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Rockies feeling a bit rattled

Party barely begins before Diamondbacks rear ugly heads

By Tracy Ringolsby, Rocky Mountain News

Published April 4, 2008 at 5:40 p.m.
Updated April 4, 2008 at 9:53 p.m.

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The Rockies' Matt Holliday throws his helmet in disgust after striking out to end the fourth inning Friday. He equaled a career high by striking out four times, a first for him at Coors Field.

Photo by Matt McClain / The Rocky

The Rockies' Matt Holliday throws his helmet in disgust after striking out to end the fourth inning Friday. He equaled a career high by striking out four times, a first for him at Coors Field.

A member of the grounds crew totes a base with the Opening Day logo.

Photo by Barry Gutierrez / The Rocky

A member of the grounds crew totes a base with the Opening Day logo.

After the singing of the national anthem, jets from the Colorado Air National Guard's 120th Fighter Squadron roar over Coors Field on Friday afternoon.

Photo by Joe Mahoney / The Rocky

After the singing of the national anthem, jets from the Colorado Air National Guard's 120th Fighter Squadron roar over Coors Field on Friday afternoon.

Rockies shortstop Troy Tulowitzki makes an error on a ball hit by Justin Upton of the Diamondbacks during the third inning Friday at Coors Field. The Rockies defense, usually solid, committed two errors.

Photo by Chris Schneider / The Rocky

Rockies shortstop Troy Tulowitzki makes an error on a ball hit by Justin Upton of the Diamondbacks during the third inning Friday at Coors Field. The Rockies defense, usually solid, committed two errors.

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Coors went flat, in a hurry.

Friday afternoon began as a celebration of the National League pennant the Rockies won a year ago, the pomp and circumstance of a home opener at Coors Field taking on added emotion with the memories of last year's postseason rekindled.

Arizona wasn't impressed, pouncing on the Rockies with a three-run first inning en route to an 8-1 victory.

The Rockies swept the Diamondbacks in the NL Championship Series in October, and while that can't be undone, Arizona short-circuited the electricity of the largest sellout crowd in Coors Field regular-season history.

The final words of the national anthem barely were uttered when Arizona took the first steps to a win against a surprisingly punchless Rockies lineup. Micah Owings combined with relievers Chad Qualls and Nelson Cruz to limit the Rockies to two hits in a Coors Field game for only the fifth time since the park opened in 1995.

It was only the Rockies' third loss in their past 13 games with Arizona, including the NLCS.

"It was most obviously not how you want to open up (at home)," said shortstop Troy Tulowitzki, "but it was nice to get in front of the fans again. They were awesome. They were loud. It was neat to be part of that."

The same can't be said for being part of an offense that is considered the Rockies' strength, but four games resulting in three losses to start the 2008 season has created some concerns.

"Obviously, it is hard to believe, but things go in streaks," third baseman Garrett Atkins said. "When you start the season in a bad one, it is amplified, but we have lots of good hitters in here. Things will change."

So far, though, the Rockies have gone bust with the bat.

Owings, a Rockies draft choice out of high school who revised his bonus demands when it came time to sign, was impressive in his 62/3-inning domination of the Rockies. He struck out a career-best nine. He allowed only Willy Taveras' leadoff double in the first - after which he retired 17 in a row - and a Todd Helton home run in the seventh.

"He pitched great, but also, we were excited, trying to do too much," Tulowitzki said. "I get in trouble trying to do too much sometimes. Sometimes, I don't relax and let the game come to me."

While Todd Helton is hitting .313 and Atkins .267, Tulowitzki and the rest of the lineup regulars are all below .200. Even in the season-opening victory in St. Louis, the Rockies scored on an error and a bases- loaded walk. They are 3-for-28 with runners in scoring position. Matt Holliday is not only 1-for-11, but he equaled a career high with four strikeouts Friday, the first time he has done that at Coors Field.

"Matt is hard on himself, too," Tulowitzki said. "He gets angry. One thing we are going to do is work hard and gets things where they should be."

No sense wasting time. Holliday and Tulowitzki were among a handful of Rockies hitters who went straight from the field to the batting cage after the game Friday, then Holliday went to the video room to dissect his at-bats.

"We've got a lot of good hitters," Holliday said. "Somebody is going to pay for this, at some point."

Right now, the price is being paid by the Rockies pitching staff. They aren't as sharp as they need to be, and they aren't getting any help hiding that.

Left-hander Mark Redman lives off his ability to throw strikes, but he walked Chris Young to start the game Friday. When Yorvit Torrealba threw wide of second base in an attempt to get a force of Young on Chris Burke's ensuing bunt, the Diamondbacks had a three-run inning under way. After issuing a one-out walk to Eric Byrnes to load the bases, Redman gave up a run-scoring single to Chris Snyder and a two-run double to Mark Reynolds before Justin Upton struck out and Stephen Drew flied out.

The Diamondbacks added single runs in each of the final five innings, including home runs from Reynolds off Redman in the fifth and Upton off Matt Herges in the seventh.

"The more we don't hit, the more pressure it is on our pitchers," Holliday said. "We haven't given them a comfort level. We haven't done our job.

"We have a track record. We are who we are. We've got guys who can hit."

They aren't hitting yet, though.

NUMBERS GAME

4strikeouts for Matt Holliday in four at-bats, equaling his personal high for strikeouts in a game. Holliday struck out four times at Milwaukee on July 13, 2007 - he did hit a home run - and went 0-for-5 with four strikeouts and a flyball to right at Wrigley Field against the Cubs on Oct. 1, 2006.

HEALING

Right-handed pitcher Jason Hirsh threw a weighted ball against a trampoline for the first baseball-related activity to test his strained right rotator cuff in a week. Hirsh said he expects to play catch with trainer Keith Dugger on Monday.

