WASHINGTON — The Rockies knew the so-called fire they tossed Jeff Hoffman into last week, when he made his debut against the red-hot Chicago Cubs, wasn’t going to simmer anytime soon.
Not when the promising young right-hander had to make his second career start on the road against the Washington Nationals, yet another first-place team with firepower to spare. Not when his fastball had to cut through the humid air in the nation’s capital that hung thick like molasses on an uncomfortably warm summer night.
That Hoffman displayed a measure of cool-headed calm Friday through all that heat provided at least some glimpse of hope during yet another defeat in a season that is quickly backpedaling toward irrelevancy.