Colorado Rockies Week 25 Review: September 21-27

Corey Dickerson is a great hitter.
Photo Credit: Dustin Bradford – Getty Images North America

The 25^th week of the regular season consisted of the final seven home games of the season for the Colorado Rockies as they continue to play out the string. The week started out horribly as the Rockies were swept by the Pittsburgh Pirates, but improved significantly in the second half of the week when they swept the Los Angeles Dodgers to prevent them from clinching the division at Coors Field. The sweep of Los Angeles also helped the Rockies to avoid having their worst home record in franchise history — they’ll finish the season 36-45 at home – and it also assured them that they will finish no worse than last season’s 66-96 mark.

During this week’s action, catcher Tom Murphy hit his second and third big league home runs and Nolan Arenado hit his 40^th and 41^st of the season. Arenado needs two doubles in the final six games of the season to become to join Hal Trosky in 1936 as the only players in Major League history with 40+ home runs, 40+ doubles, and fewer than 40 walks in a season. Carlos Gonzalez also hit his 38^th and 39^th home runs and is knocking on the door of the first 40 home run season of his career. Let’s take a look at the rest of the week that was.

Record this week: 3-4
Season record: 66-90

Monday, September 21 – Pittsburgh Pirates (9) at Colorado Rockies (3)
W – Burnett (9-5)   L – Gray (0-2)
HR: Murphy (2)
Players of the game:
Corey Dickerson – 2 for 3, 2B, BB
Tom Murphy – 1 for 3, HR, 3 RBI
Justin Morneau – 3 for 4

Tuesday, September 22 – Pittsburgh Pirates (6) at Colorado Rockies (3)
W – Happ (6-2)       L – Rusin (5-9)         S – Melancon (49)
HR: Rosario (6)
Players of the game:
Wilin Rosario – 2 for 3, HR, BB, RBI
Charlie Blackmon – 2 for 4, RBI, SB
Scott Oberg – 1 1/3 IP, H, 0 R, K

Wednesday, September 23 – Pittsburgh Pirates (13) at Colorado Rockies (7)
W – Blanton (4-0)   L – Bergman (3-1)
HR: Dickerson (7), Murphy (3)
Players of the game:
Tom Murphy – 2 for 4, HR, 3 RBI
Corey Dickerson – 3 for 5, 2B, HR, 2 RBI
Rex Brothers – IP, H, 0 R, 3 K

Thursday, September 24 – Pittsburgh Pirates (5) at Colorado Rockies (4)
W – Blanton (5-0)   L – Diaz (0-1)           S – Melancon (50)
Players of the game:
Nolan Arenado – 2 for 4, 2 2B, BB, 2 RBI
Chad Bettis – 6 IP, 7 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 6 K
Corey Dickerson – 2 for 5

This series was downright ugly. Pittsburgh took all four games by a combined score of 33-17 and it was readily apparent which team was a playoff team and which team was in last place. In the series finale, Chad Bettis put together another quality start and dropped his ERA on the season to 4.38 in 109 innings. He should get one more start next week as he looks to finish the season strong. Corey Dickerson also continued to do nothing but hit since coming off the disabled list as he had at least two hits in three out of the four games in the series. Things were very sad as the Dodgers came into town.

Friday, September 26 – Los Angeles Dodgers (4) at Colorado Rockies (7)
W – Hale (5-5)          L – Bolsinger (6-5)  S – Axford (25)
HR: Blackmon (17), Gonzalez (38), Dickerson (8)
Players of the game:
Corey Dickerson – 3 for 4, HR, 2B, 3 RBI
David Hale – 5 IP, 5 H, ER, 2 BB, 4 K
Carlos Gonzalez – 2 for 3, HR, BB, RBI

Saturday, September 27 – Los Angeles Dodgers (6) at Colorado Rockies (8)
W – Miller (3-2)      L – Garcia (3-4)
HR: Arenado (40), Gonzalez (39)
Players of the game:
Carlos Gonzalez – 3 for 5, 2B, HR, 2 RBI
Justin Morneau – 4 for 4, 2B, RBI
Nolan Arenado – 1 for 4, HR, 4 RBI

Sunday, September 27 – Los Angeles Dodgers (5) at Colorado Rockies (12)
W – Rusin (6-9)      L – Wood (11-12)
HR: Arenado (41)
Players of the game:
Nolan Arenado – 2 for 3, HR, BB, 5 RBI
Rafael Ynoa – 2 for 5, 2B, RBI
Wilin Rosario – 2 for 3, RBI

This series was much happier! The Rockies swept the Dodgers for the first time since 2007 (there will be no World Series appearance this season though, sorry) and prevented them from getting to celebrate on the Rockies’ home field. Justin Morneau had a great game on Saturday night as he went 4-for-4 in a game that was finished off by Gonzalez’s walk-off home run. Dickerson continued to hit with three more knocks that included a home run on Friday night and David Hale turned in a quality performance on the mound as well. It was a great way to cap off the home portion of what has been an extremely difficult season.

Now it’s time to look at the stand out performances with the player, pitcher, and longest Rockies home run of the week! Don’t forget to check out a running tally of what is almost the complete leaderboard on right-hand side of your screen (the bottom if you’re visiting via mobile).

Rockies player of the week: Corey Dickerson – 28 PA, .481/.500/.889, 5 2B, 2 HR, 5 RBI, 276 wRC+

Dickerson was absolutely on fire this week with seven extra base hits in seven games while he reached base in half of his plate appearances. He raised his wRC+ on the season to 125. He has now made hard contact over 40 percent of the time and looks to be a great asset for the Rockies heading into 2016. Here’s the first of his two home runs last week:

Longest Rockies home run of the week: Corey Dickerson – 452 feet

This one just missed being one of the five longest home runs of the season, but it was still quite the blast. It put the Rockies ahead 7-1 on Friday against the Dodgers. Watch his homer here.

Rockies pitcher of the week: Chad Bettis – 1 start, 6 IP, 7 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 6 K

Bettis continued to be one of the Rockies’ best pitchers this week as he put together another quality start against the Pirates. He should make one more start next week to try to put a capper on his first successful Major League season. Here’s one of his six strikeouts:

That’s all for week 25. Only one more week until the long, depressing offseason. Be sure to stay tuned for a look ahead to the 26^th and final week of the regular season and subscribe, like View from the Rooftop on Facebook, and follow on Twitter.

Colorado Rockies Week 24 Review: September 14-20

After 16 innings, are they happy they won, or just happy that the game is over?
Photo Credit: Harry How – Getty Images North America

Week 24 is in the books and there’s not a whole lot left to say about this season. There are now just 13 games to play before the Colorado Rockies’ fifth consecutive losing season is officially in the books. After that, it should be a very interesting offseason for the club that could, and probably should, include multiple trades and a manager search. Before that, let’s take a look at a few of the notable things from this week.

The biggest thing from this week was the Rockies’ game against the Los Angeles Dodgers on Tuesday night (and Wednesday morning). The game went to 16 innings and lasted 5 hours and 23 minutes before the Rockies finally took home a 5-4 win thanks to Nolan Arenado’s 39^th home run of the season. That 5 hour and 23 minute game time made it the fourth longest game the Rockies have ever played. Aside from that, rookie catcher Tom Murphy hit the first home run of his Major League career and the Rockies won their 63^rd game of the season, assuring that they will avoid the first 100-loss season in team history. Here’s what happened the rest of the week.

Record this week: 3-3
Season record: 63-86 (5^th in NL West, 22 ½ GB of LAD)

Monday, September 14 – Colorado Rockies (1) at Los Angeles Dodgers (4)
W – Kershaw (14-7)            L – Gray (0-1)           S – Hatcher (3)
Players of the game:
Carlos Gonzalez – 2 for 4, RBI
Christian Friedrich – 1 1/3 IP, 0 R, K
Nolan Arenado – 1 for 4, 2B

Tuesday, September 15 – Colorado Rockies (5) at Los Angeles Dodgers (4)
W – Hale (4-5)         L – Latos (4-10)       S – Germen (1)                     F/16
HR: Arenado (39)
Players of the game:
Nolan Arenado – 3 for 7, HR, RBI
Brooks Brown – 2 IP, H, 0 R, K
DJ LeMahieu – 2 for 7, RBI

Wednesday, September 16 – Colorado Rockies (0) at Los Angeles Dodgers (2)
W – Wood (11-10)    L – De La Rosa (9-7)           S – Jansen (32)
Players of the game:
Jorge De La Rosa – 8 IP, 6 H, 2 ER, BB, 5 K
Kyle Parker – 1 for 3
Charlie Blackmon – 1 for 4

Outside of the 16 inning marathon on Tuesday, there were a few more interesting things from Monday and Wednesday’s games. On Monday, Jon Gray had another encouraging start against one of the toughest offenses in the National League. Jorge De La Rosa had another great outing on Wednesday as well as he tossed a complete game but was the tough luck loser thanks to Alex Wood’s eight shutout innings. After dropping two of the three in the series, the Rockies headed home to begin their last home stand of the season.

