A perfect storm of excellence and ineptitude have conspired to keep the Rockies relevant.
They lost 13 straight road games, their No. 3 starter Ubaldo Jimenez hasn’t won in 71 days and their disabled list has been more crowded than Starbucks.
Yet the Rockies wake up today as contenders.
Multiple general managers and scouts said Wednesday that the Rockies haven’t made Matt Holliday or Brian Fuentes available for trade.
Why would they in the mild, mild National League West?
The Rockies won their fifth straight series Wednesday, grinding out the type of crisp 4-2 victory over the Cleveland Indians that hints of deeper significance.
“It’s almost like when you see the tides coming in and out, and there’s that strong undertow that nobody ever talks about until you get caught in it,” reliever Jason Grilli said. “This team has a lot of talent. And togetherness.”
In winning for the 10th time in their last 14 games, the Rockies received solid pitching from Jeff Francis, who dangled curveballs and changeups like so many cookies that Cleveland hitters couldn’t resist. They demonstrated a multidimensional offense, which for much of the first two months was glaringly absent.
Jeff Baker provided muscle with a double and home run, scoring three times with the help of Omar Quintanilla. Willy Taveras injected speed, running like he’s burning nitro methane.
“There’s still more to come with this offense,” Taveras said. “But it’s the pitching, man.”
The Rockies remain eight games behind nose-diving Arizona Diamondbacks, and could move out of last place today with a victory and a San Francisco loss in a division nobody seems to want to win.
Against that backdrop the sixth inning was encouraging. Taveras beat out a groundball to shortstop, stole his National League-best 31st base and scored on Ryan Spilborghs’ sacrifice fly.
This is how the Rockies went nuclear last September. They weren’t great, but repeatedly did little things right, punishing opponents for mistakes.
“What we are doing definitely seems more along the lines of how we played last season,” Holliday said.
With signed first-round draft pick Christian Friedrich in attendance — a left-hander who has drawn comparisons to Francis — the Rockies’ 2007 ace was more brains than brawn. Not once did his fastball top 87 miles per hour on the stadium radar gun. His performance, rather, was a replay of his May 18 victory over the Minnesota Twins.
Francis preyed on the Indians’ impatience, benefiting from their lack of familiarity with him, while having no concerns about his velocity.
“I don’t care as long as I am getting outs,” Francis said.
He recorded his biggest in the sixth with runners on first and third, inducing a flyball to right from Jhonny Peralta. A month ago that ball finds the gap. Now it’s just another reason the Rockies are climbing out of a hole.
“Nobody is puffing out their chest,” manager Clint Hurdle said. “We have work to do.”
Troy E. Renck: 303-954-1301 or trenck@denverpost.com
TODAY: Indians at Rockies, 7 p.m., FSN
An emergency starter, Jorge De La Rosa (1-3, 6.89 ERA) turned in the five most dominating innings by any Rockies pitcher this season. Of his 15 outs in last weekend’s start against the White Sox, eight were strikeouts as he blended in curveball strikes with a swing-and-miss slider. De La Rosa’s ability to control left-handers will likely determine his success. They have hit .370 in 27 at-bats. Cleveland’s Jeremy Sowers (0-1, 7.23) hasn’t pitched six innings in any of his four starts this year and has given up three home runs in nine road innings. Troy E. Renck, The Denver Post
Friday: Mets’ John Maine (6-5, 3.87) vs. Rockies’ Aaron Cook (10-3, 3.29), 7:05 p.m., FSN
Saturday: Mets’ Pedro Martinez (2-0, 5.31) vs. Rockies’ Ubaldo Jimenez (1-7, 4.85), 6:05 p.m., FSN
Sunday: Mets’ Mike Pelfrey (3-6, 4.62) vs. Rockies’ Greg Reynolds (2-4, 5.98), 1:05 p.m., Ch. 20
Monday: Rockies’ Jeff Francis (3-6, 5.22) vs. Royals’ Brian Bannister (6-6, 4.81), 6:10 p.m., FSN
