Thoughts after the weekend series with the Colorado Rockies in Denver:

• After beating the Rockies 21-0 yesterday, on one hand you had to feel like it was setting up for a sweep with Nick Pivetta on the mound for the Padres and German Marquez on the mound for the Rockies. Pivetta has been the Padres’ best starting pitcher this year and Marquez hadn’t won yet (he was 0-6 with a 9.90 ERA going into the game) and was roughed up the last time the Padres faced him (five earned runs in 4 2/3 innings).
• But on the other hand, you saw that Pivetta had an 18.90 era in three starts in Coors Field and even this season was much better at home (1.42 ERA at home versus 3.00 ERA on the road). As well the Padres hadn’t swept a series in Colorado since 2011 and then Jackson Merrill was a last-minute scratch with an illness.
• That was not to mention Bud Black getting the typical backing of the front office that usually happens right before the person is fired.

So of course, Pivetta has another tough outing, Marquez pitches lights out like he has against the Padres in past years and the Rockies win easily 9-3. And then after the game Bud Black is fired which is tough considering the team he’s been giving. I’m not sure how many other managers would have won much more with the players he had.

Considering the state of the Rockies you would have hoped for a sweep like the Padres did earlier this year but going 6-3 on this road trip is something you take any day and would have been happy before the trip started.

The one tradeoff with the more balanced schedule is these road trips seem even longer because the team has to travel to so many different cities now but I still prefer this over the previous schedule. It’s a better barometer of teams when they’ve all played each other; if there was a way to do a true balanced schedule, I’d be all for it (that’s a story for another day).