I know you saw the photo by now, but I couldn’t help but make it the featured image. It’s everything you want sports to be in one photo: A team playing well at the moment off to hopefully keep the good play going, enjoying the perks of modern professional sports by flying private and having some fun with the Backstreet Boys look on the way to Miami.
The bottom line is the Rockies are hot, only two games under .500 and it’s the middle of June! Get excited!
We have now officially reached the dog days of summer. The Broncos are off until late July (here’s to hoping there are no more Cheddar Bob moments), the NBA Finals will come to an end this weekend and the Stanley Cup Champion Pittsburgh Penguins already celebrated with a parade of their own this week. But this summer, at least for right now, it’s not all bad. The Rockies are playing good baseball, winning seven of their last 10 games. The big bats on the team continue to do their part as well; Nolan Arenado, Carlos Gonzalez and Trevor Story all sit within the top 20 in MLB homerun leaders, with Story (9th) and Arenado (1st) inside the top 10.
The question is and always has been pitching. Can the starters, middle relievers and closers do their part night in and night out? We can’t have too high of expectations because it is still Coors Field, and we know it’s always going to be a challenge getting over that mental hurdle. Like or not, the altitude is an issue and will be until the pitchers settle in and understand what to expect and how to handle it.
I go back to Jon Gray’s comments last season about trying to battle the game mentally. We saw Tyler Anderson make his debut at Coors Field and only give up one run in the process, a promising start for sure; now let’s see him go out there and do it again, then again, and then a few more times.
We have our reasons to be skeptical; aside from three postseason appearances in nearly three decades of existence, it hasn’t really worked out. Even in the one World Series appearance, the team was swept by the Boston Red Sox — who would of thought too many days off could hurt a team, but when you’re hot, you’re hot!
I mentioned that the team has won seven of the last 10 games, and that streak began on a Sunday after Arenado lost his cool a little in the dugout after a Matt Kemp bomb. In no way do I mean lost his cool in a bad way. Nolan showed his passion and fire with the rant. He showed his teammates he would not put up with them not playing and preparing the way he does. More importantly, he showed all of us that this was now his team.
With summer upon us, and Monday marking the start of true baseball season, I will continue to be Mr. Optimistic when it comes to the Colorado Rockies. I am essentially a big league baseball coming off the bat of the best third basemen in the league: I’m just going to sit back, watch this team grow right in front of my eyes and enjoy the ride!
