The pitching is in a better place, the defense is superb, the schedule is favorable and the manager has been a maestro.
But the hitting is leaving something else to be craved.
In their two-month run for the wild wild card, the Rox are one big brick shy of a bagful.
In the grand and glorious run of 2007, the Rockies were hitting fools. This year, they are hitting foolishly too often.
The Rockies compiled a league- high team batting average of .280 two seasons ago. Prehumidor, they would hit over .290 three times, and they have been first in batting in the National League in nine seasons.
This year the Rockies may end up with their worst average ever. After Saturday night’s 6-2 win over Cincinnati, the Rockies were hitting .257 as a group. There’s a bad moon on the fall.
The Rox made a couple of decent relief pitching pickups, without sacrificing those precious prospects they adore.
Kudos to the general manager — Adept-Dealin’ Dan O’Dowd.
Bravos to the owners for opening the vault (slightly) at Mon-Fort Knox to increase the payroll after realizing the crowds at home swelled to more than 40,000 per game recently because people in Colorado will support a winning team.
Having grown up in the slaughterhouse business, the Monforts occasionally figure out the Rockies can be cash cows.
Rafael Betancourt and Joe Beimel provide the Rockies with a couple of experienced bullpen arms that can allow Jim Tracy to bridge the staff from the starters to the closer.
Of course, the Rockies spent pennies compared to the dollars flying by in Los Angeles, San Francisco, St. Louis and Philadelphia — teams the Rockies are contending with for postseason positions. The Dodgers got the big-name reliever in George Sherrill, the Giants a second baseman who can hit, St. Louis the much-beloved Matt Holliday and the Phillies lefty Cliff Lee.
As expected, the Rockies didn’t even get a whiff of Roy Halladay or Jake Peavy or Lee or any of the heavy hitters available — especially in the Pirates’ “everything must go” fire sale, or Nick Johnson, who would have been a sweet addition as a pinch hitter, but ended up — whoa! — in south Florida.
But B&B — Beimel and Betancourt — are more than the Rockies have done in the past at the end of July. And Huston Street has been more than magnificent.
At this rate, Mayor Hick will have to name a street after the Rox closer. Street Street?
Jorge De La Rosa has been Jorge, Jorge . . . Jorge of the Jungle. Aaron Cook cooks. Jason Marquis is battling a blister to become a 20-game winner. (Attention, Jason: Your solution is Abreva, the cold sore medication). Ubaldo Jimenez still has a brain burp in every start, and Jason Hammel goes steady, unsteady. But who can argue with that rotation?
For once in a lifetime, it’s not the Rockies’ pitching that is problematic.
The Rockies must get hitting. More cowbell, please.
The Rox have passed the 100-game mark and have only August and September to improve at the plate. Hitting coach Don Baylor can’t be blamed. He has helped first baseman Todd Helton, first, and shortstop Troy Tulowitzki, second, get back on track, and worked with Dexter Fowler to be a civilized leadoff hitter.
But, at some point, other guys have to come through consistently, or the Rockies will be totally dependent on 2-1 victories, or, again, victims after 27 scoreless innings.
It shall be remembered that during the Rockies’ implausible ’07 stretch sprint, 13 victories in 14 regular-season games, and the playoff play-in game against the Padres, they scored six or more runs in 10 games, and it was no humidor thing. They started the spell with a 13-0 victory and ended it 9-8. Then, in the second of the seven straight postseason victories, they put up another 10-spot.
The Rockies aren’t amping. They have a couple of third basemen hitting in the .220s, a starting catcher right with them, a backup outfielder in the .230s, and a backup infielder who can barely view the Mendoza Line from where he stands under .190.
Only two players — Helton and Brad Hawpe — are hitting over .300, and Hawpe has been fading lately. Clint Barmes has been slipping even faster into the mid-.250s, although Tulowitzki seems to be holding the club together offensively, as best he can in the .260s.
Birds gotta fly, fish gotta fry, Rox gotta bat. Or, if not, try three guys and a burger in Colorado Springs.
Ian Stewart is hitting home runs, but nothing else. Garrett Atkins hasn’t earned his way back, and Carlos Gonzalez, despite his defense, can’t be an everyday player yet, or ever, if he doesn’t hit. Chris Iannetta may have hit a big home run in Cincy, but he has to get five hits in a series and pull out of a season-long slump. If not, he’s another catcher disappointment for the Rockies.
How about battery cables to the ears of all these guys?
They don’t have to hit Holliday numbers in St. Louis (over .600), but the Rockies could use more players to hit over .250 — and make this pitching staff proud.
Woody Paige: 303-954-1095 or wpaige@denverpost.com
