Monday, September 21

DENVER -- Rockies catcher Hunter Goodman turns off his mind when he turns off the power.

With timing impeccable and homers flowing, Goodman reached for a Clayton Beeter eighth-inning slider, saved it from bouncing on the plate, and popped a home run to left field to give the Rockies an 8-7 victory over the Nationals at Coors Field on Tuesday night.

The power came largely from Goodman’s left hand -- one he had wrapped after the game, due to residual soreness from an injury he sustained sliding into home plate at Dodger Stadium before the All-Star break.

“When you’re going well, it’s more like, ‘What pitch do I want to hit? What spot do I want this ball in?’” Goodman said before the game. “You’re not thinking about mechanics. You’re not thinking about what your swing is doing. You’re just like, ‘If I can get a pitch in this spot, I’m good to go.’

"That’s how it happens.”

Goodman’s 31st homer of the season erased frustration. In the sixth, Goodman struck out on a slider from Orlando Ribalta with the bases loaded – as did Willi Castro behind him.

“He [Beeter] threw me five [sliders] in a row before that,” Goodman said. “I got spun a lot today. I got a lot of spin in the last two days, so I was expecting one there. It wasn’t really the best pitch to swing at, but I got it.”

Beeter noted, "That was exactly where I was trying to throw that pitch. The ball flies more [at this ballpark]. But everybody's pitching on the same field, so it's not really an excuse."

Goodman, who knocked three homers in the Rockies’ victory over the Reds on Saturday, left manager Warren Schaeffer impressed with his feat of balance and strength.

“Sometimes, all Goody needs is one hand, and it can go a long way."

Goodman is taking a clear mind into the batter’s box. And with his name showing up in reports regarding the Aug. 3, 4 p.m. MT Trade Deadline, he is keeping his mind clear everywhere else.

“My wife will talk about it a little bit – she looks into it more than me and then gets a little more anxious about it than I do,” he said. “She’ll tell me some things sometimes. But she tries to keep it to herself, for the most part.”

At 41-62, the Rockies are a clear seller. With Schaeffer fully setting the program as the full-time manager (after serving as interim last year from early May to season’s end), and a new front office in place, the squad has improved its competitiveness. But it needs more talent.

The first trade of this shopping season – reliever Seth Halvorsen to the Dodgers for reliever Nick Frasso and outfield prospect Landyn Vidourek on Monday – signaled the Rockies’ two-pronged approach. Frasso, assigned to Triple-A Albuquerque, should help sometime this year. Vidourek, a second-round Dodgers pick last year, is headed to Single-A Fresno.

Rockies president of baseball operations Paul DePodesta said young, hard-throwing relievers such as Halvorsen have been requested frequently. However, teams have shown interest in “pretty much every position group on our team.”

But the biggest catch would be Goodman, 26, and not eligible for free agency until 2030. The price would be extremely high. Tweets and reports link him with contending and big-market clubs, with the suggestion being that it would take four players – at least one Major League starting pitcher and one top pitching prospect, plus a couple of position players.

Major League sources tell MLB.com that the speculation is in line with the asking price, but it may take more for Goodman.

Goodman could be a one-man talent acquisition department. But he also could – and likely will – be a leader on a team that flashed production for much of June and early July, but has fallen back into struggles the last couple of weeks. Eventually, he believes the Rockies will find a winning path.

“This game is so individual,” he said. “So I can’t speak for everyone confidence-wise, but I think we have a confident group of guys. There are a lot of young guys who have had some early success, which helps.

“We also had a 17-game stretch [with no days off] going into the All-Star break, so that’s tough. That’s a grind. In the Minor Leagues, you never have a stretch like that, so a lot of guys haven’t done that before. So I don’t think confidence is the issue. We’re going to get rolling.”

A starter until this season, righty Antonio Senzatela is learning the highs and lows of being a reliever. Pitching in various roles helped him establish a club record for relief wins at the All-Star break with nine, plus he had his first career saves. But he also has seen his ERA spike. He had a 0.46 ERA in March and April, a 2.70 mark in May, an 8.18 in June and a 7.50 so far in July.

How has Senzatela, 31 and in the last year of his contract (plus, you guessed it, a trade candidate), managed to stay even-keeled?

“I just try to keep it fun,” said Senzatela, who made 145 starts over his first nine years with the Rockies. “Baseball is hard. Some days you’re good. Some days you’re bad. I just try to keep it honest and keep working every day.

“I don’t think about the Trade Deadline. I try to live in the present. I’m here and I need to throw the ball well for this team. I love being here, love being in the big leagues and love being in the Rockies’ organization.”

The Rockies’ original plan was for righty Tanner Gordon to start Wednesday’s series finale with the Nationals. But Ryan Feltner’s rough start on Sunday against the Reds forced Gordon to work in long relief – quite well, it turned out, with 5 2/3 innings, one run and three hits in the 9-6 loss.

Rookie righty Gabriel Hughes will start Wednesday, instead of having an extra day of rest from his previous start.

Gordon owns a 5.95 ERA in 13 appearances. But in his last two games, a start at San Francisco on July 10 and Sunday’s game against the Reds, he has yielded just two runs in 10 2/3 innings.

Gordon’s training has been as a starter. He has a 6.26 ERA as a starter and a 5.73 as a reliever, but in both roles he has had performances to suggest he could take off in one role or the other. For now, he is a long reliever and spot starter.

“I’m whatever they want me to be,” Gordon said. “I’m a long reliever. I can be a starter. I don’t want to be too picky while I’m up here.”

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