A man has to multi-task in this 21st century of ours. Take Jason Hammel, for instance. He pitched eight shutout innings Saturday night and sprinted home with the game’s only run.
“I’ve got to do everything around here,” Hammel said.
He was kidding, but his pitching was serious. And he has a lot of company in the Rockies’ rotation.
What, you thought the Rockies rocked in 2009, when their team ERA was 4.22? They’re at 3.62 and counting down after Saturday’s 1-0 win over the Toronto Blue Jays at Coors Field.
The Rockies of ’09 racked up seven shutouts. These Rockies just put their eighth in the books in mid-June. Good thing, because this team keeps talking about hitting as opposed to actually doing it.
“Offensively . . . obviously we got a run,” Rockies manager Jim Tracy said.
They got a run, all right — on a broken-bat sacrifice fly by Carlos Gonzalez after their pitcher walked to open the sixth inning. That was it. Other than that, it was all on Hammel and Manuel Corpas, who came on in the ninth to pick up his eighth save.
Oh, and the defense. The Rockies had more boots than a Texas chili cook-off in April, but they have turned things around in recent weeks. Saturday night, Clint Barmes, filling in for an injured Troy Tulowitzki at shortstop, made two brilliant plays to end the seventh, including a backhanded stab and floater to first base that would have made Tulo’s highlight reel.
“I really feel like, offensively, we’ll get there,” Tracy said. “And if you combine that with our pitching and defense, we’ll get better as a baseball team. In the meantime, if we have to win 1-0 or 2-1 or 3-2, then that’s what we’re going to do.”
The Go-Go Rox? No. Not if you saw Todd Helton thrown out by 6 feet at third base while trying to advance from second on an out at first. And not if you saw Helton gunned down at the plate by 15 feet while trying to score from second on a single in the sixth.
Throw-Throw Rox is more like it. Hammel, the No. 5 starter in the rotation in 2009, has pitched 18 consecutive scoreless innings. His ERA in his last four outings is the stuff of Ubaldo Jimenez: 0.99.
Granted, the Blue Jays, who lead the majors with 99 home runs, have hit a dry well of late to the tune of .168 over seven games. But Hammel completely dominated them, allowing one runner to reach third base.
Tracy called it “extremely difficult” to follow Jimenez in the rotation, but Hammel doesn’t seem to think so. In fact, he credits Jimenez for helping him stay focused.
“Obviously, one guy goes out and pitches really well, you want to follow with a good outing yourself,” said Hammel, whose eight innings were a season high. “That’s how momentum builds and teams go on winning streaks.
“Ubaldo speaks for himself. He’s got great stuff and he’s been doing it all year. I’ve turned a corner, and I’m very confident right now that we can keep doing it.”
Jim Armstrong: 303-954-1269 or jmarmstrong@denverpost.com
