Nightmare On Blake Street: Rox postseason hopes in peril after sweep

Baseball legend Yogi Berra was famous for his “Yogisms” perhaps none more well known than “it ain’t over, til it’s over.”

There might not be a sentiment more necessary to understand the game.

After Sunday’s 5-1 defeat, the Colorado Rockies have been swept by the Arizona Diamondbacks, have lost five of their last six and have been nothing short of miserable with runners in scoring position for two weeks. They now stand just a half-game ahead of the Milwaukee Brewers for the second spot in the National League Wild Card, which is a virtual tie. They were up five-and-a half at the beginning of August. It ain’t over for another 26 games, but if Colorado doesn’t find themselves, and quickly, it could be over long before that.

The Diamondbacks got on the board in the top of the third with some excellent execution. Gregor Blanco led off with a simple line drive single to center and moved to second on a sac bunt from Godley. Despite a pair of fantastic throws from Gerardo Parra and Pat Valaika, Blanco managed to score with a nifty slide on a double to left by David Peralta.

Colorado had a chance to strike back in nearly the same fashion when Tony Wolters led off the bottom half of the inning with a walk and moved to second on a sac bunt from Marquez. But after moving to third on a groundball by DJ LeMahieu, Wolters watched Gonzalez walk on four pitches and Charlie Blackmon fly out to the warning track in left to complete the one-inning encapsulation of the difference between these two teams right now. Blackmon actually hit the ball harder than Peralta did, but not in the right spot.

The fourth brought more of the same. A leadoff single from Parra was the Rockies first hit of the game and Trevor Story replaced him at first on a fielder’s choice. Ryan McMahon drew a walk to put two on with one out and Valaika smoked a line drive but right at the third baseman, the third hard line drive for Colorado with runners in scoring position. Still, nothing to show for it. Wolters drew a walk on some favorable calls to load the bases for Marquez who struck out. 0-for-4.

Colorado finally got one, but just one, hit with RISP from Blackmon after a single from LeMahieu and CarGo’s second straight walk. Blackmon’s 85th RBI of the season tied the game at one. With two on and nobody out, Parra hit a weak grounder to second. It was going to be tough to turn the double play in any traditional sense so Brandon Drury went for the tag on Blackmon. The Rockies center-fielder avoided the tag with one wide stride, but in a controversial call, he was ruled out of the baseline and the Diamondbacks got two outs anyway. CarGo was stranded at third after a Story strikeout. By the rules, the basepaths call was correct but it was far outside the standard of how that is typically called in the MLB game today. There isn’t a steadfast case for the Rockies to complain but it was certainly another example of an unusual piece of bad luck potentially costing Colorado a run or even a big inning.

The tie lasted exactly one pitch as Ketel Marte put Arizona back on top with an opposite-field solo home run in the sixth. Jake Lamb followed with a single to right and Drury surprised Marquez on an 0-2 fastball up and away with a perfect short swing, driving the ball out of the park over the high scoreboard in right to make it 4-1, Arizona.

The Diamondbacks tacked on an insurance run on a solo homer from Chris Iannetta against Carlos Estevez in the eighth.

Colorado had another chance in the eighth, getting back-to-back singles from Blackmon and Parra to start the frame. But Story struck out and was booed by the home crowd as he walked back to the dugout. Nolan Arenado was called upon to pinch-hit and struck out as well, though no boos. Arenado is now 5-for-his-last-36. Valaika was the third straight strikeout victim.

They went quietly in the ninth.

The Rockies finished 2-for-30 with runners in scoring position, leaving 27 men on base in the three-game series against the Diamondbacks. They went 4-for-50 with 52 LOB in the homestand and are 17-for-116 (.146)  with runners in scoring position over their last 14 games. They’ve lost 10 of those 14 games.

Colorado falls to 72-64 with the half-game lead for the second Wild Card. Next on the schedule are the struggling San Francisco Giants who will not throw Madison Bumgarner in the three-game series. Monday will be an afternoon game because of the holiday, Chad Bettis will get the start for the Rox. The Giants have not yet announced their starter. If the Rockies can’t get back on track against San Fransisco before heading out on the road to Los Angeles and Arizona, they might not be able to recover.