Friday Rockpile: Suddenly slumbering sluggers stagger to St. Louis

It's official: the Rockies have entered a rough patch. They've lost three of their last four series, including two at home to the Rays and Yankees. These losses have been the result of an uncharacteristic lack of hitting from a club that seemed to be able to score at will in the early going. In their last four games, the Rockies haven't managed to score more than three runs.

And it gets worse! The Rockies head to St. Louis to begin a three game set with the Cardinals, owners of the lowest ERA in the Major Leagues, at 3.10. They have to face off against surging rookie Shelby Miller, the phenomenal Adam Wainwright, and solid lefty Jaime Garcia. If the bats don't shake out of their funk soon, this series could end up being a bloodbath.

At times like these, it's constructive to take a step back and gain some perspective. The Rockies are four games over .500 at 19 and 15. They sit just half a game back in the NL West. No one who wasn't on hallucinogens predicted the Rockies to do much of anything this year, but they're still right in the thick of things. The hitting has been superb overall, and the pitching serviceable, with Tyler Chatwood and Drew Pomeranz almost ready to provide reinforcements. No major player is on the disabled list. The Rockies are actually in a pretty good position.

Slumps happen. They're no fun to experience, but they are a natural occurrence in a 162 game season. The mark of a good team is how quickly they can shake it off and get back to their winning ways. Only time will tell if the Rockies have the intestinal fortitude to get the ball rolling again.

Links

Troy Renck writes about Jeff Francis's spot in the rotation (tenuous), Troy Tulowitzki's health (good), and Dexter Fowler's slump (bad).

If you're a glutton for punishment, here's Renck's recap of yesterday's disappointing loss.

Recently, the Baseball Hall of Fame has whipped together a searchable database of scouting reports. Alex Remington has taken a look at what the scouts saw of Todd Helton and Roy Halladay. Apparently most scouts believed Helton would hit, but there were question marks about his power. 356 homers later...

In a similar vein, Grant Brisbee has also looked at the scouting reports of various luminaries such as Hunter Pence, Delmon Young, and Mike Trout. If you read one thing today (well, besides this), you owe it to yourself to read his article.

Finally, our own Jeff Aberle (among others) muses about the possibility of women playing in the Major Leagues. Obviously, the barriers to entry, both physically and socially, are immense...but who knows?