Rockies' Reynolds pleads the fifth

Five-run inning helps Philadelphia complete sweep

By Jack Etkin, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published May 28, 2008 at 7:57 p.m.

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Tom Mihalek / Associated Press

Rockies outfielders Willy Taveras, left, and Ryan Spilborghs get tangled up, allowing the Phillies' Geoff Jenkins to reach second on Taveras' error in the seventh inning Wednesday in Philadelphia. The Phillies won 6-1 to complete a five-game, season-series sweep.

Throughout his brief professional career, Greg Reynolds has shown the ability to consistently throw strikes and minimize his walks.

Cases in point: Nine walks in 50 2/3 innings last year at Double-A Tulsa before a shoulder injury. And nine walks in 33 1/3 innings this season at Triple-A Colorado Springs.

What uncharacteristically happened to Reynolds in his fourth major league start Wednesday proved costly as the Philadelphia Phillies swatted away the Rockies 6-1.

He issued eight walks (one intentional) - the most by a Rockies pitcher since Shawn Chacon walked nine May 7, 2005, at Florida. Three of the walks came in the fifth, when the Phillies scored five runs thanks to a three-run homer by Chase Utley and a two-run shot by Geoff Jenkins.

"He just got outside himself a little bit," manager Clint Hurdle said. "I can't say it's not to be expected. It's part of the learning curve here, and I think when he looks at the tape (today), he'll realize he can probably learn a lot from this outing."

The Rockies fell a season-worst 13 games below .500 (20-33). They finished the season 0-5 against the Phillies, who never had swept a season series from the Rockies and did so while outscoring them 50-21. Philadelphia's last three-game sweep of the Rockies was April 22-24, 2003, at Veterans Stadium.

The five-run fifth marked the fourth time the Phillies scored at least four runs in an inning in the series and a reason the Rockies suffered their first series sweep since they dropped three games May 13-15 at Arizona.

Reynolds finished with 101 pitches and just 51 strikes and threw only nine strikes among his 24 pitches in what could have been a more damaging first when the Phillies scored a run on an infield single and three walks, the last coming to Jenkins with the bases loaded.

Reynolds retired seven straight batters, starting with a flyout by Pedro Feliz to end the first, and escaped unscathed after Pat Burrell opened the fourth with a double.

But Reynolds walked Jimmy Rollins and Shane Victorino to start the fifth and Utley sent an 0-1 fastball soaring an estimated 425 feet to right-center field for his major-league leading 17th home run.

Reynolds then walked Ryan Howard, got Burrell to fly out and surrendered the sixth homer of his brief major league career when Jenkins drove a 1-1 fastball into the right-field stands.

"The one to Jenkins was down," Reynolds said. "The one to Utley was over the middle and up, right into his bat basically.

"It's just disappointing I had an inning like that and pretty much lost the game that one inning."

After giving up an infield single to Victorino with two out in the sixth and a walk to Utley, Hurdle lifted Reynolds, who was at somewhat of a loss to pinpoint a reason for his control problems.

"If I could guess, I was probably a little quick out of the stretch," Reynolds said. "My arm was probably a little behind. That's why you saw a lot of balls miss to my arm side of home plate. That's one thing I'm going to have to look at the tape, break some things down, get back to basics and try to figure out what went wrong because I obviously couldn't correct it in the game."

The Rockies didn't help themselves by having two runners thrown out at home plate.

With two out in the third, Willy Taveras and Seth Smith singled. Todd Helton lined a ball that left fielder Burrell fielded cleanly off the wall in left-center field. Helton rounded first and was trapped, and when Smith broke for the plate, first baseman Howard threw him out.

"My initial thought I wasn't going to go and I saw the throw off- line," Helton said, referring to the one by Burrell. "Then I thought I could make it. Then I thought I couldn't."

Ryan Spilborghs opened the seventh with a single and took third on Ian Stewart's single. Right fielder Jenkins' throw went past third baseman Feliz, but pitcher Ryan Madson retrieved the ball and easily threw out Spilborghs at the plate.

"Spilborghs tried to make something happen I think wasn't there," Hurdle said. "There's some incidental contact there (with Feliz), but at the end of the day, you're five runs down."

