Game Recap: Mets 1, Rockies 0
Key to the game
The Mets scored in the seventh when Ubaldo Jimenez issued a leadoff four-pitch walk to Chris Carter, who was lifted for pinch runner Jeff Francoeur. Josh Thole followed with a double off the wall in right field on a 1-0 pitch, sending Francoeur to third. After Ruben Tejada struck out looking, pinch hitter Carlos Beltran was intentionally walked, and Jose Reyes drove a sacrifice fly to right, scoring Francouer.
The Rockies had a few mild threats against Mets starter Mike Pelfrey. They put runners on first and second with one out in the second, but Miguel Olivo and Clint Barmes each grounded into a fielder’s choice. In the fifth, Olivo led off with a single and stole second, but Barmes lined to shortstop, Jimenez struck out and Dexter Fowler grounded back to Pelfrey. Finally, in the sixth, Carlos Gonzalez doubled with one out. He took third when Troy Tulowitzki grounded to short but was stranded there when Brad Hawpe grounded to first. Pelfrey and two relievers retired the final 11 Rockies batters after Gonzalez’s double.
Other highlights
–The Rockies are 5-14 in one-run games on the road, and seven of the losses have come after the All-Star break.
–Jimenez, who is 17-3, lowered his ERA from 2.61 to 2.55. In his past three starts, Jimenez is 2-1 with a 1.29 ERA and has allowed four hits and one run in seven innings in each of those three games. Jimenez’s other losses were 2-0 at Los Angeles on May 9 and 10-2 at Philadelphia on July 24.
–The Rockies have been shut out five times this year, twice by the Mets. The Mets blanked them 5-0 at Coors Field on April 15 in a game also won by Pelfrey, who pitched seven innings just as he did in this game. The Rockies were also shut out 2-0 at Los Angeles on May 9, 6-0 on July 23 at Philadelphia and 10-0 on Aug. 3 by the Giants at Coors Field.
–Miguel Olivo singled in the fifth, ending a string of 16 hitless at-bats. Olivo had not had a hit since he homered in the second inning off Tom Gorzelanny of the Cubs on July 31 at Coors Field.
–Rafael Betancourt relieved Joe Beimel with two out in the eighth after Beimel issued a walk and struck out the right-handed hitting Francoeur. Betancourt has 55 strikeouts and five walks this season. Right-handed hitters are 23-for-110 (.209) against Betancourt, including 10 for their past 68 with 25 strikeouts, but left-handed hitters are 20-for-57 (.351) against him.
–The Rockies have lost five straight series openers on the road and are 5-14 in series openers on the road this season. Overall this season, the Rockies are 17-20 in the first game of a series.
Might as well just chalk up games in NY as losses as history painfully shows. I do love visiting there, as apparently some of the players do too, well according to their recent Tweets anyway…maybe they should just take naps instead on their days off with the season on the line in the future?
j/k
Guess Ubaldo’s luck with the offense picking him up ran out tonight…yikes!
Colorado Rockies
Hitters AVG
D Fowler CF .244
T Helton 1B .247
C Gonzalez LF .326
T Tulowitzki SS .317
B Hawpe RF .253
I Stewart 3B .259
M Olivo C .292
C Barmes 2B .250
Looking at these numbers, it makes me wonder why I continue to expect or hope for success from this team. You have the majority of your starters hitting 20, 30, even 50 points below their career or expected averages. This team doesn’t have the hitting to go anywhere in the playoffs (even if they could make it).
Another offensive gem. Look at the lineup tonight and the BA of the starters. Its August for criminy’s sake and six of the starters are hitting under .260 and three of those position players are .250 or LESS. Herrera in the two hole made a huge difference when Tulo was out. Why not now? Hawpe is not improving, Helton would be better utilized at five or six.
I count 3 or 4 of 8. Tulo, CarGo and Olivo are hitting better than one would expect. I’m not sure why Stewart would be expected to do better. Barmes’ avg entering the season was .258, so he’s pretty close as well.