Thursday, September 17 – Day off

Friday, September 18 – San Diego Padres (4) at Colorado Rockies (7)
W – Bettis (8-5)       L – Kennedy (8-15)             S – Axford (24)
Players of the game:
Dustin Garneau – 2 for 4, 2B, 2 RBI
Justin Morneau – 2 for 3, 2B, 3B, BB
Nolan Arenado – 3 for 4, RBI

Saturday, September 19 – San Diego Padres (2) at Colorado Rockies (10)
W – Bergman (3-0)             L – Erlin (0-1)
HR: Murphy (1)
Players of the game:
Tom Murphy – 3 for 5, HR, 2 RBI
Charlie Blackmon – 3 for 4, 2B, BB, 3 RBI
Nolan Arenado – 2 for 4, BB, 2 RBI

Sunday, September 20 – San Diego Padres (10) at Colorado Rockies (4)
W – Shields (13-6)   L – Kendrick (6-13)
HR: Blackmon (16)
Players of the game:
Charlie Blackmon – 1 for 4, HR, RBI
Ben Paulsen – 1 for 2, 2 RBI
Dustin Garneau – 1 for 3, BB

In the first three games of a 10-game home stand, the Rockies did a solid job in taking two of three from the San Diego Padres. Rookie catchers Murphy and Dustin Garneau each had solid offensive games as they get acclimated to the big leagues and Arenado had two multi-hit games as well.  On Friday, Chad Bettis won his eighth game of the season and kept his hopes for a 10-win season alive while Justin Morneau continued his strong comeback with a double and a triple.

Now it’s time to check out the top individual performances of the week with the player, pitcher, and longest home run of the week. Also remember that you can find a running tally of all three on the right-hand side of your screen (the bottom of the screen if you’re visiting the mobile site).

Rockies player of the week: Charlie Blackmon – 24 PA, .318/.375/.500, 2B, HR, 124 wRC+

In another week with no obvious player of the week, Blackmon narrowly beat out Arenado to take home player of the week for the second time this season. He was solid offensively as he rose his wRC+ on the season to 102 and played strong defense as well. Watch him make a great catch against the Dodgers on Tuesday:

Longest Rockies home run of the week: Nolan Arenado – 434 feet

Not only was this the longest home run of the week, it was the most significant. Arenado’s 39^th homer of the season put the Rockies ahead 5-4 in the 16^th inning, a score that would eventually be the final. Watch his blast here:

Rockies pitcher of the week: Jorge De La Rosa – 1 start, 8 IP, 6 H, 2 ER, BB, 5 K, 2.25 ERA

After yet another stellar outing, De La Rosa takes home pitcher of the week for the fifth time this season, the most of any pitcher or position player on the club. This start lowered his season ERA to 4.17, an ERA- of 90, as he continues to be the Rockies’ best and most consistent pitcher. Watch the highlights from his start:

That’s a wrap on week 24. Only two weeks to go! Stay tuned for a look ahead to week 25 and be sure to subscribe, like View from the Rooftop on Facebook, and follow on Twitter.

Colorado Rockies Week 23 Review: September 7-13

Jon Gray had one of the best starts of his career this week.
Photo Credit: Denis Poroy – Getty Images North America

Welcome to week 23, where the Colorado Rockies continued to play out the string. With the Rockies playing seven games on the road, they did a pretty good job from a purely wins and losses standpoint. Their 4-3 record on the week brought their road record to 29-43 on the season. That puts them on pace for a 33-48 road record, which would actually be a pretty significant improvement from the awful 21-60 mark they had away from home last season. As far as storylines go, this part of the season doesn’t have a whole lot of them.

It’s been known for a while now, but this week marked the official end of the Rockies’ playoff hopes as they were mathematically eliminated from playoff contention on Friday, even though they won that day. September call-ups and injuries have also continued to allow some prospects to trickle in. Starting catcher Nick Hundley suffered a cervical (neck) strain that ended his season and subsequently caused the promotion of Rockies’ top catching prospect Tom Murphy to the big leagues for the first time. He only played in one game – he was 0-for-3 with two strikeouts – but it should be interesting to see how he does for the rest of the year and into next year, where we will almost certainly see him again. Another Rockies catching prospect, Dustin Garneau, hit his first two Major League home runs this week while infield prospect Cristhian Adames has also performed well in his very brief stint with the club. Prospects like these should continue to trickle down into the club for the foreseeable future, and they should help to make watching the team a bit more exciting to watch.

In more established big league player news, Nolan Arenado and Carlos Gonzalez each homered this week, Arenado twice, to remain first and second in the National League in home runs. They both remain on pace to hit 40+ home runs and if they’re able to do it, they’ll be the first pair of teammates to hit 40 or more home runs since Jermaine Dye and Jim Thome for the Chicago White Sox in 2006. Let’s take a look at the rest of the week for the Rockies.

Record this week: 4-3
Season record: 60-83 (5^th in NL West, 22 ½ GB of LAD)

Monday, September 7 – Colorado Rockies (6) at San Diego Padres (4)
W – Kendrick (5-12)           L – Kennedy (8-13) S – Axford (20)
HR: Kendrick (1)
Players of the game:
DJ LeMahieu – 2 for 4, 3B, RBI
Charlie Blackmon – 2 for 3, 2B
Nolan Arenado – 1 for 3, 2B, BB, RBI

Tuesday, September 8 – Colorado Rockies (1) at San Diego Padres (2)
W – Kimbrel (2-2)   L – Logan (0-3)
HR: Arenado (37)
Players of the game:
Nolan Arenado – 1 for 4, HR, RBI
Jon Gray – 5 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 6 K
Justin Morneau – 1 for 3, BB

Wednesday, September 9 – Colorado Rockies (4) at San Diego Padres (11)
W – Shields (11-6)   L – Rusin (5-8)
HR: Garneau (1)
Players of the game:
Dustin Garneau – 1 for 4, HR, 2 RBI
Justin Morneau – 1 for 3, BB, RBI
Nolan Arenado – 2 for 4

Thursday, September 10 – Colorado Rockies (4) at San Diego Padres (3)
W – Miller (2-2)      L – Benoit (6-5)       S – Axford (21)
HR: Arenado (38), Dickerson (6), Gonzalez (37), Descalso (5)
Players of the game:
Daniel Descalso – 1 for 3, HR, RBI
Carlos Gonzalez – 1 for 4, HR, RBI
Nolan Arenado – 1 for 4, HR, RBI

The Rockies traveled to San Diego for four games with the Padres that they would split. On Tuesday night, the Rockies lost, but more importantly they got a brilliant pitching performance from top prospect Jon Gray. After not being at his best in his last few outings, his performance here showed why he’s so highly thought of. He was consistently working with a fastball at 94-95 mph with movement and command to both sides of the plate, he had a slider with great depth that he was able to throw both for strikes and as a chase pitch, and he even flashed a couple of outstanding changeups that fell off the table and induced swings and misses. It was a really encouraging outing for him as he appeared to make a slight adjustment from his previous start that really helped him to stay balanced and in control. Adjustments like that between starts are the types of things you’d expect to see from a veteran who’s been in the league for a long time, not a rookie with (at the time) only 26 big league innings under his belt. Keep an eye on that one. The Rockies also hit some home runs in the series, using four solo shots in the finale on Thursday to help bring home a 4-3 win.

Friday, September 11 – Colorado Rockies (4) at Seattle Mariners (2)
W – Bettis (7-5)       L – Iwakuma (7-4)  S – Axford (22)
HR: Garneau (2)
Players of the game:
Chad Bettis – 7 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 6 K
Dustin Garneau – 1 for 4, HR, 3 RBI
Corey Dickerson – 2 for 4, 2B

Saturday, September 12 – Colorado Rockies (2) at Seattle Mariners (7)
W – Elias (5-8)        L – Flande (3-3)
Players of the game:
Cristhian Adames – 1 for 3, BB
Wilin Rosario – 1 for 3, 2B, BB
Corey Dickerson – 1 for 4, 2B

Sunday, September 13 – Colorado Rockies (3) at Seattle Mariners (2)
W – Kendrick (6-12)           L – Paxton (3-4)      S – Axford (23)
Players of the game:
Kyle Kendrick – 5 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 4 K
John Axford – IP, H, 0 R, 2 K
Wilin Rosario – 1 for 4, 2B

After they finished up in San Diego, the Rockies headed to Seattle for their final interleague series of the season against the Seattle Mariners. They even won the series! The highlight came in game one when Chad Bettis had an absolutely brilliant outing as he threw seven shutout innings and had a game score of 74, the fourth highest game score by a Rockies starter this season. It wasn’t a particularly eventful series, but there was also some good work by the bullpen and I would be remiss if I didn’t mention Justin Miller setting a new Rockies record by striking out eight consecutive hitters across three appearances this week. Hopefully taking two out of three here will get the monkey off of the Rockies’ collective backs when they take on the American League in 2016.

Now it’s time to take a look at the individual standouts of the week with the player of the week, pitcher of the week, and longest home run of the week. Remember, you can find a running tally of all three on the right-hand side of your screen!

Rockies player of the week: Justin Morneau – 20 PA, .313/.450/.313, 2 RBI, 110 wRC+

As we’ve all come to expect when the Rockies play on the road, it was an extremely quiet week for their bats this week. This is made painfully apparent here with Morneau taking home player of the week despite not having a single extra base hit. Nevertheless, it’s good to see him back in the lineup, and a .450 on-base percentage doesn’t hurt. Here’s a look at one of his two RBI on the week, a single that brought home Jose Reyes early on Wednesday night.