After getting swept, the Rockies begin a four-game series in Chicago tonight against the high-flying Cubs. Then it's on to Los Angeles, the final stop on a 10-game trip that has begun ominously and could prove calamitous.

"We definitely need to turn it around," Helton said. "We're not doing anything, as far as what it takes to win games."

THE KEY . . .

* Moment: Greg Reynolds issued three of his eight walks in the fifth. Two came ahead of Chase Utley's three-run homer and the last one preceded a two-run shot by Geoff Jenkins that capped the Phillies' five-run inning.

* Player: Adam Eaton, the beneficiary of the homers by Utley and Jenkins, held the Rockies to one run and four hits in six innings and won for the first time in 11 starts this season and first time since Sept. 21. Eaton faced only one batter with a runner in scoring position and retired eight of the final nine batters he faced.

* Stat: 13 RBI against the Rockies this season by Utley, who went 9-for-22 (.409) with three homers.

ETC.

Jason Hirsh (strained right rotator cuff) is scheduled to begin his rehabilitation assignment Friday and throw 60 to 70 pitches for Triple-A Colorado Springs at Salt Lake. . . . Reliever Luis Vizcaino (right shoulder strain) began his rehabilitation assignment with one perfect inning and a strikeout Wednesday for the Sky Sox at Salt Lake, throwing six of 10 pitches for strikes. . . . Shortstop Troy Tulowitzki (torn left quadriceps tendon) took 60 groundballs at Coors Field and made backhanded throws, some from the hole. . . . Left-hander Micah Bowie (strained left forearm) will throw a 25-to-30-pitch bullpen session Friday and is scheduled to face hitters Monday or Tuesday in Los Angeles. . . . Left- hander Franklin Morales made progress Wednesday when he pitched 6 1/3 innings in his fourth start for Colorado Springs and allowed three runs, five hits and one walk with three strikeouts at Salt Lake.

SCOUTING REPORT: CHICAGO CUBS

Series history: The Rockies trail the overall series 69-63 but lead 32-31 at Wrigley Field. The Rockies were swept in three games there last year and are 8-17 there in the past eight years. The teams split two games at Coors Field from April 23-24.

Roster: Pitchers Chad Fox (right elbow) and infielder Daryle Ward (back) are on the 15-day disabled list. Pitcher Angel Guzman (right elbow) is on the 60-day disabled list.

Quickly: The Cubs are the only team in the majors that hasn't lost three straight games. . . . They are 22-8 at home, where their series record is 8-2. . . . The Cubs lead the majors with 296 runs, have outscored their opponents by 84 runs and have drawn 232 walks, which is second in the National League. . . . Ryan Dempster, who will start Saturday, is 6-0 at Wrigley Field. The only Cubs pitcher since 1925 with at least six wins at home by the end of May was Ferguson Jenkins (6-1) in 1971. . . . Of the Cubs' 53 games this season, more than half (29) have been decided by two runs or fewer. . . . Aramis Ramirez has reached base in 47 of 50 games.

ROTATION CHANGE

Left-hander Jorge De La Rosa will move to the bullpen Thursday instead of starting Saturday at Chicago. He has allowed 41 baserunners in 23 innings while going 1-3 with a 9.00 ERA in five starts.

He threw 77 pitches Monday in 3 1/3 innings, allowing seven runs (six earned) in a 20-5 loss.

"I was doing that before," De La Rosa said of relieving. "I don't care where I pitch."

Left-hander Glendon Rusch, a candidate to replace De La Rosa, has allowed one run in 11 innings in two starts for Triple-A Colorado Springs and last pitched Sunday.

NUMBERS GAME

.106 average by left-handed hitters against Taylor Buchholz. They've gone 5-for-47 with three walks and 14 strikeouts.

LAGGING

Left fielder Matt Holliday was the only Rockies player among the leaders in the first of six weekly announcements on voting for the National League All-Star team.

With 249,881 votes, Holliday was fifth among outfielders, trailing Chicago's Alfonso Soriano (352,267) and Kosuke Fukudome (325,456), Cincinnati's Ken Griffey Jr. (300,230) and New York's Carlos Beltran (253,297).

