The Rockies beat the Los Angeles Dodgers on Saturday night. We only mention it because, well, the Rockies beat the Los Angeles Dodgers!
Yes, for one night at least, there was an end to the trend. The Rockies, who had lost 20 of their previous 26 games to the Dodgers, won convincingly, 11-3, before a crowd of 43,261 at Coors Field.
For the number crunchers in the crowd, the victory was Jim Tracy’s 100th as the Rockies’ manager and came on his one-year anniversary on the job. Tracy is 100-65, but even his teams have struggled vs. the Dodgers.
“I know for a fact that we’ve played them competitively as heck in games I’ve managed in,” Tracy said. “We’ve played some tremendous games.”
But they haven’t won many. A breakdown of Tracy’s 100-65 record: 5-9 against the Dodgers, 95-56 against all other opponents.
Granted, what happened between the Rockies and Dodgers last season, or pre-Tracy, isn’t particularly relevant to this season. What’s relevant is this: The Dodgers were 14-4 within the National League West before Saturday, the Rockies 10-9.
The Rockies, who had lost three out of four to the Dodgers this season, had to start reversing the trend, particularly with left-hander Clayton Kershaw, who threw eight shutout innings at the Rockies last month, scheduled to pitch today.
And they did, thanks to 6 1/3 solid innings from Aaron Cook (2-3) and a lineup in which eight players had at least one hit. Oh, and don’t forget the defense.
Carlos Gonzalez, who hit his third home run of the homestand, made arguably the best catch of the season by a Rockies outfielder in the third inning.
“I was just running like crazy,” Gonzalez said. “It feels really good when the pitcher knows we have his back. It’s something special we have here. It’s not all about hitting.”
Manny Ramirez was Gonzalez’s victim. He hit a looping fly ball to short right-center that appeared destined to drive in the Dodgers’ first run. Instead, Gonzalez sprinted from deep center field and laid out for the ball, snatching it before it hit the grass.
One inning later, Troy Tulowitzki went to his right and made a marvelous diving stab of James Loney’s line drive. Add a double play started by Ian Stewart with two runners on in the first and it was another lights-out night with the gloves.
“I can’t say enough,” said Cook, when asked about the defense behind him. “Gonzalez, Tulo laying out . . . Ian Stewart. That’s what’s really unique about this team. We’re not one-dimensional.”
They’re also not staring at a sweep with Kershaw, who beat Ubaldo Jimenez at Dodger Stadium, pitching today. Instead, the Rockies have won seven out of nine and are in position to win yet another series at home, where they’re 5-1 with one split.
“This is definitely good for us,” Cook said. “We haven’t played up to our potential against them, but now we’ve got a chance to win the series. That’s huge.”
Jim Armstrong: 303-954-1269 or jmarmstrong@denverpost.com
Looking ahead
TODAY: Dodgers at Rockies, 1:10 p.m., FSN
Jhoulys Chacin (3-2, 3.09 ERA) is a tale of two pitchers. When he has command early in the count, he can be dominant. If not, he struggles. His changeup drops off the table, leaving hitters to swing above the ball. Clayton Kershaw (4-3, 2.90) is one of the hottest pitchers in the game with a 0.64 ERA in his last four starts. He shut out the Rockies through eight innings on May 9.
Jim Armstrong, The Denver Post
Upcoming pitching matchups
Monday: Rockies’ Ubaldo Jimenez (9-1, 0.88 ERA) at Giants’ Tim Lincecum (5-1, 3.00), 2:05 p.m., FSN
Tuesday: Rockies’ Jason Hammel (2-3, 6.93) at Giants’ Barry Zito (6-2, 2.94), 8:15 p.m., FSN
Wednesday: Rockies’ Jeff Francis (1-1, 2.89) at Giants’ Matt Cain (3-4, 2.50), 8:15 p.m., FSN
Thursday: Off
