NEW YORK — Baseball used to be filled with teams like the Rockies — mutts, purebred underdogs. Bobby Thomson’s Giants, the 1960 Pirates, the Amazin’ Mets.
But today, the Rockies, like the Rays, are an anomaly. They are the tight-budgeted proletariat trying to sneak under the velvet rope, crashing the playoff party.
If the Rockies don’t play in the postseason this year, it may be because they can’t play off Broadway. They lost in New York. Again. To the Mets. Again.
They fell 4-0 at Citi Field on Tuesday night, the most interesting moment provided by Jim Tracy’s first ejection as Rockies manager in the eighth inning.
The Rockies have dropped five in a row in New York, and 20 of their last 22 in whatever stadium the Mets call home.
“I am aware of the history, and we are going to try to flip that coin,” Tracy said. “It’s a test of our mettle.”
This defeat, which dropped Colorado into a tie with the San Francisco Giants in the wild-card race, wasn’t as agonizing as Monday’s, if only because it never felt like the Rockies were going to win. They fell behind 3-0 on Tuesday as the Mets scored a run in three consecutive innings off Jason Marquis.
Marquis looked sharp at times, working six innings and allowing just two earned runs in his first start since being pushed back because of a blister on his middle finger. The good news is that his finger felt better than it has in six weeks. The bad news: His sinker had more lateral run than dive against left-handers.
“Still, he kept us in the game,” Chris Iannetta said. “As an offense, we needed to bail him out.”
Any chance of that happening vanished with two forgettable at-bats with the bases loaded against the Mets’ Mike Pelfrey. Twice Clint Barmes came up.
In June, there could not have been a better choice. In July, not so much. Barmes is knee-deep in a 1-for-24 slump. Because of Barmes’ glove at second base, Tracy has no intention of sitting him. But he temporarily moved him from second to eighth in the order. It backfired when Barmes popped up in consecutive at-bats.
“I just didn’t get the job done,” Barmes said.
Pelfrey preyed on Barmes’ impatience, causing him to expand his strike zone. That his velocity jumped from 92 to 96 mph didn’t hurt.
“I made big pitches when I had to,” Pelfrey said.
With the outcome determined, Tracy stuck up for his players on a controversial call at the plate in the eighth. On a single, Dexter Fowler delivered a strike to Iannetta, who tagged Luis Castillo before his hand reached the plate. Umpire Larry Vanover disagreed, leading to a stern lecture from Tracy that got him the thumb.
“I was right,” Tracy said.
The Rockies haven’t lost three consecutive games since the first of June in Houston. As such, this is suddenly becoming a critical series. The Rockies can’t afford to give too much ground, not with the wild card-contending Giants warming up.
“It’s not like we have lost 10 in a row,” Marquis said. “We have to focus on the Rockies and not what everyone else is doing.”
Troy E. Renck: 303-954-1301 or trenck@denverpost.com
