A long, long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, the Rockies were playing some pretty good baseball.
Was it really just five weeks ago when the first-place Rockies swept the Marlins in South Florida for the first time in franchise history?
The last-place Rockies club that was humbled 13-0 by the upstart Marlins on Saturday night at Coors Field looked light years removed from the first-place club that squished the Fish at the end of April.
At that point the Rockies were 15-10, five games over .500. Saturday night, they fell below .500 (27-28) for the first time since April 6, three games into the season.
“We’re just not doing the things we were doing before to win,” said Rockies first baseman Todd Helton. “We’re not getting on base, we’re not working counts, we’re not getting timely hits and we’re hitting into too many double plays.”
The Marlins entered Saturday’s game as the only National League team without a shutout. By the end of the night, they not only had blanked the Rockies, they had handed them their most overwhelming loss in more than a year. The 13-run deficit was Colorado’s worst defeat since Sept. 12, 2004, when the Rockies lost 15-2 to San Diego. It also marked the second time in the past four games – sixth time this season – the Rockies were blanked.
Coors Field baseballs are stored in a humidor, but lately it has looked as if the Rockies’ bats are stored on Pluto. They have scored two runs or fewer in nine of their past 11 games, losing all nine of those games. The 224 runs they have scored this season rank 15th in the NL.
Could doubt and lack of confidence be rearing their ugly heads inside the Rockies’ clubhouse?
“Time is going to tell,” manager Clint Hurdle said. “That’s the challenge of major-league, professional sports. We need to take some of this personal. But we also need to know that we have the skills to play above it and the skills to play out of it.”
Right fielder Brad Hawpe, one of the few Rockies showing pop in his bat in the past two weeks, is certain his team is not in crisis mode.
“We’re struggling right now, but we could turn it around any minute, that’s how baseball works,” he said. “The second you don’t think you can perform, that’s when you are in trouble.”
The Rockies struggled to figure out Marlins right-hander Ricky Nolasco, who pitched eight strong innings.
The Marlins, however, had no problems solving Rockies starter Byung- Hyun Kim. They scratched out a run in the first and third innings before Alfredo Amezaga hit a three-run homer in the fourth to give Florida a 5-0 lead. It was Amezaga’s first homer since 2004. He started the 2005 season on the Rockies’ roster but was bumped in April when the club signed Desi Relaford. Amezaga finished Saturday’s game with four RBIs, tying his career high.
Florida’s lead grew to 6-0 when Dan Uggla hit a 424-foot solo homer off Kim to lead off the fifth. It was his seventh homer of the season, establishing a single- season Marlins record for homers by a second baseman.
The Marlins poured it on late, including a three-run homer by pinch-hitter Wes Helms in the ninth off Rockies reliever David Cortes.
The Marlins, winners of eight of their past 11 games, will try for their first series sweep in Denver this afternoon.
Staff writer Patrick Saunderscan be reached at 303-820-5459 or psaunders@denverpost.com.
