They are linked by a home run. Dustan Mohr was injured celebrating a blast, and is noticeably without one this season.
Mohr played on opening day, straining his left calf leaping over the dugout railing to join a home plate mosh pit, which has left him impatiently finishing up a Triple-A rehab assignment.
“I’d like to be back Wednesday, but it’s obviously not totally up to me,” said Mohr, a brief visitor in the Rockies’ clubhouse Sunday after the Colorado Springs Sky Sox game was rained out. “It’s not a health question.”
Holliday has played every day, a fixture in left field after his breakout, 14-homer rookie season. He has performed well offensively, hitting .324 with 13 RBIs – with a glaring omission. Perhaps the strongest player on the Rockies, Holliday hasn’t homered in 74 at-bats, 93 dating to Sept. 7 of last season.
“You can’t make them pitch you middle in. They are working me outside with fastballs and off- speed away,” Holliday said. “I am getting close. I am hitting the ball a little further down on the barrel, and those are ending up as doubles. But I am starting to drive it.”
Mohr, meanwhile, wants to stop driving to Colorado Springs. He homered Saturday and played five innings. He attempted to stay in longer, but the Rockies’ are stressing patience, having been burned in the past when veterans have returned too quickly from injury.
“I tried to buck the system,” said Mohr, whose return could be further delayed by extended poor weather this week. “I guess they want me to work nine innings for peace of mind.”
Holliday has learned the hard way that sanity comes from not attempting to yank the ball. Since adopting an approach geared around hitting to right field last spring, he has gone from a foundering Double-A prospect to a pillar in the Rockies’ youth movement.
“When I start to leak open and think pull that’s usually when I don’t do well,” Holliday said. “The proof is in the results.”
Second to one
When third baseman returns from the disabled list, likely on Tuesday, his position will be waiting, but his second spot in the order won’t. has commandeered the spot, excelling as baseball’s hottest hitter.
“Garrett might eventually hit second, but not when he comes back,” manager Clint Hurdle said.
Pitching Penny
Dodgers ace Brad Penny made his 2005 debut after returning from the disabled list. Penny, who had not pitched since Sept. 22 because of a nerve injury in his right biceps, threw 81 pitches and was pulled in the sixth inning after putting two guys on and the Dodgers leading 3-2.
Penny, who said he had trouble getting loose because of the cold weather, was charged with four runs on six hits. At one point Penny retired 11 straight Rockies.
“He pitched well and mixed up the speeds on his fastball,” Barmes said.
