Rockies back in the cellar after big collapse

By Tracy Ringolsby, Rocky Mountain News

Published June 30, 2008 at 10:22 p.m.

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Doug Pensinger/Assoicated Press

Rockies infielders, from left to right, Garrett Atkins, Troy Tulowitzki, Todd Helton and Omar Quintanilla look on during the Rockies 15-8 loss to the Padres on Monday night at Coors Field.

Photo by Doug Pensinger © Associated Press

San Diego's Edgar Gonzalez is congratulated at home by Brian Giles after his first inning solo home run off Colorado starter Jorge De La Rosa during Monday night's game at Coors Field. The Rockies had an 8-3 lead before the Padres rallied for a 15-8 win in the teams' first meeting at Coors since the National League wild-card play-in game last season.

Photo by David Zalubowski © Associated Press

Todd Helton, left, and Matt Holliday, right, congratulate Brad Hawpe after Hawpe hit a three-run home run off San Diego starting pitcher Greg Maddux in the third inning.

So much for the encore.

San Diego came to Coors Field on Monday night for the first time since the Rockies' dramatic 13-inning wild-card tiebreaker victory against the Padres on Oct. 1.

Nobody had any pretenses of greatness this time. Battles for last place don't create much anticipation.

But a bad season got what was seemingly impossible — worse.

The Padres turned a midgame deficit into a 15-8 humiliation that extended the Rockies' losing streak to eight games, equaling their longest of the season, and dropped them 19 games below .500 (32-51) for the first time since the end of the 2005 season.

They also slipped back into last place in the National League West, one-half game behind the Padres, who snapped an eight- game losing streak.

So much for any thoughts of the beginning of a midseason miracle that were harbored by anyone among the paid crowd of 43,248 that included a walk-up of nearly 5,400, the largest weekday game-day sale of the season.

"When you play this game, losing never should come easy," Rockies manager Clint Hurdle said. "It becomes a little more challenging at times."

Times such as Monday.

The Rockies built an 8-3 lead and knocked out 350-game winner Greg Maddux, only to see the Padres erase the deficit with a five-run sixth.

Deposed closer Manny Corpas allowed all three runners who were on base when he entered to score before he finally got back- to-back inning-ending strikeouts of Adrian Gonzalez and Evergreen's Kevin Kouzmanoff, who homered off starter Jorge De La Rosa to lead off the inning and also had an RBI single in the third.

Current closer Brian Fuentes, who let a save get away in Detroit on Saturday, was unable to answer the call to try to protect the tie score in the ninth. He retired one batter and was charged with five runs, the final two scoring when Jody Gerut greeted Luis Vizcaino with a home run, which Edgar Gonzalez followed with his second homer of the game.

And Rockies management, which will have it's annual midseason state of the franchise review Wednesday, was left to ponder if there is any reason to wait until the All-Star break before actively shopping a handful of players, including Fuentes, Yorvit Torrealba, Willy Taveras, Matt Herges, and Matt Holliday or Garrett Atkins.

Hurdle is looking for a way to provide a spark to a team that seemingly hit bottom Monday when, for the first time this season, virtually every key player in the game had gone into hiding before the clubhouse opened.

Not that there was a lot that could be said after starter De La Rosa unraveled in the course of five pitches to start the sixth — giving up Kouzmanoff's home run and singles to Chase Headley and Khalil Greene before giving way to Ryan Speier.

Speier began his brief effort with a walk to .191-hitting Michael Barrett. And after Speier gave up a single to Tony Clark, Corpas got the call, and for the second game in a row, Hurdle found the bullpen unable to protect a sixth-inning lead.

Corpas couldn't shut down the Padres quick enough, only to have Herges take over and pitch two scoreless innings before giving way to Fuentes.

"At the end of the day, we didn't put the package together," Hurdle said. "We needed a shut-down inning in the sixth and didn't get it. We needed to get up and break the tie score and didn't. We needed a shutout ninth and didn't get it."

And to think, the evening started so well. Both times the Padres scored early, the Rockies answered, and then some.

After Gonzalez's first home run of the game in the first, Chris Iannetta delivered a three-run, two-out double in the bottom of the inning.

After Gonzalez and Kouzmanoff delivered back-to-back two-out singles in the third to tie the score, Brad Hawpe unloaded a three-run home run to straightaway center before Maddux got an out in the bottom of the inning.

The Rockies added a run on back-to-back two-out doubles by Taveras and Todd Helton in the fourth, and knocked out Maddux in the fifth when Atkins tripled and scored on Troy Tulowitzki's two-out single.

Losing could get the Rockies to moving in a remodeling of the roster.

"There's a of things I need to talk with the coaches about and look to tighten up," Hurdle said.

• June 30, 2008

  11 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  RockiesWin writes:

  I am so tired of hearing how the Rockies are close to the same number of games out at this point in the season as they were last year. This team is not even close to last year's team! 18 games under 500 is horrible!!! The team doesn't hit in the clutch, starting pitching is mediocre, and the bullpen is bull#$%@.

