Rockies, Hawpe make Dodgers pay for mistakes
Four L.A. errors help Francis to first win since June 18
By Tracy Ringolsby, Rocky Mountain News
Published August 20, 2008 at 11:06 p.m.
Photo by Jeff Lewis/Associated Press
Brad Hawpe heads to first base on a ground ball on which Dodgers first baseman Casey Blake committed an error, allowing Omar Quintanilla to score in the fifth inning.
Moment: Jeff Francis came up with key back-to-back strikeouts twice. After the Dodgers scored two runs on a fielding error by Troy Tulowtizki to take a 3-1 lead in the second, and had a runner on second, Francis rebounded to strike out Chad Billingsley and Juan Pierre. And with runners on second and third and one out in the fourth, Francis struck out Pierre, swinging, and Matt Kemp, looking.
Player: Brad Hawpe singled home a run to tie the score in the seventh and drove in another to give the Rockies the lead in the ninth, giving him 72 RBI, one shy of Matt Holliday and five behind team leader Garrett Atkins.
Stat: 17 scoreless innings by Rockies relievers on this road trip, in which the Rockies are 5-0. The relievers have allowed eight hits in 59 at-bats, walking one and striking out 13.
Drew on Baseball
Scores and statistics
In a season that has fallen short of the Rockies' expectations, one of the promising developments for the future has been the emergence of Brad Hawpe as a consistent force in the middle of the lineup.
While Hawpe reaffirmed his dangerous presence in the middle of the order by delivering the tying and go-ahead base hits in the Rockies' 4-3 victory against the Dodgers at Dodger Stadium on Wednesday night, the Rockies also found another promising development - a resurgence from left-hander Jeff Francis.
The Rockies aren't doing badly, themselves. They go into today's road trip finale needing a victory to wrap up only the second unbeaten multicity road trip in franchise history. The Rockies went 6-0 on a trip to Los Angeles and San Diego last September, the final six games in a franchise-record 11-game winning streak that keyed their stretch drive to the first National League pennant in franchise history.
This time, the Rockies started with a sweep of three games in Washington during the weekend, and now have won back-to-back games against the Dodgers, giving them seven wins in their last nine games against a team that opened the season by beating the Rockies five consecutive times. Colorado also dropped the Dodgers two games back of NL West-leading Arizona.
The Rockies' current five-game winning streak equals their longest of the season.
Francis, slowed by shoulder inflammation and limited to only three wins in 20 starts, battled his way through six innings. While he was denied a victory, Francis more than that reinforced the belief that he can get back to being the pitcher who equaled a franchise record with 17 wins last season.
Twice, Francis found himself in one-out jams, and both times he responded with back-to-back strikeouts, including Juan Pierre, swinging, and Matt Kemp, looking, to end the fourth with runners on second and third.
"That had to be a big confidence builder for him," said manager Clint Hurdle. "When you see he gave up nine hits (eight in the first four innings) you think he did okay, but he was better than okay."
"We are playing the best baseball we have all year, but unfortunately we are still 10 games (59-69) below .500. We've painted ourselves into a corner."
Hawpe and Francis helped show the Rockies the way against a Dodgers team that was victimized by a piecemeal defense manager Joe Torre created and led to the Dodgers first four-error game in four years. He had catcher Russell Martin at third base, third baseman Casey Blake at first base, and backup catcher Dan Ardoin behind the plate. Each of the three committed an error to set up one of Hawpe's three RBI.
Troy Tulowitzki got the comeback started with a home run off Chad Billingsley in the fourth. Then it was Hawpe who did the clutch work.
Blake booted Hawpe's bases- loaded ground ball in the fifth. Martin's errant throw allowed Willy Taveras to reach in the seventh, ahead of back-to-back singles by Matt Holliday and Hawpe off Chan Ho Park. And after Holliday was hit by a pitch from Jonathan Broxton to open the ninth, he stole second and continued to third on Ardoin's errant throw, setting up Hawpe's winning single.
"He has been very effective against the Dodgers throughout his career, which says something because this is a challenging park and they have always had solid pitching," Hurdle said of Hawpe.
Hawpe raised his average since July 11 to .402, tops in the NL, and added to his growing legacy for success against the Dodgers., against whom has hit .455 this season and .361 in his career.
While the bullpen put the finishing touches on the win - Brian Fuentes earning his 24th save in 26 opportunities since returning to the role of a closer while extending the bullpen's scoreless streak in the five-game streak to 17 innings - it was the work of Francis that was most impressive.
With L.A. taking advantage of Tulowitzki's second-inning error to take a 3-0 lead and put a runner on second with one out, Francis responded with strikeouts of Billingsley and Pierre. And in the fourth, after Martin and Ardoin led off with singles, and Billingsley sacrificed the runners Francis got Pierre and Kemp.
"I always feel I can make those pitches, but I haven't executed very well this season," Francis said. "(Wednesday) I was able to execute and get the big outs. That is important."
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August 21, 2008
6:11 a.m.
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kmeissner writes:
Nice win! Go Rox!
August 21, 2008
6:49 a.m.
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malis writes:
Wow...lights-out bullpen, and under pressure. Nice going guys.
August 21, 2008
9:39 a.m.
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SDcat writes:
That's our men! Now, if we can win today and the Friar can help us out and beat those Gartersnakes, we'd be one game closer :)
August 21, 2008
10:20 a.m.
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arvada_mark writes:
I sometimes think Hawpe gets more respect from the rest of the NL than he does in his own ballpark. He is, I suppose, a 4 tool player. He's always finished the season around .300. Is always amongst the team leaders in RBI & HR. Almost nobody has tested his arm this year...with good reason. And even though he probably wasn't even considered for the All Star team this year by Hurdle, I think it was last year when Tony LaRussa said that Hawper was on a very short list of reserve outfielders for his All Star team. That's Tony LaRussa, the Great, & he has a very high opinion of Hawpe. He's to the point now where he could probably start in just about every outfield in bigs.