HE SAID IT

"The uniqueness about him is he's at a place right now that I wasn't at at his age. He comes to the ballpark with one thing on his mind and that's to do whatever's asked of him to help his club win a game. And as easy as that sounds, that's a challenge in and of itself."

Clint Hurdle, Rockies manager, on outfielder Ryan Spilborghs.

• May 29, 2008

  2:59 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  flybys writes:

  Is there some condition sweeping through the Rockies organization that affects pitcher's ability to consistently throw a ball through an imaginary box called a strike zone?

  The Rockies arms are simply "throwing" games these days with their lack of command. They are as lost as a golfer is without his swing. So many variables have to line up for both to find consistency and right now the team is lacking results, confidence and thus, the pitching it needs to hide a suddenly anemic offensive attack.

  Guess the humidor can't correct that problem.

  What this team might need as much as a pitching coach is a psychologist.

  Or a couple more Aaron Cook's.

• May 29, 2008

  6:58 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  SwolOne writes:

  Why does Bob Apodaca still have a job?

• May 29, 2008

  8:44 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  joeblow writes:

  The Rockies biggest problem is that its pitching staff is, essentially, composed of Cook and Francis and Francis has been horrible this season. So, do the math.
  It's second biggest problem is that it can't score the men it has on base. As you're watching the game on TV, the next time you see the Rockies with two men on base, tell me, do you any confidence that one or both will score? I don't.
  The third thing is this lingering thought: Did the Rockies win last season because of Clint Hurdle or in spite of Clint Hurdle? I'm not sure. I do know this. When it comes down to crunch time, I'm left with the same sense of no confidence that I have when the Rocks have men in scoring position.
  But, as Bogey said in Casablanca, "We'll always have last year."

• May 29, 2008

  8:44 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  joeblow writes:

  The Rockies biggest problem is that its pitching staff is, essentially, composed of Cook and Francis and Francis has been horrible this season. So, do the math.
  It's second biggest problem is that it can't score the men it has on base. As you're watching the game on TV, the next time you see the Rockies with two men on base, tell me, do you any confidence that one or both will score? I don't.
  The third thing is this lingering thought: Did the Rockies win last season because of Clint Hurdle or in spite of Clint Hurdle? I'm not sure. I do know this. When it comes down to crunch time, I'm left with the same sense of no confidence that I have when the Rocks have men in scoring position.
  But, as Bogey said in Casablanca, "We'll always have last year."

• May 29, 2008

  10:11 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  Vulions writes:

  The above comment is correct...the problem is clearly Bob Apadaca. He has destroyed Jeff Francis and the young kids.

• May 29, 2008

  2:20 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  FreeToChoose writes:

  It's hard to narrow down the Rockies problems, but I think the two biggest issues have been the starting pitching and the top two spots in the order.

  Even if Francis and Jimenez come around (and I think they will), along with Cook, that still only leaves you 3/5 of a big-league caliber starting pitching staff... and two batting practice pitchers.

  But if this team could score more runs it would take the pressure off some of the pitchers. And the problems with the offense I believe start with the top two spots in the order. Last year during the late summer surge, Matsui and Tulow were consistently getting on ahead of Helton and Holiday and putting the pressure on the opposing pitcher to throw strikes. Spilborghs gets some credit for last year too.
  However, this year the Rockies are simply not forcing the opposing pitchers to make pitches. Willy Taveras is a joke as a leadoff hitter and hopefully has lost his starting job for good. There's been a rovolving door through the top two spots in the order, but the overriding theme has been an inability to get on base. The Rockies rank near the bottom of the league in OBP in the top two spots in the order and so there's no reason for opposing hitters to throw Helton and Holliday anything but junk.

  You could see what quality top-of-the-order guys can do when they're getting on base this past week when the Rockies played the Phillies. Rollins and Victorino were outright pests and when they each earned a walk the other night, the Rockies had no choice but to pitch to Chase Utley... the end result wasn't pretty. The Rockies need to find some pests of their own at the top of the order, otherwise this is going to be one looooong summer!

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