BLACKMON NOT READY TO PONDER 200-HIT MILESTONE
FRANCISCO» When the season SAN is over, Rockies all-star center fielder, leadoff man extraordinaire and National League MVP candidate Charlie Blackmon will sit back, ponder all that he has accomplished and, maybe, give himself a little pat on the back.
But there is no time for that now as the Rockies try to hold onto a wild-card playoff berth.
“I’ll do it when the season is over,” Blackmon said Wednesday before Colorado’s 4-0 loss to San Francisco. “I go back every year and I will look at it and basically compare how I did, year after year. I’ll look at how I got better and why I didn’t get better, and how I could get better the next year.”
Blackmon reached the 200-hit milestone Tuesday, making him the first major-league player to accomplish that this season and the eighth different player in Rockies history to do it. He didn’t know what he had accomplished until fellow outfielder Gerardo Parra gave him a heads up Tuesday night.
“He said, ‘Congratulations, Papi,’ ” Blackmon said. “I said, ‘Why?’ He goes, ‘You just got 200 hits.’ I was like, ‘Really? Wow. That’s pretty good.’ That’s what he said.”
That previous Rockies player to get 200 hits in a season was Matt Holliday, who had 216 in the 2007 World Series season.
“It’s good to get a lot of hits,” Blackmon deadpanned. “For that reason, it means you’ve been able to play a lot baseball and be an effective player. Matt Holliday was certainly a good player. It’s good to be in that conversation.”
As for talk about his chances of being voted MVP, Blackmon said he can’t afford to pay attention to it. But he did offer this: “That means I’m doing something right, and if you are not a good player, you don’t have that problem.”
Bettis on tap.
Right-hander Chad Bettis has been struggling lately, as his 1-3 record and 6.23 ERA demonstrate, but manager Bud Black will start him Saturday at San Diego.
“The couple bullpen sessions he’s had have been good in regards to some simple mechanical adjustments he’s made,” Black said. “He’s working to keep that fastball a little more direct to where he’s intending to throw the ball. I think four extra days of rest will be beneficial for him.”
Bettis’ last start was short and ugly. He gave up five runs in onethird of an inning last Thursday at Arizona, but Black expressed confidence that Bettis will rebound.
Golden.
Shortstop Trevor Story has been turning in a lot of highlight-reel plays of late. That led Black to dole out some hefty praise for the second-year player.
“He should get consideration for a Gold Glove,” Black said. “I really think so. There’s going to be a few guys ahead of him just because they’ve done it before. He should really get strong consideration.”