Longest Rockies home run of the week: Corey Dickerson – 415 feet

This one wasn’t the longest long home run of the week, but it’s still great to see Dickerson get back out on the field after struggling with injuries all season long. This home run was his sixth of the season and the 35^th of his career and it brought the Rockies within a run in what would eventually be a 4-3 win on Thursday afternoon.

Rockies pitcher of the week: Chad Bettis – 1 start, 7 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 6 K, 0.00 ERA

It was only one start for Bettis this week, but he was outstanding in it as he shutout the Mariners for seven innings. It’s been great to watch Bettis’ improvement in 2015, and he was really on top of his game in this start. Follow the link here to watch the highlights from his great outing.

That does it for week 23. Stay tuned for a look ahead to week 24 and be sure to subscribe, like View from the Rooftop on Facebook, and follow on Twitter.

Colorado Rockies Week 22 Review: August 31-September 6

It was a fun week for these two.
Photo Credit: Dustin Bradford – Getty Images North America

Welcome to week 22, otherwise known as the Nolan Arenado and Carlos Gonzalez show. With the remainder of the season largely irrelevant from a team perspective, we’re left to watch the Colorado Rockies for individual performances. This week, Arenado and Gonzalez did not disappoint. In the club’s eight games this week, Arenado hit six home runs – and set a new club record with a home run in six consecutive games – and Gonzalez hit five, bringing each of their season totals to 36. This gets the pair close to several records, both individually and as a pair.

If both continue at their current pace, they’ll finish with 43 home runs apiece. That would tie them with each other for the fifth most home runs hit in a single season in team history. It also would easily set the record since the humidor was installed in 2002, a mark currently held by Jeromy Burnitz’s 37 homers in the 2004 season. If Gonzalez is able to hit just five more home runs this season, he’ll pass Andres Galarraga for sixth most in club history with 173. Arenado, on the other hand, currently sits in 13^th in club history with 64 home runs – six behind Wilin Rosario.

As a duo, they also have a chance to make some history. If both are able to make it to 40 home runs, they’ll be the first pair of teammates to reach that mark since Larry Walker, Vinny Castilla, and Galarraga all got there in the 1997 season and they’re already the first pair since Castilla and Burnitz in 2004 to hit 35 or more in a season. Of course, that doesn’t mean a whole lot from a team perspective, but it sure has been fun to watch. Let’s take a look at the rest of the action from week 22.

Record this week: 4-4
Overall record: 56-80 (5^th in NL West, 22 GB of LAD)

Monday, August 31 – Arizona Diamondbacks (4) at Colorado Rockies (5)
W – S. Castro (2-0) L – Ziegler (0-3)
Players of the game:
Ben Paulsen – 1 for 1, 2 RBI
Charlie Blackmon – 3 for 4, 2B, 3B, BB, SB
DJ LeMahieu – 3 for 5, 2B, SB

Tuesday, September 1 – Arizona Diamondbacks (6) at Colorado Rockies (4)
W – Corbin (4-3)     L – M. Castro (0-1)  S – Hudson (3)
HR: LeMahieu (6), Parker (3), Arenado (31)
Players of the game:
DJ LeMahieu – 2 for 4, HR, RBI
Nolan Arenado – 2 for 4, HR, RBI
Kyle Parker – 1 for 3, HR, BB, RBI

Tuesday, September 1 – Arizona Diamondbacks (5) at Colorado Rockies (3)
W – R. De La Rosa (12-6)   L – Oberg (3-4)        S – Collmenter (1)
HR: Arenado (32)
Players of the game:
Nolan Arenado – 3 for 4, 2B, HR, 2 RBI
Christian Bergman – 2 IP, H, 0 R
Ben Paulsen – 1 for 4, 2B, RBI

Wednesday, September 2 – Arizona Diamondbacks (4) at Colorado Rockies (9)
W – Brown (1-2)      L – Delgado (5-4)     S – Miller (1)
HR: Arenado (33), Gonzalez 2 (33)
Players of the game:
Carlos Gonzalez – 2 for 4, 2 HR, 7 RBI
Nolan Arenado – 2 for 5, HR, 2 RBI
Charlie Blackmon – 3 for 5, 2B

In the first of what would eventually be two 4-game series splits this week, the Rockies took on the Arizona Diamondbacks. Arenado would hit the first three of what would become his 6-game home run streak while Gonzalez had a huge game in the series finale on Wednesday as he hit two home runs and drove in seven. In Tuesday’s doubleheader, we also got to see a whole bunch of long home runs, including the two longest hit by Rockies players all season. Shockingly, DJ LeMahieu now leads the pack after his 467 foot blast, the longest of his career by a whopping 42 feet. After getting the split, the Rockies welcomed the San Francisco Giants to town looking to play spoiler.

Thursday – September 3 – San Francisco Giants (3) at Colorado Rockies (11)
W – Rusin (5-7)       L – Vogelsong (9-11)
HR: Gonzalez 2 (35), Arenado (34)
Players of the game:
Carlos Gonzalez – 4 for 5, 2B, 2 HR, 4 RBI
Nolan Arenado – 3 for 5, 2B, HR, 2 RBI
Chris Rusin – 9 IP, 6 H, 3 ER, BB, 5 K

Friday, September 4 – San Francisco Giants (1) at Colorado Rockies (2)
W – De La Rosa (9-6)         L – Heston (11-9)     S – Axford (19)
HR: Gonzalez (36), Arenado (35)
Players of the game:
Jorge De La Rosa – 7 IP, 6 H, ER, 7 K
Nolan Arenado – 3 for 4, HR, RBI
Ben Paulsen – 2 for 2, BB

Saturday, September 5 – San Francisco Giants (7) at Colorado Rockies (3)
W – Peavy (5-6)       L – Bettis (6-5)
HR: Arenado (36)
Players of the game:
Jose Reyes – 2 for 4, 3B, RBI
Nolan Arenado – 1 for 4, HR, 2 RBI
Ben Paulsen – 1 for 4, 2B

Sunday, September 6 – San Francisco Giants (7) at Colorado Rockies (4)
W – Bumgarner (17-7)       L – Flande (3-2)       S – Casilla (32)
Players of the game:
Cristhian Adames – 2 for 4, 2 RBI
Brandon Barnes – 2 for 3
Jose Reyes – 2 for 4

In another series split, Gonzalez and Arenado continued to hit with three home runs apiece. Staff ace Jorge De La Rosa also had a brilliant start on Friday, picking up his ninth win of the season and dropping his ERA to 4.24 on the season. As with just about any veteran on the roster right now, his status for the 2016 season is uncertain, so enjoy the remaining (and possibly last) starts for one of the best pitchers in club history. Another plus from this series was that taking even two games from the Giants really hurt their playoff chances, so really well done there by the Rockies.

Now, it’s time to take a look at the best performances of the week with the player of the week, pitcher of the week, and longest home run of the week. Remember, you can find a running tally of all three on the right-hand side of the screen!

Rockies position player of the week: Nolan Arenado – 35 PA, .441/.457/1.029, 2 2B, 6 HR, 12 RBI, 290 wRC+

It was quite the week for Arenado. Home runs in six consecutive games paired with his typical outstanding defense was enough for 1.0 fWAR in only a week’s worth of games! It also raised his wRC+ to a career-best 120 as he continued to show why he’s such a special player. Here’s his home run from Saturday against the Giants, his sixth straight game with a homer:

Longest Rockies home run of the week: DJ LeMahieu – 467 feet

Arguably the unlikeliest Rockie to hit the longest home run of the season, LeMahieu defied all odds with his 467-foot moonshot on Tuesday afternoon. Not only is it the longest home run of the week, it’s the longest home run of the season for the Rockies! In fact, it’s the longest home run since Rosario’s 468-foot shot on June 10, 2014. Take a look at his long home run here:

Rockies pitcher of the week: Jorge De La Rosa – 1 start, 7 IP, 6 H, ER, 7 K, 1.29 ERA

The Rockies’ ace continued to be just that this week. His outstanding start added to his franchise-leading win and strikeout totals, giving him 78 and 866, respectively. Enjoy it while it lasts, because we just don’t know how much longer he’ll be around. Watch the highlights from his start here:

That’ll do it for week 22. Stay tuned for a look ahead to week 23 and don’t forget to subscribe, like View from the Rooftop on Facebook, and follow on Twitter.

Colorado Rockies Week 21 Review: August 24-30

Brandon Barnes was a spark plug for the Colorado Rockies this week.
Photo Credit: Todd Kirkland – Getty Images North America

Welcome to week 21 in review, where things actually weren’t too bad! Due to some things like the Colorado Rockies being on pace for a 66-96 season, not many people noticed, but a 3-3 road trip through Atlanta and Pittsburgh isn’t so bad. Not only that, the much maligned pitching staff was surprisingly pretty solid. They put up a 3.18 ERA, didn’t allow more than five runs in a game, and saw an 18 2/3 innings scoreless streak from the bullpen. Those are all good things, but it unfortunately led to just a 3-3 record with the offense failing to get much going.

