By decree from commissioner, the Rockies charge admission. Tuition would be more fitting.
Every day at the ballpark is an education – not just for the team, but those who follow it.
For those following at home, here’s what was learned after the club’s nervy 6-5 victory over the Atlanta Braves at wintry Coors Field: The Rockies don’t have a true starting catcher, Byung-Hyun Kim is an effective spot starter and it’s possible to win after a closer dissolves before your eyes.
“You keep losing and your mind-set is going to be negative,” first baseman Todd Helton said after the Rockies’ third win in four games. “This was a bunch of guys picking each other up. It takes 25 guys in this ballpark, especially with the shape this game took.”
The Rockies reached deep into their roster, watching reserves stride, clumsily at times, into the spotlight. Kim worked five innings, allowing one run, junking his upshoot slider and fastball on the advice of pitching coach Bob Apodaca.
“We made it perfectly clear to him that he needed to keep everything down in the zone,” Apodaca said, “to realize the kind of pitcher he is.”
No one played a bigger role than Todd Greene, and truth be told, he’s not a reserve.
After watching the veteran inflate his average to .300 with three hits, the game-winner among them off Braves reliever Chris Reitsma, catching instructor Jamie Quirk clarified Greene’s spot on the depth chart.
“We don’t have a No. 1 catcher. We have said that Greenie is going to play a lot, and sometimes that will mean a couple of days in a row,” Quirk said. “He’s done a good job.”
Greene’s offensive surge and constant power threat comes at a time when manager Clint Hurdle is quietly reconfiguring his lineup, doling out playing time based more on results than youth.
It happened first with outfielder Cory Sullivan, who has started four consecutive games. And Greene will be behind the plate again today in favor of rookie JD Closser, who is saddled with a .185 average and no home runs.
“I would like to think I am primarily here because I can play a little bit,” said Greene, who has started 13 games compared with Closser’s 18. “And I have a desire and willingness to help a young player.”
Experience, even if limited, taught outfielder Dustan Mohr how to handle arguably the game’s biggest at-bat. After botching a chance to nail a runner at the plate in the top of the ninth, he came to the plate with one out and fell behind 0-2.
“In the past, going through what I am going through right now would have driven me nuts,” said Mohr of his injury-interrupted season. “In that situation, I am just looking to make contact.”
Mohr crushed a fastball into the left-field seats, a catalytic home run that triggered singles from Clint Barmes, Aaron Miles and Greene that bailed out closer Chin-Hui Tsao. In his worst outing of the season, Tsao was tagged for three runs in the team’s eighth blown save, and even more troubling, raised concerns about his nagging shoulder injury.
The clubhouse nearly vacant, Hurdle stopped at Tsao’s locker and provided a brief pep talk, reminding the right-hander he’s qualified to handle baseball’s white-knuckle job.
“I wasn’t strong. The (shoulder) doesn’t feel like it did last time when it (was hurt), but I don’t know if something’s wrong,” Tsao said. “But I was very happy to see them come back and score all those runs.”
Staff writer Troy Renck can be reached at 303-820-5457 or trenck@denverpost.com.
