Rockies Opening Day loss to the Marlins felt hauntingly familiar

In their season opener on Friday night, Colorado faced one of the best pitchers in the National League (in my opinion), who made quick work of them.

One criticism I had of the team was that Alcantara only needed 73 pitches to get through through seven innings of work, after which he was replaced by Andrew Nardi in the eighth inning.

Kyle Freeland had some inconsistencies with his control but managed to limit the Marlins to just two runs while giving up five hits, issuing two walks, and striking out two in his season debut.

Colorado had opportunities to score, but they were unable to capitalize on them.

Two instances occurred in the second inning alone. Hunter Goodman singled to right field, and Jake McCarthy stumbled a bit around third base it appeared, resulting in him being thrown out at home plate.

I thought he would slow down and regroup at third base, but he went for it anyway and ended up with a bad result.

After Jordan Beck's RBI single brought the game within one and loaded the bases, Brenton Doyle struck out swinging on a nasty 92 mph changeup below the zone, ending the inning.

Neither team was able to score for the remainder of the game, resulting in a rather uneventful 2-1 victory for Miami on Opening Day. However, Rockies first baseman TJ Rumfield achieved a milestone by recording his first MLB hit in the ninth inning off Marlins closer Pete Fairbanks.

One thing that stood out to me was that Goodman had been struggling throughout most of spring training, at least until the last week and a half. In the game, he went 2-for-4, with both hits being singles, despite the team's loss.

That's a very positive indication for Colorado's All-Star and Silver Slugger from last year.

One positive takeaway I noticed was the excellent performance of the bullpen, which managed to keep Miami scoreless for 3 2/3 innings. Jimmy Herget, Brennan Bernardino, and Juan Mejia all contributed to keeping the Rockies in the game.

This game brought back a sense of familiarity, but keep in mind that this is only the first of 162 games.