Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Spring Training Game 11: Hits, Misses & Foul Tips

White Sox 9, Rockies 8 (boxscore)

Hits

Dexter Fowler

Fowler is swinging a hot bat and seemingly collecting an extra base hit in every game this spring. And the best part is he's doing it without overswinging. He's just making good contact and the ball is flying. I'm encouraged by his early results and believe a breakout year is coming if he can avoid the bad habits that held him back at points last season.

Ty Wigginton

Wigginton muscled up for his second home run of the spring, a two-run shot off Chicago's lefty John Danks. It's safe to assume Wigginton's name will be on that lineup 100% of the times against lefties, whether it be at first or third or left or right or second.

Misses

Felipe Paulino

Big step back to the pack for Paulino (3 IP, 8 H, 4 ER, 2 BB & 1 K) in the battle for Aaron Cook's spot. He struggled with his location, leaving his fastball in the heart of the plate far too often. His curveball also looked pretty flat and plenty hittable. He just didn't have anything going, and a White Sox lineup mixed with veterans and talented prospects made him pay.

Matt Reynolds

Reynolds is struggling to get his feet under him early on. I don't think it's anything to get worked up about yet, but again, people are worried about the bullpen lefties and today's outing isn't going to help relax those worried people.

Eric Stults

Please remove Mr. Stults from your Rockies roster card. He's not sticking around long after today's brutal (2 IP, 6 H, 4 ER, 2 K) performance. It actually looked even worse than the numbers indicate.

Foul Tips

No MLB.TV for Sox broadcast

Not sure why this game aired locally but was not available on MLB.TV or At Bat. Kind of strange, but you didn't miss much in terms of broadcast quality. The White Sox regular announcers were not on hand and the video feed like it was taken directly from the Camelback Ranch scoreboard.

Oh, and did I mention Felipe Paulino and Eric Stults stunk?

Spring Training Game 10: Hits, Misses & Foul Tips

Rockies 4, Cubs 0 (boxscore)

Hits

Jorge De La Rosa

Awesome. Could not ask for a better outing (4 IP, 2 H, 5 K) from a starter 11 games into the spring.

Jordan Pacheco

Pacheco lit up the scoreboard again today with a three-run home run off Braden Looper. The story of camp continues.

Clayton Mortensen

Mortensen is making the most of his spring opportunity after being acquired from Oakland to add depth to the starting rotation in Colorado Springs. He won't make the opening day roster, but he's a decent bet for a spot start or stint in the bullpen if the Rockies depth is tested.

Franklin Morales 

Three scoreless appearances this spring. Let's all cross our fingers and really hope he's found his groove during the winter.

Misses

Nothing really stood out here. I was honestly more focused on the Rockies game with the White Sox that aired locally than this game, but from what I heard the Rockies played solidly.

Foul Tips

Split Squads

If you're going to split the squads, stagger the times so nerdy fans like myself with blogs can keep their thoughts straight. That is all!