Rockies pound out 20 hits, make history with sweep

Rockies 17, Mets 7

DENVER (AP) -- If they can do it against New York, the Colorado Rockies figure they can knock anybody around.

Todd Helton and Garrett Atkins both drove in a season-high five runs and the Rockies pounded out 20 hits and routed the Mets again Wednesday night, this time 17-7 to become the first team in more than half a century to sweep two New York clubs in the same year.

"Our lineup top to bottom is swinging the bat well right now," slugger Matt Holliday said after reaching base in all six of his trips to the plate. "There's no break 1 through 8."

Colorado's three-game sweeps of the Yankees and Mets at Coors Field were oddly sandwiched around a 1-9 trip, the worst three-city swing in franchise history.

The last team to sweep series from two New York clubs during the regular season, according to the Elias Sports Bureau, was the Milwaukee Braves, who whitewashed the Brooklyn Dodgers and the New York Giants in 1956. After moving to Los Angeles, the Dodgers swept the Yankees in the 1963 World Series after sweeping the Mets four times during the season.

"Got that going for us," Rockies manager Clint Hurdle said with a smile.

For the series, the Rockies outscored the Mets 34-12. Add in the Bronx Bombers, and Colorado outscored "New York, New York" 47-17.

"Yeah, you'd better not get caught wearing a Rockies cap in New York," reliever Tom Martin cracked.

The Rockies battered Mets pitchers for 47 hits overall and every starter scored at least once Wednesday night.

"You saw the series. We ran into a team that was locked in," Paul Lo Duca said. "The middle of their order can hit. Holliday, Helton, Atkins, Hawpe. I bet they had 12 hits. It was a helpless feeling this weekend. We couldn't do anything to stop them. We could have had Jesus on the mound and they still would have gotten hits."

Atkins, Brad Hawpe and Troy Tulowitzki all homered for Colorado, which pounded out 20 hits one night after collecting 18. Josh Fogg (4-6) overcame David Wright's three-run homer in the first inning for his first win in two weeks.

"I was able to hold it together long enough to get 17-run support," said Fogg, who allowed five runs and eight hits in six innings.

Wright's 15th homer was a 426-foot shot that seemed to forecast a different vibe for the Mets, but their starting pitchers struggled all series -- allowing 20 runs in 13 1/3 innings for a 13.50 ERA and 12 walks -- and Orlando Hernandez was no different.

El Duque (4-4) tied a career worst with six walks in only four innings and allowed six runs and six hits before giving way to an even shakier bullpen.

"My control wasn't good. But they hit some of my good pitches," Hernandez said.

Such has been the case for Colorado for some time now. The Rockies even scored 50 runs on their dismal trip through Toronto, Chicago and Houston, four times giving All-Star closer Brian Fuentes a lead that he blew in the final inning each time.

"A lot of teams go 1-9 on the road trip and feel their season's over," Tulowitzki said. "It's real nice to rebound, especially when you lose the games like we did. All late and we had the lead. A lot of teams can just falter from there and go on a downward spiral and we bounced back and swept a good team.

"We can compete with anybody and we've proven that."

Hawpe hit his 14th homer, a two-run shot, in the second, and Helton's sacrifice fly tied it in the third. In the fourth, Hernandez gave Colorado the lead for good by walking Helton on an eephus pitch with the bases loaded to ignite the Rockies' three-run rally.

Lo Duca tripled and scored on Carlos Beltran's sacrifice fly in the fifth to pull New York to 6-4, but the game got away from the Mets in the bottom half of the inning when right-handed reliever Guillermo Mota surrendered six runs on six hits in two-thirds of an inning, including a two-run double by Helton and home runs by Tulowitzki, his ninth, and Atkins, his 13th.

Helton drew another bases-loaded walk in the sixth, this one from Pedro Feliciano, who then gave up a two-run double to Atkins, who had four hits.

"They came out swinging and never stopped," Shawn Green said. "They hit the ball hard everywhere. It's frustrating. We couldn't stop them. They were an offensive force all three games. We scored runs, but nothing close to what they did. This was a real rough series for us."

Game notes
The Rockies, whose 17 runs were a season high, also had 20 hits at Shea Stadium on April 25. ... Colorado (4-2) won the season series against the Mets for just the second time since 1998. ... The Rockies are 12-2 at home since June 2.