Rockies are no strangers to Fenway

BOSTON -- Fenway Park can be cruel to the uninitiated. The 37-foot-high Green Monster in left field, the Bermuda Triangle-like, 420-foot gap in right-center and the pinball machine-like curve in the right-field wall can wreak havoc on outfielders playing their first series here.

The intensity and intimacy of the place, the feeling that 37,000 fans are right on top of you, can be intimidating, and the history associated with the 95-year-old stadium can leave first-time visitors in awe.

To which the Colorado Rockies would respond: been there, done that.

Thanks to interleague play, the Rockies will have a level of comfort in Fenway Park for the World Series that they ordinarily wouldn’t have had. They won two of three games here in June, outscoring the Red Sox, 20-5, and handing ace Josh Beckett, who will start Game 1 tonight, his first loss.

“It’s a cool place to play, but we’re not going to get caught up in the surroundings, saying, ‘Hey, we’re playing in Fenway.’ ” Colorado first baseman Todd Helton said Tuesday. “When they sing ‘Sweet Caroline’ -- that’s one of my favorite things -- nobody’s going to be going, like, ‘Wow.’ ”

Several players autographed the inside of the Green Monster in June, and many checked out the historical sites in the city. This, though, is more of a business trip.

“This is a special place -- the fans, the players, the team, the city -- you can’t really say enough about it,” said Colorado pitcher Jeff Francis, who will start Game 1. “We saw it for the first time in June and took it all in. Now that we’ve seen it, we’re not going to be blown away by it. We know what to expect and can concentrate on playing.”

A bigger challenge for the Rockies, who have won 21 of their last 22 games, will be regaining their momentum after an eight-day layoff between the completion of their National League Championship Series sweep of Arizona and the World Series.

Detroit had a weeklong layoff after sweeping the American League Championship Series last season and played horribly while losing a five-game World Series to St. Louis, hitting .199 and making several fielding blunders.

“Well, we’ve done the things were capable of doing as far as staying sharp,” Rockies Manager Clint Hurdle said. “We had some simulated games. We tried to heighten awareness and intensity in our workouts. We pulled the cage back. We had umpires. We’ve got some pretty good pitchers, so our hitters got to see some good arms, some good spin and velocity. We ran the bases, played both sides of the ball.”

Or, as Helton said, “We’ve done all we can do without going to the Dominican Summer League.”

But will it be enough?

“I guarantee you, not one of those guys wanted eight days off,” Red Sox catcher Doug Mirabelli said. “Starting pitching gets out of whack a little bit, and hitters try to step in against their own pitchers to get some live swings and keep their eyes going. If you’re banged up, it helps you heal. I’m pleased we went seven games [in the ALCS] and got to continue playing because we’re still in the flow.”

Colorado’s layoff is the second-longest for a team before the World Series. The Philadelphia Athletics had a 10-day rest between the end of the 1910 regular season and the start of the World Series. The A’s defeated the Chicago Cubs, 4-1, in the Series.

A shakeup in Game 4 starters produced a wild swing of emotions, devastation for Red Sox veteran Tim Wakefield to elation for Rockies right-hander Aaron Cook.

The knuckleball-throwing Wakefield, who pitched Game 4 of the ALCS, was not placed on the World Series roster because of a shoulder injury, and he will be replaced in Game 4 by left-hander Jon Lester, who threw a four-inning simulated game during Tuesday’s workout.

Cook, sidelined since Aug. 10 because of an oblique injury, was added to the World Series roster and will start Game 4 for Colorado, pushing left-hander Franklin Morales to the bullpen.

Wakefield, in his 13th season with the Red Sox, nearly broke down during a news conference he attended with Manager Terry Francona, saying, “This is the ultimate stage, I’ve worked hard from spring training through the course of the season to get to this point, and now I can’t be available. I mean, it [stinks], to put it bluntly.”

The 41-year-old has inflammation in his shoulder and the back of his shoulder, and doctors told him he would be “at risk of injuring myself for the rest of my life” if he continued to pitch.

“I just don’t think it’s fair to the other 24 guys on this team if I go out there and maybe I pitch well, maybe I don’t, and then I’m not available for the rest of the Series,” Wakefield said.

Hurdle had to tell Cook he wouldn’t be on the NLCS roster. Tuesday’s conversation with Cook “ended much better,” he said. “Telling him he’s getting the ball in Game 4 was very special.”

Several Rockies have had success against Beckett, including Matt Holliday (.429, one homer in 14 at-bats), Garrett Atkins (.600, one homer in 10 at-bats) and Yorvit Torrealba (.400 in 10 at-bats).

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mike.digiovanna@latimes.com