Monday, May 10, 2010

Looking Ahead: Rockies Unprepared For Litmus Test

I hate being a pessimist, but not as much as I enjoy being a realist.

This series doesn't look good on paper.

It didn't look good on paper on Opening Day. It didn't look good on paper the second it was official Roy Halladay would make a start. It didn't look good on paper when it was official the Rockies would start Greg Smith, Aaron Cook and Jason Hammel. And amazingly, as bad as it looked at all those times, it looks a helluva lot uglier on paper now than it did 24 hours ago.

Thankfully the games aren't played on paper.

The Rockies won't make any excuses. which is good, because the Philadelphia Phillies -- far and away the best team in the National League -- come to town, and they could give crap about the Rockies problems.

Those problems, by the way, go beyond the injuries and absences.


Greg Smith vs. Kyle Kendrick

I think the Rockies stand a great chance of scoring runs against Kyle Kendrick even without Tulowitzki and Gonzalez. Unfortunately, Greg Smith hasn't shown me anything that makes me confident he'll be on the mound come the 5th inning. But hey, the door is always open for him to surprise me us.

My Lineup Card

Can't wait to see what Jim Tracy pulls from the hat here. This really could be the night we see Todd Helton in CF and Paul Phillips at SS.

2B Young
CF Fowler
1B Helton
RF Hawpe
LF Spiborghs
3B Stewart
C Olivo
SS Barmes
P Smith

Simulation

The Show agrees with my assessment that Colorado will score on Kendrick (3 1/3, 9 H, 7 ER, 3 BB, 1 K). They also did some major damage to Jose Contreras (2 2/3, 5 H, 6 ER, BB, 3 K).

Offense

  • Helton: 3-for-4, HR, 2 2B, 2 RBI, 4 R, BB (Wouldn't it be great if that Helton magically appeared tonight.)
  • Hawpe: 2-for-4, 2B, 3 RBI, 2 R, BB
  • Spilborghs: 3-for-5, 2B, 5 RBI, 2 R
  • Olivo: 2-for-5, 2 2B, 3 RBI

Pitching

  • Smith: 6 IP, 10 H, 5 ER, 2 K
  • Corpas 2 IP, 1 H, 4 K

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