Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Hits & Misses: Spring Training Game 9

Royals 5, Rockies 0  (Boxscore)


Hits

Jeff Francis

Healthy, sharp and effective for three scoreless innings.  That is a HUGE step forward for Jeff Francis.  The next step is gaining the arm strength while maintaining the health, sharpness and effectiveness.  I'm sure his confidence has to be at it's highest point in about 18 months.  Big day for him. 

I also saw a picture of Francis showing off a little stubble on his face.  That's almost as big a news story as his return to form on this Wednesday afternoon.  Great news all around.  

Tim Redding

Geez, that was a pretty dominant three innings for Redding today.  No runs, only one hit allowed, and three strikeouts.  At the end of the week I plan on ranking the Rockies starting pitching candidates as they stand right now.  Redding will be an interesting guy to rank.  He's doing his best to make the coaching staff think about it at least.

Whatever the hell that thing on his chin is is a major miss though.  

Royals Webcast

Really enjoyed listening the Royals Webcast in this one.  Very informed, very well called game.  Jack Corrigan even stopped by to talk a little Rockies, preview the upcoming series in May in KC.  Good stuff.  Kudos to the Royals for their presentation.  

Misses

Facing Zack Greinke

I don't care if it's March, April, August or October, more times than not, it won't end well when you're facing Zack Greinke.  He admittedly wasn't at his best today, but his not quite best is plenty good enough to control most offenses.  Hopefully the Rockies miss him in KC this May.  That would be ideal.  

Edgmer Escalona

Introducing the Modesto Nuts new mopup man.  

Kidding.  

This really isn't a team miss as much as it's just a missed opportunity for Escalona to make a nice impression.  Maybe get himself positioned a little higher on the depth chart should the Rockies bullpen crumble into pieces.  Obviously he didn't get that accomplished.  I'm sure he'll get another inning somewhere in the next week, but this one might hang with him for a while.  

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