LOS ANGELES — Before Saturday night’s game, catcher Yorvit Torrealba was on the training table getting his tight right hamstring worked on.
On a couch in the visitors’ clubhouse, third baseman Ian Stewart and rookie outfielder Dexter Fowler were slumped, their hoodies pulled up tight. They are victims of a flu bug that’s become an unwanted guest as the Rockies prepare for the playoffs.
It’s not exactly the scenario the Rockies hoped for, but it’s one they’ll have to deal with.
“We have to be a little careful here, because we have a bit of flu bug flying around,” manager Jim Tracy said, noting that pitcher Josh Fogg and equipment manager Keith Schulz had come down with the respiratory illness and were told to stay in their hotel rooms so they wouldn’t spread the illness.
Torrealba missed Saturday’s game and will sit out today’s game. Chris Iannetta replaced Torrealba.
Although Tracy doesn’t consider Torrealba’s injury serious, he wants to make sure the catcher is ready for Wednesday’s first game of the NLDS.
“I don’t think it’s a very good idea for us to try and push the envelope and not have him participate in the middle of next week,” Tracy said.
According to Tracy, Torrealba’s hamstring tightened up in the first inning of Friday’s game when he hit a two-run double.
No heads up.
Rockies pitcher Jason Marquis knew the length of his outing today would be greatly influenced by Saturday’s outcome. But he didn’t want any hints.
“Whether they are using me with no limitations if we win (Saturday) or planning on having me go just four innings and 65 pitches if we lose, I don’t want to know,” Marquis said.
Here was his take on the Rockies’ playoff scenario: “The division crown doesn’t mean much to me. That’s more of an ego thing. What’s important is the possibility of getting home-field advantage in the playoffs. That’s huge.”
Footnotes.
Dodgers outfielder Manny Ramirez wasn’t panicking after his four-strikeout performance Friday night. He showed up Saturday and joked that he needed to switch to new contact lenses. . . . Joe Beimel, a former Dodger, was lustily booed when he came into the game Friday. “I guess I am a masochist. But I loved it,” Beimel said. “The louder, the better.”
Patrick Saunders and Troy E. Renck, The Denver Post
