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Defeat with a silver lining

Reynolds shows good signs in debut with Rockies

By Tracy Ringolsby, Rocky Mountain News

Published May 11, 2008 at 5:09 p.m.

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Rockies left fielder Ryan Spilborghs runs out of room as fans battle for a two-run home run ball hit by San Diego's Khalil Greene off rookie pitcher Greg Reynolds in the sixth inning Sunday.

Photo by Lenny Ignelzi / Associated Press

Rockies left fielder Ryan Spilborghs runs out of room as fans battle for a two-run home run ball hit by San Diego's Khalil Greene off rookie pitcher Greg Reynolds in the sixth inning Sunday.

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SAN DIEGO — The Rockies' season has taken a detour.

With back-to-back losses to San Diego, they have a day off in Phoenix today before they begin a three-game series against the Diamondbacks on Tuesday.

The Rockies are a loss from the worst record in the major leagues, a far cry from where they had expected to be six weeks into their defense of the 2007 National League pennant.

They are finding reason to think things are about to get better, though.

They finally have begun to get quality starting pitching that goes beyond the dominating efforts of Aaron Cook, including:

* Right-hander Greg Reynolds, who made the quickest rise through the minor leagues in franchise history by starting what became a 6-1 loss to the Padres on Sunday afternoon at Petco Park.

The 21-year-old, 6-foot-7 pitcher showed plenty of promise with his poise and the ability to pound the strike zone in a game that got out of hand late.

* An encouraging effort from Ubaldo Jimenez in a 3-2 loss Saturday, when he struck out 11, the most by a Rockies pitcher in a game since John Thomson on Oct. 7, 2001.

* Jorge De La Rosa, who strong- armed St. Louis on Thursday in his second start since joining the team.

* Jeff Francis, a 17-game winner last year who is winless going into the series opener Tuesday at Arizona but has had five consecutive efforts that have ranged from excellent to solid, even if he only has an 0-1 record to show for them.

And, of course, there is Cook, who has won his past six starts, compiling a 1.90 ERA in the process.

"We are not out of the woods yet, but I think I do feel good about the direction we are headed," manager Clint Hurdle said. "I feel a lot better than where we were."

That doesn't obscure the fact the Rockies are 15-23, eight games behind NL West-leading Arizona and only a game ahead of San Diego (14-24). The only other big- league team with a worse record is Seattle (15-24).

There is reason to feel the rotation that sidetracked the Rockies early is being repaired, though. Franklin Morales and Mark Redman have been dispatched to Colorado Springs in the past two weeks, replaced by De La Rosa and Reynolds.

Reynolds, less than two months short of his 22nd birthday, moved into the rotation in place of veteran left-hander Redman, and for five innings he was in command.

He threw only 60 pitches, 41 for strikes, walking one batter and giving up two two-out singles in addition to a Scott Hairston home run to lead off the fifth. In the sixth, though, Tadahito Iguchi led off with a bunt single. By the time Reynolds walked Hairston and gave way to reliever Ryan Speier, he also had given up an RBI double to Adrian Gonzalez and a two-run homer to Khalil Greene.

"The first few innings I felt I stayed on top of my pitches real well and kept them down," Reynolds said. "The last couple innings I got lackadaisical mentally, left the ball up and got hit."

Reynolds, the Rockies' first- round pick in 2006 - he was the second player taken overall, after Kansas City selected Fowler native Luke Hochevar - got the call to the big leagues a month or so ahead of schedule and made his debut after pitching only four innings in the past two weeks.

He pitched only two innings in each of his two previous starts - a rain-shortened effort for Triple-A Colorado Springs on May 1 at Memphis, then a start cut short Wednesday so he would be rested for his debut.

Neither Reynolds nor Hurdle felt that the limited work impacted the rookie's stamina.

"I have been preparing for this my whole life," he said. "I had enough adrenaline, I could have thrown all night if I had to. To have this realization come about is a great moment."

Hurdle said, "I thought he handled himself very professionally and we saw some good things. . . . The sixth inning was part of the learning curve."

Reynolds' next test comes Saturday night against Minnesota at Coors Field.

In the meantime, the Rockies will watch for continued progress from Francis and De La Rosa.

After giving up 12 runs in 11 1/3 innings in his first two starts this season, Francis has allowed 13 in his past 31 1/3. De La Rosa rebounded from giving up nine runs in four innings in his Rockies debut by allowing two runs in 5 2/3 innings Thursday.

"We'll know more after we watch each of them a few more times," Hurdle said, "but we feel good about what is happening."

ROCKIES REPORT

Three keys

Three keys to the Rockies' 6-1 loss to the San Diego Padres on Sunday afternoon at Petco Park:

1. With the bases loaded and nobody out in the seventh, Padres reliever Cla Meredith took over for Chris Young and induced a double-play grounder from Chris Iannetta and kept the score at 4-1 by striking out Clint Barmes.

2. With one runner on, the Padres leading 2-0 and two out in the sixth, Khalil Greene homered, only his second and third RBI this season at Petco Park.

3. Deposed closer Manny Corpas couldn't get out of the eighth inning, giving up two doubles and two walks and getting only two outs before Alberto Arias came in to get out of a bases-loaded jam.

