Los Angeles – The inference creates anger.
They say there’s no comparison between last year’s Rockies team and this season’s Rockies. They believe they are better and have no interest in playing the role of spoiler.
Their play, however, since the All-Star Game has been decidedly rotten, an ugly stretch that continued Saturday night as the Los Angeles Dodgers thrashed them 14-5.
“This was a very bad game all around,” Rockies first baseman Todd Helton said.
This wasn’t a loss as much as it was a blooper reel. The Rockies committed errors of all shapes and sizes. Clint Barmes bounced a throw home, Kaz Matsui muffed a groundball, Cory Sullivan overran a single, Brad Hawpe fired past a cutoff man, Jeremy Affeldt issued a walk with bases loaded.
You expect this kind of game on March 3 in Tucson, when players are still wearing “Hello, My Name Is” stickers. But not at Dodger Stadium, when they have been challenged individually over the past week to halt a numbing spiral.
In two weeks, they have gone from interesting to troubling, a skid that is creeping dangerously close to tainting their season. It’s hard to remember that the Rockies were contenders for 4 1/2 months. They have dropped 11 of 14 games, plunging a season-high 11 games below .500.
For those who wondered what would happen if the rotation suffered a hiccup, the answer has painfully crystallized. After carrying the Rockies through July, the stress of pitching in low-scoring games appears to have finally worn the starters out. They are 3-11 with an 8.30 ERA since Aug. 18. A night after tagging Jason Jennings with his 12th loss, the Dodgers punished Aaron Cook for seven runs in five innings.
Cook couldn’t keep the ball in the park, surrendering his first two road home runs of the season to Nomar Garciaparra, who finished with six RBIs, and J.D. Drew. Some of the pitchers have admitted they feel like they have to be perfect because of the lacking offense. The faltering lineup thrust the Rockies from contention, ranking in the bottom third of nearly every meaningful offensive statistic. That’s what made Saturday so disturbing.
The Rockies actually had a chance against Brad Penny. They scored more runs off him in the sixth inning (five) than they did in his previous four starts against them. And yet Penny still became the first opposing pitcher ever to beat the Rockies five times in one season.
“There’s too many things still out there for these guys, they know there’s jobs to be won, jobs to be lost,” Rockies manager Clint Hurdle said. “I am obviously disappointed.”
Staff writer Troy E. Renck can be reached at 303-954-1301 or trenck@denverpost.com.
Rockies’ youth-movement period growing old: produce or hit road
Los Angeles – Beginning next season, the grace period ends. The Todd and the Toddlers youth movement, a viable crutch for two years, will have reached its expiration date. Manager Clint Hurdle has explained as much to his players during individual meetings this week as he outlines goals for the remainder of this year and beyond.
“We will have three-year players who should have their feet on the ground one way or the other. Either you are getting better or you aren’t,” said Hurdle, who has one year remaining on his contract. “They know what time it is, what we need to accomplish. We aren’t going to be singing ‘Kumbaya’ in the clubhouse together if we keep losing. People won’t be around here anymore. Me included.”
The Rockies have enjoyed pockets of success this season, but have gone 18-29 in the second half. Hurdle acknowledged Saturday that his team didn’t handle the pressure well.
“It’s almost like they started working the job instead of playing the game,” Hurdle said. “The biggest thing to understand as we go forward is that you become a pro when you play the game the same when the stakes are raised.”
FOOTNOTES: Rockies coach Mike Gallego, a testicular cancer survivor since 1983, empathized with Boston pitcher Jon Lester, who was diagnosed with a rare form of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a blood cancer. “The keys are early detection and a positive attitude. Anything can be beaten,” Gallego said.