It’s good Ubaldo’s seemingly back on track, but it seems like it’s been a season of silver linings…
I’d peg Stewart at .280, Fowler at .275, Helton at .310, Hawpe at .290, and Barmes at a (ok, generous) .270. Gonzales and Tulowitski are playing where you hope and expect them to play; Olivo is admittedly a surprise.
Fowler is getting on-base at the same rate as CarGo.
Unless he is injured, Seth Smith needs to start over Hawpe. Even though he does walk from time to time, Hawpe’s numbers are an embarrassment and he did next to nothing tonight. This was a completely unnecessary loss to a nothing team and there aren’t too many like this the Rox can afford.
Yes, the hitting on the team has underperformed all year. Helton may have been because of the back (he has looked better since the trip to DL). Fowler dug a big hole early, looked good right after coming back up from AAA, then slumped hugely again, and in the past ten days has once again looked good. I see no reason why CarGo and Tulo both cannot be .300 hitters. Stewart, as Renck pointed out earlier, has the tools to be a .280-.300 guy with 25-30 homers, just has not figured it out yet. So yes, offense has seriously underperformed.
As for tonight, great gritty performance for U in the 5th-7th innings. Only one hard hit ball all night, and it cost him. Honestly, Pelfry was lucky to be pitching in that stadium with the heavy air tonight becuase I think there were about 3 shots that would have been homers in most other parks (he is a sinkerball guy that we got a lot of fly balls against).
So we lost this one. Tough for U (and yet another 1-0 game that are so common this year in the bigs). Have to win the next two now.
Easy to get down, but actually a well played game by both teams. The other guys are big leaguers as well. The RBI came from a guy who is an All Star SS. It happens. Now have to shake it off and get tommorow’s game and break open the bats big time.
Stat guys, what’s the Rockies’ record after a day(s) off compared to the league average? I’m guessing it’s pretty bad(?)
If we are gonna look at our averages then compare with them with the Padres, go look at ESPN National League Stats, we beat SD in about every stat. They have Ked about 80 times less. I don’t think hitting is the issue at least with these stats. I wish I knew what the RISP stat was for both team and that maybe the key to all of it.
Hairston, .255 FOWLER .244
Tejada, .265 HELTON .247
Gonzalez, .290 GONZALEZ .326
Ludwick, .276 TULO .317
Headley, .275 HAWPE .253
Torrealba,.314 STEWART .259
Venable, .229 OLIVO .292
Denorfia, .273 BARMES .250
Gwynn, .212
Also look at pitching SD has 32 saves we have 22. 11 blown saves for SD 14 for CR. 74% opportunity for SD 61% for CR. How many games are we out. Not to mention they have given up a run less than us. 3.22 era SD and CR 4.18. And that is why they are in first place.
Curt,
I think Smith actually is injured. I remember hearing something about he fouled a ball off his shin or ankle the other day, and it’s still pretty sore.
Steve N, I actually looked into that because i had the same thought. But I think they were around .500 on the 1st day after a day off. No great trend there, just like everywhere else, a .500 ballclub…
It’s funny how when Barmes was hitting .220 everybody moaned, why can’t we have a 2B man who hits .250? Now we got one and you expect him to hit .280. I’m just sayin’.
I’m sure Pelfrey was great, but how many times have you heard this sentence?
“This is the best outing by (insert pitcher’s name here) for the (insert team here) all year.”
Miketober, I am as pleased as anyone that SU Barmes is performing like an excellent super utility guy at .250, and in fact I would almost take some of the credit for turning his season around – but I won’t. You also fail to point out that Barmes was hitting only “.209″ (Mendoza honorable mention) through almost two months of the season.
The point is that 2nd base is a position where you want some speed, on base percentage, and situatonal hitting skills to balance your lineup. With Tulo being more of a power guy at short, it makes it even more important that the 2nd base and center fielder positions be your speed guys.
I’ll take Herrara, Nellson or EY2 at 2nd base any day over Barmes for the Rockies everyday lineup. Also consider that SU Barmes is extremely likely to fade again to near to .225 status by the end of the year.