Etc.

Left fielder Matt Holliday was out of the lineup Sunday for the second time this season. He is 4- for-18 lifetime against Young, the Padres starter Sunday. . . . Right- handed pitcher Greg Reynolds, selected second overall, is the eighth player from the first round of the 2006 draft to appear in the big leagues. Others are right- handed pitcher Luke Hochevar (first, to Kansas City), third baseman Evan Longoria (third, to Tampa Bay), right-hander Brandon Morrow (fifth, to Seattle), left- hander Andrew Miller (now with Florida, sixth overall, to Detroit), right-hander Tim Lincecum (10th overall, to San Francisco), right- hander Max Scherzer (11th overall, to Arizona) and right-hander Ian Kennedy (21st overall, to the Yankees). Kennedy was a high school teammate of Rockies prospect Ian Stewart. . . . Reynolds, at 21 years, 313 days, was the sixth- youngest player to appear in a game for the Rockies. Right- hander Marcos Carvajal, 20 years, 230 days when he made his debut on April 6, 2005, is the youngest. . . . Third baseman Garrett Atkins extended his hitting streak to 10 games with a single to lead off the seventh. He eventually scored the Rockies' lone run. . . . Despite losing their past two games, the Rockies have a 22-21 all-time edge at Petco Park.

FIRST PITCH

NUMBERS GAME

56 consecutive successful stolen bases with San Diego pitcher Chris Young on the mound before Jonathan Herrera was thrown out trying to steal second in the sixth inning Sunday.

OPTIONED

Left-handed pitcher Mark Redman, 34, who was with four organizations last season and finally caught on with the Rockies, indicated to manager Clint Hurdle he will accept an option to Triple-A Colorado Springs. Redman was replaced on the Rockies roster by rookie Greg Reynolds, who made his major league debut Sunday.

"He needs to be in a routine and pitch every fifth day," Hurdle said of Redman. "With a rotation in transition, it puts him in position to maximize his best role to get back in place and pitch better."

Redman went 2-3 with a 7.84 ERA in seven appearances, six starts.

OUCH

Infielder Juan Castro, signed to a minor league contract after being released by Cincinnati and sent to Colorado Springs to get some at-bats before being added to the major league roster, is on the Sky Sox disabled list because of a strained hamstring suffered in his fifth game with them. He was 6-for-13 at the time of the injury.

ADJUSTMENT

Arizona didn't want to risk pitching Randy Johnson, 44, coming off two back surgeries in less than two years, in the wet, cold conditions Sunday at Wrigley Field, so they pushed him back to pitch the series opener against the Rockies on Tuesday. That moves Micah Owings to Wednesday and Brandon Webb to Thursday and means the Rockies won't face Dan Haren.

Comments

  • May 12, 2008

    2:01 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    flybys writes:

    Greg Reynolds teased the optimistic Rockies faithful with his major league debut.

    Maybe the prescription should be checked.

    The tall timber that dealt zeroes on the Padres for half a game is a mirage. Don't get taken. Don't give up your heart so easily. Remember how they felt back in your youth when that which seemed real only to be a brief moment of joy before the hammer came down?

    Reynolds, drafted way too early at no. 2 overall over superior talent based on signability reasons, is not a star in the making. he controls the strike zone in a way Ubaldo Jimenez and Franklin Morales only dream of at night but he his stuff is all smoke and mirrors and those types of pitchers get exposed quickly.

    Reynolds was not dominating at Colorado Springs. He was merely good, as in Honda or Toyota good, not BMW or Mercedes quality.

    At best, he is a healthy Jason Hirsch or maybe Jason Jennings in the making. At worst, he is a batting practice tosser. The likelihood is he somewhere in the middle.

    Bottom line is Colorado's pitching is still only a fifth of a tank full (Aaron Cook) with an expected boost coming when the tall cool one, Jeff Francis, finds his mojo again.

  • May 12, 2008

    11:25 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    FreeToChoose writes:

    flybys,

    I agree.

    Reality check #2:
    San Diego is the worst hitting team in the league in nearly every offensive category.
    Shutting down the Padres isn't really all THAT impressive. So who knows about Reynolds?

    At best, Jimenez has looked good at times and shows the kind of stuff that CAN be dominant... he just can't find the plate on a consistent enough basis to be dominant NOW.

    Cook has been amazing.

    Francis can come around, but he lives on the edge of the plate using above average command with only slightkly above average stuff... so when he's not 'ON' (like now), his stuff is VERY hitable.

    Morales is back where he needs to be. Expectations for him were way too high at the start of the season.

    And why even bother sending Redman to Triple A?

    Basically, they have the kind of talent on that pitching staff that can line up well for NEXT year, IF these guys get a chance to develop... but penciling Jimenez, Morales and Redamn in at 3-5 AND predicting another playoff run should have made people laugh!
    But most pundits ignored reality and projected the stats those three put up at the end of last season out over 162 and fell too in love with the possibilities.

    Now that everybody has had a chance to step back from 'the streak', the reality is that this team still lacks starting pitching depth and top-of-the-order talent. So until the pitching develops and until the guys in the #1 and 2 spots in the batting order can figure out how to get on base on a regular basis, they will continue to struggle to be even a .500 team.