Of note this week, Chad Bettis returned from the disabled list and had a solid start against the Atlanta Braves on Tuesday, Carlos Gonzalez tied Bryce Harper for the National League lead in home runs with 31, and reliever Simon Castro picked up his first Major League win. Before we look at the rest of the week, let’s get an update on the reverse standings:

T-1 – Philadelphia Phillies – 52-79 (.397)
T-1 – Miami Marlins – 52-79 (.397)
3. Colorado Rockies – 52-76 (.406)
4. Cincinnati Reds – 53-76 (.411)
5. Atlanta Braves – 54-76 (.415)
6. Milwaukee Brewers – 55-75 (.423)
7. Oakland Athletics – 57-74 (.435)

Record this week 3-3
Overall record: 52-76 (5^th in NL West, 20 GB of LAD)

Monday, August 24 – Colorado Rockies (3) at Atlanta Braves (5)
W – Teheran (9-7)   L – De La Rosa (7-6)           S – Vizcaino (4)
HR: Blackmon (15), Paulsen (10)
Players of the game:
Ben Paulsen – 2 for 3, HR, BB, RBI
Charlie Blackmon – 2 for 4, HR, RBI
Brandon Barnes – 1 for 2, RBI

Tuesday, August 25 – Colorado Rockies (5) at Atlanta Braves (1)
W – Bettis (6-4)       L – Foltynewicz (4-6)
Players of the game:
DJ LeMahieu – 3 for 4, 3 RBI
Chad Bettis – 5 IP, 5 H, ER, 2 BB, 4 K
Jairo Diaz – IP, 0 R, K

Wednesday, August 26 – Colorado Rockies (6) at Atlanta Braves (3)
W – Castro (1-0)      L – Miller (5-11)       S – Axford (18)
HR: Barnes (2)
Players of the game:
Brandon Barnes – 3 for 4, 2B, HR, 2 RBI
Jose Reyes – 2 for 4, 3B, BB, 2 RBI, SB
Daniel Descalso – 2 for 3, 2B, BB, RBI

The series in Atlanta was a bright spot in a really rough season, with the Rockies taking two out of three and winning their first series in Atlanta since 2000. Jose Reyes continued to hit well and Brandon Barnes hit his second home run of the season. Up next on the docket were the Pittsburgh Pirates, one of the best teams in baseball and an immense challenge.

Thursday, August 27 – Day off

Friday, August 28 – Colorado Rockies (3) at Pittsburgh Pirates (5)
W – Watson (3-1)    L – Oberg (3-3)        S – Melancon (42)
HR: Reyes (7), Gonzalez (31)
Players of the game:
Jose Reyes – 2 for 4, HR, 2 RBI, SB
Christian Bergman – 1 2/3 IP, H, 0 R, BB, K
Carlos Gonzalez – 1 for 4, HR, RBI

Saturday, August 29 – Colorado Rockies (3) at Pittsburgh Pirates (4)
W – Happ (3-1)         L – Rusin (4-7)         S – Melancon (43)
HR: Hundley (10)
Players of the game:
Nick Hundley – 2 for 4, HR, 2 RBI
Brandon Barnes – 2 for 4, 2B
Ben Paulsen – 2 for 4

Sunday, August 30 – Colorado Rockies (5) at Pittsburgh Pirates (0)
W – De La Rosa (8-6)         L – Morton (8-6)
Players of the game:
Jorge De La Rosa – 6 IP, 4 H, 0 R, BB, 7 K
Ben Paulsen – 2 for 3, 3B, BB, 2 RBI
Scott Oberg – IP, 0 R, 2 K

As most of us expected, the Rockies lost the series in Pittsburgh. It wasn’t all bad, however, as Reyes and Gonzalez both homered in game one, and Jorge De La Rosa tossed six scoreless innings in the series finale. De La Rosa was also ejected for the first time in his career after being less than pleased with home plate umpire Jeff Nelson’s strike zone. The timing was a bit strange, since you’d typically expect to see a pitcher get ejected while he’s struggling, not pitching well like De La Rosa was. Maybe it was just frustration from another long and frustrating season for the Rockies, but nonetheless the result of the game was great.

Now it’s time for a look at the top performers of the week. Don’t forget, you can check out the season-long leaderboards of the player of the week, pitcher of the week, and five longest Rockies home runs of the season on the right-hand side of the screen!

Rockies position player of the week: Ben Paulsen – 22 PA, .368/.409/.684, 2B, 3B, HR, 171 wRC+

It was a strong week for Paulsen as he showed that his beard is not the only key to his success. He hit his 10th home run of the season and raised his wR C+ on the season to 105 as he continues to make a case for the starting job at first base in 2016. Watch his home run that tied the game against the Braves on Monday:

Longest Rockies home run of the week: Carlos Gonzalez – 423 feet

There was only one home run for CarGo this week, but it was a long one. 423 feet doesn’t approach the top five Rockies home runs of the season, but it did raise his average home run distance on the season to 415.3 feet, the fourth longest in baseball (min. 15 HR). Watch his home run here:

Rockies pitcher of the week: John Axford – 3 appearances, 3 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K

After going through a really rough patch, Axford appears to have turned it around of late. This week, he didn’t allow a run in his three appearances while picking up his 18th save of the season. The three scoreless outings lowered his ERA to 4.33 and his FIP to 3.86 on the season, the latter being his best number since 2011. He finished out his save with a strikeout on a 98 mph fastball, watch it here:

That’s it for week 21. Don’t forget to subscribe, like View from the Rooftop on Facebook, follow on Twitter, and look ahead to week 22 as the Rockies begin the last full month of the season.

Colorado Rockies Week 20 Review: August 17-23

The real story from this week is that Ben Paulsen shaved his beard.
Photo Credit: Justin Edmonds – Getty Images North America

Welcome to week 20, where things continued to get worse for the Colorado Rockies. A 1-5 week in six home games gave the Rockies a slight lead in the race for the top overall pick in the 2016 draft, percentage points ahead of the Philadelphia Phillies and Miami Marlins. It’s disappointing that this is what the season has come to, but with 40 games left the Rockies draft positioning is one of their biggest storylines left. As of right now, here are the reverse standings in the race for the first pick:

1. Colorado Rockies – 49-73 (.402)
T-2. Philadelphia Phillies – 50-74 (.403)
T-2. Miami Marlins – 50-74 (.403)
4. Cincinnati Reds – 51-71 (.418)
5. Milwaukee Brewers – 53-72 (.424)
6. Atlanta Braves – 53-71 (.427)
7. Oakland Athletics – 54-71 (.432)

At the moment, it looks like those are the only seven teams with a realistic shot at grabbing the top overall pick, which also essentially guarantees that, barring something miraculous, the Rockies will have one of the top seven picks in what is projected to be a deep draft in 2016. Another high pick should give the Rockies a chance to build on what is already considered one of the top farm systems in baseball as they move toward what will hopefully be a contention window starting around the 2017 season.

There were a few other notable happenings this week. On the positive side, both Nolan Arenado and Carlos Gonzalez hit their 30^th home runs, making them the first pair of Rockies teammates to hit 30 or more home runs in a season since Jeromy Burnitz, Vinny Castilla, and Todd Helton all did it in 2004. Yohan Flande also had the best start of his career as he allowed just two runs in seven innings against the Washington Nationals. On the not so positive side, Jon Gray experienced the first rough start of his Major League career when he allowed seven earned runs in just 1 2/3 innings against the New York Mets. It’s just one start, so it’s nothing to be too concerned over, but that doesn’t make it any more fun to watch. Unfortunately, Gray’s was not the worst start of the week for the Rockies. The following day, Chris Rusin allowed 11 earned runs in just two innings of work. His game score of -11 was the worst in Major League history for a pitcher in the start immediately following a complete game shutout. If you dare, here’s a look at the rest of week 20.

Record this week: 1-5
Overall record: 49-73 (5^th in NL West, 17 ½ GB of LAD)

Monday, August 17 – Day off

Tuesday, August 18 – Washington Nationals (15) at Colorado Rockies (6)
W – Zimmermann (9-8)    L – Miller (1-2)
HR: Gonzalez (28), Reyes (5), Parker (2)
Players of the game:
Jose Reyes – 4 for 5, 2B, HR, RBI
Nolan Arenado – 3 for 5, 2 2B, RBI
Kyle Parker – 2 for 3, HR, BB, RBI

Wednesday, August 19 – Washington Nationals (4) at Colorado Rockies (1)
W – Strasburg (7-6)            L – Betancourt (2-4)           S – Papelbon (20)
Players of the game:
Jorge De La Rosa – 6 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 6 BB, 6 K
Nolan Arenado – 1 for 3
Charlie Blackmon – 1 for 4

Thursday, August 20 – Washington Nationals (2) at Colorado Rockies (3)
W – Flande (3-1)      L – Scherzer (11-10)              S – Axford (17)
Players of the game:
Yohan Flande – 7 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 3 BB, 5 K; 2 for 3, RBI
Jose Reyes – 3 for 4, 2B, RBI
Carlos Gonzalez – 1 for 2, 2 BB

In the first series of the week, the Rockies dropped two out of three to the Nationals, but there were at least some positives to look at. Jose Reyes had his best series in a Rockies uniform as he collected seven hits and hit his first home run. They also got quality starts from Flande and Jorge De La Rosa, and beat Nationals’ ace Max Scherzer for the second time in as many tries. It wasn’t a great series, but they were at least (for the most part) competitive, which frankly is about as good as it gets for the Rockies right now. After this series, the Mets came to town and did not play nice at all.

