DENVER — The Colorado Rockies started the 2023 season 2-0 after two victories over the San Diego Padres in the opening series. After all the money the Padres spent the past year, it was a good sign the Rockies opened on a strong note against a division rival, right?
Well, not quite, because that’s the best they’ve looked so far. That first series turned into a split of four games, then the Rockies lost two to the Dodgers, and since then, the most games in a row they’ve won was two—one against the Nationals on April 9 and one against the Cardinals on April 10.
On April 11, they began an eight-game losing streak that was finally snapped against Philadelphia this past Thursday.
Paul Holden, host of the Locked On Rockies podcast, discussed the team’s rough start on the latest episode of his show, but before we get to his quotes, here are some numbers just to show you how much the Rockies have struggled in 2023.
Overall, the Rockies are 7-17 and last in the National League West.
The team is 2-4 in one-run games and 2-6 in blowout games while being outscored 71-32. So far for the season, their run differential is -48–they’re being outscored 92-140.
Holden joked, “The Colorado Rockies are bad. They are downright rotten.” Then he added that while losing three of four this weekend to the Philadelphia Phillies wasn’t the best possible outcome, the Rockies at least made it competitive for two of the losses.
They lost both on Friday and Saturday, 4-3. Sunday’s game got out of hand, and they lost 9-3, hence the somewhat large run differential this early in the season.
So what has hurt the Rockies so far this season? According to Holden and anyone else watching the games day in and day out, it’s poor starting pitching and, “poor clutch hitting, and poor hitting in general.”
He added, “It’s exhausting to watch the Rockies be so stagnant on the bases while other teams are so fluid.”
He noted that the Rockies will set themselves up to score and then fail, or when they do score, like on Sunday when they had the bases loaded, it’s because of a wild pitch or a hit-by-pitch. They’re not doing it themselves. The other team is helping them do it, and that’s not sustainable.
Holden said the Rockies need to look ahead, and when German Marquez comes off the IL—most likely this weekend—something needs to be done about José Ureña. Ureña has made five starts so far and is 0-4 with a 9.82 ERA. He’s given up 20 earned runs in only 18 and one-third innings of work.
There’s still time for the Rockies to turn things around. It’s early in the season, but if they don’t make some improvements sooner, it will be another lost season for the team that plays a mile high.
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