New York – This wasn’t a game as much as an infomercial.
Everything Wednesday centered on change. The Rockies, sinking in quicksand, changed their lineup. They changed their pregame, holding a brief hitters- only meeting. Mike Pelfrey threw a forgettable changeup. And John Mabry changed the expression on 25 faces with one swing.
Because of Mabry’s third-inning home run, the Rockies escaped from New York with their dignity, avoiding a sweep with an 11-5 thrashing of the Mets at Shea Stadium.
Afterward, Mabry didn’t provide a testimonial of how the blast, which halted a franchise- record seven-game homerless drought, changed lives. And the players weren’t noticeably thinner, wiser investors or experts in Pilates, but they were breathing more easily between smiles.
“It was definitely huge,” said Rockies slugger Matt Holliday. “It allowed guys to relax. We finally had a cushion.”
The Rockies’ only other lead in the series evaporated in the 10th inning Tuesday, part of a numbing 2-1 loss.
That failure provided deeper meaning to the series-finale victory. The Rockies won for only the third time in 20 attempts at Shea Stadium.
The pent-up frustration boiled over into a barrage of 20 hits, a season high. The 11 runs matched the Rockies’ total in their previous six games, five of which were losses. Willy Taveras established a career high with five hits and Holliday and Todd Helton strung together a necklace of quality at- bats.
But it was Mabry who provided the big hit that, to a man, the Rockies believed for the past week would resuscitate a pulseless offense.
Starting for Garrett Atkins, who was 0-for-10 on the trip, Mabry slammed a 79-mph changeup into the Mets’ bullpen. The Rockies went ahead 6-0 and, as manager Clint Hurdle put it, “we finally loosened our belt.”
Mabry was an unlikely catalyst. He entered the game with two hits in 15 at-bats. He was 1-for-11 as a pinch hitter, his specialty.
“It’s the nature of the beast with your role (as a reserve). You don’t like the (results), but you have to deal with it,” Mabry said. “It was big for us to come out and swing the bats. Hopefully we can get a lift from this.”
The Rockies’ last two home runs have come from Steve Finley and Mabry, who have socks older than rookies Chris Iannetta and Troy Tulowitzki. Both home runs were instrumental.
Josh Fogg was the benefactor of the uncommon run support, if not a reason for it. Fogg collected two hits, scored twice and joked with Atkins that he might be at third base on Friday. Fogg tamed the Mets for seven innings, yielding just three runs.
The challenge is to make Wednesday’s welcomed change matter when the Rockies host the Atlanta Braves this weekend.
“Our offense showed in spring training what they are capable of. We have just been in a funk,” Fogg said. “We didn’t waste all the runs in one day. There are more to come.”
Troy E. Renck can be reached at 303-954-1301 or trenck@denverpost.com.
