A Yahoo! Sports article in March of this year called the dismissal of Dan O’Dowd “sweeping changes” in the Rockies front office.
With only a four-game series against the No. 1 NL Wild Card Pittsburgh Pirates and the NL West-leading Los Angeles Dodgers remaining on the home schedule, the Colorado Rockies have likely missed out on their last opportunity to earn just their second home sweep of the 2015 season after they dropped the final game of a three-game series with San Diego on Sunday, 10-4.
That probably isn’t the kind of sweeping change Yahoo! or new general manager Jeff Bridich had in mind.
Having won the first two games on Friday and Saturday, the Rockies needed Kyle Kendrick to avoid his unlucky 13th loss of the year to secure what would have been just their fifth series sweep of the year and second at the friendly confines of Coors Field. Kendrick allowed six runs on six hits, including four home runs, in just four innings to virtually eliminate that possibility. After posting 10 runs on Saturday night, the Colorado offense was not up for matching the task Sunday afternoon.
Now, Colorado faces two of the top four clubs in the National League to round out their home schedule. Pittsburgh has just a two-game lead on the Cubs in the Wild Card and desperately want that one-game playoff between them to be played at PNC Park. And there is no love lost between Clint Hurdle and his former team, so expect the four-game set that opens Monday to see Pittsburgh’s best effort.
The Dodgers, meanwhile, just dropped two of three from Pittsburgh at home and have four games against Arizona to get right before coming to Colorado. They travel to San Francisco, currently 7.5 games back of the Dodgers in the division, after Denver, so don’t expect LA to lie down in advance of what will be a key series in deciding the NL West.
A series sweep against San Diego would have pulled the Rockies to within five wins of the Padres, whom they are chasing for last place in the division. After starting the season with a sweep of the Brewers in Milwaukee (April 6-8) and following one series later with a sweep of the Giants in San Francisco (April 13-15), the Rockies have managed to take a full series from another club just two more times this season, and have not done so since a four-game home sweep (their only home sweep of the year) against Atlanta in July (9-12).
Besides that early-season sweep of the Giants, Colorado’s only series sweeps in 2015 have come against the three (other) worst teams in the NL – the Phillis and the aforementioned Brewers and Braves.
On the flip side, Colorado has been swept in 11 different series this year. And while seven of those have been of the two-game variety (some series shortened due to weather cancellations), series sweeps have accounted for 27 of Colorado’s 86 losses so far in 2015. That’s a 31 percent clip.
Fans in LoDo who come for more than Fudd Hat giveaways and the party deck have been clamoring for sweeping change in the Rockies front office for years. If Jeff Bridich’s first year as GM (and the club’s record with series sweeps in that year) is any indication, they can keep their brooms at home.
