PHOENIX — Most major-league players love to tell you how they don’t watch the scoreboard. But Troy Tulowitzki isn’t among them.
“I’ve always said, I scoreboard watch from the first game of the season,” Tulowitzki said. “I want to realize what other teams in the division are doing. I’m not afraid to say it. I’m not going to act like I don’t care about the race.
“I go from inning to inning. I’m a player who can look at the scoreboard and still be into what I’m doing.”
Tulowitzki won’t have to follow the Giants on some scoreboard this weekend. He’ll see them up close and personal at Coors Field, where the Rockies’ season will be on the line the next six days.
The Dodgers will follow the Giants for a three-game series next week, but those games will be anticlimactic if the Rockies don’t take care of business against San Francisco.
As in win two out of three, if not complete the sweep.
“Obviously, playing the Giants, there are still going to be a lot of positives out there for us,” Rockies manager Jim Tracy said. “As I said a while back, we can’t be .500 and have things turn out in our favor. But you know what? We’ve been a beast at home.”
No matter how ugly things have gotten on the road, the Rockies have found a way to rev it up at Coors Field. They have won 51 out of 75 games in LoDo, matching their home win total from 2009 with six home dates remaining.
They’re hitting .304 at home, .230 on the road. They’re averaging 6.02 runs a game at home, 3.68 on the road. Moral to the story: They have the Giants right where they want them.
Or so it seems.
The Giants’ offense has been wildly erratic of late — they scored 13 runs Thursday at Wrigley Field, but scored one run or fewer in seven of their previous 11 games — but they’ll have two-time Cy Young Award winner Tim Lincecum on the mound for tonight’s series opener against Jhoulys Chacin. Barry Zito will pitch the second game against Jason Hammel, who looms as a major question mark after being pulled from his last start because of shoulder fatigue, before Jorge De La Rosa and Matt Cain hook up in Sunday’s series finale.
The Rockies are 8-7 against the Giants, including 4-2 at Coors Field. But those numbers won’t mean much, if anything, tonight when Lincecum comes calling. This isn’t the Lincecum who misplaced his mechanics in August, when he lost all five of his starts and racked up a 7.82 ERA. This is a rejuvenated Lincecum, an elite power pitcher who is 3-1, 2.36 in September.
“Everybody sees what’s in our reach,” Lincecum told the San Jose Mercury News. “We’re playing for a cause. I have to keep my poise and not let my emotions get the best of me.”
Chacin beat Lincecum 6-3 on July 2 at Coors Field, but that game seems like ancient history. To wit: Clint Barmes, who hit a two-run homer that day, has been benched for the past several weeks. And Pablo Sandoval, the Giants’ starting third baseman, may be on the bench tonight watching Juan Uribe play third.
Lincecum isn’t the only starter in the series who has turned things around in recent weeks. Chacin is 2-0 with a 1.16 ERA in four September starts, and is 4-1, 1.88 since Aug. 1.
Chacin is a mere 22, but he knows games such as tonight’s can help forge a pitcher’s reputation.
“I know it’s going to be a big game,” Chacin said. “I just want to be relaxed and do what I’ve been doing. We’ve been waiting for this moment.
“We’re close to the Giants and Padres, and this series is going to tell whether we’re going to make it or not. I hope the team can be together — hitting, defense and pitching — so we still have a chance to make the playoffs.”
Jim Armstrong: 303-954-1269 or jmarmstrong@denverpost.com
