The Washington Nationals have struggled to get any kind of winning momentum this season. Coming off of a double header sweep against the Minnesota Twins, the Nationals have their sights set on Coors Field and the Colorado Rockies.
Probable Pitchers
Tuesday, 8:40 p.m.
WSH: Dan Haren (4-7, 5.45 ERA)
COL: Jhoulys Chacin (3-3, 4.59 ERA)
Wednesday, 8:40 p.m.
WSH: TBA (Probably Ross Ohlendorf to be recalled from Syracuse (AAA))
COL: Jorge De La Rosa (7-3, 3.38 ERA)
Thursday, 3:10 p.m.
WSH: TBA (Probably Gio Gonzalez)
COL: TBA
A Look At The Rockies With Bryan Kilpatrick of Purple Row.
Still, the team has some potential help in this area, particularly if Tyler Chatwood continues to pitch well and Roy Oswalt, who could be with the team this weekend, presents a better alternative to Jeff Francis and Jon Garland. Jorge De La Rosa has been the team's best pitcher and Jhoulys Chacin, who is just 25 years old, still has time to work out his kinks and has shown he can dominate at this level.
Assuming Chatwood pitches on Thursday, Colorado will have its best hurlers on the hill for this series, along with Chacin and De La Rosa. Against a fairly weak Nationals lineup, I would expect the Rockies to at least take two out of three. Then again, the San Diego Padres don't have the best lineup in the world, and they scored 26 runs in four games.
The key for Colorado is to have their starters get some length, that way the Rockies' at-times awful middle relief corps doesn't get exposed. Even then, it's hard to predict what will happen as I don't know who is starting for the Nationals on Wednesday and Thursday. But, I guess as long as it's not Zimmermann or Strasburg, the Rockies' offense should be able to do its part.
WASHINGTON NATIONALS
COLORADO ROCKIES
HITTER TO WATCH
Troy Tulowitzki, SS
As Bryan mentioned, Tulowitzki is healthy and proving it with his bat. He is 12/25 in his last seven days (.480/.552./1.040 with 2 2B, 4 HR, 8 RBI, 3 BB and 3 K. On the year, he is hitting .351/.419/.654 with 16 HR and 51 RBI. Make no mistake, the offense in Denver goes through Tulo and he is cementing himself once again among the top shortstops in the game, if not the best - a list he was missing from the last few years as he battled injuries. Not to rub it in to any Blue Jays fans (actually, it's intentional,) but he was taken after Ricky Romero.
PITCHER TO WATCH
Rex Brothers, LHP
Rex Brothers only has two saves which makes him somewhat under the radar in the Rockies bullpen, but he is pitching very well for the Rockies and he's left-handed which is not a good thing for the Nationals. Brothers is also 2-0 with a 0.31 ERA. Brothers has been pretty dominant with almost as many strikeouts (28) as base runners (20 hits and 16 walks). However, like Bryan said above, the Rockies have been lucky with their pitchers keeping the ball in the park and Brothers is probably leading that charge. He hovers around 10 per cent home runs to fly balls. This year he has yet to allow one in 22 fly balls so far this season. He has been pretty good against righties and lefties allowing a .194 average to LHH and .206 against RHH. He also has a 38.8 strike out percentage against left handed hitters.