Friday, August 21 – New York Mets (14) at Colorado Rockies (9)
W – Gilmartin (2-1)              L – Friedrich (0-4)
HR: Gonzalez (29), Paulsen (9), Arenado (30)
Players of the game:
Nolan Arenado – 3 for 5, 2 2B, HR, 4 RBI
Nick Hundley – 3 for 3, 2B, 3B, BB, RBI
Carlos Gonzalez – 2 for 4, HR, BB, RBI

Saturday, August 22 – New York Mets (14) at Colorado Rockies (9)
W – Niese (8-9)       L – Rusin (4-6)
HR: Blackmon (14), Reyes (6)
Players of the game:
Kyle Parker – 2 for 3, 2B, 3B, BB, 4 RBI
Charlie Blackmon – 2 for 5, HR, 2 RBI
Jose Reyes – 2 for 4, HR, RBI

Sunday, August 23 – New York Mets (5) at Colorado Rockies (1)
W – Verrett (1-0)     L – Hale (3-5)
HR: Gonzalez (30)
Players of the game:
Simon Castro – 2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, K
Carlos Gonzalez – 1 for 4, HR, RBI
DJ LeMahieu – 1 for 3, BB

There’s not a lot to say about this one. The Rockies got absolutely throttled by the Mets in all three games here on their way to being swept. The first two games were done in by the pitching staff that allowed 14 runs twice in a row while the third game was done in by the offense managing only one run. Searching for some positives here, Kyle Parker had his best game as a big leaguer in the second game of the series, notching a double and a triple while driving in four. Beyond that…um…Jose Reyes hit another homer? There’s really not a lot to go on here. It wasn’t pretty.

Moving on, let’s have a look at the top performers from the past week. Team-wise it was bad, but there were still a few standout performances that we’ll find as we name the Rockies position player and pitcher of the week and take a look at the longest home run hit by a Rockies this week. We’re getting close to the end of the season, so be sure to keep track of the full season leaderboards on the right-hand side of the screen!

Rockies position player of the week: Jose Reyes – 23 PA, .409/.409/.773, 2 2B, 2 HR, 211 wRC+

Jose Reyes might not be in a Rockies uniform for long, but that didn’t prevent him from having a great week this week. He was finally productive and hit his first two home runs with the club, his fifth and sixth of the season. Here’s a look at the first one that put the Rockies ahead 4-2 on Tuesday night:

Longest Rockies home run of the week: Ben Paulsen – 445 feet

Paulsen just missed a spot in the top five with this home run with this one, coming up just a foot short in his ninth of the season and the longest homer of his career. Also impressive was that he took it to the opposite field. The solo shot off Bartolo Colon made a blowout slightly less of a blowout as it got the Rockies within five of the Mets in the second inning on Friday night. Watch the blast here.

Rockies pitcher of the week: Jorge De La Rosa – 1 start, 6 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 6 BB, 6 K

The Rockies’ all-time wins leader didn’t get a win for his performance on Wednesday night against the Nationals, but he did a fantastic job of working around traffic to twirl six shutout innings and give the team a chance to win. Of course, the Rockies would ultimately lose the game, but De La Rosa lowered his ERA to 4.50 on the year while adding six more strikeouts to his franchise-leading total of 849. Watch his start here:

That’ll do it for week 20. Be sure to subscribe, like View from the Rooftop on Facebook, follow on Twitter, and check out a look ahead to week 21 of the regular season.

Colorado Rockies Weeks 18 & 19 Review: August 3-16

Jon Gray made his first three Major League starts in the last two weeks.
Photo Credit: Justin Edmonds – Getty Images North America

Thanks to my wedding (which was an absolute blast and the time of my life), there was no week 18 review last week. So here it is as a mega-weeks 18 and 19 ultra-review! At this point in the season, the actual results of the games are somewhat irrelevant, as the Colorado Rockies are completely out of the playoff race and playing for 2016 and beyond. Their 48-68 record on the year is the third worst in baseball, setting them up for the third pick in what is supposed to be a stacked 2016 draft, so that’s certainly good news if you want a way to put a positive spin on things.

The real story from the past two weeks, however, was Jon Gray. After making his Major League debut on August 4^th against the Seattle Mariners, Gray made three starts over the past two weeks and looked outstanding in doing so. Pitching on a pretty strict 75-pitch limit, Gray has thrown 15 innings and allowed just four earned runs (2.40 ERA) on 10 hits while walking four and striking out 14. It’s clearly still very early, but so far Gray has looked every bit the ace the Rockies hoped he’d be. Let’s take a look at the rest of the action from the past two weeks.

Record this week: 4-9
Overall record: 48-68 (5^th in NL West, 18 GB of LAD)

Monday, August 3 – Seattle Mariners (8) at Colorado Rockies (7)
W – Hernandez (14-6)        L – Butler (3-8)       S – Smith (10)
Players of the game:
Charlie Blackmon – 4 for 6, 2 2B, RBI
Nick Hundley – 3 for 5, RBI, SB
Ben Paulsen – 2 for 5, 2B, 2 RBI

Tuesday, August 4 – Seattle Mariners (10) at Colorado Rockies (4)
W – Rasmussen (1-0)         L – Friedrich (0-3)
HR: Blackmon (13), Hundley (9), Parker (1)
Players of the game:
Nick Hundley – 2 for 4, HR, 2 RBI
DJ LeMahieu – 2 for 4, SB
Jose Reyes – 1 for 4, 2B, BB

Wednesday, August 5 – Seattle Mariners (5) at Colorado Rockies (7)
W – Flande (2-1)      L – Guaipe (0-3)      F/11
HR: Gonzalez (22), McKenry (4)
Players of the game:
Carlos Gonzalez – 2 for 5, HR, 3 RBI
Ben Paulsen – 3 for 5, 2B, RBI
Michael McKenry – 1 for 5, HR, 2 RBI

The Rockies started off these two weeks hosting an interleague series against the Seattle Mariners. They dropped two of the three games as they continued to struggle in interleague play. On the bright side, Charlie Blackmon played well with a four-hit game in the first game of the series and his 13^th home run of the season in the second. Carlos Gonzalez continued to swing a hot bat as well, hitting his 22^nd home run of the season in the series finale. The middle game here was Jon Gray’s debut where he allowed three runs (two earned) in four innings of work before the bullpen came in and imploded, eventually allowing the Mariners to score 10 runs.

Thursday, August 6 – Day off

Friday, August 7 – Colorado Rockies (5) at Washington Nationals (4)
W – Oberg (2-3)       L – Storen (2-1)       S – Kahnle (1)
HR: Gonzalez (23)
Players of the game:
Carlos Gonzalez – 2 for 4, HR, 4 RBI
Nolan Arenado – 3 for 4, 2B
Tommy Kahnle – IP, 0 R, BB, 2 K

Saturday, August 8 – Colorado Rockies (1) at Washington Nationals (6)
W – Strasburg (6-5)                        L – Butler (3-9)
HR: Arenado (27)
Players of the game:
Charlie Blackmon – 2 for 3, 2 2B
Nolan Arenado – 1 for 3, HR, RBI
Justin Miller – 1 1/3 IP, 0 R, BB, 2 K

Sunday, August 9 – Colorado Rockies (6) at Washington Nationals (4)
W – Axford (4-5)      L – Storen (2-2)       S – Kahnle (2)
HR: Gonzalez 2 (25), Descalso (4)
Players of the game:
Carlos Gonzalez – 2 for 5, 2 HR, 2 RBI
Daniel Descalso – 1 for 2, HR, BB, RBI
Ben Paulsen – 2 for 4, 2B

Things continued to look good for the Rockies as they took on the Washington Nationals and once again won two out of three games. The first game of the series was a lot of fun as CarGo hit a late, go-ahead grand slam and Tommy Kahnle picked up his first career save on his birthday. The series finale included two more CarGo homers and another Kahnle save, and the Rockies headed to New York feeling pretty good about themselves.

Monday, August 10 – Colorado Rockies (2) at New York Mets (4)
W – Niese (7-9)        L – Miller (1-1)         S – Familia (31)
HR: Gonzalez (26)
Players of the game:
Jon Gray – 6 IP, H, ER, 2 BB, 5 K
Carlos Gonzalez – 1 for 4, HR, 2 RBI
Nick Hundley – 2 for 3

Tuesday, August 11 – Colorado Rockies (0) at New York Mets (4)
W – Harvey (11-7)    L – Rusin (3-5)
Players of the game
Chris Rusin – 6 IP, 8 H, ER, BB, 5 K
Ben Paulsen – 1 for 3, 2B
Rafael Betancourt – IP, 0 H, 0 R

Wednesday, August 12 – Colorado Rockies (0) at New York Mets (3)
W – deGrom (11-6) L – De La Rosa (7-5)           S – Familia (32)
Players of the game:
Jorge De La Rosa – 6 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 7 K
DJ LeMahieu – 2 for 4, 2B, SB
Michael McKenry – 0 for 2, 2 BB

Thursday, August 13 – Colorado Rockies (3) at New York Mets (12)
W – Syndergaard (7-6)       L – Butler (3-10)
HR: LeMahieu (5), Arenado (28)
Players of the game:
DJ LeMahieu – 1 for 3, HR, RBI
Nolan Arenado – 1 for 3, HR, RBI
Kyle Parker – 1 for 2, BB

This is where things started to go astray. The Rockies were swept in four games at the hands of the New York Mets and were more or less blown away by the trio of Jacob deGrom, Matt Harvey, and Noah Syndergaard. The only significant positive to take away from this series was, of course, Jon Gray’s outstanding performance in the series opener. He allowed just one run and one hit in six great innings and really showed his ace potential, flashing a 95+ mph fastball with run along with a sharp slider. For the most part, however, this was a depressing series.

