In a baseball season of Rocky Mountain lows, when smiles have been rarer than victories and the mood music at Coors Field has often been dead air, the home crowd yearns for any good reason to get on its feet and shout.
So the most remarkable statistic of pitcher Aaron Cook’s all-star caliber performance cannot be found in the scorebook.
He leads the Rockies in standing ovations.
The Cookie Monster brings the noise.
With the tip of his cap to a cheering audience, Cook walked to the dugout with the ninth victory of the season in his pocket after seven solid innings of work, as Colorado went on to beat San Francisco 10-5 on Tuesday night.
Where would the Rockies be without Cook?
“We’d have nine less wins,” said Colorado catcher Chris Iannetta, doing the math, while trying not to shudder. “And that’s big for us right now, considering our current position in the standings.”
Let the record show that in Cook’s 14 starts, the Rockies have won 10 times.
When anybody else takes the mound, Colorado’s record is a miserable 15-35.
Brandon Webb of first-place Arizona is the lone National League pitcher to win more games than Cook this year.
No pitcher in the major leagues, however, has been more valuable to his team than Cook, who has brought new meaning to the definition of stopper. He has stopped the entire summer from being irrelevant for the Rockies.
As weak as the competition in the NL West has revealed itself to be, it’s hard to fathom Colorado finding a way to get back in the race. But Cook — and Cook alone — is the reason the Rockies have any reason to cling to hope.
“I’ve always been a pitcher with the confidence of knowing I can win every game,” Cook said. “This year, I’ve been executing.”
Of all the cash handed out by general manager Dan O’Dowd after the Rockies won the National League pennant in October, maybe rewarding Cook was the riskiest.
Although he celebrated his 29th birthday before opening day, Cook had never won 10 games in any of his major-league seasons.
But the $30 million given to Cook now appears to be the best money O’Dowd spent during the winter.
The other investments Colorado made in its future have paid no immediate dividends.
All the zeroes in shortstop Troy Tulowitzki’s rich new contract were exceeded only by the oh-fers he suffered at the plate before he got hurt.
Manuel Corpas went from making opposing hitters cry foul to the Rockies crying for relief before he was shut down as the team’s closer.
No matter how much long-term commitment Colorado gives Brad Hawpe, he will remain a hot-and-cold streak hitter for as long as he wears a big-league uniform, and his defense has been uneven at best.
Tulo, Corpas and Hawpe have made O’Dowd look bad. Worse, their struggles have made the Rockies look like the Boys of Fluketober.
Cook might be the lone Colorado player who has exceeded expectations. He surrendered only three earned runs against the Giants without the benefit of his best stuff, which is more evidence that Cook finally feels comfortable in his skin and in command on the mound.
“I feel like the same pitcher I’ve always been. I’m just giving myself more of a chance to be successful by being consistent with my pitches,” Cook said.
“I’ve had the same stuff for the last five years, and now it’s finally coming together. It feels pretty nice.”
The Rockies have never had a starting pitcher win more than 17 games in a season.
Cook could win 20.
If he does it on a Colorado team that loses 90 times, that would be more than all-star worthy.
It would demand voters take him seriously for the Cy Young Award.
Mark Kiszla: 303-954-1053 or mkiszla@denverpost.com
