DENVER • Huston Street was talking to himself.

“One more great pitch,” he said. “You’re one more pitch from getting out of this.”

He never threw that one pitch. That’s why Colorado Rockies fans booed him without mercy as he walked off the pitcher’s mound.

And that’s why he was standing in front of his locker, revisiting his role in the Rockies excruciating,  season-ending 5-4 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies.

Street refused to make excuses. He answered every question. He vowed to employ his half-inning of hell as motivation for his future.

“This game is meant to be played by men,” he said. “You take responsibility.”

Street had been a lead hero in the resurrection of the 2009 Colorado Rockies, burdened with baseball’s second-worst record on May 29. He was as close to a sure thing as could be found in baseball, fumbling only two of 37 save opportunities.

But he failed Monday night when he handed a victory to the Phillies. And this was after failing Sunday night.

“You know,” Street said, his voice steady, “I was fighting out there as hard as I could.”

He came so close. He had two strikes on the Phillies’ Chase Utley with Colorado leading, 4-2, with two outs. One more strike and the Rockies were headed to Philadelphia for Game 5.

A girl in a winter coat stood up, holding a sign above her head.

“I Believe In Rocktober,” the sign read.

Sorry, not this year. On a chilly night in downtown Denver, hope was about to die.

Street lost his edge and walked Utley, and soon the massive, menacing Ryan Howard swaggered to the plate.

Street threw three straight fastballs to Howard. He had two strikes on the big man, and once again Street and his teammates were one pitch away.

The fourth fastball was low and outside and traveling at 91 miles per hour. A few minutes after the game, Street had already watched tape of the pitch.

It wasn’t his best pitch, he said, but it wasn’t awful, either.

Howard launched the throw a few feet from the right-field wall. Two runs scored and Howard arrived at second. The Rockies, who had all but climbed on the plane for Game 5, were reeling.

Street, rattled, surrendered a single to Jayson Werth, and Howard sprinted home with the winning run. That finished Street’s season.

He trudged off the mound, listening to fans jeers. These were the same fans who cheered him all season.

It was a brutal scene, but he refused to indulge in pity. It’s his job to take on pressure, he said. It’s his job to deliver victory to his teammates.

And he failed.                                          

Rockies general manager Dan O’Dowd interrupted Street’s conversation with reporters.

“We wouldn’t have got here without you,” O’Dowd said as he embraced Street. “Just keep that in mind.”

Many teammates offered encouragement. And their words helped, kind of.

“It all helps and none of it helps because you have to deal with it in your own way,” Street said.

Street regrets his failure to deliver victory to “my teammates, my boys,” but he won’t allow this October catastrophe ruin his winter.

He promised to awaken this morning and give thanks for what he calls “my privileged life.”

He will not dwell on his failure.

He’ll keep searching for that one great pitch.

Colorado closer Huston Street sat alone in the Rockies’ dugout after being pulled from the game. Photo by MARK REIS, THE GAZETTE