If there ever was a week that summed up the impact of pitching in baseball, this week for the Sim Rockies was it. Here’s a quick look at the games that were (excluding the 7-2 drudging at the hands of the Sim Dodgers where the bullpen was mostly to blame.)
Rockies Pitching for week of June 2-June 8
| Pitcher | IP | ER | Hits | Opponent | Team Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pitcher | IP | ER | Hits | Opponent | Team Result |
| Evan Grills | 7 | 0 | 1 | Diamondbacks | 2-0 W |
| Ryan Castellani | 5 | 4 | 6 | Diamondbacks | 4-2 L |
| Kyle Freeland | 1 2/3 | 7 | 6 | Dodgers | 9-1 L |
| Evan Grills | 6 | 2 | 3 | Dodgers | 4-2 W |
| Ryan Castellani | 7 | 0 | 5 | Dodgers | 2-1 W |
It’s no secret the Sim Rockies have had some trouble scoring runs, so great pitching is essential if the club wants to win games these days. The results this week pretty clearly indicated that not getting a good performance from the starter is a surefire way to be in trouble. The good news is, the Rockies had quite a few really good starts this week from the pitching staff...so why not focus on these games?
It only feels right to start off by celebrating the Sim MLB debut of Evan Grills. Completely dominating the Sim Diamondbacks is about as good an introduction to the bigs as one could ask for. Through 55 innings in AAA Albuquerque this year, Grills had 40 strikeouts to go along with a 3.46 ERA. The numbers there justified his call-up to the majors, as did his performance in game one. The only hit Grills gave up didn’t even make it out of the infield. Remember earlier when I said the Sim Rockies had been having hitting problems? Well they only had two hits in this one so Grills didn’t exactly have a lot of room to work with here. The kid delivered big time and we hope to see a lot of that going forward (we also hope he does the same thing when he gets his chance with the Rockies in real life.)
Ryan Castellani’s first start to the week resulted in four runs against and a loss, but he turned it around with a special performance Sunday to give the Sim Rockies the series split against the Sim Dodgers. Once again, a stellar start was really was the only option as the offense managed just one run with Castellani on the mound and had to wait until the tenth inning to get their second (6-0 in extras this year anybody???) Castellani certainly did his part as he held the Sim Dodgers to just five hits through seven scoreless innings. Add in four strikeouts and zero walks and you got just about all you could ask for from Castellani in his fourth outing of the season. Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to get the win as Tyler Kinley blew the save in the ninth, but the Sim Rockies won and that’s the most important thing. Let’s hope Castellani keeps this momentum going in his next start.
★ ★ ★
The Rockies went 3-4 this week bringing their record to 27-38. Here’s a look at the standings as of the end of the day June 7.
Sim NL West Standings through June 7, 2020
| Team | W | L | GB |
|---|---|---|---|
| Team | W | L | GB |
| Padres | 37 | 30 | -- |
| Dodgers | 33 | 32 | 3.0 |
| Giants | 31 | 34 | 5.0 |
| Diamondbacks | 31 | 34 | 5.0 |
| Rockies | 27 | 38 | 9.0 |
Sim NL Wild Card Standings through June 7, 2020
| Team | W | L | GB |
|---|---|---|---|
| Team | W | L | GB |
| Pirates | 40 | 25 | -- |
| Brewers | 40 | 25 | -- |
| Reds | 35 | 31 | -- |
| Nationals | 34 | 31 | 0.5 |
| Dodgers | 33 | 32 | 1.5 |
| Phillies | 32 | 33 | 2.5 |
