Rodgers lifts up hometown Little Leaguers with a day at the ballpark

ST. PETERSBURG -- In the midst of a mini rally by the Rockies -- two innings before they crumbled in the eighth and lost to the Rays, 12-4, on Tuesday night -- second baseman Brendan Rodgers could identify with the Little League players from his hometown of Lake Mary.

Any young ballplayer can identify. Get a hit, and no matter how many people are cheering, you can hear the voices of family and close friends cheering. That’s how Rodgers felt after his single -- part of a two-run sixth that put the Rockies up, 4-3.

“My cousins were in that second deck over there,” Rodgers said, still in his dusty uniform, as he pointed toward the section high above the Rays’ dugout. “Little Leaguers were down here. My parents were up behind our dugout. I had no idea where anyone else was.

“But it felt like the whole stadium was cheering. I had no idea where everyone was. But you could hear it coming down. It’s the first time for a lot of them to see me play in person, so that meant a lot, I’m sure.”

Rodgers had in attendance, according to his mother, 23 family members, 30 friends and all the Little Leaguers with at least one parent. They made the trip of about 120 miles.

And Rodgers and the Little Leaguers could have traded stories of disappointment.

The Rockies seemed in line for a cool road win. However, they didn’t do enough with their sixth-inning rally. And after giving up seven runs in the eighth of Sunday’s 10-5 home loss to the White Sox, they gave up nine in the same inning Tuesday. That frame included a ground-ball hits against Brent Suter, any of which could have been a double play; a catch not made by left fielder Nolan Jones, which was ruled a two-run Randy Arozarena single; and, eventually, a Osleivis Basabe grand slam off Daniel Bard.

But the Little Leaguers had a story of disappointment of their own. One game from a trip to Williamsport, Pa., for the Little League World Series, they lost to a team from Nolensville, Tenn., 4-1, on Aug. 9.

Well after the game’s end, Rodgers was in good spirits. The visit with the Little Leaguers and pictures and hugs from his family did that for him. They spared him the anger and disappointment of a quiet Rockies clubhouse. But he winced at the memory of Sunday and the fresher memory of Tuesday -- both games that Colorado let slip away.

“We were in that game the whole way,” Rodgers said. “I would say other than the grand slam, I wouldn’t say they really hit any balls hard -- a couple jam shots, a couple that could have been double plays, a play Nolan makes 99 times out of 100.

“But [the Rays] continued to add pressure, put together good at-bats and we ended up with a tough ending. But there’s always tomorrow. We’ll come back here and get after them early."

Suter was charged with five runs on four hits and one walk, after not yielding a run the previous 10 2/3 innings. Bard gave up four on four hits in one-third of an inning in a season that has been much more trying than his 4.40 ERA would indicate.

But the Little League lesson occurred in the sixth, when Rodgers singled behind Ryan McMahon’s leadoff single off starter Zack Littell, then scored the inning’s second run on a wild pitch. Colin Poche struck out Michael Toglia (who homered off Littell in the second) and Brenton Doyle to end the inning with two runners on base.

“It had the makings of a big inning,” manager Bud Black said. “But a couple strikeouts there got us. That’s the difference -- some hitters who put the ball in play, and we had a couple younger hitters who didn’t put the ball in play.

“That’s our challenge for a lot of our younger players -- the grind to shorten the swing, put the ball in play and see what happens. If you put the ball in play, something’s going to happen. If you strike out, not many good things happen.”

Rodgers didn’t play Little League. He was on a travel team called “Florida Cat” -- for the sponsor, Florida Catastrophe, a disaster recovery business run by the father of one of his youth teammates. Whatever the structure, Rodgers’ message is the same as to his Rockies teammates -- keep pushing.

“It’s cool to see a lot of those kids who are going to the same middle school as me,” Rodgers said. “A lot of those kids are big 12-year-olds and they’re telling me they’re throwing 80 mph.

“I said, ‘Really? That’s pretty hard up here. So keep going.’”