The Week In The West: Rox on top

Week 8 saw the Rockies move into first place in the National League West while Arizona continues in a free fall, so let’s examine this shift in the standings and preview the week ahead.

Colorado Rockies: 1st Place (28-25, – GB)

Series Record: 7-7-3

Last 10 Games: 5-5

This Week: @LAD (3), CIN (3); 3-3

It seemed like a series victory would be lined up for the road warrior Rockies against the Dodgers, but Los Angeles pulled ahead in game three to come away with a 2-1 series win. After spending more time on the road than any other team in MLB, Colorado came home to start a nine-game set against the worst the NL has to offer, the Cincinnati Reds. With a decisive win on Sunday, the Rox won their seventh of 17 series.

Colorado has a 28-25 (.528) record, good for the eighth best record in the National League. If the Rockies were not in control of first place in the West, they would sit 2.0 games behind Washington for the last Wild Card spot, behind St. Louis, Chicago and Pittsburgh. At the moment, it appears that the Rockies will need to win the NL West this season in order to make the playoffs, something they have yet to do in their 25-year history.

Entering Sunday, the Rockies were the worst hitting team in all of baseball this season, according to FanGraphs WAR, and ranked last in wRC+. On a promising note, their team BABIP was ranked 27th in all of baseball, suggesting better fortune could be on the way for the offense.

With 18 runs in three games against the Cincinnati this weekend, Colorado’s offense got the jump start it needed. It is their most runs averaged in a series since April 23-25 against San Diego.

Charlie Blackmon and Nolan Arenado benefitted the most this weekend from Cincinnati pitching. Blackmon hit 6-for-13, with a double, triple, 4 runs scored and 2 runs batted in, while Arenado went 4-for-9 with 2 home runs and 3 runs batted in against the Reds. The third baseman’s homer on Friday night was his first since May 5th against the Mets.  

Not to be outdone, Carlos Gonzalez broke out of a season-long slump with a 4-for-4 game on Sunday, hitting a mammoth first-inning 2-run homer that gave the Rockies a lead in which they wouldn’t look back.

German Marquez won both his starts, bookending the week with seven-inning, one run performances against Los Angeles and Cincinnati, lowering his ERA nearly a full run in the process. Kyle Freeland tossed his sixth straight quality start, limiting the Dodgers to three runs over 6.1 innings in Wednesday’s loss.

While Rockies relief pitching is 26th in WAR over the month of May, the combination of Adam Ottavino in the eighth and Wade Davis in the ninth has been dominant; the duo of firemen from Engine 303 helped secure two more victories this week.  

The Week Ahead: SF (3), LAD (3)

This will be the most important week of the season thus far. With six games at home against division rivals San Francisco and Los Angeles, Colorado has an opportunity to put some distance between themselves and their challengers, as well as get back to their winning ways at Coors Field.

Clayton Kershaw is set to return from the DL on Thursday; if the plan changes, the Dodgers could be lined up to throw the same three starters as in the games in Los Angeles last week.

Arizona Diamondbacks: 2nd Place (26-26, 1.5 GB)

Series Record: 10-5-2

Last 10 Games: 1-9

This Week: @MIL (3), @OAK (3); 1-5

Arizona continues to lose ballgames by the handful, losing their fourth straight series and getting swept for the third time in four series. The Brewers took all three from the DBacks and defeated them for the fifth time in ten days.

The Diamondbacks continue with one of their most painful stretches in franchise history, falling out of the first place in the NL West after losing seven straight games, as well as 9-of-10 and 15-of-17.

The team’s offensive WAR is not only the worst in baseball over the past two weeks, but also over the past month, followed closely by the Rockies. After busting out for seven runs and 12 hits in game one of their series against Oakland, they tallied just five hits in their next 18 innings and have scored just 16 runs over their last 9 contest.

The magic of Daniel Descalso may have disappeared for the Diamondbacks. After playing the best baseball of his career for the first six weeks of the season, the former Rockies utility player has been hitless in his last 14 at-bats dating back to May 18th and has struck out in seven of his last 12 plate appearances.

Descalso’s slump has been a particular challenge for Arizona as two of their top offensive players—A.J. Pollock and Steven Souza, Jr.—are on the DL; with three catchers on their 25-man roster, the bench is much shorter on depth at the moment.

Paul Goldschmidt continues to struggle and has been getting worse than his season statistics suggest. In May, he has a slash line of just .118/.227/.235. His extra-base hit total this month (5) is the lowest among all NL West first baseman this season, followed by Ian Desmond (9), Cody Bellinger (10), Eric Hosmer (11), and Brandon Belt (12).

Due to injuries to Taijuan Walker and Robbie Ray, the Diamondbacks have had to pull from their minor league depth for assistance. The latest, Reno Aces starter Clay Buchholz provided the Snakes with his second start of the season this week, allowing just two hits and one run in six innings against Oakland on Saturday. Arizona’s previous replacement starter, Kris Medlen, announced his retirement on Sunday.

At the front of the rotation, Patrick Corbin was excellent again, improving to 5-1 with a 2.47 ERA and 0.89 WHIP as he works through his final season before hitting free agency.

It should be noted that defensive metrics peg Arizona as the best fielding club in all of baseball.

The Week Ahead: CIN (3), MIA (3)

The DBacks will be looking to take a page out of the Rockies book by straightening out their offensive woes against the Reds at home. The projected starters this week against Arizona don’t carry much clout by name, but since five of the six will be right-handers, the DBacks may have another challenging week as they are just 13-19 against righties thus far.

