It’s not the pressure to live up to great expectations, nor the weight of new multimillion-dollar contracts that caused the Rockies’ Troy Tulowitzki and Manuel Corpas to struggle in the early going.
Rather, they both insist, it’s simply been a failure to execute.
Tulowitzki, benched Tuesday, was back in the lineup Wednesday, hitting seventh. Asked if the pressure of living up to the $31 million contract he signed during the offseason has anything to do with his slow start, Tulowitzki scoffed.
“Not at all. If anything, it’s made things easier knowing that’s taken care of,” said Tulo- witzki, who entered Wednesday’s game hitting .163 and mired in a 1-for-17 slump.
His words proved prophetic. With the rousing chant of “Tulo” ringing in his ears, Tulowitzki hit a three-run homer in the sixth to put the Rockies ahead 5-3. It was his first homer of the season.
Manager Clint Hurdle moved Tulowitzki down in the lineup believing less pressure there will help lift the 23-year-old out of his funk. But raw numbers show that Tulowitzki can hit at either spot. Last year, he hit .297 with 14 homers in 290 at-bats from the No. 2 spot. Batting seventh, Tulowitzki hit .294 with eight homers in 238 at-bats.
During spring training, the Rockies gave Corpas a new contract that guarantees him $7.825 million through the 2011 season. He earned his money after he went 4-2 with a 2.08 ERA — the lowest ERA by a reliever in club history — in 78 appearances in 2007. In nine postseason games, Corpas was 1-0 with a 0.87 ERA and five saves.
“I don’t feel the pressure; I’m not thinking about any of that right now,” Corpas said. “I’m just having a bad moment in my career.”
Before Wednesday’s game, Hurdle said Corpas’ job as closer is safe — for now.
“Manny’s been resilient,” Hurdle said. “When it comes to the point where he’s not closing out games with the success we think he should, then you talk about a change.”
Corpas said he’ll bounce back.
“I feel good and strong, they are just hitting me right now,” said Corpas, who blew his third save in seven attempts Tuesday night. “I’ve been getting my sinker up, so I have to get better with that.”
Footnotes.
After starting at shortstop Tuesday, Clint Barmes started at second, batting second. . . . The Rockies announced they are committing $500,000 to the Boys and Girls Clubs of Metro Denver.
Patrick Saunders, The Denver Post
