TEAM CONFIDENT GRAY CAN TAKE PLAYOFF STEP
PHOENIX» The Rockies believe in Jon Gray, and they aren’t shy about saying so.
The day before the club’s first playoff game since 2009, right fielder Carlos Gonzalez said: “I believe if Jon Gray has a great postseason, don’t be surprised if he wins the Cy Young next year.”
Ace pitcher Gray wasn’t quite so bold, but when he met the national media Tuesday, he presented a confident air. He even went so far as to say he expects to have fun, even though Wednesday’s wild-card game against Arizona is a one-and-done playoff.
“I have a lot of positive emotions coming in here, and it leads me to think it’s going to be a lot of fun,” said Gray, 10-4 with a 3.67 ERA. “I don’t think it’s going to be a tight game for me. I don’t think I’m going to be feeling that nervous. I’m just going to go out there and control what I can. The results are the results. But the effort is going to be 100 percent for me.”
Gray is 4-0 with a 1.44 ERA in his last four road starts. He has allowed three or fewer earned runs in 13 straight starts. During that 13-game span, Gray is 7-3 with a 2.64 ERA, 80 strikeouts and 16 walks.
“This is a great step for Jon,” manager Bud Black said. “It’s a great step for some of our players who haven’t played in postseason. These are the experiences that will help Jon really make his mark in this game.
“There isn’t a sense (for Gray) to do more because of the magnitude of this game. He’s very capable of staying within himself and really throwing a good ballgame.”
Gray’s voice, by the way, was extremely hoarse Tuesday. No, he’s not coming down with a cold or the creeping crud.
“I’m fine,” he said. “It’s just from the celebrations of the past couple nights. “I used my voice quite a bit the last couple days.”
Roster nearing.
Black said he is “closer than you think” to naming a roster and lineup for Wednesday’s game. But the lineup will probably look a lot like the one he used through September.
As the final month approached, Black noticed his team was starting to succumb to the pressure of a postseason chase. So he talked them through it.
“There was a point in late August, early September where we needed to take a step back and relax a little bit because our guys were excited about where they were and it did affect our play,” Black said. “After a meeting or two and some individual discussions, some good things started happening as far as the looseness of the group.”
Slugger alert.
Black did not reveal how the Rockies plan to handle slugger J.D. Martinez (29 homers in 62 games with the Diamondbacks), who’s quite capable of blasting the Rockies out of the playoffs with one swing of his bat.
But Black made it clear that the Rockies must pitch smartly to Arizona’s cleanup hitter.
“We know that on our side from the pitching perspective, we have to make pitches,” Black said. “You’ve got to make pitches throughout the lineup against this team.”
Footnotes.
The MLB Players Association on Tuesday released a list of baseball’s bestselling jerseys, a list topped by New York Yankees rookie slugger Aaron Judge and heavy on Chicago Cubs and Los Angeles Dodgers. But one Rockies player made the list: Nolan Arenado. The all-star third baseman, who wears No. 28, ranked 20th. … The Rockies celebrated Monday night by going out as a team to a high-end Scottsdale, Ariz., steakhouse. The players were on their own Tuesday night.