"I had three sets of 20 throws and it felt good - the strength was good," Hirsh said.

Hirsh said even if things go well, though, he figures he will need two weeks to build up strength, then would go to the extended spring training program in Tucson before being sent on a minor league medical-rehabilitation assignment.

That would seem to make it unlikely he would return before late May.

CROWDED

The 49,233 tickets sold was a Coors Field record for a regular-season game. The previous record was 48,169 for the Rockies' 2007 season opener against Arizona.

The record for tickets sold is 51,267 for the 1998 All-Star Game. Five of the six postseason games at Coors Field last year exceeded 50,000 tickets sold, and the other game, Game 3 of the World Series, ranks seventh best on the single-game sales list, with 49,983.

A key difference is that, for the postseason and All-Star Game, there are no complimentary tickets issued.

HE SAID IT

"We would have loved to have played our best game. We didn't do that."

Clint Hurdle, manager, on the 8-1 loss to Arizona in the home opener at sold-out Coors Field.

Three keys

Three keys to the Rockies' 8-1 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks on Friday afternoon at Coors Field:

1 After Arizona center fielder Chris Young led off the game with a walk, Chris Burke put down a bunt and catcher Yorvit Torrealba threw wide to second for what would have been a forceout of Young. The Diamondbacks parlayed that opportunity into a three-run first inning.

2 Center fielder Willy Taveras led off the bottom of the first with a double, but Arizona right-hander Micah Owings responded by retiring the next 17 batters.

3 All three Rockies relievers allowed a run. Justin Upton homered off Matt Herges. With one out in the eighth, Burke walked and Orlando Hudson doubled off Taylor Buchholz to drive him in. And in the ninth, Augie Ojeda had a two- out, RBI single off Manny Corpas. Etc.

The Rockies are starting three left- handers in the Arizona series. They also started the same three lefties - Mark Redman, Jeff Francis and Franklin Morales - in San Diego on Sept. 21-23 last season. Before that, the Rockies hadn't used three lefties in a three-game series since they did it twice in 2004, when Shawn Estes, Jeff Fassero and Joe Kennedy started June 18-20 against Baltimore and May 28-30 at San Francisco. . . . Ryan Spilborghs grounded into a double play as a pinch hitter Friday, but he still wound up with his first hit this season. The official scorer in St. Louis reversed the game-opening call from Thursday - it originally was ruled an error on Cardinals shortstop Cesar Izturis - and ruled it an infield hit for Spil- borghs. . . . All seven Arizona home runs have been with the bases empty. . . . The Rockies play 29 games in the 30 days of April. With the season opener pushed back by rain to Tuesday in St. Louis, the Rockies start the season with games on 13 consecutive days, then, after having April 14 off in San Diego, Colorado will play the next 16 consecutive days.

Comments

  • April 5, 2008

    9:49 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    bluesman writes:

    What no writer from Denver is mentioning about opening day (and of course a Rockie shill like Ringolsby would never have the backbone to say) is Hurdle's unbelievable decision in the bottom of the sixth inning with one out to let Matt Herges hit for himself and not pinch hit Podsednik. It was like Hurdle was throwing in the towel in the sixth inning. Clint Hurdle gets an A+ grade from me for being a quality human being. Hurdle gets an A grade from me for setting a comfortable playing environment for his players to produce in. But, Hurdle gets a D+ grade from me for his game day decisions. There is not another manager in the major leagues that would not have pinch hit for the pitcher in that situation. It would be like if Mike Shanahan was down 17-0 in the middle of the 3rd quarter and facing a 3rd and 15 on his own 20--frustrated at his own ineffective offensive--he decided to punt on third down!! I am also wondering why Hurdle put Podsednik on the roster.
    He has started Spilborghs in CF already against right-handed pitching and has pinch hit Spilborghs twice against right-handed pitching. While Spilborghs put up some great numbers last year--most of it was his .356 batting average against left-handed pitching. (though in fairness Spilborghs was adequate against righties--but I doubt that he will hit over .250 against them this year) With the team in an offensive funk--why Podsednik has not gotten some AB's against right-handed pitching is curious.

  • April 5, 2008

    2:31 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    mjo1985 writes:

    Great point! Podsedik should of pinch hit in this situation. Why even have him on the roster? Chalk that one up with why Hurdle would put in Carroll at the end of games for "defersive reasons." Glad that I dont have to relive that again this year.

  • April 6, 2008

    10:05 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    mw006 writes:

    It's already apparent the rockies must do something to strengthen their starting pitching. Francis is the weakest number one starter in their division. The same can be said of Aaron Cook at the snumber 2 spot. Spots 3 through five consist of mediocre journeyman and youthful promise. Morales and Jiminez are going to have to be lights out for this rotation to get it done. Nobody would put a serious bet on this other than, it appears, rockies management. It was imprudent of them to go into this season expecting to bank on this rotation.

    This weak starting pitching is likely to have a harmful effect on the hitting . When a team finds itself consistently down early in the game, it's especially difficult to battle back against superior pitching. Psychologically, you can't relax as well as when you know your pitching is going to cosnsitently keep you in the game.

    I think the rockies can also be faulted for handing the second base job to Jason Nix and releasing Marcus Giles. Already it appears he can't be expected to hit much (Hurdle has already pinch hit for him). With their weak starting pitching, they simply can't afford to have a weak hitters anyhere in their lineup. Giles was a veteran, a former all-star, and having a fine spring. The best they can do now is go with Barmes as their number one and hope he returns to his earlier form.

    The rockies have a surplus of minor league talent. It's clear there is not going to be a place for some of them in the next few years. They need to package some of these players to pick up at least one quality starting pitcher.