Series Preview #7: Diamondbacks vs Rockies

The D-backs are coming off a terrible series against the Pirates where they forgot how to play baseball. They were outscored 14-2, and they did absolutely nothing well. The only bright spot from that series was Rubby de la Rosa, who had by far his best start to date. Let us not speak of that series ever again though.

The Rockies are coming off a 3 game series in San Francisco which they split with San Fran. How is this possible you may ask? Sunday's game was postponed. The Rockies are currently one of the surprise teams of the NL, sitting in 2nd place with a 10-8 record. Interestingly, they have a winning record despite a -3 run differential. I don't really know what this means, I just found if interesting.

The D-backs offense has been abysmal the last 7 days, with just 3 everyday players getting on base 30% of the time or better. Right now, I wouldn't consider anyone to be on a hot streak for the D-backs.

The Rockies offense has been great lately, with 6 guys batting over .300 in the past week. A man who is having a fantastic week is Corey Dickerson. In his last 6 games, he has an OBP of .474 and has homered 3 times. A scary thing about the Rockies offensive outburst is that Troy Tulowitzki and Carlos Gonzalez haven't contributed much to it. If they start hitting, look out world.

Injury Report

Rockies' outfielder Corey Dickerson is not in the starting lineup for Monday's game after experiencing soreness in his right quad. Everyone else listed has been on the DL for a while it looks like, and you can view those names here.

For the D-backs, Jake Lamb is on the 15 day DL, a huge offensive blow to the Dbacks. Nothing else is new.

Pitching Matchups

Game 1: Tyler Matzek LHP (1-0, 2.40 ERA, 1.53 WHIP) vs Chase Anderson RHP (0-0, 3.00 ERA, 1.11 WHIP)

Chase Anderson as been a very consistent pitcher so far this year for the Dbacks, and hasn't allowed more than 3 runs all year. His last start was a no-decision against the Rangers where he went 7 innings and allowed one run. The D-backs would go on to lose that game after the bullpen allowed 6 runs over the final 2 innings. If he continues the quality start streak, the Dbacks should pick up a W in this one Dang it Hellickson why'd you have to ruin the streak. Due to the poor performance of the bullpen as of late, Chase will need to go deep in this one.

Tyler Matzek not allowed more than 2 runs in a start all year, but has only lasted an average of 5 innings per start. In his last start, he had very erratic control giving up 6 walks in 5 innings, though he only allowed 2 runs. Could Trumbo get walks in back to back games? HAHAHAHAHA that's a funny thought. Also of note is that 44% of balls put in play this year against him have been fly balls. I like the chances of Trumbo or Tomas going deep in this one.

Game 2: Jordan Lyles RHP (2-1, 2.91 ERA, 1.30 WHIP) vs Archie Bradley RHP (2-0, 1.45 ERA, 0.96 WHIP)

Archie Bradley has been much more than we could ask for. He has been the D-backs best pitcher this year, outpitching three opening day starters to begin his career. Amazingly, he has done all this with just a 92 MPH fastball and a curveball he throws about a quarter of the time. According to pitchf/x, he has also thrown a changeup 2% of the time, though I suspect those were either straight curves or slow fastballs. A cause for concern is his .151 BABIP, a ridiculously low number, but screw regression. Maybe Bradley will have the lowest BABIP ever. Who knows.

I must admit, after seeing the name Jordan Lyles, I thought to myself, who? Looks like he made 3 starts against us last year, so maybe I should recognize the name. Oh well. Looks like he did pretty well against us, allowing 2 runs twice and 1 run once. I guess almost everyone did pretty well against the D-backs last year, so take that with a grain of salt. He's been consistent, going a little over 6 innings per game on average. In his 4 years in the MLB before this year, he's never had an ERA under 4. I'm thinking/hoping he returns to that form this game.

Game 3: Eddie Butler RHP (2-1, 3.27 ERA, 1.68 WHIP) vs Josh Collmenter RHP (1-3, 3.65 ERA, 1.30 WHIP)

Collmenter has been okay so far in the season, but not quite as good as the D0backs want him to be. We have definitely seen #1 starter material, 2 games ago in a shutout and last game when he retired 13 batters in a row. I love what Collmenter has been doing, and see his success continuing.

Another name I didn't recognize, Eddie Butler has pitched 7 games in his big league career. His 2015 has been going pretty well, as he has allowed 4 runs only once. There's not a whole lot to tell about him. He's just another middle-bottom of the rotation arm.

X-Factors

For the D-backs, I'm going with everyone. Just one guy stepping up won't do anything for this team if they perform like they did in the PIrates series. Everyone needs to relearn how to play baseball in order for them to have success against Colorado.

Carlos Gonzalez is the Rockies' X-factor. Like I mentioned earlier, he hasn't hit much in the past 7 days, with a .143 batting average and only 1 RBI. We all know what he is capable of. Let's just hope that capability isn't reached over the next 3 games.

Series Prediction

I'm gonna say the D-backs only take 1 of 3 from the Rockies in this series. I just have a feeling the starting pitching won't be able to continue what it has done in the last 10 games.