Rocky Mountain high, but not so dry
Colleen Sullivan has the lowdown on Colorado as the Mets head west for a weekend series delayed by snow, a week before Memorial Day, because Denver
Trivia question: Pete Alonso has hit the Mets’ last three walk-off home runs – Thursday against the Cardinals, last August 12 in the second game of a doubleheader against the Nationals, and September 3, 2020, against the Yankees. Who was the last Mets hitter to put his name on the list of all-time walkoff homers in team history (now up to 138) three straight times?
Behind Enemy (Base)Lines: Colorado Rockies
By Colleen Sullivan
After yet another series win (that’s 10 out of 11 now), the Mets have packed their bags and are off to beautiful Denver for a three-game set.
Beautiful, sunny, Denver.
Tonight’s game already is postponed, with a split doubleheader arranged for Saturday (which allows for an easier banging of the early game, should the weather not clear by 1 p.m. Mountain Time).
Max Scherzer won’t be making the trip, or any others for the next 6-8 weeks due to an oblique strain. But don’t fret, Mets fans! Buck Showalter has a plan in place. Probably. Maybe.
2021 Colorado Rockies: 74-87, 4th in NL West
We all know that the NL West has been dominated by the Dodgers for most of the past decade, even last year when they won 106 games but finished second to the Giants. That doesn’t leave much space for any other teams to do well. The Rockies have been able to compete in the West, making the playoffs in 2017 and 2018, but their dreams of building to a second NL pennant in franchise history have sputtered.
Since that 2018 season, the Rockies have stayed consistently in 4th place. When you think of the Rockies, do you think of a particularly good team? No, you think of the altitude, and dingers, and Dinger.
I do enjoy the fact that their mascot is a dinosaur. You’re never too old for that to be fun. Also, the Triple-A team is the Albuquerque Isotopes.
2021 saw the departure of nine-time Gold Glove winner Nolan Arenado and his devil beard to the Cardinals for some minor league players and Austin Gomber. Pitching was a big problem for the 2021 Rockies, who ended the season with a 4.82 ERA and .260 opponents average, taking them almost smack dab to the bottom of baseball – nothing new for Colorado. They blew 30 saves in 63 opportunities, which ends up to be a 47.62% success rate. Not even a passing grade in high school.
Offensively, last year’s Rockies were pretty meh. They were seventh in batting average (.249), 15th in OBP (.317), and 13th in slugging (.412), 21st in home runs (182) and 15th in stolen bases. Not bad for a team that got dumped Arenado for pennies on the dollar.
C.J. Cron came to Colorado to play for his fifth team in as many years, and ended the season slashing .281/.375/.530 with 28 HRs and 92 RBIs, establishing himself at first base and earning a deal through 2023.
2022 Rockies: A Farewell, Story
The biggest bit of news to come out of Denver during the offseason was that Trevor Story opted for free agency, signing with the Red Sox after Colorado declined to trade him at last year’s deadline. But Colorado stunned observers by signing Kris Bryant to a 7-year, $182 million deal - definitely way more than the Ricketts family was ever going to cough up for him.
Currently, the Rockies are, you guessed it, in 4th in the NL West, seven games back of the Dodgers. With the Giants and Padres also well ahead, Colorado’s only real chance for a sleeper run this year is via the wild card.
Money can’t buy you everything, it turns out, as Bryant has already spent a good portion of the season on the IL with a bad back. The marquee acquisition is expected back this weekend, though. Depth is not something that the Rockies have, either, and Sam Hilliard has not been the answer as a fill-in. With Bryant doing time on the IL, Cron has carried the Rockies to their 18-19 start, leading the National League with 10 dongs.
The pitching could use some work: the Rockies have a combined ERA of 5.03, and can’t blame the mountain air. Their staff mark is actually lower at home (4.91) than on the road (5.21).
Pitching: There will be pitchers
Starters today were scheduled to be Carlos Carrasco and Germán Márquez. Márquez is 1-3 this season with a 6.16 ERA over 38 innings. He’s given up seven home runs and walked 11, showing that his control is struggling this season. Eduardo Escobar saw Márquez plenty during his NL West days, and is 12-for-23 against him. Carrasco has a 6.19 away ERA, and whenever he pitches won’t be happy to see Jose Iglesias, Randal Grichuk, and Cron that trio has collectively totaled .397/.426/.791 against Cookie.
Presumably, both Carrasco and Márquez will go on Saturday, though maybe not against each other, depending on how Buck Showalter and Bud Black decide to align their starters.
Saturday’s other Rockies starter is lined up to be Austin Gomber. Gomber is posting a 4.38 ERA over 39 innings with a 2-3 record. Gomber is 4.76 at home with 11 strikeouts, and had a fantastic start against the Mets last year in New York, going eight innings and allowing just four hits. A pair of solo homers by James McCann and Brandon Drury accounted for the Mets’ only runs last May 24, and now McCann is hurt and Drury is on the Reds. The Mets’ starter second starter already was TBA, which could mean David Peterson or Trevor Williams or giving Seth Lugo a spot start as an opener… we’ll see, it’s gonna be Johnny Wholestaff, really.
Sunday is going to see Taijuan Walker and Chad Kuhl, either in the series finale or maybe in one of the games of a doubleheader… or maybe one in each game of the doubleheader. Walker has made four career starts in Denver and gone 2-1 with a 2.63 ERA, 24 strikeouts in 24 innings, and only three homers allowed. But he also hasn’t pitched there since 2017.
If this series happens, it should be a bloodbath….or some other sort of analogy that’s applicable to the mountains.
Trivia answer: From 1991-2000, Chris Jones played for eight different teams, including 168 games with the Mets, during which he hit 12 home runs. Amazingly, that included four walk-offs, which ties him with Wilmer Flores, Cleon Jones, Kevin McReynolds, and Mike Piazza for the team record.
Jones hit a three-run shot off Trevor Hoffman in the 10th inning on May 31, 1995, to beat the Padres at Shea, then blasted a solo shot off Ross Powell for a 2-1 win over the Pirates on July 29. The following year, on April 23, Jones ended another game in 10 when he took Jeff Shaw of the Reds deep for a two-run walk-off.
Before Jones, the previous three Mets walk-off homers were by Bobby Bonilla between August 1992 and July 1993.
One record that Alonso should hold for a while? He’s the only Met to hit a two-run homer leading off an inning, thanks to the Manfred Man in extras. He’s now done it twice – the 2020 win over the Yankees and Thursday.