| Giants | 31 | 34 | 3.5 |
| Diamondbacks | 31 | 34 | 3.5 |
| Marlins | 31 | 35 | 4.0 |
| Cubs | 31 | 37 | 5.0 |
| Mets | 30 | 36 | 5.0 |
| Cardinals | 29 | 38 | 6.5 |
| Rockies | 27 | 38 | 7.5 |
Sim Rockies Batting Stats through June 7, 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 | 242 | 19 | 46 | 0 | 0.318 | 44 | 77 | 0.389 | 0.632 | 1.021 | 28 | 46 | 2.8 |
| Charlie Blackmon | 243 | 14 | 33 | 1 | 0.280 | 36 | 68 | 0.342 | 0.543 | 0.885 | 23 | 60 | 1.3 |
| Drew Butera | 28 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 0.214 | 3 | 6 | 0.333 | 0.357 | 0.690 | 4 | 5 | 0.3 |
| David Dahl | 247 | 6 | 22 | 1 | 0.239 | 28 | 59 | 0.292 | 0.421 | 0.713 | 18 | 58 | 0.0 |
| Ian Desmond | 176 | 10 | 22 | 0 | 0.233 | 19 | 41 | 0.303 | 0.432 | 0.734 | 17 | 55 | 1.3 |
| Elias Díaz | 99 | 1 | 7 | 0 | 0.253 | 3 | 25 | 0.306 | 0.343 | 0.649 | 8 | 21 | 0.6 |
| Josh Fuentes | 24 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0.250 | 1 | 6 | 0.296 | 0.292 | 0.588 | 2 | 6 | 0.0 |
| Garrett Hampson | 51 | 2 | 6 | 0 | 0.196 | 12 | 10 | 0.328 | 0.392 | 0.720 | 8 | 11 | 0.0 |
| Sam Hilliard | 50 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 0.180 | 4 | 9 | 0.241 | 0.380 | 0.621 | 4 | 20 | 0.0 |
| Ryan McMahon | 232 | 17 | 37 | 0 | 0.241 | 34 | 56 | 0.310 | 0.547 | 0.857 | 22 | 86 | 0.1 |
| Daniel Murphy | 218 | 3 | 17 | 0 | 0.243 | 18 | 53 | 0.294 | 0.358 | 0.651 | 15 | 34 | -0.4 |
| Chris Owings | 82 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 0.256 | 10 | 21 | 0.333 | 0.354 | 0.687 | 8 | 15 | 0.4 |
| Trevor Story | 258 | 15 | 35 | 6 | 0.256 | 36 | 66 | 0.314 | 0.531 | 0.845 | 23 | 72 | 1.6 |
Sim Rockies Pitching Stats through June 7, 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 |
| Ryan Castellani | 1 | 2 | 25.2 | 16 | 5.26 | 1.400 | 0 | 10 | 5 | 5 | 15 | 15 | 0.0 | 5.6 | 3.5 |
| Tim Collins | 1 | 0 | 16.1 | 19 | 3.31 | 1.590 | 0 | 12 | 20 | 0 | 7 | 6 | 0.2 | 10.5 | 6.6 |
| Wade Davis | 1 | 1 | 25.1 | 24 | 8.17 | 1.780 | 3 | 8 | 34 | 0 | 23 | 23 | 0.2 | 8.5 | 2.8 |
| Carlos Estevéz | 0 | 4 | 33.1 | 43 | 6.21 | 1.320 | 0 | 8 | 36 | 0 | 24 | 23 | -0.2 | 11.6 | 2.2 |
| Kyle Freeland | 3 | 4 | 59.2 | 31 | 2.87 | 1.220 | 0 | 17 | 11 | 11 | 25 | 19 | 0.6 | 4.7 | 2.6 |
| Chi Chi González | 1 | 5 | 58.1 | 43 | 5.40 | 1.460 | 0 | 21 | 12 | 12 | 38 | 35 | 0.6 | 6.6 | 3.2 |
| Evan Grills | 2 | 0 | 13.0 | 7 | 1.38 | 0.310 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0.3 | 4.9 | 0.0 |
| Jeff Hoffman | 4 | 0 | 53.2 | 39 | 5.20 | 1.430 | 0 | 18 | 29 | 2 | 31 | 31 | 0.4 | 6.5 | 3.0 |
| Tyler Kinley | 2 | 0 | 24.0 | 30 | 2.25 | 0.960 | 9 | 10 | 23 | 0 | 6 | 6 | 0.6 | 11.3 | 3.8 |
| Germán Márquez | 4 | 5 | 49.2 | 47 | 7.43 | 1.690 | 0 | 17 | 11 | 11 | 42 | 41 | -0.5 | 8.5 | 3.1 |
| Scott Oberg | 0 | 1 | 13.0 | 16 | 2.77 | 1.230 | 7 | 12 | 16 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 0.2 | 11.1 | 8.3 |
| James Pazos | 1 | 1 | 35.1 | 35 | 4.58 | 1.580 | 0 | 12 | 33 | 0 | 18 | 18 | 0.6 | 8.9 | 3.1 |
| Antonio Senzatela | 2 | 3 | 54.2 | 42 | 4.77 | 1.520 | 0 | 21 | 15 | 11 | 32 | 29 | 0.7 | 6.9 | 3.5 |
The Rockies are off today but hope to extend their two game winning streak Tuesday as they begin a three game set with the Sim Diamondbacks. After that, the Sim Pirates will come to Coors to finish off the week for the Sim Rockies.
As always, check out Ben Kouchnerkavich’s YouTube channel for all the Sim Rockies action. Thanks for your continued support and, as always, go Rockies!