For it’s one, two, three strikes you’re out at the old notes column. …
Rookie Micah Owings will start tonight’s Game 4 for the Arizona Diamondbacks. Good thing. If ever a team needed an extra bat in the lineup, it’s the D-backs. …
Owings makes his living pitching, but happens to be the best-hitting pitcher in the major leagues. Dude can flat-out rake. …
“I just enjoy being in the box,” Owings said. He added: “I’ve been blessed to play the game not only as a pitcher, but to be able to swing it, too. So whenever I get in there, I just enjoy it.” …
According to D-backs manager Bob Melvin, opposing pitchers work Owings as if he’s a hitter, often starting him with breaking balls. Makes sense if you look at the numbers. …
Owings, who finished 8-8 with a 4.30 ERA in 27 starts, hit .333, with 20 hits in 60 at-bats. Among those 20 hits were seven doubles, a triple and four home runs. That’s 12 extra-base hits in 60 ABs. Willy Taveras had 17 in 372. …
On Aug. 18, Owings went 4-for-5 at Atlanta with two homers, four runs scored and six RBIs. Nothing unusual there. He hit a state-record 25 bombs as a high school senior in Gainesville, Ga. His 69 homers in high school were one short of the national record. …
By the way, one of those home runs vs. the Braves traveled 446 feet. The longest homer at Coors Field this season? A 460-footer by Matt Holliday. …
Final footnote on Owings: He was the Rockies’ second-round draft choice in 2002, but opted to play at Georgia Tech. …
Melvin, when asked how he felt about Eric Byrnes’ comments that the Rockies had been lucky to win Games 1 and 2 and, if anything, had been outplayed by the D-backs: “Neither here nor there. Eric’s a good quote, no doubt about it. On our team, by far he’s the best quote.” …
Troy Tulowitzki, pregame, on Byrnes: “They might have outplayed us and in many ways maybe they have. The way I look at it is we’re up 2-0. … If we end up winning the series, I’ll be fine with that.” …
Five D-backs baserunners in the first three innings and no runs? Ah, the double play, a pitcher’s best friend … next to HGH. …
Press box wag – one of my favorite clichés, by the way – in the early innings: “You know what’s been the hardest hit of the series? Byrnes going into the wall.” …
D-backs first baseman Tony Clark, when asked before the game about the elements: “What elements?” As in, Arizona woulda played in a blizzard if it meant a win. …
Clark not only is the D-backs’ first baseman, he’s the first sacker on my all-interview team. Here’s Clark again, when asked about facing Franklin Morales for the first time: “You’re asking us a question about tomorrow night’s game?” …
The Rockies were the fourth team in MLB history to win 19 games in a 20-game span starting September or later. One of the other four clubs was the ’77 Royals, who had a former Sports Illustrated cover boy on their roster named Clint Hurdle. …
So much for the days of checked-swing grand slams and middle infielders going deep back-to- back-to-back times. Rockies pitchers are first among playoff teams with a staff ERA of 1.24. …
The D-backs during the season were fifth in the league with 109 stolen bases. But they don’t have one so far in the NLCS. What gives? “We’ve got to get some guys on,” Melvin said. …
What’s wrong with this picture? They had a roll-away dome in Phoenix, where temperatures reached the 90s last week, and no dome in Colorado, where it snowed Sunday in the foothills. …
By the way, if you misplaced your scorecard, Josh Fogg through two innings was on pace for a tidy, 18-hit shutout. At the rate he was going, I was thinking he might fool someone by April. …
OK, so nobody is hitting in the series. But fireworks after a double? Yorvit Torrealba rolled into second base in the third inning to the sight of purple stuff shooting out of the scoreboard. As things turned out, it was an omen.
Jim Armstrong: 303-954-1269 or jmarmstrong@denverpost.com
