HOUSTON -- The Rockies weren't beaten as much as they were schooled by the playoff-bound Houston Astros on Sunday afternoon. A couple late-season callups, J.D. Closser and Garrett Atkins, were given the hardest lessons.
If they learn, some good could come of the 5-3 loss in front of 43,082 at sold-out Minute Maid Park. The game gave Houston the National League Wild Card and left the Rockies at 68-94 -- the second-worst record over a 162-game season in franchise history.
The loss, Colorado's ninth in the season's final 10 games, wound up taking the form of so many during the Rockies' last month-plus, which was spent playing almost entirely against playoff contenders. The Rockies wound up staying closer than the comparative records would indicate, but not being experienced enough to win.
From Aug. 24 through Sunday, 31 of the Rockies' 38 games were against teams in contention for playoff spots. The Rockies went 8-23 in those games, with 10 of the losses by either one or two runs.
"This game could have gotten away from us and it didn't," Rockies manager Clint Hurdle said. "They were battling and screaming and yelling from the start. We were letting it all fly."
Last-minute replacement starter Brandon Backe -- handed the ball because Roger Clemens came down with what the Astros hope is a 12-hour virus -- pitched on excitement, and the Astros took a 5-0 lead into the sixth inning. Backe (5-3) gave up two runs in five innings, struck out six and even knocked a two-run single. The Rockies chipped away against the Astros' bullpen, but didn't play cleanly enough to win.
J.D. Closser / C
Born: 01/15/80
Height: 5'10"
Weight: 175 lbs
Bats: S / Throws: R
Closser, expected to be the No. 1 catcher next season; Jorge Piedra, who has been a revelation as an outfielder who can spot-start and wield a decent bat; and Atkins, whose bat has turned him from trade bait to a player whose future could be in Colorado, were at the center of a several key moments that helped lead to defeat.
Closser has performed well offensively, but was victimized from the catcher position on Sunday. Working with starter Jamey Wright (2-3), who has never beaten the Astros, Closser gave up four stolen bases and had a wild throw for an error in one of the steal attempts during Wright's five innings. Two of the five runs against Wright went unearned because of third-inning miscues by Closser and Aaron Miles.
It wasn't all Closser. The Astros got outstanding jumps against Wright, who picked off four baserunners in his previous 13 starts and usually controls the running game. Wright said the Astros were taking short enough leads that he didn't consider using his pickoff move, but were then taking off at first movement. Closser said it was a study in how a team uses the excitement of its situation to its advantage.
"They had a lot on the line, so they were being aggressive to get it going," Closser said. "That's the nature of teams like that. But we battled back and gave them all they could handle."
The Rockies began a comeback in the sixth. Mike Gallo hit Jeromy Burnitz with a pitch with the bases loaded and nobody out. Closser fanned for the first out, and Atkins barely missed a homer to right but got a sacrifice fly against Chad Qualls to make it 5-2.
But Qualls struck out Piedra to end the threat.
Piedra was involved in two other difficult plays. Astros right fielder Lance Berkman threw him out trying to score from second on Miles' single in the first, which had more to do with the Berkman throw and Astros catcher Brad Ausmus' perfect sweep tag than anything Piedra did. Piedra also struggled to track Jose Vizcaino's leadoff triple to right field off reliever Allan Simpson in the sixth.
Javier Lopez / P
Born: 07/11/77
Height: 6'4"
Weight: 200 lbs
Bats: L / Throws: L
"We played hard, but they played better baseball," Piedra said. "But our future looks bright. We've got a lot of work to do for next year, but maybe we can be one of those teams that comes out of the clouds."
Rockies reliever Javier Lopez erased Vizcaino when he got Mike Lamb to hit a bouncer to the mound and started a rundown to prevent a run in the sixth. It was part of a stellar performance by the maligned Colorado bullpen, which lost 39 games and blew 34 saves during the regular season. Simpson, Lopez, Steve Reed and Chin-hui Tsao combined for four shutout innings.
Todd Helton doubled, his 49th of the season, to bring his final batting average to .347 (second in the NL to San Francisco's Barry Bonds), to lead off the eighth against Dan Miceli. Helton scored on Burnitz's fielder's choice.
Houston went to closer Brad Lidge against Atkins, the Pacific Coast League batting champ this season. Lidge mixed his slider and fastball to work the count to 2-2, then caught Atkins tied up and looking on what the Rockies youngster called a "fake slider" -- it spun but didn't have the down-and-out break a right-handed hitter would usually see -- to end the inning.
Lidge fanned Todd Greene, Mark Sweeney and Miles in the ninth to complete his 29th save.
Thomas Harding is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
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J.D. Closser / C
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