SAN FRANCISCO — In the matter of a few months, Jorge De La Rosa has gone from a left-handed compliment to a, well, left-handed complement.
Once maddening because of his command issues, De La Rosa has finally found the right time, the right place and right team to realize his potential. The 27-year-old won his seventh start since the All-Star break completing a makeover that couldn’t have been more stunning if orchestrated by Ty Pennington.
In the 3-1 victory Thursday, De La Rosa worked seven scoreless innings, reaffirming why the Rockies see him as at least a fifth starter going into next season.
De La Rosa is 7-3 over the last two months, lowering his ERA from 7.26 to 4.92.
“It did (go under 5.00)? I didn’t know that. That’s good,” said De La Rosa, who plans to play for Mexico in the World Baseball Classic. “I have been more relaxed.”
General manager Dan O’Dowd said De La Rosa has shown enough to be counted on to fill a back of the rotation spot. Pitching coach Bob Apodaca deserves credit, according to O’Dowd, for pushing to have De La Rosa return to the rotation in July after he was banished from the bullpen.
He has responded to the first-ever overt show of confidence in his perplexing career. De La Rosa allowed just three hits Thursday, mixing in a 93-mph fastball and big curveball.
“He has been much more consistent,” manager Clint Hurdle said. “To get 10 wins from where he was, good for him.”
All the support required came in the first inning on Matt Holliday’s RBI single. De La Rosa knocked in a run in the fourth and Clint Barmes provided room to exhale with his 11th home run off Barry Zito three innings later.
“Nobody on this team is going to give up. We will continue to compete,” said Barmes after the sweep.
Door not closed on Fuentes
The Rockies are keeping an open mind about re-signing closer Brian Fuentes, holding internal discussions about his situation.
“On the surface it would see like it would be a longshot to keep him, but that’s something we are still talking about,” O’Dowd said. “We would like to have him back.”
Fuentes, 32, will be a free agent after the season and figures to be the most popular reliever on the market after the Angels” Francisco Rodriguez. The Cardinals, Indians, Brewers and Mets are all potential suitors. It was assumed that the Rockies would concede the left-hander’s exit, taking two compensatory draft picks when he rejects salary arbitration.
Based on Brad Lidge’s contract extension – three years, $37.5 million signed in July – Fuentes” price will be steep. The Rockies haven’t had any talks with Fuentes” agents, but kept the closer at the trade deadline.
“That’s how highly we regard him,” O’Dowd said.
Fuentes is prepared to listen if the Rockies make a serious run at him.
“If they want to discuss that internally and decide what they are going to do, that would be great,” Fuentes said. “I love playing here, and I believe the team is going to be a lot better in years to come. If I am part of that, it would be great. And if I not, no hard feelings.”
Helton confident
Todd Helton was told that only 5 percent patients who have his type of disc surgery have re-occurring problems, leaving him confident in his choice to have the procedure done. “I would have been very hesitant going into spring training if I didn’t do it, knowing one swing could put me right back where I am now.”
Taveras still done
Willy Taveras held out hope Thursday that he could resume playing despite a stress fracture in his right tibia. He had played on it for three weeks, after all. But he killed the idea after learning that he could suffer a compound fracture. “I don’t want to make it worse. And playing could do that,” Taveras said.
