Series Preview: Colorado Rockies

Rockies’ fans were on a Rocky Mountain high the first month of the season, getting off to a fast start with a 13-4 record. Since that early run, however, they’ve been singing a different tune, as they’ve followed that up with a 15-23 record heading into June.

The Rockies can hit—when you have the likes of Troy Tulowitzki, Carlos Gonzalez and Michael Cuddyer—who, despite a stint on the DL—is having a nice start to his season—you’re going to score runs. The Rockies are leaving a lot of guys stranded; and while that’s a product of getting a lot of guys on base to begin with, it’s still making Rockies’ fans nervous, as their run production has been dropping of late.

The Reds aren’t the only team with a #2 hole lineup controversy.  Colorado has put several players there, with no real resolution. Dante Bichette, the Rock’s hitting coach had some interesting things to say about the subject:

“It’s one of those interesting spots in the lineup, because there are so many views on what makes a good two-hole hitter,” Bichette said. “There are guys that think speed. A lot of guys say on-base percentage. A lot of guys feel like a high-strikeout guy is good for second, because there are not a lot of double plays, and a lot of guys feel the opposite, that they need a contact hitter.”

Here are the 2013 rankings thus far for the Rockies’ offense:

Manager Walt Weiss likes to sit the aging Todd Helton against lefties, so expect to see a lot of Helton in this series.

Here are the 2013 rankings thus far for the Rockies’ pitching:

Tyler Chatwood began the season in the minors, has been a pleasant surprise—and now he’s an important part of the rotation for the Rockies.

The Bullpen
A groin injury has landed Rockies closer Rafael Betancourt on the DL over the weekend. The Rockies will hand over the mythical closer duties to Rex Brothers, a lefty who has amassed 23 straight scoreless appearances over 21 1/3 innings. Manny Corpas is being brought up from AAA Colorado Springs to fill out the pen. Corpas was 0-2 with a 5.01 ERA in 48 appearances with the Cubs last year. Wilton Lopez, Matt Belisle, Adam Ottavino, Rob Scahill, Edgmer Escalona and Josh Outman round out the pen.

I will be especially interested in seeing Ottavino during this series for personal reasons. Adam played in the very same Brooklyn little league (78th Youth Sports) I once coached my son. Adam’s father, John, was quite a teacher and coach. He must be beaming.

Wednesday’s matchup should be a decided mismatch in favor of the Reds (at least on paper) as Cueto goes against the Rockies #5 starter, Jon Garland. Your starting pitchers for the series: