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Feasting on launch menu

Three home runs cure Colorado's ills against Arizona

By Tracy Ringolsby, Rocky Mountain News

Published April 13, 2008 at 5:59 p.m.
Updated April 13, 2008 at 11:53 p.m.

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Rockies left fielder Matt Holliday, congratulated by Clint Barmes and Garrett Atkins after homering earlier this season, could be shopped to other teams if the Rockies continue their slide.

Photo by Paul Connors / Associated Press

Rockies left fielder Matt Holliday, congratulated by Clint Barmes and Garrett Atkins after homering earlier this season, could be shopped to other teams if the Rockies continue their slide.

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With Troy Tulowitzki struggling early this season, he was given Sunday off by manager Clint Hurdle, much to the shortstop's dismay.

Tulowitzki's teammates showed no mercy.

"Todd (Helton) said I wanted the day off because I don't want to play with a bunch of losers," Tulowitzki said.

They can welcome him back.

Tulowitzki fill-in Clint Barmes helped the Rockies exorcise early-season demons with a 13-5 victory against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field.

After Willy Taveras started the game with a single, Barmes hit a home run, giving the Rockies a first-inning lead for the first time this season.

For the first time in six games this season, the Rockies beat the Diamondbacks, a team they swept in the National League Championship Series in October.

"We have a good team," Hurdle said. "I think a lot of people still don't feel we are a good team because of the questions I'm asked, but we feel we have proven ourselves. We didn't come out of the blocks the way we'd like, but that doesn't mean we won't come back."

Coming off their first NL pennant, the Rockies have stumbled, particularly against Arizona. After a season-opening victory in St. Louis, they suffered a five-game losing streak, the last three against the Diamondbacks at Coors Field.

The Rockies rebounded with a three-game sweep of Atlanta, then lost the first two games in Phoenix before finally making their presence felt against the Diamondbacks.

Now the Rockies take a day off, then begin a three-game series Tuesday at Petco Park in San Diego, the team they beat in the NL wild-card tiebreaker.

The Rockies are aware Padres fans haven't forgotten the question of whether left fielder Matt Holliday touched home when he slid in with the winning run in the 13th inning.

"If anybody is still angry, they need help," Holliday said.

The Rockies helped themselves Sunday. Aaron Cook, who also started the April 7 game in which the Rockies snapped the five-game slide, threw six solid innings. More important, the offense finally met expectations.

The team didn't get angry - at least publicly - about having a club-record-tying four batters hit by pitches. There were a few eyebrows raised when Edgar Gonzalez hit Jayson Nix in the helmet in the third and when Brandon Medders plunked Holliday on the left shoulder in the sixth.

A victory, though, soothed momentary aches and pains.

"We needed to win a ballgame, not against Arizona, but against anybody," Hurdle said. "What I liked was the way we responded every time (Arizona scored)."

The Rockies, limited to four runs or fewer in 10 of their first 11 games and failing to score more than twice in seven of them, had four two-run innings and a four-run rally in the ninth. They scored once in the third.

"When you go out after getting a couple runs to work with in the first inning, you can relax a little," Cook said. "You go out and pitch and know you have some room."

Cook allowed two runs after two were out in the sixth as Arizona trimmed the deficit to 5-3, but he had his sinker working for the second start in a row.

Cook needed only two outfield putouts among the 18 outs he registered. He also struck out four, including Arizona cleanup hitter Mark Reynolds twice looking.

All the time, Tulowitzki, hitting .159 and still looking for his first RBI, was on the bench, providing an emotional push but also absorbing a good-natured ribbing from teammates.

"And he's going to take a real beating now," Hurdle said. "I told him to just watch how the game was played and pull for Barmes. He did a great job. He really spurred (Barmes) on."

Barmes, the Rockies' Opening Day shortstop in 2005 and 2006 and now the team's supersub, responded to his first start this season at shortstop by not only hitting the home run, but he also singled in two runs in the seventh and singled in the ninth. Holliday capped the ninth with a three-run home run.

Garrett Atkins homered in the eighth, after Holliday doubled.

"It's early, and I don't think anybody in here was worried, but this was a big game for us," Barmes said.

