Critical Road Trip on Tap for the Colorado Rockies
By Joe Morrone
Mandatory Credit: Chris Humphreys-USA TODAY Sports
The Colorado Rockies are off to a surprising start at 26-21 and only 3 games behind the San Francisco Giants, but the real test begins now. If there is such a thing as a critical stretch of games in May, this is it. The Rockies kick off a nine game, ten day road trip versus the Atlanta Braves on Friday night.
If the Rockies go 5-4 on the trip, it doesn’t guarantee that they will be in the race for the rest of the season. However if they go 2-7, they very well could limp home for yet another meaningless summer at 20th and Blake. At that point, the countdown to Denver Broncos Training Camp for fans would officially begin.
The Rockies have been decent on the road through the young season at 10-14, but there were some all too familiar signs on their last road trip. In that three city trip versus the Texas Rangers, Cincinnati Reds and Kansas City Royals the Rockies went 2-5. What’s more disturbing than the record is the fact that the Rockies scored only seven runs in those five losses. For Rockies’ fans that road trip reeked of same stuff, different year.
Now the Rockies head to Georgia to for a three game set with the Atlanta Braves, and the demons that await. The Rockies struggle on the road, no matter where it is, but their record in Atlanta is horrific at 25-61. If the Rockies are serious about changing their fortunes on the road, then it has to start in Atlanta.
The games in Atlanta are a microcosm for the Rockies on the road; they have trouble scoring runs, their pitching usually lets them down and they find ways to lose close games.
At home the Rockies get away not getting bunts down, not hitting behind runners and not getting guys in from third base with less than two outs. They get away with those things at Coors Field because a five run inning is always right around the corner. The hard truth is the Rockies are a great hitting team, they are an average offensive team. Great hitting teams will put up big numbers when the stars align but great offensive teams do the little things to score runs when the three-run homer is not there.
The Rockies have to be one of the five worst teams in Major League Baseball in getting sacrifice bunts down and while that’s a boring play to most fans, it wins games on the road. Every time I look up, pitcher Franklin Morales is failing to get a bunt down or someone else is striking out with a runner on third base. These are the types of things the Rockies must improve on if they are ever going to consistently win on the road.
Can it change? Of course it can and maybe this road trip will be the first step in that direction. If it is going to change and the Rockies are going to win five or six games on the trip, then they must do the little things and their best players must lead the way. As great as Troy Tulowitzki has been this season, he still struggles too often in big spots. If the Rockies have two in scoring position with two outs, players like Tulowitzki or Carlos Gonzalez must come through more often than not. The stars have to play like stars.
The Rockies have been a pleasant surprise in 2014 and they deserve credit for their performance to this point in the season, but that performance must begin to translate on the road. By this time next week, we’ll have a pretty good idea of what the Rockies are going to be this season. If they are 4-2 or even 3-3 through the first six games of the trip, then maybe it’s time to take them seriously. If they are 1-5, however, then we can start debating who should be the starting middle linebacker for the Broncos.