It is hard to tell which Colorado Rockies team will show up in 2009: the one that dwindled in the bottom of the NL West for the first half of last season, or the hottest club in baseball that scorched the second half on their way to a wild-card birth.

Offense

Troy Tolowitzki is the heart and soul of the Rockies’ lineup. Not only is he the best defensive infielder in the league, the 25-year-old also brings everything to the table offensively while assuming his place as the leader of the clubhouse.

Tulowitski slumped at the beginning of last season just like the rest of the team, but became one of the game’s most feared hitters in the second half when he finished the season with 32 home runs, 92 RBIs and a .297 average, not to mention 20 steals.

Right fielder Brad Hawpe looks to build upon his first all-star season when he hit 23 homeruns and drove in 86 runs. Hawpe has averaged 93 RBIs for the past four years and has not missed more than 25 games in the same time period, but turned thirty in the middle of last season.

If he can stay on the field, he should have another solid year and help the Rockies reach the playoffs for the third time in four years.

Rounding out the lineup is Chris Iannetta at catcher, who drove in 52 runs in 93 games and Todd Helton at first, who bounced back from a poor 2008 season to hit .325 last year as a 35 year old. Additionally the Rockies have Clint Barmes at second, who last year had the best season of his career, and Ian Stewart at third who, in his first full season in the majors hit 25 home runs, but struck out 138 times.

The Rockies will have Dexter Fowler in center, Carlos Gonzalez in left, and of course Hawpe in right.

Pitching

The Rockies’ pitching staff differs from that of other playoff hopefuls in the sense that while they do not have a seasoned ace at the top of the rotation, they do have a very strong rotation from top to bottom.

Jeff Francis is no longer the opening day starter as he is recovering from shoulder surgery that kept him out of the rotation for the entire 2009 season. The Canadian’s shoulder problems kept him from performing well during the 2008 season, resulting in a four win season.

If he can find the stuff that made him the Rockies’ ace two years ago when he won 17 games and struck out 165, then he will provide the staff with a much needed leader as they try to contend for the division.

The top of the rotation will be filled with Ubaldo Jiminez, who, like the rest of the team, started slow but finished the 2009 season with 15 wins and 198 strikeouts. If he can build upon last season and lower his era, he can become a stellar pitcher in the National League.

Aaron Cook will pitch out of the second spot while Francis finds his stuff, with Jorge de la Rosa, a 16 game-winner who threw 193 strikeouts last year pitching fourth, and Jason Hammel, who pitched well down the stretch last year taking over the fifth spot. Huston Street starts his second season as the Rockies’ closer, and is looking to maintain that job by replicating the 35 save season that he had last year.

Prediction

Colorado will live and die by its rotation.

If all five pitchers can stay healthy all year and deliver as expected, the Rockies can most definitely take the NL wildcard again, and will certainly challenge the Dodgers for the NL West crown.

Their offense will need to complement the pitching by not only producing runs but by also maintaining the high level of defense that the team has become known for. With the Rockies gaining a reputation for struggling early before streaking late in the season, I cannot see them winning the division.

But with the Cubs, Giants, and Diamondbacks as the only real threats to take the wildcard, I like the Rockies’ chances of making it to back-to-back playoffs for the first time in their short franchise history.