BTW – big thank you and compliment to the ITR guys and especially Jack Etkin for the excellent Farm Report – GREAT JOB ITR! If you haven’t done so – donate to ITR already.
Outside the box thought for today – could EY2 play center field at Coors Field any worse than Juan Pierre did? EY2 has as much speed and a far better arm than Pierre. Seems like he fits in center better than left field?
One more thing, Thistle you ar on the right track however you are using the wrong statistics. Do the same analysis comparing expectations vs performance of power stats (XBH or HR) – there’s the real problem.
Helton, Hawpe, Tulo (because he was on DL), Barmes and Fowler have all under performed with regard to power expectations. Stewart, Smith and Olivo have performed in these categories as expected. Cargo – well I honestly did not expect MVP type numbers, but where would the Rockies be without them?
Playing outfield is more than speed. Do you think EYJ could make the type of catches Dexter has made this year, both diving and leaping? Not to mention I think a huge part of EYJs problem is he doesn’t read the fly ball as well. I want EYJ to be a valuable member of this team, but thats crazy talk to think he’s better than Fowler for the CF position.
EYJ is a second baseman period. If he can’t beat out Herrera for the spot then he certainly can’t beat out Fowler.
Prog, sorry I don’t think I said that EY2 was a better center fielder than Dexter. What I meant to say was that centerfield seems to be a position where he could utilize his speed effectively as a major league player – for the Rockies (if you had to trade Dex), backup outfielder or someone else.
The point was that he would be better than Pierre – not that he would be better than Dexter. Also that he would be better in center field than in left – however I am totally guessing on that one. Similarly in my mind (obviously not J Tracy’s) Cargo should be better in right field everyday.
Finally if you are not going to play EY2 at second because you have better defensive alternatives, and he can’t play elsewhere(?) on the diamond, then my guess is that he should be traded to another MLB team while he might yet have some value,
The one thing you guys aren’t taking into consideration when you are talking about averages is the home road splits. Granted when you compare them to the Padres we are doing better. But the problem is all those averages are considerably less on the road. The Rox are a great team at home, but can’t hit a lick on the road. The Rox need to do some massive research on why they can’t hit on the road. They have had one winning season on the road(last season) and that was 41-40. If they ever want to win consistently they have to improve GREATLY on the road. I personally think it’s the movement of the pitches. Humidor has helped even the splits but I don’t think it’s enough. I think the Rox are used to hitting flatter pitches at home, then they go on the road and the pitches move so much more they can’t adjust quick enough. That’s my 2 cents anyways.
Rich M, saying he’s better than Juan Pierre is pretty irrelevant as Juan isn’t on the team, and IMO is not much of a basis for comparison considering the Rockies with Juan Pierre were far from the competitive the team we should be now.
I think any talk of trading Fowler is way premature. He’s going to get better. I think the near future of the Rox infield is that at least 1 of either Herrera, EYJ, or Nelson will be on the club, possibly 2 if we trade Barmes. Having 3 qualified kids competing for either a starting role or a utility role is a good problem to have.
If a trade opportunity happens they could pull the trigger. Contemplating converting EYJ to CF when you have Fowler and CarGo just doesn’t make sense. Aside from SS I would say CF is the most nailed down position we have.
This just in: After years of frustration, the Rockies have finally figured out their batting problems on the road. As reported on the MLB website yesterday:
“NEW YORK — After the Rockies’ 5-1 loss to the Pirates on Friday night, the hitters and manager Jim Tracy met to discuss ways to improve the team’s offensive approach. The Rockies knocked 38 hits over the next three games and won two of them.
The hit parade was the result of controlled swings and concentrating on creating traffic on the bases, not trying to win games with power displays”.
Glad to see the boys finally got the message. Not!!!
I’m not sure what it would do for the team, but it sure would make me feel good to see the Rox involved in a brawl like the Cardinals and Reds had yesterday.