Friday, August 14 – San Diego Padres (9) at Colorado Rockies (5)
W – Norris (1-0)      L – Roberts (0-1)
HR: Arenado (29)
Players of the game:
Nolan Arenado – 3 for 4, HR, BB, 2 RBI, SB
Brandon Barnes – 2 for 3, 3B, 2 RBI, SB
DJ LeMahieu – 2 for 4, 2 2B

Saturday, August 15 – San Diego Padres (7) at Colorado Rockies (5)
W – Quackenbush (2-2)     L – Kahnle (0-1)      S – Kimbrel (33)
Players of the game:
Jon Gray – 5 IP, 4 H, ER, 5 K
Nolan Arenado – 2 for 4, 2 RBI
Nick Hundley – 3 for 4, RBI

Sunday, August 16 – San Diego Padres (0) at Colorado Rockies (5)
W – Rusin (4-5)       L – Kennedy (7-11)
HR: Gonzalez (27)
Players of the game:
Chris Rusin – 9 IP, 5 H, 0 R, BB, 4 K
Michael McKenry – 1 for 3, 2B, 3 RBI
Carlos Gonzalez – 1 for 4, HR, RBI

Last but not least, the Rockies hosted the San Diego Padres. Pitching was once again the story for the Rockies in this series. Gray was phenomenal in the middle game of the series as he allowed just a run on four hits in five innings. He also struck out five, didn’t walk a batter, and threw 50 of his 69 pitches for strikes. The Rockies are now 0-3 when Gray starts, but that really doesn’t matter given his strict pitch count and how good he’s looked when he has been out there. Not to be upstaged, Chris Rusin came out in the series finale and tossed a complete game shutout. It was the 28^th complete game shutout in franchise history and the team’s first since Tyler Matzek shutout the Padres on September 5^th of last year. It also put a stop to a six-game losing streak and prevented the Rockies from having a winless week.

Now, it’s time to look at some of the best performances from the last two weeks. There will be a player of the week, pitcher of the week, and longest home run of the week for both week 18 and week 19, and remember you can always check on the season leaderboards on the right-hand side of the screen!

Rockies position player of the week (week 18): Carlos Gonzalez – 26 PA, .320/.346/.840, 2B, 4 HR, 9 RBI, 209 wRC+

CarGo continued to stay hot in week 18, taking home his fourth consecutive player of the week honor. He hit four more home runs and drove in nine and has really gotten back to being the all-star caliber player we’ve all come to expect him to be. His biggest hit of the week was his go-ahead grand slam in the eighth inning against the Washington Nationals. Watch it here:

Longest Rockies home run of the week (week 18): Carlos Gonzalez – 455 feet

This was another long and significant home run from CarGo, as it tied up the game in the sixth inning. The 455-foot shot was the third longest home run hit by a Rockies player this season and you can watch it here:

Rockies pitcher of the week (week 18): Tommy Kahnle – 3 appearances, 3 IP, H, 0 R, 3 BB, 5 K, 0.00 ERA, 2 saves

Earning the first save of your Major League career is cool, doing it by striking out the best hitter in the league on your birthday is even cooler. Kahnle had a strong week in week 18 as he didn’t allow a run in three innings and picked up his first two saves, but the highlight moment was his strikeout of Bryce Harper to end the game on August 7^th. He was pretty pumped

Rockies position player of the week (week 19): DJ LeMahieu – 26 PA, .333/.385/.583, 3 2B, HR, 3 SB, 143 wRC+

LeMahieu continues to have a breakout year as he earns his fourth player of the week honor of the season, tying CarGo for the team lead. He hit his fifth home run of the season and stole his 16^th, 17^th, and 18^th bases as he raised his wRC+ on the season to 106. Take a look at his opposite field home run off Noah Syndergaard:

Longest Rockies home run of the week (week 19): Carlos Gonzalez – 431 feet

Once again, CarGo hit the longest home run of the week for the Rockies this week. This one was off Ian Kennedy of the Padres and it gave the Rockies a 1-0 lead in the fourth inning on Sunday. You can see it here

Rockies pitcher of the week (week 19): Chris Rusin – 2 starts, 15 IP, 13 H, ER, 2 BB, 9 K, 0.60 ERA

I thought Jon Gray was a lock to be the guy I talked about here for week 19. Then Chris Rusin went out and threw a complete game shutout on Sunday afternoon to completely change all that. The shutout for him dropped his ERA all the way down to 3.99 on the year to go with a 4.12 FIP and 3.76 xFIP as he continues to make a case to be in the 2016 rotation. You can see the highlights from his great outing here.

That’s all for weeks 18 and 19. Be sure to subscribe, like View from the Rooftop on Facebook, follow on Twitter, and take a look ahead to week 20 of the regular season. Thanks for reading!

Colorado Rockies Week 17 Review: July 27-August 2

I was not expecting this guy to be the starting shortstop at any point this season.
Photo Credit Dilip Vashwanat – Getty Images North America

Raise your hand if you saw that coming. Yeah, me either. Week 17 of the 2015 Colorado Rockies season saw the highest profile trade in the organization’s 22-year history as they sent face of the franchise Troy Tulowitzki and LaTroy Hawkins to the Toronto Blue Jays for a four player package of shortstop Jose Reyes and right-handed pitchers Jeff Hoffman, Miguel Castro, and Jesus Tinoco. It’s perfectly alright to be sad about the departure of Tulo, I cried when I heard the news that he had been traded. When you spend as long as Rockies fans spent watching Tulo be one of the best players in baseball, it’s completely natural to be upset when that unexpectedly gets taken away from you. So please, be sad all you want. However, don’t take this as a sign that the organization doesn’t want to win.

We really won’t have any idea who did better in this trade for a while. Three years from now, we could see a still-productive Tulowitzki playing for a contending Blue Jays squad while the Hoffman, Castro, Tinoco trio has flamed out for the Rockies. On the other hand, we also might see an aging, less productive and more oft-injured Tulowitzki hampering the Blue Jays chances of success while Hoffman, Castro, and Tinoco are all having success with the Rockies. Most likely, the trade will land somewhere in between those extremes, but the point is that it’s still way too early to know if this trade will be good for the Rockies down the line. For now, let’s take a look at the four players the Rockies acquired.

Jose Reyes

Reyes is the “name” in this trade, so he’s who a lot of people will focus on. The reality, however, is that Reyes really is not a big piece in the trade. He represents a very solid shortstop – since 2011 he is third among qualified shortstops in fWAR – who the Rockies can play in the short-term while prospects like Trevor Story, Cristhian Adames, and Brendan Rodgers develop in the minors. However, the Tulowitzki trade is the signal that the Rockies are going to look to rebuild, so look for the club to try to move Reyes either before the August 31^st waiver trade deadline or at some point during the offseason. So far in 2015, Reyes has posted a .277/.315/.373 slash line, good for an 87 wRC+, across 328 plate appearances.

Jeff Hoffman

Despite not having the name recognition of Reyes, Jeff Hoffman is the real centerpiece of this trade. Heading into the 2014 draft, Hoffman was viewed as a legitimate candidate to be taken first overall until he was injured and forced to undergo Tommy John surgery. The injury led to him dropping all the way to ninth overall where he was drafted by the Blue Jays. Now healthy and pitching in games again, Hoffman has put up a 3.11 ERA in 14 starts between high-A and Double-A. He has walked 17 and struck out 52 in 72 1/3 innings. In MLB Pipeline’s (m.mlb.com/prospects/2015?list=col) midseason update, Hoffman ranked the 58^th best prospect in baseball and the fourth best in the Rockies’ system. Here’s what they had to say about him:

“When healthy, Hoffman stands out for his stuff, size and athleticism. His fastball sits in the mid 90s and regularly reaches 98 mph. His big curveball is nearly as good as his fastball, and his changeup gives him a third above-average offering. He fills up the strike zone already and his athleticism gives scouts hope he’ll be able to continue to refine his command as a professional.

If Hoffman is able to return to the form he showed in college, he’ll now give the Rockies another impact arm.”

Miguel Castro

The 20-year old Castro is considered the second best prospect the Rockies got in the trade. Castro moved extremely quickly through the Blue Jays system working primarily as a reliever and even made 13 Major League appearances with the Blue Jays earlier this season and put up a 4.38 ERA in 12 1/3 innings. In his 26 2/3 minor league innings in high-A and Triple-A, Castro has a 3.38 ERA. For the Rockies, the plan is to continue using him in relief for the remainder of the 2015 season with an eye on likely converting back into a starting role for 2016. MLB Pipeline slots Castro in as the Rockies 10^th best prospect, here’s what they have to say about him:

“Castro has gotten stronger since signing and has added velocity to his fastball as a result. He now throws in the mid 90s and can reach 99 mph with the pitch. He commands his fastball well and creates groundballs thanks to its natural life. His changeup is his best secondary offering, while his slider remains a work in progress.

