According to a song most associated with Ol’ Blue Eyes, if you can make it in New York, you can make it anywhere.
The Rockies, and interim starter Taylor Buchholz in particular, will find out tonight whether Frank Sinatra was right.
Buchholz, moving into the rotation in place of the injured Rodrigo Lopez, makes his first start for the Rockies at Shea Stadium against the Mets’ power-packed lineup.
Buchholz started there last year as a member of the Houston Astros. It wasn’t pretty.
“It wasn’t a good one,” Buchholz said. “I was out of there pretty quickly. They beat me up pretty good.”
Here are the ugly details: five innings, six earned runs and six hits, including homers by Jose Valentin and Carlos Delgado.
Hoping for better things this time around, Buchholz said: “First of all, I have to try to relax out there. Usually I get in trouble when I’m all amped up. I tend to overthrow, and I get the ball up in the zone.”
The Rockies’ record at Shea Stadium is 20-40, and they are 7-19 there during the past four seasons. Manager Clint Hurdle knows it will take the Rockies’ A-plus effort to have success in the three-game series.
“This game is all about challenges,” Hurdle said. “Now we go on the road and we meet a big one.”
Tulowitzki sits again
Rookie shortstop Troy Tulowitzki, hitting just .193, didn’t play for the second consecutive game Sunday as Clint Barmes got another start.
“I have never really failed at baseball, at any time of my life, especially not at hitting,” Tulo- witzki said. “But I’ve run into a little something now where I’m struggling a little bit. I’ve never dealt with it before, but I’m confident I’ll get back to where I was and still be a good player.”
Barmes got two hits Saturday night against the Padres, but went 0-for-2 with a walk Sunday.
Footnotes
Second baseman Kaz Matsui, on the disabled list with back spasms, will not return to New York, where he started his major-league career. He said Sunday he is making progress and hopes to begin running soon….Sunday’s game took just 2 hours, 11 minutes, tied for the sixth-fastest game in Coors Field history. … Colorado’s John Mabry got his first pinch hit of the season with a single in the seventh. He was 0-for-8 as a pinch hitter before that. … Byung-Hyun Kim, making a rehab start Sunday for Triple-A Colorado Springs, allowed one unearned run on one hit in 3 1/3 innings.