I didn’t watch the whole game last night, so I don’t know whether they tried to hit a ton of homers or whatever, but one inning that just didn’t go our way, and I’m not sure its anyone’s fault, was the top of the third.
With one out, Dexter reached 1st.
Helton was up either 3-1 or 3-0 and Dexter was running and had an absolutely HUGE lead. He was practically half way to 1st before the pitch left the Pelfrey’s hand, and Todd swung at the pitch and it turned into a fly out.
Dexter has to retreat to 1st base.
Cargo then comes up with 2 outs and also flies out.
Again, it wasn’t Helton’s fault exactly, just something that didn’t go our way yesterday.
“The Rockies are 5-14 in one-run games on the road, and seven of the losses have come after the All-Star break”- That’s a very telling stat!. The problem with the Rox is they just don’t play small ball on the road. Where are the sac bunts, steals, hit & run, squeeze play,etc.? This has to be squarely on Tracy’s shoulders. It’s as he’s waiting for that elusive 3-run homer that never comes. I posted during the last road trip how there were a couple of oppotunities where the Rox had men on 1st & 2nd with no outs and he didn’t have Stewart bunt the runners over. These are just a couple of examples where the team just hasn’t played for the manufacturing of runs. A wise man once said that the difinition of insanity is when you do the same thing over and over again and expect differing results. When it comes to close road games, the Rox are insanely inept.
Cisco Kid, I agree and it kills me because I love Tracy’s demeanor and professionalism…he just doesn’t have that philosophy!
I doubt that EYJ will ever amount to much as a MLB player. He should be used as trade material, along with Barmes during the off season. The second base and utlity jobs should go to Herrera and Nelson next year to fill in before the arrival of Hector Gomez at second. Also, the development of Seth Smith has been delayed by the presence of Hawpe. Hawpe should be gone next year and finally Smith should have a chance to develop. Stewart is doing OK IMO, 30 points higher than a year ago. He doesn’t have it together yet as a MLB player. If he were to approximate the knowledge of the strike zone as does Adam Dunn, he would put up Dunn’s numbers, 40 HR’s and .270 average. He has the potential to do better than that but Dunn’s numbers would suffice just fine given his defensive ability.
Its not Stewarts fault, but the way people spoke about Ian Stewart coming up I thought we would be getting our own Ryan Braun. Yeah…no.
Oh you have to bring those darn expectations again?
Doc I like the way you think, a brawl?? Heck they don’t even throw the bat or beat up a water container EVER!! No emotion, I too have said that Tracy needs a little small ball fever. Wow 5 teams to climb to get wild card with only 49 games left, the light is slowing closing unless they real off 10-12 in a row.
I should probably wait until September to write this, but why wait.
Why do we accept such a mediocre baseball product from the Monforts? Attendance is way up this year at Coors Field, averaging around 35,000 per home game. That shows that the fans are excited, but the Rockies seem about as enthused at the idea of playing post season baseball, as I would at swimming the English Channel. Don Baylor should need to wear asbestos boxers for the pathetic road offense the Rocies have produced, but instead there seems to be no sense of urgency, just pass the sunflower seeds. Ian Stewart plays baseball, the greatest game on Earth, with as much joy as a counter clerk at Taco Bell telling patrons where the bathrooms are. Have we all just grown used to the idea that Denver doesn’t deserve a World Series trophy? The folks in Florida, or Arizona don’t feel that way. Would we feel this OK with it if the Broncos were to produce the same results?
Helton, Hawpe, Cook are the 3 highest paid Rockies, and all three have been total flops. Sorry I had to include Todd, but it’s the truth.
What would not going to games solve? It would hurt the pocket books of the Monforts, but don’t tell me they’d start spending money to bring in free agents if 20,000 people went to games.
I’m more inclinded to think a better attendance will improve the chances at (re)signing talent.
From what I can tell the Monforts are the types that let revenues drive their spending moreso than spending try to drive the revenues. But thats obviously just a guess based on what they’ve done over the past few years.
