingling |
DENVER, CO - AUGUST 17: Trevor Story #27 of the Colorado Rockies follows the flight of a second inning two-run homer against the Miami Marlins at Coors Field on August 17, 2019 in Denver, Colorado. (Photo by Dustin Bradford/Getty Images)
DENVER, CO - AUGUST 17: Trevor Story #27 of the Colorado Rockies follows the flight of a second inning two-run homer against the Miami Marlins at Coors Field on August 17, 2019 in Denver, Colorado. (Photo by Dustin Bradford/Getty Images)
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CINCINNATI, OH – AUGUST 18: Carlos Martinez #18 of the St. Louis Cardinals pitches in the ninth inning against the Cincinnati Reds at Great American Ball Park on August 18, 2019 in Cincinnati, Ohio. The Cardinals defeated the Reds 5-4. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images)
CINCINNATI, OH – AUGUST 18: Carlos Martinez #18 of the St. Louis Cardinals pitches in the ninth inning against the Cincinnati Reds at Great American Ball Park on August 18, 2019 in Cincinnati, Ohio. The Cardinals defeated the Reds 5-4. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images) /

After winning the final game of the series in Arizona against the Diamondbacks, the Colorado Rockies head to St. Louis to face the Cardinals in a four-game set this weekend.

The Colorado Rockies will head to St. Louis to face the Cardinals this weekend for the first time in 2019. If you’ve checked out the Cardinals some throughout the season, you know that they are in a much better spot than the Rockies at this point in the season as they have a record of 67-58 and in first place in the NL Central and right in the thick of things for the Wild Card spots as well.

Here are three things to look for in the series with the Cardinals and Rockies.

The Cardinals bullpen

By ERA, the Cardinals have the best bullpen in the National League at 3.74. Carlos Martinez, the former Cardinals starter, is now the team’s closer and he has pitched well in that role as he has a 3.86 ERA (3.37 FIP) with 14 saves.

The Cardinals also have five relievers with 48 or more appearances with an ERA of 3.59 (119 ERA+) or better in John Brebbia, Giovanny Gallegos, John Gant, Andrew Miller, and Tyler Webb.

The Cardinals bullpen, in total, has also only allowed 25 percent of inherited runners to score. For comparison, the Rockies bullpen has allowed 38 percent of inherited runners to score.

PHOENIX, ARIZONA – AUGUST 20: Kyle Freeland #21 of the Colorado Rockies pitches in the first inning against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field on August 20, 2019 in Phoenix, Arizona. (Photo by Norm Hall/Getty Images)
PHOENIX, ARIZONA – AUGUST 20: Kyle Freeland #21 of the Colorado Rockies pitches in the first inning against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field on August 20, 2019 in Phoenix, Arizona. (Photo by Norm Hall/Getty Images) /

The differences between the starting pitchers

The Cardinals have a young starting pitching staff and they have pitched well this season. Two of the starters that the Rockies are slated to face are Jack Flaherty and Dakota Hudson, on Friday and Saturday.

Flaherty, 23, has pitched to a 3.45 ERA in 25 starts with a good WHIP (1.104) with a 3.6:1 stirkeout to walk ratio.

Those numbers were not that great at the beginning of the season as in his last eight starts, Flaherty has averaged more than six innings a start and he has an ERA of 0.89 (that’s not a typo). Batters are hitting .145/.221/.231 against him in that span.

Hudson, 24, has pitched to a 3.63 ERA in 26 games (25 starts). He has an ERA of 2.25 in the month of August and he has had two consecutive 6+ inning starts without allowing a run, including 6 2/3 innings in his last start against the Brewers without allowing a hit.

For the Rockies, with the injury to Jon Gray and the likely injured list stint for Kyle Freeland, they will be putting people out there who nobody thought would be in the rotation this year with the exception of German Marquez today. Peter Lambert and Chi Chi Gonzalez will likely go on Friday and Saturday but Sunday is still a TBD with the Freeland injury.

PHOENIX, ARIZONA – AUGUST 21: Yonathan Daza #31 of the Colorado Rockies safely slides home to score against the Arizona Diamondbacks in the fourth inning of the MLB game at Chase Field on August 21, 2019 in Phoenix, Arizona. (Photo by Jennifer Stewart/Getty Images)
PHOENIX, ARIZONA – AUGUST 21: Yonathan Daza #31 of the Colorado Rockies safely slides home to score against the Arizona Diamondbacks in the fourth inning of the MLB game at Chase Field on August 21, 2019 in Phoenix, Arizona. (Photo by Jennifer Stewart/Getty Images) /

More from Rox Pile

The story of two different offenses

Even though the Cardinals are in a much better place than the Rockies in the playoff hunt, the Rockies offense has been much better.

The Cardinals, in fact, only have one player (Marcell Ozuna) with an OPS+ above 110. In the month of August, the Cardinals are hitting .245/.319/.380. They are also only averaging 4.4 runs per game in that span. Overall, the Cardinals offense has been at about that level all season as they are hitting .244/.316/.404 on the season.

The Rockies, on the other hand, have hit .300/.359/.510 in the month of August and they have averaged 5.3 runs per game. Overall, the Rockies are hitting .270/.329/.460 with 5.3 runs per game.

Considering how the two pitching staffs are also a bit different, it will be interesting to see if we see these offensive trends continue this weekend or not.

Next. Tim Melville was the hero the Rockies needed. dark

We also did a podcast about the upcoming series with the Cardinals. We also talked about the legend of Tim Melville, the starting rotation, bullpen, recent injuries, and what we expect to see in the near future with the Rockies so you can check it out below.

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