May 13 2016 11:23 AM
Looks like Barney scored some Primo weed.
The Rockies surprisingly find themselves in the middle of the race for the NL West. As often happens in these surprise situations, there's some playing over your own head as well as your opposition playing below their potential. It's kind of like a whole division of 2015 Nationals, with the Dodgers, Giants and D-Backs just screwing around right now when they should be playing baseball. Rockies have surprisingly been good on the road and terrible at home so far this year (5-10); let's hope the trend continues.
But the Rox have their strong points. The pitching has been surprisingly decent, and the hitting, is, well, what it normally is. Less than a week after the Mets laid a 12-run inning on the Giants, the Rockies laid a 13-run inning on them.
Walt Weiss is the manager and they say the same kind of things about his managing as we say about Terry Collins. Except Collins has a World Series trip under his belt. The players love Weiss but he's tactically challenged at times. One thing he does is give a green light to steal at all times, not good news from our standpoint.
Mets played the Rockies 7 games in 2015 and won every single one of them, including back-to-back 14-9 offensive outbursts at Coors.
Game 1: Jon Gray (0-1, 5.40) vs Matt Hovvey
Gray is their #1 prospect, and is coming off a game where he threw 7 innings of one-hit ball against the Giants. That ERA was 11.42 after 2 starts so he's pitching better. Looks to be the real deal.
Beard: Red, scraggly goatee. A 3 on the Justin Turner scale.
Game 2: Eddie Butler (1-1, 3.86) vs Logan Verrett
Eddie Butler sounds like the annoying kid next door in a 50's sitcom. Came up on 4/27 when Jorge de la Rosa went on the DL. Threw 6 scoreless against the Giants last time out, but the time before the Pads cuffed him around a bit. The Mets torched him for 6 runs on 7 hits in 4 innings in a 12-3 loss at Citi last August, which was a bad time for ANYBODY to be pitching against the Mets.
Beard: Red, full and well-trimmed. A 4 on the Turner scale.
This would have been Matz's turn, but Verrett knows how to pitch in Coors as we saw last year.
Game 3: Tyler Chatwood (4-3, 3.09) vs Jacob deGrom
Tyler takes some time off from the yacht races off Nantucket to pitch reasonably well in Colorado. Mummy thinks he should be apprenticing at Daddy's investment firm, but that'll have to wait. Spent all of 2015 recovering from Tommy John, he's a sinkerballer that gets a lot of ground balls, a really useful skill in Coors Field. It wasn't sinking on Monday, though, as he gave up 2 homers and 6 runs in 6 innings in a 10-5 loss to the D-Backs. He hadn't given up a run in two previous starts, so there's a bit of inconsistency there. He's a box of chocolates right now.
Beard: Dark, well trimmed. A 3 on the Jason Werth scale.
The closer is Jake McGee,
who's got 9 saves but also has a 4.97 ERA and a 1.50 WHIP. Think about those numbers when you complain Familia doesn't look sharp.
First Base: Mark Reynolds (2/12/.337)
Reynolds has a history as a high-power, low-average hitter. So he goes to Colorado and.....becomes a low-power, high-average hitter. This is a guy who made Citi look small BEFORE they moved the fences, so he's due. Also ran a contraband truckload of Coors from Texas to Georgia; Jackie Gleason is still looking to barbecue his ass.
Second Base: DJ LaMahieu (2/10/.288) 
Decent all-around player who's settled into the second-base job, fields okay, hits a bit. Had 23 steals last year so he'll be getting that green light. Plays a dedication for Richard Dreyfuss to that blonde in the white T-Bird.
Third Base: Nolan Arenado (13/31/.321)
Well. Gary and Ron have him in the top 5 players in baseball right now, and they're not wrong. Having a typical year so far. You're Fooling Yourself if you think you can shut him down completely. If you do, it's Domo Arigato.
Shortstop: Trevor Story (11/27/.266)
They've got a friend in him. Early ROY leader, though he's cooled off a bit lately. He's Troy Tulowitzski, just 10 years younger. And he's made Rockies fans forget all about this guy:
who's currently on 'administrative leave', whatever that is. He's expected to get a 60-game suspension shortly for beating his wife, after which, well, who knows.
Left Field: Gerardo Parra (3/19/.309)
Solid player who the Mets had interest in, in the BC (Before Cespedes) era. Performing as expected. Two Gold Gloves, a bit of speed and a quality bat. His 4th team in 7 years after signing a free-agent deal last winter. Still smarting from finding Al Capone's vault to be empty.
Center Field: Charlie Blackmon (2/10/.282)
Blackmon missed most of April with a toe injury and is just working his way back into the lineup. An all-star in 2014, stole 43 bases in 2015. Of course, he be jammin' that toe, so he probably won't be at full speed.
Right Field: Carlos Gonzales (4/12/.304)
Yeah, him. The most-traded player of the past 5 years, except that he didn't go anywhere. Hasn't really heated up yet, so just hope this isn't the weekend that he does. If so, you can't stop him, you can only hope to contain him.
Catcher: Tony Wolters (0/5/.167)
A rookie who's just keeping the seat warm for Nick Hundley, who's on the 15-day DL and will miss the whole series. Never could get along with Whoopi on The View.
Former Metsies: Gonzales Germen, Jose Reyes*
Former Rox: Nubbuddy
It's Coors, so the normal disclaimers about distorted baseball apply. Expect lotsa runs and lotsa homers. LGM!