Rodrigo Lopez has been outstanding in his first two starts of the season for the Rockies.  He’s 1-0 with a 1.38 ERA and a 1.00 WHIP!  In 13 innings this season, Lopez has allowed only 11 hits and 2 walks.  If Lopez keeps throwing strikes he should have a good season because he’s always had pretty good stuff.

The Rockies signed LaTroy Hawkins to be their top setup man but it’s starting to look like he can’t be trusted in that role.  He is 0-2 with a 9.00 ERA and a 2.25 WHIP in the early going of the 2007 season.  He has pitched 4 innings so far and he’s allowed 8 hits and 4 earned runs.  If he doesn’t shape up soon he’ll go from setup man to mop-up man.

Troy Tulowitzki, Willy Taveras and Chris Iannetta are all having rough starts to their season.  Tulowitzki is 6 for 30 (.200 avg, 540 OPS) with 3 runs scored and 2 RBIs.  He’s also had a big problem with K’s as he already whiffed 11 times this season.  Look for Jamey Carroll to play more at shortstop if Tulowitzki continues to have problems with the bat.  Taveras is only 4 for 24 (.167 avg, .467 OPS) with 4 runs.  He also has had a whiffing problem as he has K’d 10 times already this season.  Iannetta is only 2 for 18 (.111 avg, .317 OPS) with 3 runs scored and 3 RBIs.  Iannetta has been overmatched so far this season as he already has whiffed 8 times this season.  Look for Yorvit Torrealba to catch a little more if Iannetta doesn’t start to hit a little.

4 regulars ripped the cover off of the baseball last week for the Rockies.  Kaz Matsui (.412, 2 steals), Brad Hawpe (.333), Matt Holliday (.333, with 2 homers + 7 RBIs) and Todd Helton (.304) made the Rockies offense click on all cylinders last week.  Reserves Jeff Baker (4 of 6 with 1 homer, 2 RBIs) and Jamey Carroll 4 of 8 (.500 avg) both played well in their limited time on the field.

Rodrigo Lopez allowed 1 earned run in 7 innings last week and he won his only start.  Jason Hirsh looked great in his first game with the Rockies as he only allowed 1 earned run in 6.2 innings with 8 K’s and he won the game. 

The Rockies went 3-3 last week and are in 4th place in the N.L. West, 1.5 games behind the D-Backs.  The Rockies outscored their opponents 28-23 last season.  The important thing for the Rockies is that they keep pitching well like they did in the first week of the season.

The Rockies have placed Brian Lawrence on the 15-day DL as he is almost fully recovered from shoulder surgery.  Lawrence will start the season in the minors but he will be the first pitcher called up when the Rockies need help in the starting rotation.  Look for him to pitch well for the Rockies when he comes up to the bigs because he’s really good at keeping the ball down in the strike zone.

The Rockies have placed lefty reliever Tom Martin on the disabled list with a strained left groin.  He will be out until late April.  But Tom Martin is really no loss to the Rockies because he’s just not that good of a pitcher.  If he was righthanded his career would have been over a long time ago.

The Rockies have placed Clint Hurdle on the Hot Seat and he deserves to be there.  He has been manager of the Rockies for 5 years now and his teams’ have never won more than 76 games in a season!  The Rockies have never finished higher than 4th place in any of Hurdle’s five years on the job.  The Rockies front office has improved the talent on the major league roster so Hurdle is completely out of excuses.  Hurdle has a career major league record of 352-436 (.447) and he will need to improve that winning percentage to keep his job.