Well look what we have here. The Colorado Rockies are streaking again.
Do you remember during their “Rocktober” where they won 21 of 22 in September to get in, the greatest streak to end the regular season? Well, don’t expect that this time around, but I do admit the Rockies do have some sort of a new identity with Jim Tracy taking over.
It all starts with pitching. And for a change, the Rockies are winning on the road, collecting 16 road wins to just nine at home. It was a bit controversial with the firing of Clint Hurdle on May 27, after the completion of the Los Angeles Dodgers series, but people are soon forgetting about that as the team has gone 7-4 since.
It isn’t much to brag about, but hey, it is better than any similar stretch this season. The run has officially brought Colorado out of the cellar, as they are now tied with Arizona for the worst record in the N.L. West with its 25-32 mark.
Jorge De La Rosa (1-6) picked up his first win of the year during the team’s latest five-game winning streak. In fact, the Rockies recorded their first sweep of this season and its first sweep of the Cardinals since July 1994, when they won four straight at Mile High Stadium.
It was mentioned earlier that the team has done it through pitching. In the Cardinal series, the Colorado starting pitching totaled nearly 30 innings of work, with a 2.45 ERA and winning all four games. They were even able to hold Albert “The Machine” Pujols in check, allowing him to just one hit all series.
That one hit was a home run, but still, it was just one hit.
While De La Rosa recorded his first win of the season, Jason Marquis recorded is National League leading eighth win of the season, improving to 8-4 overall. Marquis was acquired from Chicago back in January and is earning every bit of his 9.8 million due to him this year.
Even though the pitching was great, so has been the hitting during its latest run. Clint Barmes has hit a cool .500 in the last six games. Brad Hawpe, who by the way is a monster in MLB 2K9, has a 10-game winning streak (batting .375 during span).
Things are looking great for the Rockies, but I am sad to say that this is probably just another sprinkle of a tease. The potential of improving from its 74-win season last year is possible, but there are still plenty of question marks.
Plus, who is going to take down the Dodgers?
I really like Dexter Fowler as the leadoff man. In my MLB 2K9 game, he is hitting .389 midway through the regular season. But in real life, Fowler is just .257, and has not had a multi-hitting game since the Detroit series in mid May. He does have 11 steals, but he has to play more of a role for this team to make any sort of playoff push.
It’s a lot to ask of a rookie, but I know he can do it. Another thing to take into consideration is the injury bug. So far, the team has been okay with injuries. They are activating Chris Iannetta from the 15-day disabled list today, and Troy Tulowitzki's hand seems to be getting better as he connected on his first homer in over a month Monday. Every one is going to have to stay healthy for this thing to work.
It is still too early to determine how the Rockies are going to do, especially since how inconsistent this team has been to its fans over the years. So let’s go ahead and forget about that for now. Grab a beer, gather with your friends and let's hope for another Colorado sweep this week, this time over the Milwaukee Brewers.
Keywords: Chris Iannetta, Clint Barmes., Colorado, Dexter Fowler, Jason Marquis, Jim Tracy, N.L. West, Rockies, Troy Tulowitzki
