By Danny Rockett
The Cubs head to Denver, Colorado for a 3 game series against the Rockies today, 4/20. Let's hope the Cubs roll into the joint, fire it up and bong the ball outta the park all weekend! If you are looking for tickets use this Stubhub link and help Son Ranto get Pizzaid!
Here's how the Cubs match up.
The Rockies are 11-9 and just took 2 of 3 against Pittsburgh this week and were off on Thursday, so their pricy 49 million dollar #BullPenis rested. Wade Davis already has 8 saves B.T. Dubs.
Offensively, The Rockies have the second worst OBP in the MLB, 56 points lower than the 9th place in the majors Cubs. They've stolen 11 bases to the Cubs 4 and both teams strikeout about the same amount of times. One major concern for the Cubs this weekend is that the Rockies have hit the most homers in baseball, 27. 10 more than the Cubs. And before you say something ignorant like..."oh yeah, well Coors Field, thin air, humidified baseballs"....let me tell you that only 7 of those homers have been hit in their home ballpark. Still. The team's got pop. Oft rumored Cubs trade target Charlie Blackmon leads the Rockies with 7.
Pitching wise. The Rockies sport a team ERA a third of a run higher than the Cubs. But if you split it out, the Cubs starters have been allowing runs at a 1/2 a run higher clip, while the Cubs bullpen has performed over a half a run better than the Rockies. These stats tend to switch back and forth throughout the season. Note the prevalence of the feeling that when the starters do well, the #BullPenis terrible and when the starters suck the #BullPenis lights out. The Rockies are a weird team. They spent all their money on the pen. Their #BullPenis rich! However, they haven't performed to their expectations as of yet. Let's hope that continue and we don't even see Wade Davis.
Defensively, the Cubs have committed 8 more errors than the Rockies despite playing 4 fewer games due to inclement weather. I'd propose that some of those errors were due to Chicago's continuing Winter but maybe that's just an excuse.
Here are the match ups for a Denver weekend that promises more rain and snow.
G1
Kyle Hendricks 0-1 3.71 Vs Jon Gray 1-3, 6.23 (Makes a beautiful woman without the beard)
Teacher Appreciation Ticket package
Teachers Rock backpack cooler
7:40 CT WGN
33 degrees. Rain with snow winds could gust 40 mph
Last time vs. Pitt. 6 IP, 2 runs, 5 hits, 7 Ks
Vs Colorado last year 6.1 IP, 2 runs, 4 hits, 7Ks
Cargo, Desmond and Dahl have homered
Arenado only batting .235 and has seen him the most
Gray gave up 5 runs on 8 hits through 5.1 in Washington
Never faced the Cubs or any of our players
G2
Yu Darvish 0-1 6.00 Vs Lefty Tyler Anderson 0-0, 4.74
Partly cloudy, snow and rain all day 36 degrees
7:10 NBC sports
Yu: 4 runs on 9 hits, walked 4 through 4.1IP in loss to Braves.
Saw Rockies last year, 5 runs on 5 hits, 4.1IP
Ianetta 18 PA, batting .125
Cargo has homered
Tyler 3 runs on 2 hits walked 6 and lasted 4.2 in DC
2017 5 runs on 8 hits and went 7, K’d 8. Rockies won.
Cubs 1.167 OPS in 17 PA’s. Russell homered
G3
Jose Quintana 1-1, 8.16 Vs German Marquez 1-1, 4.34
25th anniversary reusable Earth Day Tote Bag. (longest name in the history of tote bags)
Sunny and 67!
2:10 NBCSports
Went 2.1 IP 7 runs on 7 hits walked 4. Cubs won 14-10 in a game that shouldn’t have been played.
3 runs on 5 hits Kd 10 last year vs. Colorado when with the Sox
Ianetta seen him most and has 2 hits in 20 PAs. 5 walks.
Arenado has homered 1-6
German 2 runs 2 hits 6 ks 6 innings against Pitt
Faced Chicago 2x, 2 runs on 2 hits, 3 walks, 3 IP, threw 81 pitches
And then shut us out over 8 IP, 8 ks. Cubs lost both games
No one has more than 5 PA’s against him. Best hit is a KB double.
Cubs batting .172 in 34 PAs, Benzo 2-3
Rakes : Charlie Blackmon had some quad tightness and missed a few games last week, but in the 4 games since he has returned, he has 6 hits in 16 ABs. Three of those were home runs. The guy is second only to Bryce Harper in homers so far this year and he has not hit a single one of them in Coors Field. He does have 4 Ks in that time and 0 walks.
Flakes: I want to give this to Arenado for being a bitch about getting hit a single time, but since he's not playing I'll go with Ryan McMahon. He's actually a pretty highly touted rookie, but so far he has been overmatched by big league hitting. In his last 7 games, he has 2 hits for a 133 avg, which is better than the 097 he has on the season. He has 31 ABs on the season and only has 3 hits and 3 walks with 16 strikeouts.
Throws: The only starter the Rockies have that could be considered for throws is Chad Bettis, but the Cubs won't see him this weekend. None of the other starters have an ERA below 434 and nobody makes it deep into games. German Marquez is the best we will see with that 434 ERA, a 139 whip, and a 209 avg against. Only Bettis has better numbers.
The Rockies made a splash early in the off season with some serious money for a bullpen and Wade Davis is the one Cubs fans were pissed about. So far this year he has appeared in 9 games and collected 8 saves. In 7 of those games, he's struck out 7, walked 2, and had 0 hits. In the other two games, he gave up 3 hits and 2 runs including a homer. Another guy to watch in the bullpen is former Bastard Bird, Adam Ottavino just because he has wicked movement on his pitches and it's fun to watch. I doubt the Cubs get any hits off of him.
Blows: The consolation prize in the 2013 draft after the Cubs took Kris Bryant, was Jon Gray. This guy still has some really good upside if he ever goes somewhere outside of Denver, but right now he is blowing. In his last two games, he's given up 7 and 5 runs respectively including 3 homers. On the plus side for Gray is 23 Ks in 21.2 innings with only 5 walks. In the pen, Antonio Senzatella has given up 8 earned runs on 11 hits and 2 walks over 8.1 innings.