For a team fresh off a lackluster 3-1 loss to the New York Mets, the Rockies sure were a buoyant bunch late Sunday afternoon.
Flying in the face of their 32-44 record, a so-so 4-3 homestand and a six-game road trip that begins tonight in Kansas City, talk inside their clubhouse was not whether the Rockies would get red-hot, but when.
Under any normal circumstance, that attitude would seem presumptuous. But in the National League West’s Twilight Zone of a season, who’s to blame the Rockies for their cockeyed optimism?
“For us to be just seven games back right now is huge,” Troy Tulowitzki said. “Arizona has struggled, and I just like our chances.”
The Diamondbacks lost again Sunday, falling 5-3 at Minnesota, even though they had ace Brandon Webb on the mound. Once in total command of the division, Arizona has lost six of eight and gone 20-30 over its last 50 games, giving the Rockies hope.
“We keep fighting and scratching and clawing,” Rockies manager Clint Hurdle said. “We aren’t in a bad position, but it’s not the one we drew up before the season. But we are there, hanging around. We are going to get hot, and I do believe our offense is going to be what we envisioned it would be.”
That wasn’t the case Sunday against the Mets’ Mike Pelfrey. He kept the Rockies off-balance in his 5 2/3 innings of shutout pitching, allowing only three hits.
“Pelfrey was very difficult to hit today,” Hurdle said. “He had lot of movement and action that we didn’t see the last time we faced him.”
Scoring opportunities, how-ever, were there for the Rockies, but they never gave the 45,019 fans at Coors Field much reason to leap from their seats. The Rockies left nine men on base and went 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position, continuing a season-long trend. As a team, the Rockies are hitting .237 in those situations.
Colorado’s lone run came on Yorvit Torrealba’s solo homer leading off the seventh against reliever Joe Smith. It was Torrealba’s third home run of the season.
Rockies rookie Greg Reynolds continued his big-league education with another solid start — three runs and six hits allowed in seven innings.
Reynolds said he didn’t have his best stuff and lacked fastball command, but he found a way to battle. His one big mistake proved to be the game’s climactic moment. Reynolds walked David Wright to open the third, then laid a fat fastball over the plate for Carlos Beltran. He knocked it into the second deck in right field for a two-run homer and a 3-0 lead for the Mets.
The Rockies squandered a prime opportunity in the first. Jeff Baker reached on an infield single and moved to third on Matt Holliday’s base hit to right. Todd Helton walked and the ball got past Mets catcher Ramon Castro. If Baker had sprinted home immediately, he likely would have scored. Had he stayed put, the Rockies would have had the bases full with one out. Instead, Baker hesitated before making a late dash for home, where he was tagged out by Pelfrey covering the plate.
When Garrett Atkins struck out, the inning ended with a lot of noise but no Rockies runs.
Patrick Saunders: 303-954-1428 or psaunders@denverpost.com
TODAY: Rockies at Royals, 6:10 p.m., FSN
Interleague play suits the Rockies’ Jeff Francis (3-6, 5.22 ERA). The left-hander, who is starting to regain his 2007 form that produced 17 victories, has won four of his last five regular- season starts against the American League. Facing the Royals last season in Denver, Francis allowed one run and seven hits in 7 1/3 innings. Colorado lost 5-2. The Royals will start right- hander Brian Bannister (6-6, 4.81), who is fresh off a 3-2 victory over St. Louis. Bannister is 4-2 with a 2.80 ERA in eight starts at Kauffman Stadium this year. He has faced the Rockies once in his career, on May 20, 2007, allowing three runs and five hits in five innings.
Patrick Saunders, The Denver Post
Tuesday:
Rockies’ Jorge De La Rosa (2-3, 6.52 ERA) vs. Royals’ Zack Greinke (6-4, 3.33), 6:10 p.m., FSN
Wednesday:
Rockies’ Aaron Cook (10-4, 3.57) vs. Royals Luke Ho- chevar (4-5, 4.86), 6:10 p.m., FSN
Thursday:
Off
Friday:
Rockies’ Ubaldo Jimenez (2-7, 4.52) vs. Tigers’ Nate Robertson (6-6, 5.60), 5:05 p.m., FSN
