What the Rockies need to do this weekend
| July 9, 2009 | 11:11 AM
More journal entries from Steve Foster »
The Colorado Rockies have had a winning record at the All-Star break before. It only seems as if they haven’t.
The Rockies are now 45-39, in third place and eight games back in the National League West, one game back in the wild-card race. They are guaranteed a winning record at the break regardless of what happens in the four-game series the team starts with the Atlanta Braves tonight. It will be the first time the team has been over .500 at the break since 2006 (forgot it was only that far back, didn’t you?).
The team does have a chance to get off to its best first-half start ever. A four-game sweep — note: we are not predicting this and thus not to blame for jinxing it — would put the Rockies 10 games over .500, surpassing their 1995 mark of 39-30. A sweep could also put the team in a position to overtake San Francisco in the wild card and gain serious ground on the first-place Dodgers, who are on the road in New York and Milwaukee this weekend.
Three wins in the series would make the team 48-40, a very comfortable place to be for a team that was 12 games under .500 on June 3. With a little help from the Padres, who are playing four games in San Francisco, the Rockies still could even up or pass the Giants in the wild card.
A series split would have them at 47-41, still a good place to be. Anything less than a split against a Braves team that has struggled most of the season, would be a bit of a letdown after the past month.
The Rockies will face Tommy Hanson, who has been hot since being recalled; Derek Lowe, who hates Coors Field (2-4, 6.23); Jair Jurrjens, who handled the Rockies comfortably back in May (three hits in seven innings); and Javier Vazquez, who has had even less luck at Coors Field than Lowe (1-2, 7.00).
The series is there for the taking if the Rockies continue to play as they have over the past month. Here’s how the Rockies have looked at the All-Star break in their history:
2008: 39-57
2007: 44-44
2006: 44-43
2005: 31-56
2004: 36-51
2003: 50-47
2002: 42-46
2001: 39-48
2000: 45-40
1999: 40-46
1998: 37-52
1997: 43-45
1996: 42-44
1995: 39-30
1994: 42-48
1993: 33-54
Journals, Sports, Steve Foster
all-star break, atlanta braves, colorado rockies, los angeles dodgers, san francisco giants
