Colorado Rockies: The nightmare stretches of seasons past

Stretch: 2008, May 10 – June 2

Record: 5-17, went from 15-21 to 20-38

Coming off the franchise’s only World Series appearance, the Rockies stumbled out of the gate, but were still in contention in early May. Then the squad sunk to 18 games below .500 after enduring the franchise’s longest road losing streak to date.

The streak started with two losses to the Padres, then a three-game sweep at the hands of the Arizona Diamondbacks. Colorado recovered with a 5-4 homestand, but the next road trip started in embarrassing fashion with a 20-5 loss to the Phillies. The game was tied 4-4 after three innings, but the Phillies jumped on Jorge De La Rosa, Jason Grilli and Josh Newman for six runs in both the fourth and sixth innings.

(It was Newman’s last appearance for the Rockies, and he had four appearances for the Kansas City Royals in August before his career was over.)

The Phillies swept the Rockies in three games and the Chicago Cubs swept them in four. On May 30 the streak was bound to end, as Colorado led Chicago 9-1 in the sixth, but starting pitcher Aaron Cook gave it all away, allowing three home runs and seven runs in the sixth and seventh innings. Manny Corpas came in and gave up a single, two-run double and two-run home run before getting replaced. That gave the Cubs a 10-9 lead, which would hold as the final score.

Colorado won the second game of its next series, 3-0 in Los Angeles over the Dodgers, to stop the hellish road losing streak at 13 games.