SAN DIEGO — Forget what your well-meaning neighbor says. The key to the Rockies’ miraculous finish last season wasn’t Todd Helton’s walk-off home run. That was the emotional catalyst.
But the players really started believing anything was possible when they beat the Padres on Sept. 21, with rookie Franklin Morales outpointing Jake Peavy. That set in motion a perfect West Coast road trip.
Colorado returned to Petco Park on Friday with a wand and left with another win, smashing the Padres 9-4 behind two home runs from Garrett Atkins.
Every result matters for a team trying to chase down the Diamondbacks. The Diamondbacks clobbered the Dodgers to remain six games ahead of the Rockies in the National League West. Here’s how bad the division has been: The Diamondbacks lost four straight games this week and picked up a game-and-half in the standings. Second-place Los Angeles, losers of eight straight, is just 1 1/2 games ahead of the Rockies.
But Colorado isn’t playing to beat L.A. The Rockies accomplished that last season, finishing ahead of the Dodgers for the first time ever.
This wasn’t so much a team effort as a clinic. Atkins 5, Padres 4. The slugging first baseman broke out of a slump, driving in a season-high five runs. For Atkins, his home runs were only his second and third in the past 28 games.
Aaron Cook made the lead stand, looking as good as he has since back problems flared up after the All-Star Game. He demonstrated a nasty sinker inside to right-handed hitters, caused lefties to chase his straight fastball away while keeping everyone off-balance with his slider.
When Cook has just his sinker, he’s tough. This was some of his best stuff in months as he won his 16th game, one shy of tying the single-season record shared by Jeff Francis (2007) and Pedro Astacio (1999).
Cook allowed just two runs over six innings, economizing his pitches. Counterpart Dirk Hayhurst, despite a terrific curveball, was nowhere near as efficient or effective.
Footnote. Matt Holliday inched closer to the 30-home-run, 30 stolen base club. With two swipes, he now has 25 stolen bases in 26 attempts. Holliday is 17-for-17 in stolen base attempts vs. the Padres in his career.
Troy E. Renck: 303-954-1301 or trenck@denverpost.com
