Holliday provides quick fix for Rockies

Fastest nine-inning game at Coors won by two-run homer

By Tracy Ringolsby, Rocky Mountain News

Monday, April 7, 2008

David Zalubowski / Associated Press

Matt Holliday hit safely in all six games the Rockies played last week, leading the NL with a .480 average and 10 RBI. He also had a .880 slugging percentage and .519 on-base percentage.

David Zalubowski / Associated Press

Rockies starter Aaron Cook gave up one run (in the first) in seven innings. "After I gave up that run, I stepped off the mound and told myself, 'Let's get going here,' " he said.

Rockies left fielder Matt Holliday turned frustration into celebration at Coors Field on Monday night.

Holliday got himself out in the sixth inning against Atlanta left-hander Tom Glavine. He tried to pull a two-strike changeup away and popped up to center field, leaving the bases loaded.

Holliday made a statement two innings later. He cut through the damp cold to drive a first-pitch fastball from Blaine Boyer to straight-away center field, rallying the Rockies to a 2-1 victory and putting to rest the team's five-game losing streak.

"It's big," Holliday said. "We haven't been swinging the bats at all. The pitchers have done a good job of keeping us in games, but we haven't hit squat."

And the pitching was especially strong in what was the fastest nine-inning game - 2 hours, five minutes - in Coors Field history.

Aaron Cook locked in on his sinker to bounce back from giving up a first-inning run to register 13 of the final 15 outs in his seven innings on groundballs.

And after Matt Herges pitched a perfect eighth, Manny Corpas rebounded from a blown save in Sunday's 5-2 loss to Arizona to earn his second save of the season, at the expense of the Braves.

"Hopefully, this will get us going," Holliday said.

Other than the memories of last year's National League pennant, there hasn't been much to celebrate for the Rockies so far this season.

They have scored 12 runs in seven games, a season-high three in Saturday's 8-3 loss to Arizona. Both wins have been by 2-1 scores and both times it has been with an eighth-inning rally - at St. Louis in the opener April 1, then Monday.

The Rockies have played with a lead in only 10 innings in the seven games, and seven of those innings came Sunday, when they took a 1-0 lead in the first and nursed it until Corpas gave up Mark Reynolds' two-run home run in the ninth.

They have only six hits in 54 at-bats with a runner in scoring position, including the Holliday home run, which came after Troy Tulowitzki led off the eighth with a double and Todd Helton struck out looking.

Holliday came up in the eighth with only one hit in six previous at-bats with runners in scoring position, including the frustration of the sixth, when he took a first pitch strike from Glavine, fouled off the second pitch, then reached out and tried to sweep a changeup away instead of driving it into right field.

"It was a bad pitch to hit to begin with, and if you were going to try and hit it, it was a pitch you had to try and drive to the big part of the outfield," Holliday said.

Holliday said that at-bat went through his mind when he walked to the plate in the eighth.

"I just told myself to go up there and get a good pitch to drive," Holliday said. "I just stopped thinking about mechanics and trying to do different things. I was focused on getting a pitch to drive and driving it."

He got it. He drove it. The Rockies won.

"I'm the eternal optimist," manager Clint Hurdle said. "Every time a guy goes up, I am thinking he's going to get a hit. It sounds silly, but it's the way I feel."

As hard as Holliday hit the ball - "The back side was flat," he said - the elements conspired to allow it to not clear center field by much. Not that it mattered to Holliday.

"It went far enough," he said.

Far enough to carry the Rockies into a sudden binge of success?

"You have to feel whatever is happening won't last," Holliday said. "We have a track record (of hitting). It's not like we were a fluke (last year) and have never hit before."

What's encouraging for the Rockies are efforts such as the one Cook turned in against the Braves and the way Corpas bounced back.

Kelly Johnson did greet him with a single, but four pitches later, the game was over. Yunel Escobar grounded into a double play on an 0-1 pitch and Chipper Jones grounded out on a 1-0 pitch.

That came after Cook was the victim of a first-inning run - Escobar singled with one out and Jones doubled him home - but got himself quickly under control.

"One thing that has been a problem for me has been something happens in the first inning and gets away," Cook said. "After I gave up that run, I stepped off the mound and told myself, 'Let's get going here.' "

THREE KEYS

Three keys to the Rockies' 2-1 win against the Atlanta Braves on Monday night at Coors Field:

1 Matt Holliday, who left the bases loaded in the sixth inning, unloaded on a first-pitch fastball and delivered the winning, two-run home run off reliever Blaine Boyer in the eighth.

2 Closer Manny Corpas, who suffered a blown save Sunday against Arizona, was greeted by Kelly Johnson's leadoff single in the ninth but got Yunel Escobar to ground into a double play and Chipper Jones to ground out.

3 After getting only two outs in the first two innings on groundballs, right-hander Aaron Cook got his sinker working and registered the final 15 outs in his seven innings on groundballs.

ETC.

First baseman Todd Helton was held hitless for the first time this season, but he did draw two of the three walks issued by Atlanta left-hander Tom Glavine. Helton's six-game season-opening hitting streak was the third longest of his career to start a season. He hit in seven in a row in 2006 and 10 in a row to start 2000. . . . The previous fastest nine-inning game at Coors Field was 2:06 between the Rockies and Milwaukee on July 31, 2006. . . . The Braves were held hitless from the second through eighth innings. . . . Matt Holliday received his 2007 National League Louisville Slugger Sliver Slugger award and also a trophy commemorating his 2007 National League batting title before the game. . . . Holliday has been selected to the Silver Slugger team the past two seasons, becoming the fourth Rockies player to earn the award multiple times. Helton was selected from 2000 to 2003, Mike Hampton in 2001 and 2002 and Vinny Castilla in 1997 and 1998. . . . Atlanta is wearing a patch on the left jersey sleeve this year that reads "BEACH" and honors the late Jim Beauchamp, a former major league player and longtime Braves coach and minor league instructor who died on Christmas after a lengthy battle against Leukemia.

NUMBERS GAME

28 degrees for the Rockies-Montreal game on April 12, 1997, the lowest temperature for a game in Rockies history. It was 41 degrees at first pitch Monday night.

WELCOME BACK

Right-handed pitcher Ryan Speier started the season at Triple-A Colorado Springs and joined the Rockies on Sunday, replacing injured Luis Vizcaino.

Speier won't be brought along slowly. He earned the respect of the team with the way he pitched down the stretch last year.

"We have a history with him," manager Clint Hurdle said. "He was as important a part of our bullpen as anyone last September and October. He had a save in the playoffs and won three games (during the 14-1 finish to the regular season)."

Speier was sent down at the end of spring training because he had options, meaning the Rockies did not have to risk losing him on waivers.

Speier led the Pacific Coast League with 33 saves last year and he appeared in 20 games with the Rockies during three separate stints.

He recorded one out Sunday while allowing a hit, a walk and striking out one.

HE SAID IT

"It is the proverbial dog on the pond. Above water he is cool, calm, collect. Below water, he is a paddling son of a gun. He'll be fine. He's got strong support (in the clubhouse). There are a lot of games to play."

Hurdle, on rookie second baseman Jayson Nix.