Castro returned to the rotation briefly following his demotion to Triple-A then returned to a bullpen role. It’s now up to the Rockies to determine his long-term role. If he can refine his secondary pitches, he has the potential to be a frontline starter. He also could be a dominant closer.”

Jesus Tinoco

The third and final prospect in the deal is another 20-year old righty, Jesus Tinoco. He’s the rawest pitcher of the group, but he still possesses a power arm and high ceiling that general manager Jeff Bridich seems to covet. Tinoco is enjoying his best year so far as a pro with a 3.30 ERA and 75 strikeouts to just 22 walks in 87 1/3 innings in low-A. MLB Pipeline pegs Tinoco as the Rockies’ 18^th best prospect and has this to say about him:

“The 6-foot-4 20-year-old has natural size and arm strength working in his favor. With a loose arm, he can run his fastball up to 94-95 mph. He throws it with a ton of sink, already showing a propensity for groundball outs. He complements his fastball with a slider that shows glimpses of being a quality breaking ball and also has a feel for a changeup. In small increments, Tinoco has shown an ability to make adjustments, and he’s become a little more efficient, in terms of finding the strike zone.”

The Major League team also played some games this week. Here’s how they did.

Record this week: 2-5
Overall record: 44-59 (5^th in NL West, 15 GB of LAD)

Monday, July 27 – Colorado Rockies (8) at Chicago Cubs (9)
W – Soriano (1-0)    L – Axford (3-4)
HR: Gonzalez 2 (20), Descalso (3)
Players of the game:
Carlos Gonzalez – 4 for 5, 2 HR, 4 RBI
DJ LeMahieu – 3 for 4, 2B, BB, 2 RBI
Daniel Descalso – 1 for 1, HR, RBI

Tuesday, July 28 – Colorado Rockies (7) at Chicago Cubs (2)
W – Flande (1-1)      L – Beeler (0-1)
Players of the game:
DJ LeMahieu – 3 for 4, 2B, 3B, BB, RBI
Yohan Flande – 5 IP, 4 H, ER, 3 BB, 4 K
Corey Dickerson – 2 for 4, 2B, RBI

Wednesday, July 29 – Colorado Rockies (2) at Chicago Cubs (3)
W – Lester (6-8)      L – Butler (3-7)        S – Rondon (13)
HR: Gonzalez (21)
Players of the game:
Carlos Gonzalez – 1 for 3, HR, BB, RBI
Aaron Laffey – 2 IP, H, 0 R, BB, K
Tommy Kahnle – IP, 0 H, 0 R, BB, K

This was a weird series. Obviously, the shock of losing Tulo was still fresh in everyone’s minds and with him gone, the results didn’t seem particularly relevant. Quite frankly, the Major League results for the Rockies aren’t particularly important right now as the club plays out the string 15 games out of first place. A few things of note from this series was that Carlos Gonzalez continued to stay hot as he hit three more home runs and Yohan Flande earned his first Major league win. Congrats, Yohan!

Thursday, July 30 – Colorado Rockies (8) at St. Louis Cardinals (9)
W – Villanueva (4-3)          L – Axford (3-5)
HR: Rusin (1), Hundley (8)
Players of the game:
Nick Hundley – 2 for 5, HR, 2 RBI
DJ LeMahieu – 3 for 4
Charlie Blackmon – 2 for 4, 2B

Friday, July 31 – Colorado Rockies (0) at St. Louis Cardinals (7)
W – Wacha (12-4)    L – Kendrick (4-12)
Players of the game:
Carlos Gonzalez – 1 for 3, 2B, BB
Aaron Laffey – 3 IP, 3 H, 0 R, BB, 2 K; 1 for 1
Justin Miller – IP, 0 H, 0 R, 2 K

Saturday, August 1 – Colorado Rockies (6) at St. Louis Cardinals (2)
W – De La Rosa (7-4)          L –Lynn (8-6)
HR: Arenado (26), Paulsen (8)
Players of the game:
Ben Paulsen – 2 for 5, 2B, HR, 3 RBI
Nolan Arenado – 2 for 5, HR, 2 RBI
Jorge De La Rosa – 6 2/3 IP, 7 H, 2 ER, 4 K

Sunday, August 2 – Colorado Rockies (2) at St. Louis Cardinals (3)
W – Rosenthal (2-2)           L – Oberg (2-2)
Players of the game:
Charlie Blackmon – 1 for 3, BB, 2 SB
Nolan Arenado – 1 for 3, BB
Ben Paulsen – 1 for 4, 2B, RBI

This was yet another tough series against a really good team on the road. Naturally, the Rockies only were able to take one out of the four games against the Cardinals. That win came on the arm of Jorge De La Rosa as he increased his franchise-leading win total to 76. The next highest total on the active roster belongs to Rafael Betancourt. He has 15 wins in a Rockies uniform. Nolan Arenado also hit a home run in the series, his 26^th of the season. He is on pace to hit 41 homers this season. This was a tough group of games to watch, but before long there should be a steady stream of prospects coming in that will (hopefully) make things a lot more fun for Rockies fans again.

We’ve now reached the point where we appreciate some of the standout performances of the week with the player of the week, pitcher of the week, and longest home run of the week. Remember, you can find the player and pitcher of the week leaderboards as well as the five longest Rockies home runs of the season on the right-hand side of the screen!

Rockies position player of the week: Carlos Gonzalez – 29 PA, .391/.483/.870, 2 2B, 3 HR, 6 RBI

I’m thinking of just re-naming this the Carlos Gonzalez award. He stayed white hot this week and take home player of the week for the third week in a row after now winning it all season up to that point. CarGo’s big week has his wRC+ up to 118 for the season and it’s becoming safer and safer to say that he’s back to being his old self. Monday in Chicago was his best game of the week as he went 4-for-5 with two home runs. Take a look here:

Longest Rockies home run of the week: Ben Paulsen – 440 feet

Paulsen’s 440 foot blast tied him for the fifth longest homer of the season and gets him a spot on our leaderboard. He is also having an under-the-radar solid season, with a 118 wRC+ across 206 plate appearances. You can take a look at his home run here.

Rockies pitcher of the week: Justin Miller – 3 appearances, 4 IP, H, 0 R, 7 K

It has been awfully tough to find deserving pitchers of the week recently, but Miller was more than deserving. He had four dominant innings and has really left a strong impression in his short time with the club. Across 11 innings with the Major League club, Miller has a 0.82 ERA and 10.64 strikeouts per nine innings to go with just 0.82 walks per nine innings. The 28-year old righty has shown a mid-90’s fastball and a strong slider with good command, making you wonder why he hasn’t been a mainstay in Major League bullpens yet. There unfortunately is no video on Miller from this week, but nonetheless he take home the honor for the first time this season.

That’s all for week 17. Next week should be a lot more exciting as we finally get to see the debut of Rockies top prospect Jon Gray! Be sure to subscribe, like View from the Rooftop on Facebook, and follow on Twitter.

Colorado Rockies Week 16 Review: July 20-26

Carlos Gonzalez had a lot to be happy about this week.
Photo Credit: Justin Edmonds – Getty Images North America

Welcome to the Colorado Rockies week 16 review! Congratulations to you for sticking around this far, you’ve certainly earned it. This particular week for the Rockies wasn’t a great one as they went just 3-3 at home against two sub-.500 teams. The most exciting thing this week was watching Carlos Gonzalez have his best week of the season and really get back to looking like the CarGo that Rockies fans have come to know and love. His outstanding week did a lot to either significantly increase his trade value or show the Rockies that he can still be the phenomenal player he was from 2010-2013. Either way it was very good to see for the club. Meanwhile, the Rockies rotation continued to struggle. After 96 games the team has received just 35 quality starts, the lowest total in the Major Leagues. Unless something unexpected happens over the final 66 games, this will be their fifth straight season finishing 28^th or worse in quality starts. That’s not good. Hopefully some combination of the trade deadline, offseason, and continued prospect growth will bring the Rockies some relief in the starting rotation for the 2016 season. We’ll know more about the trade deadline when we look back at week 17, but for now let’s look back at the week that was.

