Chicago – The distance between winning and losing is measurable in baseball. In the Rockies’ case, it’s 60 feet, 6 inches.
That’s the distance between the pitcher’s rubber and home plate. It’s exactly what separates Colorado from the National League West bullies, and why this road trip couldn’t have gone any worse if Clark Griswold were behind the wheel.
The Rockies lost 8-5 on a soggy Tuesday night at Wrigley Field, their season-high fifth consecutive defeat.
Don’t bother with an archaeological dig. The answers are on the mound, where the starting pitchers have fallen into a troubling funk. As the Rockies squandered this series, it was Rodrigo Lopez’s turn to get thumped. In his worst outing and first lost of the season, he was tagged for eight runs in 4 2/3 innings.
His hiccup arrived with poor timing. Jason Hirsh will attempt to save his rotation spot Wednesday – manager Clint Hurdle made him no promises beyond this start – and opening-day starter Aaron Cook remains winless this month.
The rotation is the key to the Rockies’ contending, if not surviving. During this five-game skid, the starters are 0-3 with a 10.66 ERA. Compare that to their brilliance during the team’s 20-7 run entering this trip: they were 12-7 with a 3.93 ERA. A defining characteristic was their ability to prevent souvenirs, allowing 18 home runs in those 27 games.
Opponents have tagged the starters for nine home runs on this trip, including Cliff Floyd’s first-inning blast Tuesday.
“We are not pitching deep into the games like we want and need to,” said Jeff Francis, the Rockies’ most effective starter. “We know we will get back to that.”
For his part, manager Clint Hurdle has maintained a delicate balance. He’s challenged three starters in recent weeks – Josh Fogg, Cook and Hirsh – emphasizing the importance of performance over effort. But he’s also expressed confidence in the group, saying he’s not ready to turn to internal options Taylor Buchholz and possibly Ubaldo Jimenez or push for a monster trade.
“You have to like what you see because if you threw their names out there would be all kinds of bites. We know that the pitching industry is if you revisit the winter meetings. It’s very expensive,” Hurdle said. “We have some guys who have shown some very good skills. The consistency is the question and we believe they are going to get it.”
Staff writer Troy E. Renck can be reached at 303-954-1301 or trenck@denverpost.com.
