This is not the baseball played in the backyard, limited only by a child’s imagination. The major leagues are not a carnival game where the bully knocks down bottles and everyone walks away with a stuffed animal.
It is less forgiving than Spandex, cruelly punishing mistakes – particularly errant pitches. The Rockies played well Sunday until the beleaguered bullpen took over, blowing its league-worst seventh save.
A sweep of the National League’s best team by its youngest vanished in minutes, the Rockies falling 8-6 to the Los Angeles Dodgers at wintry Coors Field.
It created an awkward feeling in the Rockies’ clubhouse, happiness of winning their first series muted by frustrating of dropping a game they felt they should have won.
“It’s not a bad weekend. We shouldn’t be hanging our heads, because this is something we can build on,” third baseman Desi Relaford said. “The guys in the ‘pen, they are going to figure it out.”
There were no answers Sunday, only troubling questions created by head- scratching moments. and Byung-Hyun Kim didn’t have outings as much as roles in the Lemony Snicket movie “A Series of Unfortunate Events.”
Fuentes, who yo-yos between dominant and inconsistent, worked a perfect seventh inning, mauling Hee Seop Choi and Jason Repko with nasty strikeout pitches.
Fuentes wandered out for the eighth, earmarked to finish his afternoon with a confrontation with left-handed hitter J.D. Drew. Fuentes jumped ahead 0-2, then plunked him with a fastball.
Kim followed with an equally maddening at-bat. He recorded two quick strikes on Jeff Kent, the last on a swing at a slider that nearly landed in the Rockies’ dugout. Kim elected to finish Kent off with a changeup. It smacked Kent in the shoulder, triggering a five-run rally that led to the Rockies’ 12th loss in 18 games.
“I still find a lot of positives, but the bullpen remains an issue. It’s been an issue since spring training,” said manager Clint Hurdle, whose pitchers hit four batters, tying a Dodgers’ team-record dating to 1900. “And it will continue to be an issue until they find their comfort zone, repeat their deliveries, pound the strike zone and throw secondary pitches for strikes.”
Kim was soaked for three runs, failing to retire a single batter, for a bullpen that is 1-7 with a 9.12 ERA. That the Dodgers struck late is more of a trend than a surprise. They have won five times this season when trailing after the seventh inning.
Any chance of a Rockies comeback evaporated with a remarkable throw from Drew in the bottom of the eighth. Trailing 8-5 with runners on first and second, JD Closser singled to right to score .
attempted to advance to third and was erased on a dart, third baseman Norihiro Nakamura finishing him off by adeptly blocking the bag.
“I doubt if you can make a better play,” gushed Dodgers manager Jim Tracy.
Hawpe, who briefly contested the call, eschewed excuses afterward, his day serving as a microcosm of his team’s loss.
“I shouldn’t have gone; it was a base-running mistake on my part,” Hawpe said. “I got two hits today, but I am still mad about getting thrown out.”
Troy Renck can be reached at 303-820-5457 or trenck@denverpost.com.
