Hello loyal readers! The Beard here, checking in with you Rockies Fans for the last time before the All-Star break. Congratulations to Brad Hawpe and Jason Marquis, two deserving Rockies All-Star representatives!
In case you haven't noticed, Rockies fans, the Rockies' win streak is officially over. They have lost three of their last four series, only a sweep of the awful A's has them at .500 over their last 12 games. Should we be concerned?
Yes and no. Two of those three series losses were to excellent, division-leading teams, the Angels and Dodgers. And of the four losses to those two teams, three of those games were very close, could-have-gone-either-way games. A good team has to beat other good teams, but going 2-4 on the road against two division leaders, losing three of those games by a total of 4 runs, is a sign of hope.
Losing two of three to the even-worse D-backs, however, has revealed some of the weak spots in this Rockies team. The middle game in particular highlighted the hit-or-miss quality of the Rockies bullpen... they were handed a 4-3 lead, and turned it into a 11-7 loss. They nearly blew a big lead to the A's the previous week, too. While the bullpen (Street in particular) has been solid through this recent resurgence, I believe they clearly need a beard upgrade out there if they are to contend in the 2nd half of this season.
Another problem that has raised its ugly head is strikeouts. Rockies batters have been striking out at an alarming rate. In the three-game series with the D-backs, the Rockies struck out 19 times. They did not really have a problem scoring runs against the Diamondbacks, but even so, they need to be a lot more disciplined at the plate.
Now, the Nationals come into town for the next three games. This is a team that makes the A's and D-backs look like Pennant winners. This is a team that hasn't yet reached double digits in road wins. Their ERA is 2nd worst in the majors, nobody issues more walks than they do, only one team strikes out fewer batters than they do. They're a little bit better with the bat in their hand, but even so, this is a bad, bad baseball team. This is a team that the Rockies, if they're the team we all hope they are, should sweep and sweep easily. Anything less than that, and we can start worrying, but until then, let's take the D-backs series as a couple hiccups at the worst possible time, and keep looking forward!
2 comments:
I enjoyed the interview with the president of ESPN. He probably lives near me....
You know the Dodgers current third baseman is nicknamed The Beard. I wonder if this is why, since his arrival on the Dodgers, the Rockies haven't been to the playoffs? A new curse to track, perhaps?
Hmm, I did not know that Blake's nickname was The Beard, but it fits. That definitely splits the Beard-magic in the NL West, no wonder the Rox have such a tough time with the Dodgers! The (One True) Beard will definitely look into this...
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