Padres 2-2, Rockies 1-6

Me and my big fat mouth, or keyboard. Jinxed my team when I most expected it. What did I say about the Rockies again? How they whipped us last season? How I think we might be over them this year?

We split a doubleheader with them, and were lucky to get the one game. We won the opener, 2-1, behind another classic Nicky Martinez outing. 5 2/3, one run, nine K's. Just very, very solid. Nicky didn't beat himself or serve up any fat pitches. Gave our team a chance to win, even though he got another ND. We scored two runs and won it in 10 when Machado raced home on a catcher's error following an errant throw to third. Their guy, Ryan Feltner, a kid with seven career starts, held us to one run over six. Three total hits for the game, yuck. Lucky we won it in extras, and the bullpen finally got in some work, putting up zeroes for 4 1/3.

That means the nightcap would only get better, right? Not quite. McKenzie Gore didn't make it out of the third inning and was just all over the place. Six earned, four walks. We needed the bullpen to eat seven, and although they did it with style, the game was long over by then. We'll see how the kid bounces back from this one. It's probably best to get your suck in before the games start getting really important. It was disappointing in that we had already won game one and then had one of our best pitchers lay an egg, while Kyle Freeland, the Rockies starter with another 5+ ERA, shut us down by giving up two runs and three hits. That's a total of seven hits for the twin bill, a total of four runs, in front of the home crowd. Nope, I think it's safe to say the Rockies aren't done pestering us yet. Nor are our offensive woes quite solved yet.

Over to our opinion corner. In our seven-man rotation, I would pitch our guys in this order:

1. Joe Musgrove. Solid, dependable with nastier stuff than last year. Good clubhouse presence.
2. Yu Darvish. One bad game against the Giants, looking good. Experience is key.
3. Gore McKenzie. Young, but with explosive stuff. We need to make sure last night's game was a fluke.
4. Sean Manaea. Durable, experienced, a guy you root for. He could easily be the third starter. too. Gives the bullpen valuable time off.
5. Nicky Martinez. He's done everything we asked him to do. It's intimidating working on this pitching staff, but he's done it. Even if he's not in the rotation, he's a weapon.
6. Mike Clevinger. Mike could be anywhere on this list, depending on how we move forward. Looking at his stuff, he should be top three. We'll see.
7. Blake Snell. Snell, too, could be anywhere on this list, but I just don't think he's learned to pitch. That's quite statement to make for a guy who's won a Cy Young award, but with his repertoire, he should be winning 15-20. It's all between the ears for him. 

Our pitchers and how Bob Melvin uses them will be essential to our success. The offense, as of now, is average, our last three-game barrage notwithstanding. I think Hos is being benched, let's see if we can get him back out there today. Hos, for a long time, carried this offense with Manny. Luke Voit is just average, unfortunately, and taking up valuable at bats from the cleanup spot. At best, he should be a platoon player with Hos, should this be required. The offense is too inconsistent. When you have Kim batting fifth and Nola sixth, as we did for game two, chances are you're not going to win many games. 14 games over .500, a half-game behind the Dodgers, four ahead of the Giants. I still like it.