Colorado seeks recovery after Rocky start

BOSTON – A sudden thunderclap and deluge have ruined many a sun-drenched day in the Rocky Mountains.

So maybe the Colorado Rockies should have known.

They'd grown accustomed to endless sunshine of the metaphorical kind, basking in the warmth of 21 victories in 22 games that vaulted them into the World Series. Sure enough, a thunderclap of Josh Beckett fastballs and deluge of Boston Red Sox runs followed, and the long winning streak is now a memory.

Oh, the times they had.

Oh, the humiliation they endured in a 13-1 loss Wednesday night in Game 1 at Fenway Park.

Oh, what a sudden change.

Oh, what will Game 2 bring?

"It's not like they broke our hearts," Rockies third baseman Garrett Atkins said. "It’s not like we were winning by five runs and they came back on us."

No, it wasn't like that at all. It wasn't as if the game was competitive, even for an inning. Beckett struck out the side in the top of the first, and the Red Sox scored three runs in the bottom of the inning.

Away we go.

The thoroughness of this whipping is hard to overstate. If ever there was a case to invoke a major league mercy rule, like they do in a one-sided youth league game, this was it. The Rockies could have walked off the field at some point in the Red Sox's seven-run fifth inning – before reliever Ryan Speier's three consecutive bases-loaded walks would have been opportune – and conceded the outcome.

It wouldn't have been quitting. It would have been cutting to the chase, recognizing the inevitable, graciously acknowledging a fait accompli. They do it in chess.

Set up the pieces for another day.

"We were thinking about (Game 2) halfway through the game, right after the game got out of hand," Atkins said. "In our at-bats after that, we were just trying to get ready for (Thursday)."

The Red Sox set a record for runs in a World Series opener. They tied a World Series record by banging out eight doubles. Beckett became the third World Series pitcher to strike out the first four batters he faced. Dustin Pedroia became only the second player to lead off the first inning of a World Series with a home run.

Let the record show that the first was Don Buford of the Baltimore Orioles in 1969, and that the Orioles ultimately fell to the New York Mets in five games after winning Game 1.

Somehow, this doesn't have the same feel.

"We've got some pitchers that have to make some pitches," Rockies manager Clint Hurdle said. "We've got to see some pitches."

Hurdle likes to say his players have a "slow heartbeat," a reference to their cool under pressure. Maybe it's time for a quickened pulse. The Rockies had eight days off between the National League championship series and the World Series.

Were they all ready for this?

"I didn't feel rusty, really," said Rockies starter Jeff Francis, who gave up 10 hits and six runs in four innings and started fewer than half the batters he faced with strikes.

"I faced a hot team and they didn’t miss when they swung the bat. It's not like we were worried about the layoff."

Several Rockies leaned on the theory that getting blasted was better than losing a close game. Less emotional. Easier to forget.

"This isn't going to take away from our confidence," outfielder Ryan Spilborghs said. "This game is already forgotten. Nobody is going to have a pouty lip about it."

Said Todd Helton, whose 11-year wait to reach the World Series couldn't have been more painful than enduring these nine innings: "(Thursday's) game will show you what we are made of."

Ominously for the Rockies, their Game 2 starter will be Ubaldo Jimenez, a rookie who spent much of the season in the minors. He follows fellow rookie and pal Franklin Morales, who gave up seven runs in two-thirds of an inning in relief, leaving with a World Series earned-run average of 94.50. Jimenez, in an interview a couple hours before he watched his teammates crumble, sounded glad to be here.

"I mean, I never pitched (at Fenway Park) before," he said. "I just heard it's fun to pitch, so I don't feel any pressure. I'm just really excited about it.

"It's so nice to be here because there's a lot of history in this stadium. It's just nice. Like when we came here (Tuesday), the first thing I did was go out there and just go, 'Wow, it's amazing.' Just imagine it being full of people out there. It's nice."

Nice? Wow? Amazing?

That was the Rockies over the last month, their late-season surge from fourth place in the NL West to the wild card, their come-from-behind, 13-inning play-in victory over the San Diego Padres, their playoff sweeps of the Philadelphia Phillies and Arizona Diamondbacks.

Now they've ceded nice, wow and amazing to their opponent. The 12-run margin of victory was the largest ever for a World Series opener. Bored Red Sox relievers had nothing better to do in the late innings than bang out a beat in the bullpen with water bottles and sticks.

The Rockies are left to drag themselves from disgrace. And they've got to do it quickly. It's no time for a slow heartbeat.

"We get something to eat, go to sleep and get them (Thursday)," catcher Yorvit Torrealba said. "The series has a long way to go."