The best and worst of the Colorado Rockies first half

 

We all need a break every once in a while. Breaks are good for recharging the batteries and taking a step back to get a look at the big picture before jumping head first back into the daily grind.

The Colorado Rockies are coming off a much-needed break, the annual tradition of celebrating the best in the game in the Midsummer Classic. Of course, participants Charlie Blackmon, David Dahl, Trevor Story, and Nolan Arenado didn’t exactly get all those days off. But overall, a suspension of the daily rigors of the most elite baseball competition in the world was more than welcome for a club that limped toward the All-Star Game by losing their final six games.

Still, a team with so many players in such a prestigious game – a team with postseason pedigree and a deep well of talent – still has plenty to look forward to as they sit just 2.5 games out of a Wild Card spot with 73 to play.

But before we look ahead, let’s take one last look back at how we got to where we are by highlighting some of the best and worst performances of the season for the Rockies thus far.

MVP – Nolan Arenado

It appears this is still Nolan Arenado’s team. He continues to pace the club in most offensive categories and is cruising toward his seventh consecutive Gold Glove Award with his usual spectacular defense. He ranks fifth in the NL in batting average (.312) fifth in home runs with 20 and ninth in slugging (.562) which is good for 10th place in the league-adjusted OPS+ stat with a 123 mark.

With the exception of the first two weeks of the season in which he did not hit a home run, Arenado has avoided slumps and remained a rock in the lineup. He also still claims the crown of King in the Clutch, hitting .329 and slugging .629 in high-leverage situations.

Honorable mentions go to Charlie Blackmon and reliever Scott Oberg.

Blackmon famously torched the month of June bringing his line on the season to .330 (3rd in NL)/.378/.632 (5th in NL), 1.010 OPS (4th in NL), 138 OPS+, 20 HR, 57 RBI, 7 3B (leads NL), 199 total bases (6th in NL) in 73 games played. If he doesn’t cool off he may end up becoming NL MVP let alone the Rockies’ MVP.

Oberg’s 1.24 ERA is second in the NL for a reliever, and he has done it while picking up 43.2 innings (9th in NL), and 48 strikeouts while holding opponents to a .159 BAA which is fourth best in the NL.

He has done all this while chaos rages around him. With a series of massive implosions from the bullpen, Oberg has been a consistent sigh of relief.

Best Pitcher – Jon Gray

Putting up a 3.92 ERA over 108 IP before the break may not be the eye-popping numbers we have seen over the last two years from youthful Rockies pitching, including Gray, but it’s a world away from where the Wolf of Blake Street found himself this time a year ago.

Digging inside the numbers, you’ll find a remarkably consistent pitcher who has managed to handle a Coors Field and MLB in general that have been allowing offensive numbers to skyrocket.

His 135 ERA+ has him tied with Clayton Kershaw of the Los Angeles Dodgers for eighth best in the league.

Honorable mention for Oberg.

Best Moments

Márquez’ gem

On April 14, German Márquez set the Rockies back on the tracks to contending, at least for the Wild Card. In one of the best pitched games in Colorado history, maybe even the best, Marquez nearly no-hit the San Francisco Giants and officially ended the dreadful start to the season.

Beating Boston

Sure they were tantalizingly close to a two-game sweep of the Red Sox, but the victory in the first game against the defending champs was maybe the most impressive of the season.

They faced off against one of the game’s very best, Chris Sale, at his very best. They struck out 17 times against him (23 in total) or it might be fairer to say he earned 17 strikeouts against them.

However you choose to frame it, Colorado employed patience and were not only to make sure Sale could not finish what he started, but got to him in his seventh and final inning of work when Nolan Arenado tagged him for a two-run homer.

Hanging with the Red Sox went a long way toward getting the club back in the hunt.

Walkoff Week and A 9-1 Home Stand

Starting pitcher Jeff Hoffman scored the winning run in one of Colorado’s wildest wins of the season.

In the middle of a home stand that also saw late-inning fireworks for Trevor Story, Daniel Murphy and Raimel Tapia, Tony Wolters came up with perhaps the most unlikely walk-off of the week.

He lifted a sac fly to left to complete a dramatic comeback against the Orioles and plate Hoffman who was the only man available to pinch run, punctuating the best stretch at home this season.

A Glimpse At the Future

We ain’t seen nothin’ yet. Maybe the most innocuous big moment of the unofficial first half for the Rockies were the debuts of 22-year-old Brendan Rodgers and Peter Lambert.

Neither has excelled much yet and Rodgers is currently sitting on the IL, but Lambert has held his own against some of the scariest lineups in baseball.

They may both be key factors for the Rockies down the stretch and will definitely be major pieces in 2020 and beyond.

Blackmon’s June

Long before it was announced, there was no question who the National League Player of the Month was going to be in June.

Blackmon hit .412 and slugged .850, earning the honor with ease. He also set a few new MLB records for consecutive games with multiple hits and in general has been on one of the best offensive streaks we have ever seen.

Worst moments

Bad Omens

The season could not have started much worse. The signs that the pitching was going to struggle reared its ugly head early and the offense looked like it was going to have the exact same issues as the last two seasons. That combination led to a now infamous 3-12 start and spelled disaster if something didn’t change in a hurry.

At one point missing Daniel Murphy, David Dahl, Ryan McMahon, Chris Iannetta, and Charlie Blackmon from the lineup, a return to health meant a return to form and eventually the new additions paired with hitting coach Dave Magadan’s teachings to transform the offense in May.

Still, the stumble out of the blocks was so bad that they’ve been scratching and clawing to recover ever since.

A Giant Pain

If you’re going to play 18 innings, any loss is going to be difficult one to take. But the sheer number of missed opportunities and the fact that the game ended when the catcher, Iannetta, failed to locate home plate with his foot on a would-be force out, instead allowing the winning run to score, is just salt in the wound.

Padres Series

The Rockies should have swept the San Diego Padres in a four-game series but instead ended up splitting the set after epic collapses from the bullpen that resulted in Mike Dunn being cut from the roster and Wade Davis ultimately demoted from the closer role.

It was a whirlwind of a weekend.

Dodger Parade of Walk-Offs

There were plenty of silver linings to take away from how closely Colorado played the class of MLB in three straight games at their house. But that was little consolation in the moment.

Or should we say three moments?

Three straight times the baseball game came down to the final pitch and three straight times that final pitch was sent over the wall by a Dodgers’ rookie. It wasn’t even the cast of All-Star caliber players but Matt Beaty, Alex Verdugo, and Will Smith who did the deeds.

It’ll take a long time before Rockies fans get over that one.

Swept by the Snakes

After beating them eight games in a row, Colorado ended their first half by dropping three straight to the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Even the offense looked tired after a long string of brutal losses against the Dodgers and Astros.

Nothing was working in this set and the team in the top Wild Card spot two weeks earlier found themselves dropping to one game below a .500 record.