A weekend worth forgetting for the Rockies
| August 31, 2009 | 12:28 AM
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When the Colorado Rockies next take the field, it will be September and the team that was swept in three games over the weekend to the San Francisco Giants will have changed. Major league rosters expand Tuesday, and almost certain to be among the Rockies that host the New York Mets that night will be Jason Giambi as well as a handful of other players from Colorado Springs. Perhaps the new faces will help distract the Rockies from the weekend they’ve just had.
The 2-0 loss in Friday’s series opener, while disappointing, can be written off simply as the result of facing Tim Lincecum once too often. Ubaldo Jimenez, as he did in their previous meeting, again matched up well with Lincecum. But this time the Rockies could not break through offensively.
Saturday’s 5-3 loss was more disappointing. Barry Zito seems only to be the Barry Zito the Giants are paying $18.5 million a year when he faces the Rockies. Zito has allowed just two runs in 21 1/3 innings against the Rockies this season, one of those a solo home run to Brad Hawpe in the ninth inning Saturday. Hawpe, however, didn’t have much luck against Zito when he came up with the bases loaded in the sixth inning of a 2-0 game. That time he flied out on the first pitch he saw, ending the Rockies’ best chance to score until the ninth inning when they were already down five runs.
But it was Sunday’s 9-5 loss that was the most heartbreaking. The Rockies controlled the game for the first six and a half innings after picking apart Giants starter Matt Cain. They entered the bottom of the seventh with a 5-2 lead, and the double play Hawpe had just hit into to end the top of the seventh looked incidental. But the Rockies bullpen, which had been untouched since their last win Tuesday against the Los Angeles Dodgers, imploded and the Rockies left the inning down 6-5. They had chances to come back with rallies in the eighth and ninth innings, both of which ended in strikeouts.
It was a weekend when the Rockies pitched well but couldn’t hit. When they hit they couldn’t pitch. For a few innings, they could do neither. But consistently over the weekend — as it has been for the better part of two weeks — the Rockies have been unable to deliver the killer blow early in games. Their last three wins have came thanks to a seven-run sixth inning, a 14th-inning grand slam and a 10th-inning single.
Almost certain to be lost in the next few days is the fact that the Rockies have a share of National League wild-card lead, albeit it in a tie with the Giants. The Rockies start a 10-game stretch in the comfort of Coors Field against three teams with no hope of playing in the postseason. Most importantly, they will have among them key players who know they are joining a pennant race after a weekend in which it felt for a moment like the team was leaving one. A fresh perspective could help. So, too, could a clutch hit now and then.
Journals, Sports, Steve Foster
barry zito, brad hawpe, colorado rockies, jason giambi, los angeles dodgers, san francisco giants, tim lincecum, ubaldo jimenez
