What a week of interleague play it was for the Sim Rockies. The team finished 5-1 against the Sim Royals and Sim Twins, including a six-game win streak going back to last weekend’s series against the Sim Padres — their longest of the season so far. That win streak was snapped in a loss to the Sim Twins yesterday. However, despite the recent winning, the Sim Rockies are still struggling to crawl out of last place in the NL West with a 38-45 record and are currently sit a half game behind the Sim Diamondbacks for last place.
Offense stays hot and heavy
The Sim Rockies offense has really started to find its groove after a rough start to this season. The names Nolan Arenado, Sam Hilliard, Daniel Murphy, David Dahl, Charlie Blackmon and Trevor Story should all look familiar to you as players that continue to put runs on the board.
Hilliard’s home run streak continued on Monday, with his sixth home run of the season in a win over the Sim Royals. He added another home run Tuesday with another Sim Rockies win and didn’t strike out once. His slash went from .210/.279/.532 to .295/.568/.863...damn, Hilliard!
Murphy’s bat lit up in Friday’s game against the Sim Twins. His ninth inning grand slam would give the Sim Rockies the 11-7 victory and help Murphy to almost double his OPS, improving his slash from .262/.302/.377 to .321/.414/.735.
And last but not least, Trevor Story proved his Silver Slugger status in the eighth inning on Saturday against the Sim Twins with a solo home run (20th of the season) to win it for the Sim Rockies 4-3.
Sim Rockies Batting Stats through July 12, 2020
| Name | AB | HR | RBI | SB | AVG | R | H | OBP | SLG | OPS | BB | K | WAR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Name | AB | HR | RBI | SB | AVG | R | H | OBP | SLG | OPS | BB | K | WAR |
| Nolan Arenado | 359 | 27 | 68 | 0 | 0.326 | 65 | 117 | 0.402 | 0.632 | 1.035 | 46 | 66 | 5.2 |
| Charlie Blackmon* | 305 | 17 | 42 | 1 | 0.298 | 49 | 91 | 0.351 | 0.570 | 0.931 | 30 | 70 | 2.4 |
| Drew Butera | 92 | 1 | 8 | 1 | 0.283 | 10 | 26 | 0.383 | 0.370 | 0.753 | 14 | 19 | 0.8 |
| David Dahl | 353 | 13 | 46 | 1 | 0.249 | 42 | 88 | 0.303 | 0.470 | 0.773 | 27 | 79 | 0.7 |
| Yonathan Daza | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.250 | 1 | 2 | 0.250 | 0.250 | 0.500 | 0 | 1 | 0.0 |
| Elias Díaz | 154 | 3 | 17 | 0 | 0.273 | 8 | 42 | 0.315 | 0.383 | 0.698 | 10 | 30 | 1.2 |
| Garrett Hampson | 150 | 5 | 14 | 2 | 0.247 | 25 | 37 | 0.323 | 0.400 | 0.723 | 15 | 31 | -0.1 |
| Sam Hilliard | 124 | 10 | 20 | 1 | 0.234 | 17 | 29 | 0.291 | 0.565 | 0.856 | 10 | 38 | 1.0 |
| Matt Kemp | 25 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0.320 | 5 | 8 | 0.393 | 0.560 | 0.953 | 3 | 4 | 0.3 |
| Ryan McMahon | 329 | 24 | 53 | 0 | 0.240 | 52 | 79 | 0.324 | 0.535 | 0.858 | 38 | 112 | 0.8 |
| Brian Mundell | 32 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0.344 | 8 | 11 | 0.421 | 0.375 | 0.796 | 5 | 3 | 0.3 |
| Daniel Murphy | 318 | 6 | 30 | 1 | 0.261 | 31 | 83 | 0.310 | 0.396 | 0.706 | 21 | 47 | 0.0 |
| Trevor Story | 374 | 24 | 59 | 11 | 0.251 | 56 | 94 | 0.316 | 0.543 | 0.858 | 36 | 112 | 2.6 |
| Raimel Tapia | 68 | 1 | 7 | 0 | 0.162 | 6 | 11 | 0.247 | 0.235 | 0.482 | 8 | 11 | -0.3 |
| *IL |
Arenado gets out of hitting funk fast
Arenado started out the week on a not-so-great note, going 0-for-4 against the Sim Royals. Certainly a performance we’re not used to seeing from him. Whatever happened in Monday’s game was quickly fixed, as Arenado added three more home runs for the year this week, making his season total 25 and improving his slash to .340/.418/.656 to /406/.653/1.059. Maybe that hiccup against the Royals was what he needed to find his new groove, and it worked.
Starters struggling, bullpen stepping up
Chi Chi González, Evan Grills, Germán Márquez, Kyle Freeland and Jon Gray all took the mound for the Sim Rockies this week.
Grills recorded his fifth start of the year against the Royals on Tuesday, and it would be his worst performance to date. Grills held strong for the first two innings, but the Sim Royals bats got his number. He ended with a no-decision, going four innings, giving up seven runs (all earned) on eight hits. His ERA jumped from 3.24 to 4.97.
Kyle Freeland is another starter that didn’t have his best outing this week. He earned the win against the Sim Twins on Saturday, but his ERA went from 4.14 to 4.17. He ended the game with 6 IP, 5 H, 3 ER, 5 SO.
