Game, Set, Match as Rox Lose 8-5

This series has been tough to digest.  The Rockies held 4-1 and 5-2 leads before allowing Miami to rally with four runs in the eighth inning off Matt Belisle to lose the game 8-5 and the series 3-1.  One statistic exposes a major Rockies weakness:  Bullpen in the four games totaled 12.1 IP, 18 H, 11 R, 11 ER, 5 BB, and 12 SO.  That translates to an ERA of nearly 9 and a WHIP of nearly 2.00.  Throw in the fact that Adam Ottavino allowed an inherited runner to score on a WP Wednesday night to add to the bullpen woes.  It was only four games and usually the team stats could be attributed to a bad day by one pitcher.  In this case, each firemen did their best to pour some more kerosene on the fire.  Belisle’s velocity has decreased noticeably in the last couple of years.  Wilton Lopez is still leaving balls up over the plate on a flat plane.  These two veterans were expected to be keys to a stout bullpen over the last two years.

The starting pitchers in a indirect way contributed to the woes of the bullpen by not giving enough length in their start.  Fires usually start to happen when the starters reach around 75 pitches.  They would need more stamina coming out of the Cactus League.  None of the starters have has a quality start (6 IP of three runs or less) yet.

The Rockies fall to 1-3 returning home to the site of  “The Rooftop” party deck at Coors Field after playing at the Marlins Park in front of smaller crowds than Troy Renck’s son baseball games.  The home opening series will be against intra-divisional rival Arizona D-backs.