Denver ? The clutch hits, nowhere in sight.

The ball bashers, nowhere in sight.

The potent ‘pen, nowhere in sight.

The right managerial moves, nowhere in sight.

The starting pitching, a joke until Aaron Cook’s valiant effort fell short Sunday night.

Visions of a World Series championship fueled by a remarkable 21-1 run vanished in Colorado’s thin air when all the ingredients of that incredible streak were snatched by the Red Sox.

Needing to recapture some of the wizardry that got them here, Todd Helton and the Rockies bowed out of October with a whimper, losing 4-3 Sunday night to Boston, which swept its second World Series in four years.

“No reason to hang our heads. We accomplished a lot this season,” said Todd Helton, the face of the franchise who washed away a decade of disappointment and finally reached the postseason after 1,578 games. “They outplayed us. We have no reason to be upset. We made the World Series. We did a lot this year. We came a long way.”

At least they have their first NL pennant flapping on the flag pole at Coors Field. It will have to do for now.

Bullied by Boston, Colorado was outscored 29-10 by the Red Sox.

The Rockies simply were in over their heads against a no-holes team that did to them what they did to everyone else for a magical month-and-a-half.

“I think everybody in this clubhouse is proud of what we accomplished and can take that into the offseason with their heads held high and a smile on our face,” MVP hopeful Matt Holliday said.

“Because I think if you had told anybody that the Rockies would be in the World Series this year, they’d have said, ‘You’re crazy.”‘

The Rockies steadfastly refused to use rust as an excuse, but the fact is they endured an eight-day wait for the World Series. By sweeping Arizona in the NL bracket, they were too good for their own good.

For more than a week they went through the motions, took tons of batting practice and did spring training-like drills while enduring the longest layover since the 1910 Philadelphia Athletics waited 10 days.

Against Boston, the Rockies looked more like the fourth-place team they were in mid-September, not the one that swept its first seven postseason games just like the 1976 Cincinnati Reds of Big Red Machine fame.