MIAMI — Forget kicking back in man-cave big-boy chairs. The Rockies have a way of keeping their fans on the edge of their seats.
They were no-hit for 5 2/3 innings Sunday. Nothing too out of the ordinary there. They were no-hit for eight innings Friday night and for 6 1/3 innings a week ago at Coors Field.
How could they come so close to infamy so often in the span of a week? Simple. Nasty pitching.
Two-time Cy Young Award winner Tim Lincecum held them hitless into the seventh last Monday. Friday, it was Anibal Sanchez’s turn. He finished with a one-hitter, giving him two one-hitters and a no-hitter in his career.
Sunday, the Rockies were facing Josh Johnson, the early leader in the clubhouse for the National League Cy Young Award. He was 3-0 with a 1.00 ERA before the game and now has taken no-hitters into the sixth, seventh and eighth innings in five starts.
“The guy was pitching his butt off,” said Dexter Fowler, whose sixth-inning double broke up the no-hitter, just as his ninth-inning broken-bat single broke up Sanchez’s no-no in the ninth. “He’s a bulldog out there. You know before you come to the park that you’re going to face a good guy.”
Bullish on the pen.
Rockies relievers had allowed two runs in a span of 25 innings before Matt Belisle served up a three- run homer to Mike Stanton in the eighth.
Name dropping.
Yes, that was Charlie Sheen in the Rockies’ clubhouse before the game. Sheen was chatting up Jason Giambi, who has gotten to know several Hollywood types through his ownership of Vanity, his nightclub in the Hard Rock Casino in Las Vegas. Sheen had played a gig on his traveling show Saturday night in Miami.
Footnotes.
Catcher Jose Morales had won all five of his starts as a Rockie before Sunday’s loss. “He’s done a terrific job, a great job,” Rockies manager Jim Tracy said. “He’s better defensively today than he was when we started spring training. (Saturday) night was maybe the best game he’s caught.” . . . Chris Iannetta is expected to play today in Chicago, though the weather forecast is anything but encouraging. . . . The Rockies aren’t the only ones with some struggling hitters. Hanley Ramirez is riding a 2-for-27 streak that has dropped his average to .182. . . . The Rockies were 13-for-89 (.146) in losing their first road series of the season. . . . How frustrating a loss was it? The Marlins scored all six of their runs with two outs, and on two swings of the bat. . . . Ubaldo Jimenez finished last April 5-0 with a 0.79 ERA. He’ll have one more start against the Pirates this weekend to avoid going winless this April.
Jim Armstrong, The Denver Post
