So, once again, the Rockies came up short, losing 13-9 to the Padres on Friday in front of 30,490 fans at Coors Field on a perfect spring night. Colorado lost its seventh consecutive game and fell to 6-32, matching the 1988 Baltimore Orioles for the worst 38-game start in Major League Baseball’s Modern ERA (since 1901).

It’s the third straight game in which the Rockies allowed at least ten runs, and the fifth straight in which they allowed at least eight. Owning the highest WHIP and opponent batting average in MLB, it’s clear that Colorado’s pitching staff is in a special kind of rut right now.

Yes, it was ugly. But a five-run eighth on seven hits -- after managing only two runs on six hits in the previous seven innings -- restored some face to the Rockies and a small measure of respect, tur