San Diego – When the Rockies face the Arizona Diamondbacks tonight, only the uniforms will change.
Better pitching, stronger defense and storing baseballs longer in the humidor have turned the Rockies’ home into Coors Light Field. The normalization of baseball in Denver has produced a desirable side effect: Colorado is playing the same style on the road as at home.
Even after Thursday’s 3-2 extra-inning loss to San Diego, the Rockies are 10-8 in their past 18 road games after winning just 10 of their first 50.
“We have been impressed with the way the game has been played at Coors Field this season,” Rockies president Keli McGregor said Thursday. “And I really believe it has helped us on the road.”
The Rockies didn’t win the finale, thwarted by Robert Fick’s 10th-inning RBI single off reliever Jose Acevedo. Yet starter Sunny Kim worked six innings and the Rockies moved runners with bunts and didn’t commit a fielding gaffe, something that has become more typical at Coors.
“I believe in my heart that if we are to going to win here (long-term),” manager Clint Hurdle said, “it’s going to be with pitching and defense.”
Since its inception, Colorado has been Ozzy Osbourne at home and Ozzie & Harriet on the road, owning the worst splits in baseball history.
In 2002, the organization introduced the humidor to maintain the baseball at the manufacturer’s specifications, preventing it from hardening and shrinking in the dry air.
How the balls are stored – at 70 degrees and 50 percent humidity – has not changed, but their stay in the humidor has, according to McGregor. The first balls in are the last ones out, a rotation system employed for the first time this season.
“The way we have managed the balls has been part of the answer (at Coors Field), but it’s only one of the reasons,” McGregor said.
Players and management officials cited a confluence of factors for the precipitous decline in Coors Field’s offensive numbers. The Rockies’ pitchers, all said, deserve credit. They have posted a 5.11 home and 4.73 overall ERA since the break, compared to 5.38 and 5.41 before.
Sharper pitching is connected, at least in part, to the humidor storage pattern. From Milwaukee’s Ben Sheets to the Rockies’ Aaron Cook and Mike DeJean, pitchers have repeatedly said the ball is now easier to grip.
“It’s definitely not like before when you felt like you were throwing a greasy cue ball,” DeJean said.
Colorado’s glove work has also improved dramatically. They committed 37 errors in their first 47 home games, but just 11 in their past 24. Growing the infield grass longer and thicker at Coors Field has also played to the strength of the Rockies’ sinkerball pitchers, resulting in more double-play groundballs.
The numbers provide eloquent explanation of how much the game has changed on Blake Street. The overall per game average entering tonight is 13.1 runs and 3.0 home runs. This season, the numbers are 11.1 runs and 2.1 home runs.
If the Rockies’ injuries and inexperience are part of the story, so too are opponents’ revealing statistics. Visiting teams are scoring nearly a full run less at Coors Field – 6.4 to 5.6 – and are on pace for 80 home runs, shattering the previous low in a full season of 101 set in 1998.
“You can’t build a team for just your home ballpark,” veteran catcher Todd Greene said. “You have to be able win wherever you play.”
Staff writer Troy E. Renck can be reached at 303-820-5447 or trenck@denverpost.com.
