Twelve games into the Major League Baseball season, and the Colorado Rockies have the best record in all of baseball. Hey, I could get used to hearing that!
The Rockies haven't dropped a game in 9 innings yet, and are a few pitches and swings away from being undefeated. Does it help that they've played the hapless D-Back, Pirates and Mets? Sure, maybe a little, but a win is a win, and the fashion in which they are doing so is very impressive. The Rockies are doing what they need to to secure the W. If the if the pitching is struggling, the bats are picking up the slack. The bullpen for the most part has been spectacular, and the defense has been expectedly superb. Oh, and they've just wrapped up a 7-1 road trip, determined to put the road demons of last season to rest.
The top performers have been the expected (Carlos Gonzalez, Troy Tulowitzki, Todd Helton), and the unexpected (Seth Smith, Jonathan Herrea, Dexter Fowler to some extent). The rest of the lineup has struggle somewhat, but they seem to come up big when needed, whether it's Ty Wigginton driving in the go ahead run or Jose Lopez putting one in the seats. This team has worked so cohesively. This is how team baseball is meant to be played.
Am I the only one who is beginning to think that Tulo and Cargo are robots programed to excel at baseball? Homeruns shouldn't be that easy to hit, and diving catches and throws deep in the hole shouldn't be that routine. These guys are determined to put to rest the argument that their contract extensions were premature, and so far they are blowing it out of the water.
The starting pitching for the Rockies has been up and down. Obviously, the struggles Ubaldo Jimenez on opening day are justified by a trip to the DL that, fortunately, is set to end Monday against the Giants. There were some spectacular starts from Jorge De La Rosa, Jhoulys Chacin and Esmil Rogers, and then they followed them up with merely mediocre starts. Greg Reynolds filled in admirably for Ubaldo, and Jason Hammel has just been ok. Thankfully the bullpen has been spectacular to nail down the later innings for the Rockies. Huston Street has come on to save 6 games, and aside from his shaky out today in game one against the Mets, is on pace to have a career year.
Now I know it's only April, barely two weeks into the season, and there's still more than 5 months left, but the Rockies look real good. They find ways to win and everyone is getting in on the action. This is such a great change of pace from years past, with the Rockies jumping out to a quick start and getting the job done on the road. With all early indications, the Rockies look to be one of the elite teams in the NL and all of baseball.
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