NEW YORK — At first glance, it appears that the baseball gods just might have granted the Rockies a small favor next year. Perhaps it’s a “make good” for the injuries they inflicted on the Rockies this season.
Monday, the club announced its 162-game schedule for the 2015 season.
Conspicuously absent from Colorado’s 2015 slate is a long Eastern road trip that often puts the Rockies’ season in a tailspin. This season, for example, a nine-game, 10-day road trip through Atlanta, Philadelphia and Cleveland in late May resulted in an ugly 2-7 record that began the Rockies’ slide toward the National League West basement.
In 2015, however, none of the Rockies’ road trips against National League East or Central division teams is longer than seven games and two cities.
“That is nice,” Rockies manager Walt Weiss said. “Coming back East has always been difficult for us. We need to figure that out.”
The Rockies are 6-34 this season in games played east of Colorado.
However, the Rockies do travel west for two long roadies next season. From June 26-July 5, they will play 10 games in 10 days — three games at San Francisco, followed by three across the bay at Oakland, then four games at Arizona.
For the fourth consecutive season, Colorado opens its season on the road. The 2015 season begins April 6 at Milwaukee, the first game of a three-game set.
The Rockies’ home opener is scheduled for Friday, April 10, against the Chicago Cubs. The first pitch is scheduled for 2:10 p.m. The Rockies will host the Cubs for three games before heading to San Francisco for three games, followed by three games at Los Angeles against the Dodgers. That means that nine of Colorado’s first 12 games are on the road. Considering that the Rockies are 20-49 on the road this season, that could be problematic.
Corey’s quest. Corey Dickerson remains short of plate appearances to qualify for the National League batting title. He entered Monday’s game 81 plate appearances shy of the necessary 502 for the season.
Dickerson, who was moved to the leadoff spot in Colorado’s lineup Monday, had a .315 average, second in the NL behind Rockies first baseman Justin Morneau.
“It’s not why I’m leading him off,” Weiss said. “He’s not going to play every game from here on out. But I’ll stay aware of where he’s at. And if he’s got an opportunity to qualify, I’m going to try to make sure he’s there.”
Looking ahead
Rockies’ Christian Bergman (2-2, 5.23 ERA) at Mets’ Jacob deGrom (7-6, 2.79), 5:10 p.m. Tuesday, ROOT; 850 AM
It will be a battle of rookies in Queens when Bergman, with six starts under his belt, takes on deGrom, the Mets’ hurler with the eighth-best ERA in the National League. DeGrom leads NL rookies with 112 strikeouts, and his ERA trails only the Yankees’ Masahiro Tanaka (2.51) among rookies in MLB. In Bergman’s most recent start, a win over the Giants in Denver, he had no strikeouts and no walks, with just two runs allowed.
Wednesday: Rockies’ Tyler Matzek (5-9, 4.32 ERA) at Mets’ Bartolo Colon (13-11, 3.96), 5:10 p.m., ROOT
Thursday: Off
Friday: Rockies’ Jorge De La Rosa (13-10, 4.27) at Cardinals’ Adam Wainwright (17-9, 2.62), 6:15 p.m., ROOT
Nick Groke, The Denver Post
