MIAMI — There was an awful moment, followed by an anxious 18 months, in which Jorge De La Rosa wondered if he would ever realize his potential as a big-league starting pitcher for the Rockies.
It was on May 24, 2011 on the mound at Coors Field, facing the Arizona Diamondbacks, when De La Rosa's left elbow quit working. He underwent Tommy John surgery a few days later and hoped for the best.
"I was scared in the beginning, and then I had a setback and I had a lot of things in my mind. But thank God I'm here and I came back better than before," the soft-spoken left-hander said Sunday afternoon after rewriting the Rockies record book.