Bordow: Weak hitting team’s downfall

DENVER - Three games. Four runs. No chance of playing in the World Series.

It’s as simple as that, really.

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The Diamondbacks’ season is about to come to an end because they can’t hit.

At least, not when it counts.

Sure, you can gripe about Arizona’s base-running gaffes, the interference call on Justin Upton in Game 2 or manager Bob Melvin’s decision to stick with closer Jose Valverde in the 11th inning of that game even though Valverde couldn’t find the plate with a GPS system.

But that’s not why the Diamondbacks are about to be swept by the Colorado Rockies.

They’re in a 3-0 hole because when they’ve had runners on base, their bats have turned into toothpicks.

“In situations where one hit really would have made the difference, we weren’t able to get it,” first baseman Tony Clark said.

Take Sunday’s 4-1 loss at Coors Field.

Arizona had three chances to assert its authority and quiet the sellout crowd before it could get revved up.

Each time, it couldn’t get the job done.

First inning: Chris Young and Stephen Drew lead off the game with singles, putting runners on first and second with no outs.

The buzz-kill: Eric Byrnes hits a shot right at pitcher Josh Fogg, and Fogg throws to second to double off Young.

Second inning: Jeff Salazar and Miguel Montero single with one out.

The end result: Augie Ojeda grounds into a 4-6-3 double play.

Third inning: Young walks with one out.

The bad news: Drew carbon-copies Ojeda’s 4-6-3 double play.

Three innings. Three double plays.

The game wouldn’t be decided until the sixth inning, when Colorado catcher Yorvit Torrealba hit a three-run homer off Livan Hernandez, but it was over right there.

“We kept telling ourselves, ‘It’s going to change. It’s going to change,’” Ojeda said. “But every time we hit it hard it was at somebody. It was frustrating.”

Perhaps we should have seen this coming. Arizona ranked last in the National League in the regular season in batting average, hitting with runners in scoring position and on-base percentage.

Eventually, those sickly numbers were going to catch up with them. Eventually, their young hitters were going to be in over their head.

In retrospect, it’s amazing the offense’s impotence didn’t catch up to them earlier.

The Diamondbacks have been the victim of some bad luck, most notably Clark’s line drive in Game 2 that was snared by a diving Willy Taveras, and Byrnes’ line drive Sunday.

But they’re 2-of-17 with runners in scoring position. That’s not solely due to misfortune.

“It doesn’t feel like our guys are going up there pressing,” manager Bob Melvin said.

It may not feel like it, but it certainly looks like it.

Who knows how this series might have changed if the Diamondbacks were able to come up with a key hit. They haven’t led since the first inning of Game 1. Perhaps if they had jumped on the Rockies when they had their chances in Game 2 and Game 3, they wouldn’t be staring at the end of their season tonight.

It’s a shame, because Arizona has pitched well enough to be ahead 3-0. Colorado has scored 12 runs in three games, and only 10 of those were earned. This from a team that averaged 5.2 runs per game in the regular season.

“The pitching staff has done exactly what we hoped,” Clark said.

And the hitters have done precisely what was feared. As it turns out, Arizona misses Orlando Hudson’s bat as much as they do his mouth.

Melvin said he’ll start Jeff Cirillo at second base tonight to try to jump-start the offense, but that’s a little maneuver and it’s way too late.

The Diamondbacks are done. All that’s left is to list the official cause of death:

4-6-3.