5 key Rockies for the next week
By Steve Foster 
| August 4, 2009 | 9:13 AM
Brad Hawpe, left, and Garrett Atkins are two key players for the Rockies in the next week. (Photo from Newscom)
The Colorado Rockies open a three-game series Tuesday night at the Philadelphia Phillies, the leader in the National League East. On Friday, the Rockies open a four-game home series against the Chicago Cubs, the current leader in the National League Central.
Two important things happened Monday for the Rockies, who were idle after their three-game sweep of the Reds:
- With the Giants’ 4-3 loss at Houston, the Rockies retook the wild-card lead by a half game.
- With the Dodgers’ 6-5 loss to Milwaukee, the Rockies inched to within 6 1/2 games of the National League West lead.
The next week will be a key one in Rockies history. The team currently occupies a National League playoff spot and are preparing to play teams that currently occupy two of the other spots. If the Rockies want to be taken seriously down the stretch, they will need a little extra help from these players.
1. Brad Hawpe. The man who nearly won the All-Star Game for the National League has fallen flat so far in the second half. He’s batting .255 with just one home run and four RBI since the break, but his on-base percentage is actually higher than in the first half. Hawpe is getting picky at the plate, which means he’s walking more often but also striking out looking more often. The Rockies offense lives or dies by his bat. If he’s on, everything clicks: Todd Helton sees better pitches, Seth Smith — now leading off — comes around to score more often and whatever Troy Tulowitzki and the guys behind him do is icing. If he’s off, the Rockies lineup is much easier for a pitcher to navigate. Hawpe won the Rockies’ first-half finale with a walk-off double against the Braves. His heroics have been noticeably absent since then.
2. Jason Hammel. The Rockies’ fifth starter will pitch twice in the next week, including the opener Tuesday against the Phillies. Hammel is the only Rockies starter in the past month not to last at least five innings in a start, and it’s happened twice — a three-inning outing in the final game before the All-Star break and an even shorter appearance last week against the Mets, which lasted just 1 1/3 innings. Hammel has been solid, even dominant at times, this season and has put the Rockies in a position to win more often than he hasn’t. But as the season has progressed, the other four starters in the rotation have put some distance between their performances and Hammel’s. For the Rockies to make a move this week, that gap will have to narrow.
3. Clint Barmes. The Rockies starting second baseman is just 8-for-72 (.127) since the All-Star break, and four of those eight hits have been home runs. The top of the Rockies order has been flat, but recently Seth Smith has settled into the leadoff spot with Dexter Fowler starting to wear out and splitting time with Carlos Gonzalez. Barmes is a streaky hitter — he went on a tear after Jim Tracy took over the team and is going fast in the opposite direction. The Rockies need for Barmes’ bad streak to have run its course so he’s on base with Smith or moving him around the bases to set up Helton, Hawpe and Tulowitzki.
4. Joe Beimel/Rafael Betancourt. The Rockies have been playing a lot of eight-inning games recently. Huston Street has been automatic in the ninth inning for more than a month, so any lead the team leaves him is secure. With the trades for Beimel and Betancourt, the Rockies are hoping to play a few seven-inning games as well. Betancourt has done his job, allowing just one baserunner in five appearances since joining the Rockies. Beimel was solid in his Rockies debut Saturday but gave up a game-tying home run in the bottom of the eighth inning Sunday.
5. Garrett Atkins. With three left-handed starting pitchers lined up against the Rockies in the Phillies series and one more likely in the Cubs series, Atkins will seem some playing time in the next week, either in place of the left-handed hitting Ian Stewart or the struggling Clint Barmes. Atkins, who is batting just .174 in limited playing time since the All-Star break, drove in the Rockies’ final run Sunday with an infield single in the 11th inning. As nice as the insurance run was, Atkins should be driving the ball into the gap, not legging out singles. Once a key component of the awkwardly nicknamed Generation R, Atkins’ days in Denver are numbered. Stewart is the starting third baseman and Helton looks healthy enough that Atkins no longer is needed as an insurance policy. Whether it’s in the starting lineup or as a pinch hitter, Atkins’ next week could go a long way toward determining how Rockies fans will remember him if or when he’s gone.
brad hawpe, chicago cubs, clint barmes, colorado rockies, garrett atkins, jason hammel, joe beimel, philadelphia phillies, rafael betancourt
