Wells, Nix, Bowie all play key roles in win at St. Louis

By Tracy Ringolsby, Rocky Mountain News

Tuesday, April 1, 2008

Photo by Chris Schneider

Troy Tulowitzki reacts after beating the tag by Yadier Molina and scoring the tying run in the 8th inning of the Colorado Rockies season opener against the St. Louis Cardinals at Busch Stadium in St. Louis.

There are only a handful of new faces on the Rockies roster this year.

But one game into the season, their presence has been felt.

After rain forced a one-day delay to the beginning of their defense of the first National League pennant in franchise history, the Rockies pulled out a 2-1 season-opening victory against the St. Louis Cardinals at Busch Stadium on Tuesday night.

The old hands played their role, especially shortstop Troy Tulowitz ki, who turned in the game-settling defensive gem in the first inning, then provided the spark to a game-winning rally in the eighth with a heads-up play, forcing the issue with no one out and scoring on a slow roller to third, aided by a Troy Glaus throwing error.

"Kind of instincts," Tulowitzki said. "You see a slow roller, you have to put pressure on the defense. We were struggling to get runs home. . . . I felt we had to take a shot."

It was Kip Wells, making his Rockies debut as an emergency starter, who allowed only one run, a Yadier Molina home run, in 5 1/3 innings. And it was journeyman left-hander Micah Bowie, who in the start of his 16th pro season found a memory in his first Rockies appearance by taking over for Wells and getting an inning-ending double play ball from Rick Ankiel.

"There are still nerves, even at this point (in the career)," Wells said. "You always want to come in an make a good impression."

And it was Jayson Nix, the only new face in the lineup and lone rookie among the position players, who shook off those major league debut jitters and wound up with a meaningful moment.

After Randy Flores came on with the bases loaded and struck out Brad Hawpe and Yorvit Torrealba, Nix worked the Cardinals left-handed reliever for the game- deciding walk.

"Guess the wait wasn't so bad," said first baseman Todd Helton, who keyed the two-run eighth with a double.

Well, not for the Rockies, it wasn't.

But the Cardinals saw disappointment from that Monday rainout - when they had a 5-1 lead in the third inning wiped out - turn to frustration when they couldn't close out the Rockies in front of those among the announced sellout crowd of 45,996 who actually ignored the damp Midwest cold to show up for the delayed opener.

The Rockies, meanwhile, took the first step in what they hope will be a season that reinforces the credibility they earned by winning 14 of their final 15 regular- season games last year to claim the NL wild card. They then swept Philadelphia in the NL Division Series and Arizona in the NL Championship Series before being beaten by Boston in the World Series.

"We like to feel our key is that we pitch and play good defense, which gives us an opportunity to stay in a game and win a game," manager Clint Hurdle said. "This is not something we haven't done before."

They got solid pitching, capped by bullpen holdovers Brian Fuentes in the eighth and Manny Corpas in the ninth, who put the finishing touches on the victory with perfect innings, and initiated by Wells, who was dumped late last season from the Cardinals rotation and was the odd man out in the battle for the final spots in the Rockies rotation in spring training.

He got the start in the season opener because Jeff Francis threw 69 pitches in retiring only seven batters - giving up five runs - before the heavy rain forced postponement of the scheduled opener.

Wells made good on the opportunity to make an in-your-face statement to Cardinals manager Tony La Russa and pitching coach Dave Duncan, with the help of a couple key defensive plays.

After Skip Schumaker led off the first inning drawing a walk, Tulowitzki helped make sure that the four-run St. Louis first Monday was not about to be repeated. He made a diving stop of a Chris Duncan groundball up the middle, flipping to Nix to start a double play.

And after Duncan led off the fourth with a single, Torrealba served notice the throwing woes that plagued him the past two years might be gone, getting Duncan, who was running as Albert Pujols struck out, with a perfect throw to second.

"The home runs get the attention, but we like to feel we play the game right, and we give ourselves a chance to win by doing that," Helton said.

On Tuesday, the Rockies took advantage of the chance.

THREE KEYS TO THE GAME

Three keys to the Rockies' 2-1 win against the St. Louis Cardinals on Tuesday night at Busch Stadium:

1 With two out and the bases loaded in the eighth, Jayson Nix worked Cardinals left-handed reliever Randy Flores for the game-deciding walk. Flores had just struck out Brad Hawpe and Yorvit Torrealba.

2 Troy Tulowitzki, breaking on contact on Matt Holliday's slow roller to third, forced a throwing error by Troy Glaus and scored in the eighth inning to tie the score 1-1.

3 Left-hander Micah Bowie took over for starter Kip Wells with one out and two on in the sixth, and four pitches later, he got Rick Ankiel to ground into an inning-ending double play.

Etc.

Rockies starter Kip Wells functioned well from the stretch, holding the Cardinals to one hit for six at-bats with runners on base. St. Louis put the leadoff hitter on in four of the six innings Wells started but scored only once against him. . . . With Albert Pujols batting, Rockies catcher Yorvit Torrealba caught Chris Duncan at second to complete a strike-him- out, throw-him-out double play in the fourth inning. Torrealba threw out only 13-of-74 runners last season. . . . Brad Hawpe had three strikeouts in an 0-for-4 game. Hawpe had eight strikeouts in 16 at-bats in last year's World Series against the Red Sox. . . . This marked the second time in club history the Rockies have had their season opener delayed by one day. In 1996, Philadelphia postponed the opener against the Rockies one day before the game was scheduled to be played. . . . The game-time temperature at Busch Stadium was 46 degrees.

NUMBERS GAME

57 consecutive games in which St. Louis manager Tony La Russa has had the pitcher bat eighth.

FIXING FRANCIS

Rockies manager Clint Hurdle and pitching coach Bob Apodaca met with left-hander Jeff Francis. The subject was getting Francis back on track for his scheduled start Saturday.

Francis struggled in Monday's rained-out game. He started with 10 consecutive balls and never recovered, allowing five runs and nine baserunners - five on walks - in 21/3 innings.

Hurdle said he thought Francis lacked his usual precision because he was too deliberate in his delivery. That will be addressed in throwing sessions.

SECOND THOUGHTS

The Dodgers had a choice between Marcus Giles and Alex Cintron to sign as a fill-in at third base. They opted for Giles. They were left short-handed.

Giles, given his release by the Rockies after losing out in the second base battle during spring training, signed with the Dodgers, prompting Cintron to sign with Baltimore.

Giles was to report to Triple-A Las Vegas for 10 days of work at third base before being activated.

On his way from his home in San Diego, he decided he didn't want to join the Dodgers and returned home, leaving the Dodgers without an alternate plan.

HE SAID IT

"There are no cars, no horses and I haven't seen Bob Gibson."

Hurdle, on the lack of pomp and circumstance surrounding the second attempt to play Opening Day at Busch Stadium.

Gerry Fraley contributed to this report.

• April 2, 2008

  9:57 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  pianotwinkles writes:

  On a side note, I met Micah Bowie at Spring Training, and he is not only apparently a good pitcher, but also a very nice guy.