Last season, the Rockies’ starting rotation was about as stable as a Hollywood marriage. This season, it’s been the Rock of Gibraltar.
Last season, the Rockies employed 12 different starters, with the likes of Mark Redmond (nine starts), Glendon Rusch (nine), Livan Hernandez (nine) and Kip Wells (two) doing precious little to inspire confidence from the other eight guys on the diamond.
This season, the Rockies have used just seven starters, and that includes an emergency appearance by rookie Jhoulys Chacin on Tuesday.
“It’s huge to take the field and know who’s going to be pitching,” shortstop Troy Tulowitzki said Thursday afternoon, after the Rockies pounded the Pirates 10-1. “We know what they are going to do. As infielders, we know exactly how our pitchers are going to approach their hitters. It makes it a lot easier for us to set up. It gives us confidence as a team.”
Thursday’s slab of granite was right-hander Jason Marquis, back on solid ground after hitting a rough patch that had kept him winless since July 19. The first-time all-star threw seven blue-collar innings, allowing one run on three hits and striking out six. With a 13-8 record, he’s two victories away from matching the career-high 15 victories he posted with the Cardinals in 2004.
The Rockies won for the 10th time in 14 games, moving 1 1/2 games ahead of the idle Giants in the wild-card race and to within five games of the Dodgers in the National League West. The Rockies, who finished the homestand 5-2, begin a six-game road trip through Florida and Washington, D.C. with a game tonight against the Marlins.
Marquis, who won 11 times prior to the all-star break, still hasn’t regained total command of the heavyweight sinker that produced a two-hit shutout masterpiece in Los Angeles on June 30. But, he said, he’s getting closer.
“I still have work to do and I don’t feel like I’m where I was a month ago,” Marquis said. “But I’m working at it. Today I just wanted to make sure I didn’t fall behind hitters like I have in the last few games.”
Questions concerning Marquis’ history of slumping in the second half of the season don’t sit easy with him. His Staten Island accent gets a little thicker and his expression grows sterner. He has no doubt he’ll do his part to keep the Rockies in the playoff chase.
“Those second halves can be an aberration,” he said. “That one year was really bad, but that really skewed the numbers. But I can only control what I can control, and that’s making pitches, pitching deep into games and giving us a chance to win.”
The “really bad” he was referring to was his 2006 season with the Cardinals when he was 11-6 on July 7, but finished the season 14-16.
Manager Jim Tracy is convinced he can lean on Marquis as the Rockies enter the season’s homestretch.
“I have seen a little bit different Jason Marquis than I have seen in previous seasons in the second half,” Tracy said. “He’s just doing a terrific job for us.”
Marquis received an avalanche of offensive support. The Rockies banged out 15 hits, the sixth time in their last seven games they produced double-digit hits.
The big guns were Clint Barmes (3-for-4, a two-run homer, three RBIs) and Dexter Fowler (4-for-5, three doubles, three runs scored). Fowler’s four hits were a career high. Tulowitzki banged a solo homer in the first, his 23rd homer of the season, just one shy of the 24 he hit during his celebrated rookie season in 2007.
Patrick Saunders: 303-954-1428 or psaunders@denverpost.com
