Sam Adams Sam Adams joined the Rocky Mountain News in 1996, first as the Denver Broncos beat reporter before taking his current role as sports notes columnist. The Colorado Association of Black Journalists voted Adams the Print Journalist of the Year award in 2003.

The line was drawn some time between the fourth and fifth inning of Monday's Colorado Rockies-Pittsburgh Pirates baseball game. There had to be someone at Coors Field whose bat could produce a run for the home team, and I was determined to find him. Or her.

The search for potential prospects would end at the batting cages in the ballpark concourse. Apparently, poor hitting is every bit as contagious as good hitting, because on this night, the fans swinging wildly in the cages were every bit as inept with a bat as the Rockies have been on the field in recent weeks.

The Rockies went into Tuesday night's game against Pittsburgh batting .260, and tied for the National League's low in runs scored (with the Chicago Cubs) at 229, and 28th among the 30 major-league teams with 215 runs batted in.

On their current pace, this year's Rockies will establish a franchise-record for least number of runs scored (in a non-strike affected season) with 651.

NOTEWORTHY

Quote, unquote: "The Rockies are hitting like Michelle Wie putted (in her U.S. Open qualifier) . . . nothing's falling." -- 950 The Fan's Sandy Clough, on Tuesday morning's Sports Guys show.

Rocky Ford native Marvin Cordova is booked to defend his World Boxing Council youth super-lightweight title on ESPN's "Wednesday Night Fights" card scheduled for July 5 in Colorado Springs. Cordova's pro record is 10-0.