  Rest assured ownership will do NOTHING! O'dud has overplayed his hand and now won't be able to get value for the likes of Helton, Fuentes, Stewart, Baker, or anyone else. Clunker Hurdle is a bumbling idiot. Keep chewin' that gum and talking in riddles 'cause you sure can't manage!!!

  A house cleaning is in order. Danny boy, Clint and his staff should be GONE!!!!!!!!!!! NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!

  Unfortunately, the Beefy Boys will point to last year and hang on to that for what will seem like an eternity....we FANS deserve a heck of alot better!!!

• June 30, 2008

  11:30 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  SwolOne writes:

  Do any Rox beat writers ever ask tough questions of the manager after the game is over. Like "Clint, why did you pitch out with runners on 2nd and 3rd when down 11-8 in the ninth inning? I've never seen that ever." Or "Why did you pinch hit a lefty for Todd Helon in the ninth when trailing by 7 runs - wouldn't it have made more sense to save Posednik's lefty bat for later in the inning in case the Rox rallied?"

  The manager was lost it completely. And can someone please help me understand how Bob Apodaca still has a job.

• July 1, 2008

  8:20 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  joeblow writes:

  Were he not the manager for the All-Star game, Clint Hurdle would be gone by now. It should not come as a shock if he is given the pink slip shortly after that game is played. By August 1st, this team won't resemble the one you saw in the World Series
  Yo, Matt, we hardly knew ye.....

• July 1, 2008

  10:34 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  jcn7vc writes:

  Gotta love the fair-weather fans of the Rocky Mountain Region. It took until September last year for most of the people to believe in the Rockies, and then this year, they are quick to suggest getting rid of the whole lot.

  Thankfully, those that have followed the Rockies and continue to root for them, like me, know this is only a downturn, and we'll eventually get back to form. If you can't take the bad with the good, find another team. Slumps are a part of baseball, and this team is in a bad one right now. Getting rid of Fuentes, Holliday, Atkins, or even Taveras, is a bad idea right now, IMO. You have to try to weather the storm and make it to next year. These guys are great players and will turn around. You won't get much for them if you get rid of them now.

  I'm not so sure about Tulo, however. He really hasn't proven himself and I'm beginning to wonder if the money has gotten to his head. Just thoughts of a die-hard Rocks fan since 1993...

• July 1, 2008

  10:34 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  bkite writes:

  I have noticed over the years an annual swoon by the Rockies in June and early July, when the weather often gets hot again. Despite the humidor, Coors Field becomes a hitter's park and the difference between home and away games for hitters becomes huge. This team has obviously been mediocre or bad for several months, but they did seem to be collecting themselves before this latest swoon, and before the hot dry air arrived. Very frustrating to watch this potentially good team flounder. We asked this before last year's miraculous finish, but I'm afraid we have to ask again whether or not Colorado will ever field a consistently good team because of the huge differences between home and away games.

• July 1, 2008

  11:19 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  Hambone writes:

  JCNVC, what are you talking about? A slump? You grossly underestimate the hole that they have dug for themselves. This team got lucky with their pitching last year. It's obvious they need one or two more arms to be a legitimate team, as well as hitting the damn ball. Atkins, Fuentes, Taveras and Torrealba need to go. Send Herges too. Get Baker and Stewart more time, Spilborghs can play center(I hope). Tulo will work it out. He was a frickin' defensive stalwart last year and that hasn't changed. He stays.
  Don't let your fanhood blind you from looking at things objectively.

• July 1, 2008

  12:34 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  Chadley25 writes:

  I get so tired of people lecturing me and others for being "fair-weather fans" -- these fools have no idea what that term even means. I follow every game and have been doing so since 1993. I'm an all-weather fan, not a fair-weather fan, and I think this team flat-out stinks. They can't pitch, they can't hit, they FIND ways to lose, and if the players don't lose the game, then Hurdle will step in and find a way to lose it.

  Here's a newsflash for you folks: This Rockies team is a crashing, awful disappointment, we're in dead last in a weak division, we're 19 games under .500 and there were still over 43,000 at a Monday game. These are NOT "fair-weather fans" at all.

• July 1, 2008

  1:02 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  RockiesWin writes:

  Well said Chadley! JCN is a passive fool who buys into the bilge being spewed at 20th & Blake. I have been a hardcore baseball fan all of my life. I couldn't wait for Colorado to get a team, especially a national league team. There is no accountability with this organization!!!! In quality markets, the manager and his staff would have been long gone by now, along with the GM. But not here. Last year was not a fluke. For those of us who truly follow baseball, it was obvious the Rockies were playing very well since May. While it is true they had to come up with a miracle finish, the fact remains they won. But look how they won. Clutch hitting, stellar defense, quality starting pitching, and a strong bullpen. None of this exists this year! They aren't 3 games under 500, they are 19 under!!! So JCN go ahead and wear those purple sunglasses and pretend everything is alright.

  The rest of us TRUE FANS will continue to demand ACCOUNTABILITY!!!

