Rockies fail to make the best of a good situation

DENVER -- Thousands of waving white towels filled the cool night air. There was a thumping in the stands, a quickening of the heart.

The Colorado Rockies’ first great moment of this World Series looked and felt like the first great snow of a mountain winter, so filled with wonder and promise.

And, like all first great snows, so maddeningly phony.

The Rockies thundered down upon the Boston Red Sox with five late runs Saturday, closing a 6-0 deficit to an eyelash, two innings to turn a classic fall into a fall classic.

The setting was picturesque. The landscape was pristine. The possibilities were endless.

Then, a little bit of heat led to whole lot of melt.

Sludge followed beauty. Puddles followed majesty. Brian Fuentes followed Matt Holliday.

And today, the Boston Red Sox hold a historically insurmountable three games to none Series lead while the Rockies are left looking like the underbelly of a salt-infested, ice-chipped Chevy.

The final score was 10-5 in a game that, contrary to the headlines, was not won by a six-run Red Sox third inning, or Daisuke Matsuzaka’s 5 1/3 three-hit innings.

It was not won by prize rookie Jacoby Ellsbury’s four hits and three doubles, or dusty Dustin Pedroia’s three hits and two RBIs, or any of the Red Sox who play this game under the spotlight.

It was won by a look and a swat by two guys in the shadows. It was won by a walk and a single from the bottom two hitters in the Red Sox’s order. It was won by two guys with a combined .223 postseason batting average and five postseason RBIs between them.

Julio Lugo and Coco Crisp. A former Dodger and a breakfast cereal. The beginning and the end for the Rockies.

It was the top of the eighth inning. The Rockies and their Coors Field fans were still breathless after a booming three-run Holliday homer in the bottom of the seventh inning made the score 6-5.

In came Fuentes, a failed-closer-turned-setup man. He needed only to hold off the bottom of the suddenly struggling Red Sox order long enough for his brewing offense to grab more bats in the eighth.

Only one of the previous 15 Red Sox had reached base. The Rockies were surging and, for the first time in this series, it seemed the Red Sox were weakening.

“We had the momentum, we had the chance to take the lead, it was all there for us,” said the Rockies’ Garrett Atkins. “But then that’s what the Red Sox do. They never give in. And tonight they wouldn’t give in.”

It was perfect timing. Then it was a perfect storm.

Fuentes retired Jason Varitek on a groundout, easy enough, and here came Lugo, no big deal.

Early in the game, the shortstop had stopped two Rockies rallies with a lunging grab of a grounder, and a leaping snare of a liner.

He was here for his defense.

He was not here for what happened next.

Ball one. Ball two. Strike looking. Ball three. Ball four.

It was his second walk of the night, but only his fifth walk of the postseason.

Up stepped the .156-postseason-hitting Crisp. Another guy who was only around for his glove. He had only entered the game in the seventh inning as a defensive replacement.

Offensively, he is considered the Red Sox’s weakest link.

Moments later, he became their connection to a championship.

He looked at strike one, took ball one, then swatted a looping single to center field.

With runners on first and second and the top of the Red Sox’s order coming up, everything changed.

“They fought themselves back in the game, it was nice to give ourselves a little bit of wiggle room,” said Boston Manager Terry Francona.

Ellsbury looped a ball that made right fielder Brad Hawpe wiggle, Hawpe’s dive coming up short, the ball bouncing away for an RBI double.

Pedroia shot another ball to right field that made all of Denver wiggle, scoring two more runs to give the Red Sox a 9-5 lead.

“The Red Sox aren’t beating us with homers, they’re beating us with singles and doubles and walks,” Atkins said. “It’s all those little hits from everyone in the order, that’s what makes them so great.”

That one-run deficit was possible even against a hot Red Sox bullpen.

The four-run deficit was not.

“We’re very confident,” said Ellsbury later, adding, “You’re in as good of a situation as you can be in.”

Especially since tonight in Game 4, the Red Sox’s offense will be facing Aaron Cook, an injury-plagued pitcher who has not appeared in a game since August.

Rockies Manager Clint Hurdle tried to smile. It didn’t work.

He was asked if he knew the record of World Series teams that trailed three games to none.

“I don’t know the record,” he said.

It is 0-22.

“Looks like we’re on groundbreaking territory,” he said.

On Saturday, it was a ground that, for a moment, looked promising.

Then, like this World Series, it slowly disappeared under their cleats.

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Bill Plaschke can be reached at bill.plaschke@latimes.com. To read previous columns by Plaschke, go to latimes.com/plaschke.