Rockies hope to get off the mat in series finale

After being outscored 29-9 in their first two home games against a team that failed to score for the first 30 innings of the season, the Rockies (2-3) are in dire straits. Their pitchers have failed to find the strike zone with any consistency, and the opposition (especially Matt Kemp) has tattooed seemingly every hittable pitch. The normally reliable Jorge De La Rosa looked bad for the second start in a row last night, which only served to validate everyone's concerns about the starting rotation.

Chad Bettis will attempt to play the role of stopper for the Rockies on Sunday in his second start of the season. On Tuesday against Arizona, Bettis pitched reasonably well for the first five innings of the game before getting into trouble in the sixth. Despite being charged with five earned runs in 5 1/3 innings (two of which scored after he was pulled) Bettis was still in line for the victory before the bullpen collapsed. That very same bullpen has seen quite a bit of action the last two days, and Bettis could do the rest of the staff a major favor by going deep into this one.

His opponent will be Padres ace James Shields, who had a solid enough debut against the Dodgers; giving up three runs in six innings with six strikeouts and just one walk. He wound up on the losing side of the decision, though his team made it impossible for him to get a win. We'll see if he has more run support this time.

In other storylines, Nolan Arenado is looking to break out of an early season slump, and Trevor Story will try to get a hit in a seventh consecutive game to start his career. The Rockies are also looking to get back to .500 after falling below that mark for the first time this season.

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