Carlos Gonzalez’s left leg still hurts, but his mind works fine. He stepped into the box in the fifth inning with a highly developed plan.
“I was looking for a breaking ball because that’s all (St. Louis’ Kyle) Lohse was throwing,” Gonzalez said. “And I was trying to hit it into the big part of the field.”
With Eric Young Jr. stealing on the pitch, Gonzalez lined a double into the right-field corner, tying the game 3-3. The Cardinals thought Young missed third base and appealed, without success.
“I guess they have never seen someone that fast before,” Young said.
Gonzalez scored the go- ahead run on a Todd Helton single. It was a measure of redemption for Gonzalez, who’s finding his groove again after dealing with a hamstring injury.
“It’s not going to be 100 percent this season. You deal with it,” Gonzalez said. “This is no time to be watching from the bench.”
Mound of trouble.
Rockies manager Jim Tracy defended head groundskeeper Mark Razum, who was confronted by Cardinals manager Tony La Russa and pitching coach Dave Duncan on Saturday. The Cards complained that the slope of the mound in the bullpen was dramatically different from the game mound.
They wanted it measured Friday night, but because of the fireworks show after the game it wasn’t done until Saturday. It checked out fine, but that didn’t prevent the Cardinals from suggesting it had been fixed overnight.
“No, I do not think that happened,” Tracy said with a smile. “You can’t laser in the dark (to level the slope). You can only play laser tag.”
In search of relief.
The Rockies are contending and evaluating, which explains why Jose Contreras pitched back- to-back days out of the bullpen during the Cardinals series. With Matt Daley, Rafael Betancourt and Matt Belisle used in tie games and to protect leads, Tracy is looking to settle on a right-hander when trailing.
Tracy called Contreras’ stuff “special” and will continue to use him as a reliever. The Rockies would also like to get a better read on whether Contreras would be interested in returning in that role as a free agent.
Troy E. Renck, The Denver Post
