Comment on As Rockies’ Charlie Blackmon approaches retirement, a lingering question: What will become of the beard?

On cue, that old Blackmon magic showed up Tuesday night at Coors Field, but the Rockies’ chances of beating the Cardinals disappeared with the return of late-inning pratfalls. St. Louis scored a run in the seventh and four more in the eighth to turn a tight game into a 7-3 cruiser. Colorado lost when leading after six innings for the 15th time this season (a 43-15 record), the second-most such losses in the National League behind the Mets (61-16). A day after announcing his retirement, 14-year veteran Charlie Blackmon swung his magic wand and gave the Rockies a short-lived 3-2 lead in the fifth with an RBI triple into the right-center gap. Blackmon is 38, but he still has the wheels of a much younger player, and he burned up the basepath on his way to third.

Despite a powder blue shirt and a red cap, Nolan Arenado wore a purple heart on his sleeve. “I didn’t know the press conference was going to happen until this morning,” the St. Louis Cardinals third baseman said Tuesday inside the visiting clubhouse at Coors Field, an hour after he’d conspicuously attended the news conference down the hall, watching former Rockies teammate Charlie Blackmon say farewell to a game they both love. “Got a few texts, and I’m happy that all the guys let me know.

Pregame, in-game, postgame, off day, or offseason, Charlie Blackmon always had a game plan precisely mapped out. Until now. With his retirement on the near horizon, the Rockies’ star outfielder and fan favorite finds himself in limbo at age 38. He’s not even sure what will happen to the gnarly beard he’s been growing for over a decade. “My wife (Ashley) has actually never seen me without it, so I’m a little bit concerned about how that would be received at home,” he joked.

The moment Brandon Jones secured his first interception of the season on Sunday against Tampa Bay transported him back in time. It came in the first quarter of Sunday’s 26-7 road victory over the Buccaneers when Jones got a bead on Baker Mayfield. Reading the quarterback’s eyes as turned toward receiver Mike Evans, the Broncos safety stepped in front of Evans for the pick before zig-zagging across the field for a 37-yard return to Tampa Bay’s 9-yard line. “I saw Mike Evans take a vertical release out of some sort of bunch look.

There are usually a lot of handshakes involved when a player shows up at an NHL facility for the first time after signing with a new team. When Pierre-Edouard Bellemare arrived at Family Sports Center ahead of this season, he was met with a lot of hugs. That familiarity is a big reason why Bellemare, six months shy of his 40th birthday, believes he can still help the Avalanche pursue another Stanley Cup championship after signing a player-tryout contract shortly ahead of training camp. “Everybody knows my kids.

BOULDER — The Buffs’ revived run game could be adding another option back into the fold. CU football coach Deion Sanders said Tuesday that tailback and Ohio State transfer Dallan Hayden “looked good” during practice earlier in the day and is expected to play on Saturday against UCF. The sophomore from Memphis, Tenn., hadn’t played since CU’s loss at Nebraska with what ESPN’s Pete Thamel reported was a high ankle sprain.