Rockies Tee Off Against Dodgers in 11-1 Rout

From bad to worse, from embarrassment to humiliation.

The Dodgers were pummeled by the lowly Colorado Rockies for the second night in a row, falling, 11-1, Saturday at Coors Field.

The loss dropped the Dodgers (61-74) to seven games behind first-place San Diego in the National League West, the biggest gap since Aug. 11.

Is there any fight left in them?

“Until we are 3 1/2 out with three to play, I’ll still believe we are right there,” outfielder Jayson Werth said. “We always come in here and don’t play as well as we probably should. I don’t know if it’s the altitude or big park or what.”

Home run production is down this season at hitter-friendly Coors, but the Dodgers wouldn’t know it. Brad Hawpe hit a three-run home run and Garrett Atkins homered on the next pitch in the Rockies’ five-run fifth inning against D.J. Houlton. The Rockies homered three times against Jeff Weaver in their 11-3 victory Friday night.

Houlton (5-8) was coming off two strong outings, a victory over the Chicago Cubs and seven scoreless innings against the Rockies at Dodger Stadium. He had poor command from the outset, however, walking five and recording one strikeout.

“I didn’t throw well all game,” he said. “I’m really disappointed that it happened this late in the year when we need every win we can get.”

The rookie right-hander staggered through the first four innings, allowing only one run despite giving up leadoff doubles in the first and second and a leadoff single in the fourth. The Rockies left six runners through four innings and another was thrown out at the plate, but they exploded in the fifth when Hawpe followed one-out singles by Todd Helton and Matt Holliday with a towering drive into the second deck.

Atkins, whose three-run home run was the key blow Friday night, followed with his 11th homer. But the worst was yet to come. Catcher Danny Ardoin doubled off the top of the wall with two out and pitcher Byung-Hyun Kim, who had been one for 29, singled to right to score him.

Kim (5-10), who went six strong innings, has been tough on the Dodgers all season. Although his earned-run average against the rest of the league is over 5.00, he has allowed only three runs in 19 1/3 innings against the Dodgers.

“He is more aggressive with his fastball than I remember,” said Olmedo Saenz, who doubled twice. “He used to throw more sliders.”

The Rockies (53-81) battered the Dodgers to the finish, teeing off against Yhency Brazoban, whose descent from closer to mop-up reliever has been shocking. He allowed five runs, four earned, in 2/3 of an inning and his earned-run average ballooned to 6.33.

“Yhency wasn’t very good in the eighth inning,” Manager Jim Tracy said. “But the main thing is that we couldn’t mount anything offensively. You aren’t going to win games in this ballpark scoring one run.”

It’s also a bad sign when veterans begin making bonehead mistakes. With the score tied, 1-1, Saenz tried to stretch a double into a triple with none out in the fourth and was thrown out.

The Rockies’ rally came soon thereafter, and heads began to bow in the Dodger dugout.

“When we fall into a large hole, it’s very hard to come back with four rookies in the lineup,” Tracy said.

The Dodgers are dangerously close to rendering the six upcoming games against San Diego meaningless. However, Tracy did not want to think beyond today’s game.

“You keep playing,” he said. “You just keep playing.”