All-star shortstop Troy Tulowitski is only hitting .252, all-star left fielder Carlos Gonzalez is only hitting .236, starting center fielder and lead-off hitter Dexter Fowler leads the league with 43 strikeouts, all-star pitcher Ubaldo Jimenez has no wins in his five starts. In addition the starting 3rd baseman is hitting .064 and starting catcher is hitting .235, with all of these bleak statistics, you’d expect that your talking about a bottom dweller. Instead, this is the National League West leading Colorado Rockies.
Huh?
In April, the Rockies won a franchise record 17 games. Going into the series vs. division rival San Francisco on May 6th, the Rockies had a four game lead. A sweep of the Giants and the lead would be seven.
Finally, the smoke cleared and the Rockies were not winning the close games, dropping all three to San Francisco. The lead dwindled to one game and maybe the Rockies were coming back to the pack. They simply cannot sustain the winning with so many players performing below their standard.
The success is all about the pitching and a favorable schedule. Starting pitchers not named Ubaldo (Jhoulys Chacin, Jorge De La Rosa and Jason Hammel) pitching quality start after quality start. Best of all, the bullpen has been great. Matt Lindstrom has been all-star caliber and closer Huston Street has only one blown save in 13 chances.
With the exception of six games with San Francisco, the Rockies have played the 2nd tier of the National League. That changes in May, the Rockies play San Francisco, Philadelphia and St. Louis. By the Memorial Day quarter pole, we’ll know if the slumping players are stuck, if the pitching will hold up and what changes will need to be made in order to save the season.
Since the Rockies are in 1st place, it seems like you want to continue to ride the wave, but there are too many problematic signs. Are you willing to wait until Memorial Day to see if the Rockies need to make some changes? Tell us here.
Carving Freshies 