Inconsistent Baseball has become a bad habit for the Rockies . If they don't snap out of it soon, it's going to one long, bummer of a summer.
"Our execution is not what we expected," general manager Dan O'Dowd said Thursday. "We just aren't sure which team is going to show up, and that's a concern." Keep in mind that O'Dowd uttered those prophetic words early Thursday afternoon, about an hour before the Giants and Matt Cain trounced the Rockies 8-3 at Coors Field.
Although the Rockies tipped their caps to Cain for his six innings of one-hit Baseball, manager Clint Hurdle is concerned about his club's inability to gain traction.
"We have got to put together a better all-around game, with more consistency," Hurdle said after the Rockies fell to 11-16, the same record they had last season through 27 games. "We have to find a way to take care of what we can take care of."
Thursday, the Rockies took care of very little and gave away a lot. Their three errors were a season high.
Although Cain walked three batters in the first inning, he got Todd Helton to ground into a double play and struck out Brad Hawpe to escape unscathed. From that point on, it was smooth sailing for Cain, who allowed only a harmless single to Helton in the fourth.
Cain was a much different pitcher than the one the Rockies roughed up for five runs last weekend.
"He established his fastball much better today than last time," said Ryan Spilborghs, who hit two homers off Cain on Saturday but was 0-for-2 with a walk against him Thursday. "He worked his slider and curveball too. He was going back and forth, keeping us off-balance."
While Cain reversed his performance, so did Rockies starter Jason Marquis, only he went in the wrong direction. Marquis has been the Rockies' best pitcher and threw a complete game five-hitter against Cain last week.
But at crucial times Thursday, he wasn't sharp. Giants catcher Benji Molina turned into a one-man ERA wrecker with two early homers off Marquis. Molina led off the second with a solo shot to left off a Marquis cutter. His two-run homer to right was the centerpiece of the Giants' four-run third inning.
"It was one of those days when I didn't execute when I needed to," said Marquis, who lost for the first time at Coors. "The movement was OK, but I left the ball up in the zone a few times."
Marquis compounded his off day by committing two errors. In the third, he threw the ball into the outfield when trying to force Cain out at third, allowing Cain to score. In the seventh, Marquis bobbled a sacrifice bunt by Cain and misfired to first base.
Troy E. Renck contributed to this report.
Patrick Saunders: 303-954-1428 or psaunders@denverpost.com