Rich, You point out that Barmes started the year hitting .209. True. But his current .250 average is over the SEASON. That means that since his .209 stretch he probably is hitting .280. Also, you predict he will fade. But a month ago you called him Mr. June and that he would start sinking on July 1, but it has not happened yet. Maybe it still will and prove you right. I hope not (for the team’s sake).
Rocky, I loved your post. Your analogies are funny and right on.
I don’t think I can take 6 more weeks of this….
I agree too that the Rox don’t play small ball. And they do swing for the fences all the time, but I also agree with anonymous that there is more to it than that. If a team takes the same approach everywhere then they should be similiar everywhere. Granted trying to hit the ball out at SF, NYM, and SD are going to get you nowhere. But why can’t the Rox score in Hou? Or Cincy? Or Wrigley? Those aren’t pitchers parks and yet the Rox still can’t score there.
maybe john miller was right about the humidor? i say that tongue in cheek, but the rox aren’t exactly disproving the theory.
The only thing pushing SU Barmes above the Mendoza line is his drive for a new contract and yet a bigger payday. So unless his average falls off the rest of the year the Rockies will let him sign elsewhere, because the price will be way too high for them. So Go Barmy Go – elsewhere that is!
EY Jr is an athlete playing baseball, Johnny H is a baseball player.
Giambi, Francis, Hawpe and DLR are free agents after this season. I didn’t know that Barmes was too.
Fred, I hear what you are saying, but what’s your point?
Finally, and I really mean it this time. The Rockies will not make the playoffs beause the SF Giants have at least attempted to fill their offensive holes – Sanchez, Huff, Burrell and Posey. In the last year that is four quality bats added, while the Rockies offense has added exactly what?
So SF wins the NLW division by default and the wild card will be either SL/Cincinnati or Atlanta/Philadelphia. Good teams that actually want to win – DanO!
Monforts let us know when you really want to win too, then it will be worthwhile to actually pay attention to the Rockies again.
Building from within the organization is great, but over the last few years only Tulo and Ubaldo have shown consistency.
Can you imagine how great this team could be if our call ups turned into Buster Poseys, Jayson Hayward, Ryan Braun, Prince Fielders, Dominic Browns etc?
Our first round draft picks have been disappointments 8 out of the last 10 years. Thats just not acceptible.
It drives me nuts when people say a player doesn’t show enough emotion. Stewart gets called out on this, Atkins got it like crazy. Hey! People’s personalities are different! It does NOT mean they don’t care or aren’t trying if they don’t get all scowly after a strikeout or something.
I do wish Stewart would grow completely into the Next Big Thing that we heard about for the last several years, though…
Disagree Roxnsox, would like the guy that can ‘potentially’ carry a team show some emotion. It would jack the team and fans like us up, if he went nuts sometime. Not a fake nuts but a real nuts, whether that be happy or mad. Remember Helton’s walk off in 07, he was jacked up and so were fans and media. If Stewart would get more hyped up once in awhile, it would do the members on this site some good and we would cut him some slack and be ok with avg 3b numbers and a good glove, but when all we ever hear is how great he could and should be, well that’s where the lack of emotion lies.
Barmes is arb eligible again I believe and looks like a non-tender like Atkins was unless he dramatically alters things in last six weeks.
With Helton or even Barmes in two hole, this team is not what it was with J Herrera in that spot. We need a contact hitter there and someone that helps this team to play small ball so Cargo and Tulo have more chances to drive in runners.
Helton is on his last legs and Tracy is showing loyalty to a guy that just isn’t there at plate right now. He needs to be a slap hitter and try do just hit line drive singles and occasional doubles opposite way, but when you have 2,200 hits, you can tell readers and fans like us that we don’t know what we are talking about.
As for Hawpe, guy is not who we need in RF, shown glimpses on last homestand but then has regressed. Now Smith must be hurting too much or Tracy is hoping that he can just get Hawpe jump started and relive last year.
I hope so guys, I really do in regards to a 34-16 finish, but writing is in the stats and it’s not looking good.