• July 1, 2008

  1:41 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  discer writes:

  The Rockies greatly exceeded everybody's expectations last year and have had a terrible time trying to live up to them this year. Had they lost to San Diego and not made the playoffs last year this team would still be considered as a work in progress having a terrible year. It happens in baseball! The run that the Rokies had last year rarely happens if ever and it has caused many things to happen. Good players putting way too much pressure on themselves by trying too hard which tends to backfire in most sports specially golf and baseball. (Tulo and Francis for a pair.) Hurdle has been over matched since the World Series but he has gotten a long leash because of the playoff run. O'Dowd decided to just tweak the lineup because they were so close last year (Matsui, Harren and Hernandez)
  Hind sight is twenty-twenty and would ofs a could ofs don't help now. If it were me I would resist the temptation to trade Holliday until at least after the season. I would get Stewart some time at third and Atkins some time at first at Todd Helton's expense. This team still has a chance to be very good but I think Hurdle and his pitching coach will have to go before that is going to happen. I am not convinced that O'Dowd should go. How about bringing back Don Baylor and his staff. One thing for sure is with him the Rockies would hit better. Keep it simple stupid, works and it helps avoid paralyzation from analyzation. I have been a fan of Denver baseball since the days of Andre Dawson and Tim Raines in Triple A ball at Mile High Stadium and will continue to be for the rest of my life.

• July 1, 2008

  2:21 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  kmeissner writes:

  Where is the team from last year? This team has crumbled... Holliday got a big paycheck and now he's barely an average player after coming close to MVP last year. When do we give Fuentes the boot? How many runs did he give up last night? We don't have a closer. The only relief pitcher worth anything right now is Bucholtz. We need to give up Fuentes ASAP and HOPE to get something worthwhile in return. If Holliday is content with his average play then we need to think about getting a package deal for him. Something needs to happen soon for this team or they will be at the bottom of the division (and possibly the league) once again. I'm really hoping last year wasn't a fluke!

• July 1, 2008

  3:54 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  jcn7vc writes:

  I wasn't saying anything about the manager or the GM, all I was saying is that the guys everyone wants to get rid of pretty much got us to the playoffs last year. Sure, Fuentes went downhill at the end, but he was hurt for some of it and became a solid set-up man and was doing alright as a closer this season until recently. He has also been an All-Star two times. Holliday was very solid and could have been MVP last year. Atkins started slow, but turned it around at the end of May 2007. Taveras was very decent despite the injuries. This is essentially the same personnel as last year, yet different results. Maybe it is time to look at a managerial change.

  I do like the possibility of moving Atkins to first, however. I fear Helton might be done, as the last three years he has been steadily declining in performance. It is tough to have Taveras, Spilly, Posednik, and Sullivan and not be getting much from them. The problem is that Taveras and Posednik have had the most experience in the bigs, so it is tough to take a chance on the other two, but now might be the time. We also need at least one quality starter and a reliable man in the 'pen, so maybe trading one of them is a good idea to start with.

  I do not have the blinders on, I just see pretty much the same team as last year (minus Matsui, Fogg, Hawkins) and wondering why we can't do much. I think it comes down to execution and the fact that most teams now have reports on Tulo, Jiminez, Corpas, Spilly, Sullivan, and the rest of the young guns.

  Sophomore slumps are very common, and most of those guys are in their second year. Just look at Arizona. Most of those baby-backs are slumping right now as well, even though they are leading the division. Rookies come out firing and no one has seen them before, so they have success. The next year, teams have seen them and scouting reports start to circulate. They don't see the same pitches and hitters have seen their stuff. It's the adjustments after that point that make them a great player.

• July 1, 2008

  5:25 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  AKuser writes:

  jcn7vc clearly you have followed this team for about a year now. It might surprise you to know the Rockies led the league in attendance from 1993 to 1998 including the all-time record of 4.4 million fans. The fans of this team believed in and supported this team from the beginning. I went to many games at Mile High and have been a fan from the get go. I have no idea where you came up with, "Thankfully, those that have followed the Rockies and continue to root for them, like me, know this is only a downturn, and we'll eventually get back to form. If you can't take the bad with the good, find another team"
  Only a downturn? If you followed this team from the get go you know that permanent downturn is par for the course with the Rockies and their lame ownership. Sadly, eventually getting back to form is what we are currently witnessing.

• July 1, 2008

  7:34 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  jcn7vc writes:

  My family had season tickets from 1993-2001, when my dad decided he was fed up with Rockies management spending large amounts of dough on free-agent busts. It was like they were throwing OUR money away. Still, I continued to go as much as possible, and always tried to catch their games on TV and radio, reading about them the next day in the RMN. I was part of the millions that set the attendence record in 1994 and 1995, and also part of the 15,000-plus that went to games in 1999-2005.

  Offensively speaking, yes, they are in a downturn. Normally, the Rockies offense is their saving grace, even in bad years. We have never really had decent pitching, so we always relied on offense for production. Last year we had decent pitching and look where that got us. Now it seems that even when our pitchers are cruising, the offense can't give them enough support. That is why I say it seems the Rockies are slumping. If the offense turned their acts around, I think the Rockies would be alright. The pitching does also need to get better, but I think it starts with the offense.

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