The Week In The West: Down go the Rockies

Week 9 saw the Rockies pull into a tie with the Diamondbacks on Wednesday night, then proceed to lose the next four games and fall into fourth place.

Everyone in the division went 4-2 except Colorado, including last-place San Diego.

Three of the five teams in the division won both their series; though Arizona lost the series to San Francisco, their sweep of Colorado more than made up for losing 2-of-3 to SanFran.

As always, the next seven days are going to vital for virtually everyone in the National League West, so let’s examine this shift in the standings and preview the week ahead.

Arizona Diamondbacks: 1st Place (35-29, – GB)

Series Record: 13-6-2

Last 10 Games: 7-3

This Week: @SF (3), @COL (3); 4-2

Arizona put some distance between them and Colorado with a three-game sweep of their divisional rival. The two teams last played in late March to start the season, but the DBacks continued to frustrate their foes.

On June 6, Arizona acquired veteran OF Jon Jay from Kansas City in exchange for LHP Gabe Speier and RHP Elvis Luciano. In a corresponding move, IF/OF Kristopher Negron was designated for assignment. Jay was quickly inserted into the leadoff spot vacated by the injured A.J. Pollock.

Speier, 23-years-old, has been solid at Double-A Jackson (3.03 ERA). Luciano, 18, has yet to make an appearance this year and playing well in the Dominican Summer League (2.84 ERA) in 2017. Neither player is considered a top 30 prospect, but Luciano has the most potential of the pair as his development could net the Royals a future number three or four starter.

Manager Torey Lovullo moved Paul Goldschmidt up to second in the batting order for the series at Coors Field after heating up over the previous two weeks. The adjustment helped the first baseman continue his break from early season struggles. With an 8-for-13 weekend, including two doubles, a triple, four home runs and nine RBI, Goldschmidt announced his resurrection this week.

On the pitching side, Clay Buchholz continues to provide the Diamondbacks with better than replacement level pitching while Robbie Ray, Taijuan Walker and Shelby Miller are missing from the rotation. In four starts, the former Red Sox starter has a 1.88 ERA with a 0.83 WHIP with Arizona.

As the bullpen cart at Chase Field begins to be embraced, so does the idea that Arizona’s bullpen is one of the best in baseball. At just under $13.5M for their eight relievers, it’s also one of the cheapest in all of baseball.

Considering Arizona has seven players from their 25-man roster are currently on the DL, this team can only get better as the season goes on.

The Week Ahead: PIT (3), NYM (4)

With a 19-13 record at home, the Diamondbacks pulled ahead of the division just in time for a week at home against the 32-33 Pirates and the floundering Mets, who will not pitch Jacob deGrom during one of the four games at Chase Field.

After playing slightly better than .400 against right-handed starters for the first two months of the seasons, Arizona is 6-2 in their last eight. They’ll face five righties this week.

Los Angeles Dodgers: 2nd Place (33-32, 2.5 GB)

Series Record: 8-7-6

Last 10 Games: 7-3

This Week: @PIT (3), @ATL (3); 4-2

The Dodgers caught the Pirates and Braves at a good time and won both series as Matt Kemp was kept at bay by his former team in Atlanta. Los Angeles has the most home runs in the National League (82) and used the long ball to score nearly seven runs per game this week.

It appears the early string of poor luck for the Dodgers has run its course. With a +48 run differential, the Dodgers expected win-loss record is 37-28, much closer to their actual record than the one that kept them towards the bottom of the division in May.

Justin Turner played just one game this past week due to wrist soreness; Turner missed the first 40 games of 2018 after breaking his wrist when he was hit by a pitch in Spring Training.

Manager Dave Roberts dropped Cody Bellinger to 7th in the batting order on Sunday due to his inconsistency and maturity issues. Though he struggled in May, he’s still on pace for 31 homers and 85 RBI.

What seemed improbable at the start of the 2018 season is now a reality; Matt Kemp has more NL All-Star votes than Charlie Blackmon and is ahead of the Rockies star for the third outfield spot on the NL team.

After early season struggles from the bullpen, which have kept the Dodgers as the lone NL West team under .500 in one-run ballgames (7-9), Kenley Jansen and company have pitched much better. Over the past month, Los Angeles is third in the NL in WAR for relievers, even though they have the most inning pitched in the entire league.

With off days on Monday and Thursday, the Dodgers are currently rostering only three starting pitchers and a whopping ten relievers on their 25-man roster.

The Week Ahead: TEX (2), SF (3)

Los Angeles will enjoy a brief five games this week, all of which are at home. They’ll face three left-handed starters (Hamels, Holland and Bumgarner) and have a 14-7 record against southpaws.

San Francisco Giants: 3rd Place (33-32, 2.5 GB)

Series Record: 7-8-4

Last 10 Games: 8-2

This Week: ARI (3), @WAS (3); 4-2

With a series win against Arizona and NL-East-leading Washington, San Francisco moved to just 2.5 games out of first in the West.