NUMBERS GAME

4Rockies were hit by pitches Sunday, equaling the club record. The Rockies had four players hit by pitches July 23, 2003, at the Los Angeles Dodgers, including a club-record three in one inning by Kazuhisa Ishii in the fourth inning. On Sunday, Yorvit Torrealba, by Edgar Gonzalez, and Brad Hawpe, by Jailen Peguero, were hit in lower extremities. Jayson Nix was hit in the helmet by Gonzalez and Matt Holliday was hit in the left shoulder by Brandon Medders. "We keep those (discussions) to ourselves," manager Clint Hurdle said of his reaction to having four players hit.

ON THE HORIZON

Second baseman Kazuo Matsui, the only member of the Rockies' 2007 lineup who didn't return, is expected to make his debut for the Houston Astros against the Rockies at Minute Maid Park this week. The Rockies were willing to give Matsui a two-year deal, but he opted for the three-year, $16.5 million offer from the Astros.

Matsui was sidelined during spring training because of anal fissures and started the season on the disabled list. He is expected to finish a minor league medical rehabilitation assignment by playing for Triple-A Round Rock at Oklahoma City on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.

With Matsui in Houston, the Rockies have given Nix the first shot at claiming the second base job, although Clint Barmes could get a few starts this week after going 3-for-5 with a home run and four RBI in filling in for shortstop Troy Tulowitzki on Sunday.

HE SAID IT

"If I had an answer, I'd be hitting."

Tulowitzki, who was given the day off and is hitting .159 without an RBI this season. He is hitless in his past 11 at-bats and is 0-for-12 with runners in scoring position this season.

THREE KEYS

Three keys to the Rockies' 13-5 win against the Arizona Diamondbacks on Sunday afternoon at Chase Field:

1 Three times before the bottom of the ninth, Arizona scored, and each time, the Rockies responded with a rally in the top of the next inning, including a four-run outburst in the top of the ninth after Arizona scored in the bottom of the eighth.

2 Clint Barmes, filling in for shortstop Troy Tulowitzki for the first time this season, followed up Willy Taveras' game-opening single with a home run, and the Rockies had a first-inning lead for the first time this season. They had scored only two runs in the first inning of their previous 11 games, tying the score at 1-1 each time.

3 Arizona left fielder Eric

Byrnes, 4-for-6 with a home run, three doubles and two walks in the first two games of the series, never got the ball out of the infield in five at-bats, but he did get credited with an infield single in the fifth.

ETC.

Left-handed pitcher Mark Redman, who took a Mark Kotsay line drive of his left foot in a Wednesday start against Atlanta, threw a bullpen session Sunday with no pain and will make his scheduled start Wednesday in San Diego. That means Jeff Francis will have an extra day of rest Thursday. The Rockies are off today and not skipping anyone in the rotation. "That's fine, because we wanted to give Jeff two bullpen sessions," manager Clint Hurdle said of the struggling Francis. "We found a couple things for him to work on." . . . Matt Holliday extended his hitting streak to eight games, going 3-for-5 with a single, double and home run. He is hitting .455 with 11 RBI in the streak. . . . With Tulowitzki off Sunday, Todd Helton, Holliday and Garrett Atkins are the only players to start every game for the Rockies. Helton, batting third, and Holliday, batting fourth, are the only two to hit in the same place in the lineup. Atkins has batted fifth seven times and sixth five times. . . . Sunday was the first time this season the Rockies never trailed in a game.

Comments

  • April 13, 2008

    9:06 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    Highcountry writes:

    OK. I got it. Move Clint Barmes to second base. And make Aaron Cook pitch every night. Season solved.

  • April 14, 2008

    8:55 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    Mellow_Nomah writes:

    I think Highcountry is on to something. Barmes had a rough couple of years after he broke his collar bone, but it looks like he's seeing the ball well now, and his plate mechanics seem far more relaxed than they've been. Heaven knows he can play defense. I bet he's the regular 2nd baseman by mid-May.

  • April 14, 2008

    9:42 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    urnfndbag writes:

    Kaz has anal fissures? I don't even want to google that.