Record this week: 3-3
Overall record: 42-54 (5^th in NL West, 12 GB of LAD)

Monday, July 20 – Texas Rangers (7) at Colorado Rockies (8)
W – Axford (2-2)     L – Scheppers (3-1)
HR: Tulowitzki (12)
Players of the game:
Troy Tulowitzki – 2 for 4, HR, 2 RBI
Ben Paulsen – 2 for 4, BB, 2 RBI
Charlie Blackmon – 1 for 3, 2 BB, RBI

Tuesday, July 21 – Texas Rangers (9) at Colorado Rockies (0)
W – Harrison (1-1)  L – Kendrick (3-11)
Players of the game:
Nolan Arenado – 2 for 3, 2B, BB
Charlie Blackmon – 2 for 4
Nick Hundley – 1 for 3, BB

Wednesday, July 22 – Texas Rangers (10) at Colorado Rockies (8)
W – Scheppers (4-1)            L – Axford (2-3)       S – Tolleson (15)
HR: Hundley (7), Gonzalez (14)
Players of the game:
Nick Hundley – 3 for 4, HR, 2 RBI
DJ LeMahieu – 2 for 4, BB, RBI, SB
Carlos Gonzalez – 1 for 4, HR, BB, 3 RBI

The first series of the week against the Texas Rangers did not go well. After a walk-off win on Monday night, the Rockies were blown out on Tuesday and lost again on Wednesday after allowing 10 runs. Tuesday’s game did bring a little bit of excitement — albeit not for the Rockies – as Shin-Soo Choo of the Rangers hit for the cycle. Another disappointment that came from this series was the performance of closer John Axford. He entered the week looking like he may have some solid trade value, but unfortunately he blew both of his save opportunities while allowing three earned runs and walking five in just 1 2/3 innings. For a non-contending team that is (hopefully) looking to maximize the value of as many tradeable assets as possible, that kind of performance is pretty disheartening. It may still be possible to move him, but he probably won’t get as much in return as he would have even a week ago. After this series wrapped up, the Rockies welcomed a Cincinnati Reds team in all-out sell mode to town.

Thursday, July 23 – Day off

Friday, July 24 – Cincinnati Reds (5) at Colorado Rockies (6)
W – Axford (3-3)     L – Mattheus (1-2)
HR: Gonzalez 2 (16)
Players of the game:
Carlos Gonzalez – 2 for 4, 2 HR, 2 RBI
Charlie Blackmon – 3 for 5, RBI, SB
Corey Dickerson – 2 for 3, BB

Saturday, July 25 – Cincinnati Reds (5) at Colorado Rockies (2)
W – Cueto (7-6)       L – Rusin (3-4)        S – Chapman (20)
Players of the game:
Carlos Gonzalez – 2 for 4
Yohan Flande – IP, 0 R, 2 K
Rafael Betancourt – IP, 0 R, 2 K

Sunday, July 26 – Cincinnati Reds (7) at Colorado Rockies (17)
W – Kendrick (4-11)            L – Lorenzen (3-5)
HR: Arenado (25), Paulsen 2 (7), Gonzalez 2 (18)
Players of the game:
Ben Paulsen – 4 for 5, 3B, 2 HR, 4 RBI
Carlos Gonzalez – 3 for 4, 2 HR, BB, 6 RBI
DJ LeMahieu – 2 for 4, 2B, BB, 2 RBI

This series went significantly better for the Rockies than the last one did. They got to enjoy a walk-off win in game one and a 17-run outburst that was their highest scoring game since they scored 18 runs on April 27, 2012. That’s over three years! The offensive barrage was fueled by Carlos Gonzalez’s two home runs and six RBI and Ben Paulsen’s four-hit day that included two home runs, four RBI, and left him just a double short of the cycle. Drew Stubbs also continued to rake since being recalled from Triple-A Albuquerque, going 2-for-2 with a triple. When Stubbs was demoted, he had a dismal slash line of .118/.182/.255 and had struck out in 31 of his 56 plate appearances, a whopping 55.4% strikeout rate. Since his recall, Stubbs has a gaudy .355/.444/.774 slash line and has struck out in only eight of his 37 plate appearances, a strikeout rate of only 21.6%. After wondering if Stubbs would ever be a productive Major League player again, it’s great to see him doing well. It also potentially gives him some trade value if the Rockies want to try to move him to a contender. Aside from that, the Rockies and their fans remain in a bit of a holding pattern right now with just five days remaining until the trade deadline. At this time next week, we should have a lot more information about the direction this club is headed.

Now, it’s time to take a look at the standout performances from the last week. Since I didn’t use the two games from last week to give out players of the week, I’ll add those in to this week’s games to give us a player of the week plus two extra days. This is also where we’ll take a look at the longest home run from this week. Remember, you can find a running tally of the player and pitcher of the week as well as the five longest Rockies home runs of the season on the right-hand side of the screen!

Rockies position player of the week: Carlos Gonzalez – 31 PA, .393/.452/.962, 2B, 5 HR, 12 RBI, 271 wRC+

Stay hot, CarGo. After not being player of the week all season, this makes two weeks in a row that he’s taken it home. He continued to make baseballs hate him this week as he crushed five of them out of the ballpark and is now on pace to hit 30 home runs this season. Gonzalez finally appears to be fully recovered from the finger and knee surgeries that limited him to just 70 games in 2014 and that has made him a whole lot of fun to watch. Take a look at the second of his two home runs on Sunday afternoon:

Longest Rockies home run of the week: Troy Tulowitzki – 446 feet

Tulo only hit one home run this week, but it was a long one. His 446 foot blast on Monday was the fourth longest homer hit by a Rockies player this season and it put the Rockies ahead of the Rangers, 7-0. Take a look at his blast here:

Rockies pitcher of the week: Rafael Betancourt – 4 appearances, 3 2/3 IP, 3 H, ER, 6 K, 2.45 ERA

This week was not a good one for Rockies pitchers. This, unfortunately, is a problem that the Rockies have run into far too often this season and one that will hopefully be fixed soon. As it is, however, we get to talk about Rafael Betancourt’s solid performance this week. The 40-year old reliever will take home player of the week honors for the first time this season after looking strong across four relief appearances since the All-Star break. On the surface, Betancourt’s 5.22 ERA isn’t pretty, but he also boasts a much better looking 3.00 FIP and 3.19 SIERA to go with peripherals that are almost identical to what he’s put up in his career. It will be interesting to see if he tries to pitch again in 2016 when he will be 41 years old. There’s no video of him pitching this week, but that doesn’t mean he wasn’t great.

That wraps things up for week 16. Next week should be an interesting one as the Rockies attempt to make the right moves at the trade deadline. Also, be sure to subscribe, like View from the Rooftop on Facebook, and follow on Twitter!

Colorado Rockies Week 15 Review: July 13-19

None of us liked this week very much, Tulo.
Photo Credit: Denis Poroy – Getty Images North America

Week 15 wasn’t the best week for the Colorado Rockies, nor was it the most exciting. The All-Star break prevented any games from being played before Friday and Sunday’s game was rained out, leaving the club with just two games this week. They lost both. Nevertheless, let’s still take a (somewhat abbreviated) look back at this week.

Record this week: 0-2
Overall record: 39-51 (5^th in NL West, 12 ½ GB of LAD)

Monday, July 13 – All-Star break

Tuesday, July 14 – All-Star break

Wednesday, July 15 – All-Star break

Thursday, July 16 – All-Star break

Friday, July 17 – Colorado Rockies (2) at San Diego Padres (4)
W – Shields (8-3)    L – De La Rosa (6-4)           S – Kimbrel (24)
HR: Blackmon (12)
Players of the game:
Charlie Blackmon – 2 for 5, HR, RBI
DJ LeMahieu – 2 for 4, 2B
Gonzalez Germen – 2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 4 K

Saturday, July 18 – Colorado Rockies (4) at San Diego Padres (5)
W – Maurer (6-2)    L – Friedrich (0-2)  S – Kimbrel (25)
HR: Tulowitzki (11)
Players of the game:
Troy Tulowitzki – 2 for 3, HR, BB, RBI
Brandon Barnes – 3 for 4, 3B, RBI
Wilin Rosario – 1 for 1, 2B, RBI

Sunday, July 19 – Colorado Rockies at San Diego Padres (Postponed)

The one and only series of the week for the Rockies did not go well. The first two games of the series were losses marred by bad baserunning and poor hitting with runners in scoring position. In game three of the series, the Rockies were actually leading 1-0 in the fifth inning when the rain came. After waiting a few hours, the game was officially postponed, the first time that’s happened to a game in San Diego since 2006. Now, instead of getting to hang on to that 1-0 lead, they will have to start over at 0-0 on September 10^th. There was initially some confusion as to whether the game would be suspended or restarted, but it has now been confirmed that they will be starting the game from scratch. On top of it being bad for the Rockies having their lead wiped away, the rain out was bad for Eddie Butler. After being recalled from Triple-A Albuquerque to make the start today, Butler had tossed four scoreless innings and allowed just two hits and a walk to go with four strikeouts. He looked very sharp and it would’ve lowered his season ERA from 4.80 to 4.47, but unfortunately none of it will count. Despite that, it was still an encouraging outing for Butler and hopefully he’ll be able to build on it going forward.

Normally, this is the point where I give out the player and pitcher of the week and show the longest Rockies home run of the week. I really don’t feel like two games is enough to award a player of the week for, so we’ll hold off on that until next week. There were two home runs hit though, so let’s take a look at the longest one!

Longest Rockies home run of the week: Troy Tulowitzki – 380 feet

Tulo’s 11^th home run of the season brought the Rockies within a run of the Padres on Saturday night. Unfortunately, they wouldn’t get any closer, but watching him hit home runs is still fun. Take a look at it here.

Awesome Rockies defense this week:

In lieu of the players of the week, let’s just watch two amazing defensive plays from the Rockies. Play number one is a double play started by an amazing reverse jump throw from Tulowitzki, play number two is Nolan Arenado being his normal, incredible self. Enjoy!

That’s it for week 15. Next week should give us a lot more to talk about, but for now be sure to subscribe, like View from the Rooftop on Facebook, and follow on Twitter.