SAN FRANCISCO — The letter taunted them. Last weekend, Rockies season-ticket holders received postseason applications in the mail.
Playoffs? The team needed binoculars to see the division leaders. Playoffs? What in the world would compel fans to put down a deposit on October tickets?
Because these are the Rockies, apparently, for whom the improbable is always possible. When they show up in opposing parks this time of year, they require a taste-tester.
Poison to others’ dreams, the Rockies began Wednesday with a chance to move five games back of the division lead for the first time in four months.
Two pitches and one of the baseball’s brightest stars prevented it.
The Rockies fell 4-1 to the San Francisco Giants at raucous AT&T Park and fell six games behind Arizona Diamondbacks in the National League West.
“We are in as good a place as we have been all season,” manager Clint Hurdle said. “We let this one get away, but we will regroup.”
It wasn’t so much a loss as a coronation of Tim Lincecum. Looking at Tiny Tim, it’s hard to imagine a less intimidating figure. He goes 5-feet-10 and 170 pounds. Earlier this season when the Giants were in Washington, he was confused for a batboy.
Hate his Little League looks if you must. But not his talent. This is Mark Fidrych. Or a right-handed Sandy Koufax. He overwhelmed the Rockies for 7 2/3 innings, his only lapse back-to-back hits from Chris Iannetta and Troy Tulowitzki in the second inning that created a 1-0 deficit.
Lincecum (15-3) surrendered just five hits while reaching at least 10 strikeouts for the seventh time this season. His arsenal borders on cruel and unusual punishment. He throws a 97-mph fastball, an 86-mph slider, 75-mph curveball, and, his latest addition, an 88-mph changeup.
And yet for all of Lincecum’s mastery, Livan Hernandez was poised to turn him into a loser, factually speaking. Hernandez, who has laid an egg since joining the Rockies, strung together Faberges for six innings. It was a bit of validation for Hurdle, who was criticized for keeping Hernandez in the rotation.
“In info shared with me from other people they will ask, ‘How can you do this?’ Well, how can I not give a guy with his pedigree a fourth start?” Hurdle said before Hernandez saved his spot.
He capitalized, but the shutout and the potential victory vanished on two mistakes.
Bengie Molina crushed an 86-mph fastball into the left-center field seats. Unnerved, Hernandez grooved a fastball to rookie Pablo Sandoval. Showing patience that the Giants lacked for much of the evening — broken-hearted groundballs defined them — Sandoval kept his hands back and drove the ball just inside the left-field foul pole.
“Livan was great tonight because of his ability to change speeds,” Iannetta said. “I don’t think either of those pitches was a mistake. You just have to tip your cap sometimes.”
The scoreboard panels in the upper deck inspired hope. Lincecum had thrown 118 pitches after seven innings. There was a realistic thought that he might not return. Lincecum finished with a season-high 132 pitches, leaving Jack Taschner and Brian Wilson to vanquish the Rockies’ last breaths.
Troy E. Renck: 303-954-1301 or trench@denverpost.com.