San Francisco Giants: 3rd Place (25-28, 3.0 GB)

Series Record: 6-7-4

Last 10 Games: 3-7

This Week: @HOU (2), @CHC (3); 1-4

San Francisco ran into Gerrit Cole and Justin Verlander down in Houston and, not surprisingly, scored only three runs against the duo. The Giants squeezed out a victory on Saturday in Chicago and looked to take the rubber match on Sunday with three runs in the top of the first, but the Cubs bounced back to score eight unanswered runs to take the series. San Francisco is 3-6 during their current stretch of 21-games against teams with winning records.

Aided by a .326 BABIP—tops in baseball—San Francisco’s offense has been doing it’s best to keep their club in games.

The two Brandons have continued to carry the Giants offense. With A.J. Pollock on the DL, Brandon Belt moved into first in the NL for WAR (2.5). Over the past month, Brandon Crawford leads all NL shortstops in WAR (1.7).

Gorkys Hernandez is quietly in the midst of a nine-game hitting that started against Colorado on May 17; during this span, he’s gone 13-for-35 (.429) with three home runs, six runs scored and six runs batted in atop their lineup.

With their top three pitchers missing at various times this season, Giants starters have a 4.65 ERA (13th in the NL) and are dead last in K/9 (6.97) in the Senior Circuit. Even without their $62M closer at the back end of games, relief pitchers are third best in WAR over past two weeks entering Sunday for San Francisco.

According to the fielding metrics, San Francisco center fielders this year have been rated as worst in baseball, followed by the Dodgers and Rockies, respectively. To make matters worse, they are the worst team defensively overall in the National League.  

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

With a sweep of the Rockies, the Giants can pull into first place tie in the West, potentially. Much like Arizona, San Francisco has struggled against right-handed starters, going 12-19; Kyle Freeland projects to be the only lefty they’ll face during their six games this week.

Los Angeles Dodgers: 4th Place (24-28, 3.5 GB)

Series Record: 5-7-5

Last 10 Games: 8-2

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

Los Angeles faced their rivals in Colorado for the first time this season and came away with the final two games of the series. They took two of three from San Diego and staved off any notion they would be in the NL West cellar this season.

The strength of the Dodgers’ starting pitchers made the Rockies look awful at the beginning of the week. Starters combined for 17.2 innings pitched and allowed just three runs. Even the newly promoted Brock Stewart was able to contribute with four innings on Tuesday night, his longest such outing since back on April 18th with Oklahoma City.  

The starting pitching has been the story for Los Angeles this year and has better than advertised in the wake of injuries to Clayton Kershaw, Rich Hill and Hyung-Jin Ryu. In their last 17 consecutive starts, the Dodgers four regular starting pitchers have all pitched to a 3.29 ERA or better.

As a staff, their rotation is 1st in K/9 (10.01), xFIP (3.07) and 4th in ERA (3.31) across both leagues. While starters have won six of their last 10 games, the bullpen has lost the most games (13) in the NL this season.

Walker Buehler had a great two-start week, hurling 14 innings and surrendering just two runs. Over these two starts, the former Vanderbilt pitcher struck out 14 and walked none.

After some early season struggles, Kenley Jansen seems to have recovered the ways of his shutdown closer abilities. Though his ERA sits at 2.78 for the season, he has a 0.69 ERA in the month of May and has thrown 11 innings of scoreless baseball in 10 appearances, saving seven games during this span.

Jason Turner has played well and since his return to action on May 15, the Dodgers are 7-4.

Chris Taylor had a strong week, going 5-for-16 (.313) with a .542 on-base percentage to go along with two home runs, five runs scored and three RBI. Matt Kemp stayed on par with his solid season, hitting 9-for-22 (.409) and driving in five runs this week.

The Week Ahead: PHI (4), @COL (3)

Dodgers fans hope Kershaw will return on Thursday against the Phillies, when they face Aaron Nola (6-2) and his 2.27 ERA. Los Angeles will also face Jake Arrieta (4-2) during this series, who looks back to his dominant ways. On Friday, the Dodgers will visit Colorado for the first time in 2018 and get a second chance at defeating starters German Marquez and Chad Bettis.

San Diego Padres: 5th Place (22-32, 6.5 GB)

Series Record: 4-11-2

Last 10 Games: 5-5

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

San Diego had an opportunity to move out of the NL West basement with a strong week. In Washington, they missed starts by aces Scherzer and Strasburg, but could only come away with one win. Sunday’s loss in LA gave the Dodgers the series win and placed the Padres three games back of their SoCal rivals.

In a trade that comes down to money, San Diego acquired pitcher Phil Hughes, cash considerations and the 74th pick in the 2018 Draft from Minnesota for young, Venezuelan catcher Janigson Villalobos on Sunday. Since Hughes is also under contract for 2019, the Twins save $5.95M and acquire a catching prospect for the cost a Competitive Balance Round B. It’s unclear if the Padres will work Hughes into a rotation spot.

As a whole, the Friars’ rotation has been poor and ranks 14th in NL with a 4.93 ERA. Tyson Ross (4-3) has been the lone reliable starter, making quality starts in seven of his 10 games, pitching to a 3.13 ERA and 1.16 WHIP. Only he and Joey Lucchesi (3-2) have winning records from the eight starting pitchers the Padres have used this season.

Excluding a seven-run outburst on Saturday night when Christian Villanueva launched two homers, San Diego scored just eight runs in their other five games this week. Jose Pirela provided much of the offense, going 11-for-24 (.458) with three doubles.

The Week Ahead: MIA (4), CIN (3)

With seven games at home against the two worst teams in the NL, the Padres have another opportunity to try and climb out of fifth place. Unfortunately for them, they are the third worst team in the NL.

San Diego has played moderately well against left-handed starters (8-9) and will face two this week against Miami (Smith and Chen).