The racket waited until after the game.
Memorial Day night boomed with zippers, tourbillions, brocade crowns, crosettes, dahlias, chrysanthemums, peonies. The fireworks show always has been where the Rockies have delivered a big-league product.
Sure there were duds, but what else can be said about the product the Rockies have put on the field in recent years?
The Rockies fizzled again Monday night, losing to the St. Louis Cardinals 5-4 while wasting an encouraging effort by starting pitcher Jamey Wright.
It was Albert Pujols, the mightiest of the mighty Cardinals, who made the difference with a three-run homer off Jay Witasick in the seventh inning.
“It was a great pitch, a nasty pitch, a slider down and away,” Pujols said. “It didn’t look like I hit it very good, but I went down and got the ball.”
The loss dropped the Rockies 21 games below .500 before the Memorial Day holiday could pass, but it did not dampen the postgame spectacle. A crowd of 34,239 gathered despite the chill and rain that delayed the start of the game by 1 hour, 38 minutes. Presumably, most of the customers showed up primarily to watch the dark, cloudy sky beautify with streaming colors. In all, nearly 4,000 shells were electronically fired to music during the 18-minute, 20-second show.
“This might be the largest Memorial Day show in the United States,” said Ernie Simmons, chief technician for Zambelli Fireworks Internationale who makes the trip from Florida to Coors Field three times a summer. “Washington, D.C. has a big one, but this is at least as big as theirs.”
In this season of Rockies misery, the game, not the fireworks, was the bonus as the homestand opener wasn’t nearly the mismatch suggested by the respective records. The defending National League champion Cardinals again have the league’s best record (33-17) while the Rockies have the worst (14-35).
Yet the Rockies had a plan. The first time up, every Rockies hitter used the same Shawn Chacon bat. It was a strange choice, considering Chacon is a pitcher and the Rockies hit like it, getting no runs and only one hit their first time through the order.
“You don’t see that very much in the big leagues where the bat’s lay down and the next guy comes up and uses it,” Rockies manager Clint Hurdle said. “Youthful enthusiam.”
Wright had matched St. Louis’ Jason Marquis to a 1-1 tie entering the bottom of the sixth that would have been 0-0 if not for defensive blunders on each side.
“It’s been tough, but I tell you what, just being around those guys, we’ve got a bunch of guys who really play hard,” Rockies star Todd Helton said before his career-worst slump grew to 3-for-49. “It’s not like we’re getting blown out of every game. We’re in every game, we just don’t know how to win yet. That being said – our record doesn’t indicate that – but I think we’re really close to being a good team. Whether it happens this year, next year, I’m not going to say.”
The Rockies were leading 3-1 in the seventh and had two out and nobody on. At that point, bad luck found the Rockies.
Rockies recap
Matt Anderson once possessed a 103 mph fastball, converted 22-of-24 save chances for Detroit and received a three-year, $9.3 million contract. After not pitching in the majors last year, Anderson caught on with Triple-A Colorado Springs and was promoted Monday to the Rockies to replace injured reliever Juan Acevedo. “This man deserves this opportunity more than anybody we’ve ever promoted,” manager Clint Hurdle said. “He came into spring training after being humbled, hungry, I think a little bit humiliated from where he once had been. He worked hard to put himself in this opportunity to come back.”
FAMILIAR FACE: While Larry Walker was excited about his return to Denver, many of his Cardinals teammates were pleased to be reunited with former clubhouse attendant Kurt Schlogl. An assistant equipment manager in the Cardinals’ clubhouse the past 22 years, Schlogl joined the Rockies this year to run their visiting clubhouse. Although the move was a promotion, Schlogl figures to see a decline in playoff-share bonuses. “If we can’t win, I hope the Cardinals win,” Schlogl said. “I want the Rockies to win first.”
Staff writer Mike Klis can be reached at 303-820-5440 or mklis@denverpost.com.