Since Joe Panik was activated on June 1, San Francisco is 7-2.

The Giants got back Hunter Pence just as Brandon Belt left the team to undergo an appendectomy. The first baseman is having a career year, but will miss the next two weeks as he recovers from surgery.

Besides a double off Stephen Strasburg, Pence has not fared too well since being activated from the DL a week ago. Mac Williamson has received the glut of at bats in favor of the veteran outfielder.

Brandon Crawford, Evan Longoria, Andrew McCutchen and Nick Hundley all had a multi-homer week and five players had at least four RBI.

Crawford and Buster Posey lead their respective positions through the first count of NL All-Star Team voting.

Madison Bumgarner made his season debut on Tuesday night, throwing six strong innings against Arizona. In this start, Mark Melancon made just his second appearance of the year on his way to a three-inning, one earned run week.

Though Andrew Suarez only lasted 4.1 innings on Friday, he outdueled Stephen Strasburg, who was lifted because of shoulder inflammation. The 25-year-old Suarez has been serviceable for a Giants rotation plagued by injuries to their rotation this season.

The Week Ahead: @MIA (4), @LAD (3)

Though San Francisco has a great 19-11 record at home, they’ll have to travel cross-country for their series this week. Their bullpen should get some rest against the last-place Marlins before a crucial series against Los Angeles.

Colorado Rockies: 4th Place (32-33, 3.5 GB)

Series Record: 9-9-3

Last 10 Games: 2-8

This Week: @CIN (3), ARI (3); 2-4

Colorado couldn’t sweep against Cincinnati for the second time in two weeks and lost badly to first place Arizona, losing all three by five runs each.

With the three-game sweep at the hands of the DBacks, the Rockies are now winless in their last seven games against NL West opponents at home. They are the only team in the West to be under .500 against divisional teams.

Rockies are a respectable 13th in baseball in OPS; however, their wRC+ (81) is 29th in all of baseball.

Though Colorado is toward the bottom of the league in home games this season – only Atlanta has played less at home (28) – they are tied for 3rd in the NL in home runs (78) and are just 4 behind the NL leader (Los Angeles).

When Ryan McMahon was called up on May 26, he promptly started with a five-game hit streak. In the nine games since then, he’s started just twice and is 2-for-16.  

Nolan Arenado leads Kris Bryant in voting for the starting third baseman in the National League. Of Colorado players, only Trevor Story and Charlie Blackmon are in the Top 5 in voting for their position.

Over the past 30 days, Chris Rusin and Bryan Shaw have combined to go 1-6 with a 9.85 ERA in 24.2 innings pitched.

After his demotion to Triple-A Albuquerque, where he pitched to a 1.88 ERA in a hitter-friendly league, Scott Oberg was recalled on May 28 and did not give up a single run in 6.2 innings. His placement on the DL will strike a blow to a Rockies bullpen in need of some consistency.

The Rockies -42 run differential comes with an expected win-loss record of 28-37, tied with the Padres 29-38 record for worst in the NL West. The standings show Colorado 3.5 games out of first; according to expected win-loss, they could easily be 9.0 games out of first.

The Week Ahead: @PHI (3), @TEX (3)

Colorado escapes to two ballparks not called Coors Field. They are 21-14 on the road, good for second best in the NL, tied with the Cubs. At 11-19, the Rockies have the worst home record in the NL West.

San Diego Padres: 5th Place (31-36, 5.5 GB)

Series Record: 8-11-2

Last 10 Games: 7-3

This Week: ATL (3), @MIA (3); 4-2

The Padres defeated the then first place Atlanta at Petco Park in 2-out-of-3. They traveled to the other coast to win the series in Miami with a masterful performance by Clayton Richard.

Richard has been fantastic over the past month, pitching to a 4-1 record with a 2.98 ERA. He hasn’t throw less than 6 innings since May 2nd and has six quality starts in his last seven outings.

Brad Hand has a 1.89 ERA with a 0.99 ERA, saving 19 of 21 opportunities. With this third year of dominance under his belt, the Padres may finally receive the haul they’ve been seeking during the past few trade deadlines.

The Padres are 13th in the NL in wRC+ (87) and could slip into last place against on the road this week against some of the league’s better starting pitching in Atlanta and St. Louis.

Christian Villanueva was homerless this week, but is still tied for second in the National League with 15 home runs, behind only Bryce Harper. The 27-year-old third baseman had just four career homers entering this year.

Eric Hosmer has a 1.084 OPS over the past two weeks and has eight multi-hit games in his last 12 played.

With two more home runs this week, Franmil Reyes has six in the first 20 games of his major league career and five homers in just his past ten games.

The Week Ahead: @STL (3), @ATL (4)

San Diego adds to their frequent flyer miles with series against two contending National League teams. They’ve played well on the road and against right-handed starters, so a week with no less than three wins is a possibility for a team that wasn’t supposed to play .500 baseball until 2019, at the earliest.