Monday Rockpile: IT CAME…FROM PANAMA

Over their past 6 games, the Rockies have gone 3-3. Not great, not awful, I'll take it. But that's not what we're here to discuss today.

I'm here to talk about the horror that has been Manuel Corpas over his past couple of games.

Now, in this discussion, I'm going to cherrypick a bit and just cite Corpas' past 6 games, because that's where we've seen the proverbial wheels come off the man. In that 6 game stretch, he's seen 2 games where he hasn't allowed runs to cross. He's 1-1 in that stretch, and that win came at the hands of Ian Stewart, Clint Barmes, and Jason Giambi. He's had 2 ND's: in Sunday's game where he allowed 3 runs in 0.2 innings and in last Saturday's game where he allowed 3 runs in 0.2 innings. The one loss he sustained came because he destroyed Aaron Cook's excellent start vs Randy Wolf last Sunday and allowed 5 runs without recording an out. He blew a save vs Boston on Thursday where he allowed 2 hits and only 1 earned run, but one of those hits drove in inherited runners and after coming in with a 2 run lead he left down 1. Joe Beimel does not thank Corpas for those runs. Finally, to end the recap on a positive note, he also recorded a save on Friday in the one win Colorado recorded vs Anaheim in the 11^th inning. He walked one batter and got 2 grounders and a flyout to finish the game.

So what's the deal with Corpas? He pitched a whopping 4 innings in those 6 appearances, and it's not as if Jim Tracy brought him in as a situational righty to get a quick groundball or something, the lack of innings comes because he was just too ineffective to finish innings. He's faced 27 batters in that timeframe (which tells you that 15/27 have reached base somehow), struck out 2, walked 4, 11GB (a good thing), 9FB (not awful, but a horrible ratio), 71 strikes to 31 balls (which actually isn't terrible, but when you realize that only something like ~20 of those strikes were either called strikes or swings-and-misses, you get a little more nervous), and about ½ of a bottle of antacids. If we take out Sunday's game (simply because I don't have the full data available) and just look at the previous 5 outings, he's allowing a Bonds-esque 1.388 OPS and posted a 21.60 ERA.

Well, not a big deal, right? Huston Street is back, so we're all good, right? RIGHT? Well, let's remember that Street just got back from the DL, and I'm not terribly thrilled thus far with what I've seen. It's only been 2 games, so I'm not checking the waiver wires to see if LaTroy Hawkins is ready for another magical 2^nd half as an unexpected closer, but I think that it reinforces the whole "let's let Street get settled before handing him the keys" thought process the organization put forth for us. I imagine we'll get more of a taste of Street in San Diego this week, even if just to get his work in, so we'll make more judgments then.

The point of this is that Corpas has just been AWFUL lately, and while I don't just want to start a Corpas hatefest, he hasn't been inspiring in his work sealing games shut as of late. It could just be a hiccup, but here are the facts from the month of June:

3.60K9 (bad), 2.70 BB9 (good), 0.90 HR9 (good enough), .383 BABIP (horrifying), 17.1%LD (more or less at his career line).

Corpas has been seemingly unable to get the punchout in the past month, and he's relied almost exclusively on his defense to get outs for him. Considering that he's getting +50% GB during June, it's not nearly as devastating as it could be, but that doesn't mean I have to like it.

Downside of this little article is that I don't have any solutions right now. We could give Matt Belisle a shot, but I think everyone might freak out completely at that, despite the fact that in June he's struck out more than 10 per nine, walked less than 1.5 per nine, and posted a FIP of 2.23, he's still put up a 4.40 ERA and that doesn't exactly bolster anybody's confidence.

Pull it together, boys.

(oh and before you ask, Muzia rules)

Hawpe out again, but DL seems unlikely || Rhett Bollinger, MLB.com

Odds and ends here from the Rockies' beat, discussing Hawpe at the start and how his timetable will come from Keith Duggar, DLR returning from rehab, and Chris Iannetta's consecutive starts. Apparently he's posting a .381 OBP since returning from AAA. I don't mean to turn this into a big Iannetta thing, but take a look at this quote from Tracy:

"I can't talk enough about how pleased I am, because we put a big priority on what goes on back there, and this guy has stepped up big time."

Awesome work man.

Rockies Keep Swinging and Missing || Patrick Saunders, Denver Post

Only Arizona and Florida strike out more than we do in the NL. The Rockies struck out 33 times over the weekend. Weak.

Barmes is heating up, and Cargo is continuing to make his case for the All-Star Game (hint: wrong time zone).