The Colorado Rockies may have their best pitching staff ever

Embed from Getty Images

German Marquez has a new, big contract and a big arm

I saw it posted as a response today to our latest podcast posting at the Phillies Nation feed on Twitter:

“Lose to lowly rocks pitching again boooooooooooo”

Now, I’m not going to point out the individual or account name who posted it. If you want to go hunt and peck, feel free to do so for yourself.

And I am fully aware that two things are likely in play here. First, some fans just don’t know what they are talking about. Second, Philly sports fans are passionate and often ride an emotional roller coaster from game to game.

However, it is important to any Phillies fan who cares about actual facts to understand that this ain’t your father’s, or even your big brother’s, Colorado Rockies starting pitching rotation.

The pitcher who shut the Phillies down last night was 25-year-old left-hander Kyle Freeland. He finished seventh in the NL Rookie of the Year Award voting back in 2017 after winning 11 games. The southpaw followed that up last year by finishing fourth in the NL Cy Young Award voting after a season in which he won 17 games with a 2.85 ERA and 173 strikeouts.

On Friday night the Rockies will send a 24-year-old righty from Venezuela, German Marquez, to the mound. In his last start, last year's NL Pitcher of the Month for September tossed a complete game one-hit shutout at the San Francisco Giants in which he struck out nine while walking no one.

As Corey Seidman pointed out today, opponents have simply been unable to hit the off-speed offering of Marquez, who also comes at you with an electric fastball.

Phillies - Rockies series opener preview

Embed from Getty Images

Nolan Arenado heating up as Phillies arrive in Denver

Along with their luggage, the Philadelphia Phillies (11-6) carried the best record in the National League with them on their Wednesday evening flight west to Denver. There, the early-season league leaders will take on the host Colorado Rockies (6-12) in a four-game set beginning on Thursday night.

The Rockies are expected to be serious contenders for the NL West Division crown this year. Last season, Colorado finished 91-72 and captured a National League Wildcard playoff berth after finishing just a game behind the division-winning Los Angeles Dodgers.

The primary reason for the Rockies early-season failure has been an unusually feeble offensive attack. One might point out that the club has played just five of its first 15 games at home in the rarified air of the Mile-High City. However, the Rockies lost all five of those home games, scoring just 21 total runs in the process.

Colorado enters the series having won three straight behind their pitching. The Rockies staff held West Division rivals San Francisco and San Diego to just four runs in the three wins. That stretch included a complete game one-hitter from German Marquez and Quality Start outings from both Antonio Senzatela and Jon Gray. Those are likely to be the three pitchers whom the Phillies will face from Friday-Sunday. Marquez is likely nice and content after recently signing a contract extension taking him through the 2023 season.

Colorado won’t have an easy road in trying to extend that winning streak and fully get their season on track. Over the next week they will be hosting a pair of NL East contenders, with the Phillies to be followed in by the Washington Nationals.

The Rockies are currently just 27th in all of Major League Baseball in runs scored. The bats have produced a cumulative .210/.268/.310 slash line. Those figures leave them 26th, 30th, and 26th in all of baseball in the AVG, OBP and SLG categories.

On the mound, Colorado has been a middle-of-the-pack club. The staff collective 4.22 ERA is 14th in baseball and sixth in the National League, while their Batting Average Against mark of .240 is 13th in the game but fifth-best in the NL. The Rockies pitchers have surrendered just 21 homers over 18 games, fourth-best in the NL, but you can probably expect that rate to rise as those arms pitch in more home games.

The Phillies improved lineup comes to town with the sixth-highest scoring offense in MLB to this point and an OPS ranking seventh in the game. The club is fifth in doubles, and with the wide-open spaces of the Coors Field outfield territory you can expect that placing to rise by the end of the weekend.

Surprising Mark Reynolds helps Colorado Rockies to surprising start

At the start of the 2017 season in Major League Baseball, the Colorado Rockies were not considered a favorite in the NL West Division.

Most prognosticators had the four-time defending division champion Los Angeles Dodgers as the favorites once again. 

If someone was going to dethrone LA, it was likely to be their arch-rivals, the San Francisco Giants.

Either the Dodgers or Giants have won eight of the last nine NL West crowns. The Giants have captured three World Series championships during that stretch.

The Rockies joined the division in MLB’s 1993 expansion. They last won the division title, well, never. In fact, the Rox have been to the postseason just three times. They went as the NL Wildcard in 1995, 2007, and 2009. That 2007 team is the only Colorado team to reach the World Series.

Yet here we are, nearly seven weeks into the 2017 season. And there at the top of the National League West Division standings are those Colorado Rockies. The Rockies are 25-15 following a 7-3 inter-league victory over the Minnesota Twins on Tuesday night.

Colorado is not just a Coors Field phenomenon either. The club has a 13-10 record in the Mile High City. They also sport a winning 11-5 mark away from Denver.

As a result, the Rockies are three games up on the Dodgers, against whom Colorado has gone 5-4 in head-to-head matchups this season. They have also taken six of seven games over the Giants. The Arizona Diamondbacks, currently 2.5 games back in second place? Colorado has taken four of six.