Antonio Senzatela has become a staple in the Sim Rockies bullpen rotation. He earned the win on Tuesday against the Sim Twins, helping clean up Grills’ performance from the four innings prior. The one-two-three team of Senzatela, Wade Davis, and Scott Oberg held the Sim Twins to two hits over three innings on Saturday, giving Oberg his 13th save of the season.
Senzatela currently sits at a 4.37 ERA with 54 strikeouts.
Sim Rockies Pitching Stats through July 12, 2020
| Name | W | L | IP | K | ERA | WHIP | SV | BB | G | GS | R | ER | WAR | K/9 | BB/9 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Name | W | L | IP | K | ERA | WHIP | SV | BB | G | GS | R | ER | WAR | K/9 | BB/9 |
| Tim Collins | 2 | 1 | 29.0 | 30 | 3.41 | 1.620 | 0 | 19 | 34 | 0 | 12 | 11 | 0.1 | 9.3 | 5.9 |
| Wade Davis | 1 | 3 | 37.1 | 39 | 6.51 | 1.580 | 3 | 12 | 47 | 0 | 27 | 27 | 0.5 | 9.4 | 2.9 |
| Carlos Estevéz | 1 | 4 | 54.0 | 77 | 4.50 | 1.130 | 0 | 14 | 56 | 0 | 28 | 27 | 0.3 | 12.8 | 2.3 |
| Kyle Freeland | 3 | 8 | 89.0 | 47 | 4.15 | 1.290 | 0 | 21 | 17 | 17 | 49 | 41 | 0.6 | 4.8 | 2.1 |
| Jon Gray | 2 | 9 | 77.0 | 69 | 5.84 | 1.520 | 0 | 39 | 15 | 15 | 50 | 50 | 0.2 | 8.1 | 4.6 |
| Joe Harvey | 0 | 2 | 9.2 | 8 | 14.90 | 2.170 | 0 | 1 | 13 | 0 | 17 | 16 | -0.3 | 7.5 | 0.9 |
| Jeff Hoffman | 5 | 1 | 74.1 | 55 | 5.45 | 1.450 | 0 | 27 | 44 | 2 | 45 | 45 | 0.5 | 6.7 | 3.3 |
| Tyler Kinley | 3 | 0 | 29.2 | 36 | 2.12 | 0.910 | 9 | 11 | 29 | 0 | 7 | 7 | 0.6 | 10.9 | 3.3 |
| Germán Márquez | 7 | 8 | 89.2 | 87 | 6.22 | 1.670 | 0 | 33 | 18 | 18 | 65 | 62 | 0.1 | 8.7 | 3.3 |
| Scott Oberg | 0 | 1 | 23.0 | 28 | 2.35 | 1.090 | 16 | 13 | 26 | 0 | 6 | 6 | 0.6 | 11.0 | 5.1 |
| James Pazos | 1 | 1 | 51.2 | 52 | 3.14 | 1.350 | 0 | 18 | 50 | 0 | 18 | 18 | 1.0 | 9.1 | 3.1 |
| Antonio Senzatela | 5 | 4 | 74.2 | 61 | 4.70 | 1.500 | 1 | 24 | 25 | 12 | 42 | 39 | 0.5 | 7.4 | 2.9 |
| Jack Wynkoop | 0 | 0 | 12.0 | 9 | 2.25 | 0.670 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 3 | 0.4 | 6.8 | 1.5 |
Rookie makes debut
Brian Mundell made his MLB debut against the Sim Twins this week, scoring the first run of the game by drawing a walk and recording his first career hit with an RBI double. Mundell was the seventh round draft pick in 2015 and was called up earlier last week from Triple-A Albuquerque.
★ ★ ★
The Sim Rockies will start the week with a three games series against the Sim Pirates, who are 45-38 and currently in the second NL Wild Card spot.
As always, check out Ben Kouchnerkavich’s YouTube channel for all the Sim Rockies action. We will broadcast on Monday and again on Friday for the matchup with the NL West Sim Giants this week.
Sim NL West Standings through July 12, 2020
| Team | W | L | GB |
|---|---|---|---|
| Team | W | L | GB |
| Dodgers | 57 | 39 | -- |
| Padres | 56 | 41 | 1.5 |
| Diamondbacks | 49 | 47 | 8.0 |
| Giants | 45 | 50 | 11.5 |
| Rockies | 42 | 54 | 15.0 |
Sim NL Wild Card Standings through July 12, 2020
| Team | W | L | GB |
|---|---|---|---|
| Team | W | L | GB |
| Padres | 56 | 41 | -- |
| Pirates | 51 | 45 | -- |
| Nationals | 50 | 47 | 1.5 |
| Diamondbacks | 49 | 47 | 2.0 |
| Reds | 47 | 49 | 4.0 |
| Cardinals | 46 | 51 | 5.5 |
| Giants | 45 | 50 | 5.5 |
| Marlins | 45 | 51 | 6.0 |
| Cubs | 45 | 51 | 6.0 |
| Phillies | 45 | 51 | 6.0 |
| Rockies | 42 | 54 | 9.0 |
| Mets | 42 | 54 | 9.0 |