Swooning Rockies not giving up on big season
Players, manager Black stay optimistic despite losing streak
san francisco» Bigleague players hate big-picture questions. Big-league managers hate them even more.
But in the wake of the Rockies’ season-high five-game losing streak, in which they were steamrolled by the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Los Angeles Dodgers and tumbled into third place in the National League West, it’s a pertinent question.
So, what is the mood and mind-set of a Rockies team that was routed by a combined score of 48-15 during its ugly skid?
“Our guys are fine,” manager Bud Black said Monday before the Rockies (47-31) took on San Francisco (27-51) at AT&T Park. “Knowing this group, the resiliency is there. It’s in there, regardless of what happens tonight or tomorrow night. This team has been really consistent in how it prepares, and that hasn’t changed.”
But what has changed, quite dramatically, is the quality of the Rockies’ starting pitching. After an excellent beginning to the season, the rotation is faltering. During the fivegame losing streak, starters posted a 13.72 ERA. Only rook-
Rockies RHP Jeff Hoffman (4-1, 4.29 ERA) at Giants RHP Matt Cain (3-7, 5.54), 8:15 p.m. Tuesday, ROOT; 850 AM Hoffman needs a bounceback performance in the worst way, because he’s coming off the worst performance of his young career. The rookie righthander — the centerpiece of the Troy Tulowitzki trade two years ago — allowed a career-high nine runs in just 3 M innings last Wednesday vs. Arizona at Coors Field. It was the first loss of the season for Hoffman, who is 3-0 with a 1.33 ERA in three road starts this season. Cain will be making his 40th career start against the Rockies, the most against them by any pitcher in their history. He has fared well in his career against Colorado, going 17-11 with a 3.48 ERA. Cain, however, is not pitching well. He allowed seven runs in four innings in his last start at Atlanta and has struggled in June with an 8.84 ERA. Cain is 0-4 with a 4.47 ERA in his last nine starts vs. Colorado. Wednesday: Rockies LHP Kyle Freeland (8-5, 3.70) at Giants LHP Ty Blach (4-5, 4.86), 1:45 p.m., no TV Thursday: Off Friday: Rockies RHP Jon Gray (0-0, 4.38) at Diamondbacks LHP Robbie Ray (8-3, 2.87), 7:40 p.m., ROOT ie left-hander Kyle Freeland was able to stick around for as long as six innings, further taxing a wobbling bullpen.
“I wouldn’t say this is regression,” Black said of his starters’ recent funk. “I would say, it’s a bad outing, and we’ve just sort of bunched them together.”
Right-hander Tyler Chatwood, the veteran of the group, gave up eight walks in his last start, but he’s not writing off Colorado’s chase of the National League West title.
“We are in the same place we were before this (losing) streak,” Chatwood said. “Five games doesn’t define us. Every team does it. Every team goes through tough times. I’m sure the Dodgers’ time is coming. We just have to approach each game new, like we’re doing tonight.”
But can the Rockies, who trailed the Dodgers by 4K games entering Monday’s play, hang with L.A. for the long haul?
“I think so,” shortstop Trevor Story said. “I know it’s going to be tough and it’s a tough division, and this has been kind of a reality check. We haven’t performed like we wanted to for the last five games, but we are very confident and we know how good we can be. We are just looking for a game or two to get back on track.”
Center fielder Charlie Blackmon, probably headed to his second All-Star Game, initially dismissed the big-picture question before giving a more thoughtful response.
“I’m not panicking by any means,” Blackmon said. “I knew this was going to happen at some point. You can’t go out there and be unbelievably better than everybody else all season. You are going to have ups and downs. This is one of those down times, but I’m not panicking.”
As Blackmon noted, all teams, including the 2016 World Series champion Chicago Cubs, falter over the course of the long season. The Cubs had a stretch last year from June 20 to July 9 in which they pitched poorly and went 5-15. They still ended up winning 103 regular-season games.
“I think we are right where we need to be — honestly,” said struggling reliever Adam Ottavino. “We got our rear ends kicked a little bit, and we didn’t play our best ball.
“For a little while, I know, I was already scoreboard watching. It was probably a little bit too early for that. We have to let this process play out. Everybody has to work on their own individual game, but as a group, we all feel good about each other.
“We have more talent than in the past. Nobody is looking around the room and wondering if we have the guys to get the job done. That’s a little different for us than before.”