St. Louis – Early last fall, his glorious season over, Jeff Francis crammed luggage into his car and began a lonely drive from Denver to London, Ontario. The cerebral pitcher mapped out his journey to include highlights, most notably a stop in St. Louis for the Cardinals’ division series opener against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Surrounded by a sea of red shirts, Francis calmly described the environment in section 264 as if he were reciting a physics equation.
“There’s a lot of energy and excitement,” Francis said. “I am pulling for Larry Walker. I want to see him do well. I’d like to be in this spot someday.”
The moment didn’t seem significant, but it does now. Francis was not awed by the experience, only motivated.
Pitching in front of the biggest crowd of his career Thursday, the left-hander bedazzled the National League’s best team, strong-arming the Rockies to a 7-0 victory, their first shutout of the Cardinals at Busch Stadium.
“You can see how guys just weren’t that comfortable against him up there,” catcher Danny Ardoin said. “He made pitches when had to, grinding through. That’s what will separate this young man from other pitchers.”
The win was stunning on many levels, including the club suites and the seat Francis (7-5) occupied last October. Colorado entered this series providing more nostalgia than resistance. The Rockies began the night as one of only four teams in major-league history to begin a season 5-31 or worse on the road.
“Now we can count our wins on two hands,” deadpanned manager Clint Hurdle.
As evidence for why they won’t finish with the worst visiting record ever, the Rockies presented exhibit “eh.” At first glance, the Canadian Francis, who allowed just three hits in six innings, looks too mild to possess the inner ferocity or outer-half pitches to tame the Cardinals, who have been shut out four times this season, all in games started by left-handers.
His teammates kid him about looking like Napoleon Dynamite. And it’s not exactly a compliment. Look closer, however, and the eyes are drawn to his unflappable demeanor, his odd arm angle that makes his 89 mph fastball feel more like 94 mph, his fearlessness in throwing his changeup. Cardinals players repeatedly told hitting instructor Hal McRae that Francis was “sneaky.”
“I might be a little different in the game because of the intensity and the adrenaline,” Francis said. “But it’s not like I transform into the Hulk.”
Truth is he has been a thinking man’s pitcher since he was a lanky kid. He didn’t throw hard until college, though he was always a star playing on Larry Walker Field in Vancouver.
“That’s why I didn’t play (Thursday). I couldn’t let him strike me out,” said the Cardinals’ Walker, resting as a precaution for a neck injury. “He would be talking about it forever back home.”
Even without Walker in the lineup, this outing will linger for a few days, if not months. It was only Francis’ third road win in 14 career starts and marked the Rockies’ first road shutout since June 24 at Milwaukee last season.
Even the offensive numbers added up for the formerly feeble Francis, who went 2-for-3 with a ground-rule double.
“The ball ran into the bat,” said Francis, now hitting .107. “I didn’t think it would be a home run, because I figure that will never happen for me.”
Third baseman Garrett Atkins, meanwhile, can be excused for believing in best-case scenarios. In creating all-star and rookie of the year buzz, he has belted 16 hits in his past 29 at-bats (.552), among them his seventh home run Thursday night, off battered Cardinals starter Jeff Suppan.
“I am feeling more comfortable at the plate,” Atkins said. “Teams have mainly been trying to go away against me, then Kansas City pounded me inside. It’s up to me to adjust.”
Staff writer Troy E. Renck can be reached at 303-820-5457 or trenck@denverpost.com.
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Sullivan looking like he belongs in the bigs
At 8 a.m. Thursday, members of the Colorado Springs Sky Sox – Ryan Speier, Scott Dohmann and Ryan Shealy among them – trudged through DIA to their connecting Tacoma flight. Rockies outfielder Cory Sullivan was asked later if he remembered those long, travel-haze days.
“I never played in Triple-A,” Sullivan said without being smug or cute.
His performance against the Cardinals suggested he might never record an inning with the Sky Sox this season. Not only did he post hits in two of his first three at-bats, but he erased Albert Pujols at the plate with a perfect throw in the fourth inning.
With Dustan Mohr unable to capitalize on extended opportunities last week, Sullivan has started consecutive games in left field and led off.
FAITH IN TODD: Tony La Russa conceded surprise over Todd Helton’s pedestrian statistics, but wasn’t ready to call this a down season. “You look up in September, and he will have representative numbers,” La Russa said.
