Turns out, the Rockies do have a winning record----kind of. Sort of.
The Rockies take two of three from the Twins this weekend and their record now stands at 2-1, their interleague record, that is. Hey, at this juncture, we'll take it.
Overall the team is at 17-27, which going into Monday night action was good enough for third place in the National League West. Also, good enough to be 11 games behind the Diamondbacks. Yeah, 11 games back in May.
The good news? The Giants, a half-game behind the Rockies, are in town tonight.
The bad news? Winning the division, a goal of this squad in spring training, is going to be doubly difficult. For one, they are, as we mentioned, 11 games back of a team that looks like it has some staying power. Second, if they hope to make some noise in either the division race or the wild card spot, they are going to have to do it against teams that, so far, for the most part, they have struggled against.
With regard to their current standing and prospects, it stands to reason that the quickest way to catch the competition is to be far more competitive in the division. A win for the Rockies, a loss for an NL opponent, a two-game swing, so to speak. Since you play your division rivals more than anyone else on your team schedule, it's the fastest way to catch up to the leaders.
So let's find out how easy this might be for them.
The first place team is the Arizona Diamondbacks. They are 28-16 overall. The Rockies are 1-5 against the Diamondbacks. They have twelve games left against one another in the regular season.
The second place team is the Dodgers. They are 22-21 overall. The Rockies are 1-5 against the Dodgers. They have twelve games left with the Dodgers.
The Giants are 17-28 and are in fourth place. They are at Coors Field tonight. They are 1-2 so far against them. Fifteen games to go against them.
The Padres are in the basement with a 16-29 record. They have, so far, split six games. Twelve more to go with the Padres.
The bottom line is that even though it is a rather small sampling, the Rockies are just 6-15 against the NL West with 51 division contests still left to play. They know playing well in the Division is the fastest way to gain an edge. Doing that, as we have seen, is something they haven't fully figured out just yet. Then again, they were late to the party last year too and that did not turn out too badly.
Enjoy the week.
-"z"
