PHOENIX — The cruelty was unmistakable. The last thing a struggling team needed was an appointment with Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Brandon Webb.
It’s like going to Venice Beach after a breakfast of a dozen doughnuts caked in lard frosting. It only highlights your inadequacies.
The Rockies sucked in their gut, brought the tying run to the plate in the ninth, but in the end it was easy to ascertain who was the beauty and who was the least. They lost 8-5 on Thursday to the Diamondbacks, their fifth straight defeat tying a season high, as Webb improved to 9-0.
Forget GPS. The Rockies’ road trip was easily tracked by the flashing hazard lights in Phoenix and San Diego.
It’s hard to call anything in May a must win. Yet the Rockies’ season, it could be argued, is hanging in the balance with the upcoming nine-game homestand that begins tonight against the Minnesota Twins.
If Colorado doesn’t gain traction, it’s going be a long summer of empty seats and fans counting the days until the Broncos’ training camp.
“We are aware of where we are, where we stand and why we are here,” Rockies manager Clint Hurdle said. “There’s no doubt that the (players) have recognized it. Now it’s up to us to do something about it.”
This is beyond a nose powder. This will require an extreme makeover.
The Rockies are 15-26, losing two straight since a players-only meeting was called and seeing their overall streak reaching five L’s. They need a telescope to see the first-place Diamondbacks (26-15), residing 11 games back a quarter of the way into the season.
Colorado’s flaws are numerous. By Hurdle’s estimation, defense is the only facet in which the Rockies have played well.
Their starting pitching — a potential strength with linear growth of Ubaldo Jimenez and Franklin Morales — has been a daily cringe. Aaron Cook has served as a beacon for a lost staff, but even he was knocked around Thursday, tagged for 10 hits and five runs in five innings.
In a rare occurrence, Cook’s sinkerball betrayed him, often elevated rather than at the knees. Arizona catcher Chris Snyder provided the haymaker, smoking a 92-mph, fifth-inning fastball into the left-field seats for a three-run home run.
Cook’s clunker — his first of the season — left the rotation with a 5.38 ERA. Compare that to last year’s final 4.58 mark.
“We need to play perfect baseball right now to win, and we aren’t doing that,” Cook said. “Everybody knows we have to start winning. We just aren’t getting it done.”
The offense hasn’t given them any room for error, trapped in a remarkable funk given the returning talent. The Rockies have nearly as many hits as strikeouts with baserunners in scoring position.
Last season, that ratio was nearly 2-to-1, Hurdle pointed out.
Such problems have only been amplified in division road games — a 5-13 overall record, including a current 2-10 stretch. And it doesn’t matter where Colorado plays the Diamondbacks — the Rockies get treated like homecoming opponents.
With Thursday’s win, Arizona improved to 8-1 against the Rockies, outscoring them 63-35. Webb has beaten the Rockies three times, though he wasn’t as sharp as his previous outings. He worked 7 1/3 innings, allowing three runs and striking out eight.
In doing so, he became the first starter to begin a season with wins in his first nine games since San Diego’s Andy Hawkins started 10-0 in 1985. Colorado’s entire rotation has 11 wins.
“It’s just where we are right now,” Hurdle said. “We are paying for every mistake.”
Troy E. Renck: 303-954-1301 or trenck@denverpost.com
Looking ahead
Today: Twins at Rockies, 7 p.m., FSN
It wasn’t so much a step forward as a stride. Ubaldo Jimenez (1-3, 5.53 ERA) struck out 11 San Diego batters in his last outing and worked into the seventh inning. For the Rockies to gain any traction, they need to get their top three starters going, particularly Jimenez and Jeff Francis, who are a combined 1-7. That matches the Rockies’ record in Jimenez’s starts. Nick Blackburn (3-2, 3.93) is part of a revamped Twins rotation that no longer is anchored by Johan Santana. Blackburn has worked at least six innings in five consecutive starts but has a 5.56 ERA on the road, where opponents have a .337 average against him.
Troy E. Renck, The Denver Post
Upcoming pitchers matchups
Saturday:
Twins’ Livan Hernandez (6-1, 3.90) vs. Rockies’ Greg Reynolds (0-1, 6.35), 6 p.m., FSN
Sunday:
Twins’ Kevin Slowey (0-3, 5.79) vs. Rockies’ Jeff Francis (0-4, 6.27), 1 p.m., KTVD-20
Monday:
Giants’ Pat Misch (0-0, 5.32) vs. Rockies’ Jorge De La Rosa (1-2, 9.42), 6:30 p.m., FSN
Tuesday:
Giants’ Tim Lincecum (5-1, 1.92) vs. Rockies’ Aaron Cook (6-2, 2.82), 6:30 p.m., FSN
