Lackluster Recrap: Hammel's struggles continue

D-Backs 12, Rockies 3 (boxscore)

Let's keep this short and sweet tonight.

Wish I could tell you what was wrong with Jason Hammel. Some people think he's distracted and disengaged. I wouldn't be surprised if he was hurting. Either the back injury that knocked him out a handful of starts ago, or something that developed because he pitched through that. Maybe it's a dead arm, or maybe he's just regressed to being a fringe rotation guy.

I don't know, but whatever it is is coming at the worst time. With Aaron Cook struggling. With Juan Nicasio learning on the fly. With Ubaldo and Jhoulys trading off being good, the Rockies need Hammel to ascend to and sustain being a dependable middle of the rotation guy. Instead, he's bouncing back and forth between decent outings and ugly outings.

Here's the line: 5 2/3 IP, 12 H (ick), 8 ER (career high), 4 BB, 7 K (not bad)

He actually rallied in the final 3+ innings to make the numbers look more respectable, but this was still a flat out ugly outing. He desperately needs a rebound next weekend in San Diego.

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Rock Solid Recrap: Rockies dismantled, pantsed and swept by Braves

Braves 6, Rockies 3 (boxscore)

Now see, that's how you take care of business and finish off a sweep. You think the Atlanta Braves cared that the Rockies are short-handed and hurting? No chance. That's a talented, driven, ruthless and scary good baseball team they've put together there. Damn good team.

It's a good lineup. Don't care how much they've struggled to this point, the process of coming together has already begun. They will score runs. The rotation speaks for itself. And the back end of the bullpen is shutdown quality.

But like I said, I'm most impressed with how they took care of business on the field. They took charge of every game, stepped on the Rockies throat and never once let them up. Rockies could learn from that... if they ever get healthy again.

Juan Nicasio

The good and the bad. We've documentated after every start that there's going to be a lot of both. Today was a perfect example. Two good innings, then the wheels just fall off. Learning how to navigate his way through those tough innings is always a difficult hurdle in any pitcher's development. Just look at Ubaldo, Hammel, De La Rosa - all of those guys struggled to get past the killer inning. Once they did, they realized their varying levels of potential.

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Rock Solid Recrap: Chacin gives Braves free pass to victory

Braves 5, Rockies 3 (boxscore)

Jhoulys Chacin: "And another walk. Make that six."

Not exactly word for word what Drew Goodman said, but close enough. Six walks is too many folks. Unless you're Ubaldo Jimenez and you're not allowing hits. Unfortunately, Chacin wasn't that good tonight. And he found out the hard way that when you walk six, it allows something fluky like Derek Lowe ripping a double into the left field corner to not only be embarrassing, but something that completely changes the game.

Afterwards Chacin said he felt too strong coming into the game, which caused him to overthrow and miss his spots. I hope that's all it is. When you see a guy that was cruising along so easily for three months just suddenly lose it, and then you hear about the forearm... I'll take his word for it, but I'm still crossing my fingers.

Chris Iannetta: The best of both worlds. One time he goes up there, works a count and delivers the big RBI single.

Next time: 2nd and 3rd, one out. He ****ing stands there and looks at three strikes. Inexcusable. I don't care if strike three looked or was outside. Boohoo. They were all strikes the entire game. He should have known that and he should have been looking to drive a run in. Terrible is the only word I can think of to describe it.

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Spring Training Game 15: Hits, Misses & Foul Tips

Rockies 4, Padres 3 (boxscore)

Hits

Ubaldo Jimenez

Four absolutely perfect innings with four strikeouts. He's pretty good.

Jason Giambi

Today was Giambi's day to shine. His laser two-run homer to the lawn in right field proved to be the difference on the scoreboard, but more importantly showed us that Giambi has his feet under him early. As the guys on KOA noted, both Giambi and Todd Helton are further along in their preparation thanks to the shorter bus rides. That will most definitely be helpful come April 1st.

Bullpen

The Rockies bullpen pretty much picked up right where Ubaldo left off. Felipe Paulino (1 IP), Clayton Mortensen (2 IP) and Eric Stults (1 IP) were unscored upon in their innings, allowing only two combined hits. Matt Daley was on his way to a scoreless inning until right fielder Brian Rike dropped what would have been the final out of the game. San Diego went on to score three unearned runs.

Misses

Aggressive Baserunning

I don't mind the idea of taking an aggressive approach to baserunning. However, after a 2010 season which seemingly saw at least one stupid baserunning mistake a game, I'm worried more harm than good will come of this strategy. We saw a good example of why today.

Was that Rich Dauer coaching third as he usually does? What the hell is this guy thinking? Sending Ubaldo into a play at the plate... in spring training... with Carlos Gonzalez coming up. That's committing three baseball sins with one overzealous wave of the arm. It's also idiotic and inexcusable. Nothing to gain from that. Everything to lose. Just a stupid, stupid baseball decision.

And knowing the cramping issues Ubaldo has had in the past. Knowing you've lost Aaron Cook indefinitely. Knowing Jorge De La Rosa isn't feeling right. Knowing you're struggling to find a 5th starter. Stupid times ten.

You want to be aggressive on the bases? Fine. But first learn how to run the bases, and also learn situations so you know when to take your chances.

Foul Tips

More Baseball

The Rockies aren't done playing baseball today. The night game with the Arizona Diamondbacks starts at 6:40 Mountain time.

Eric Young and Wilin Rosario

It was good to have these two guys back on the field as they work their way back from injuries. Still a long way to go for both to get on track, but just nice to finally have them out there.

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 2: Hits, Misses & Foul Tips

Rockies 6, Diamondbacks 5 (boxscore)

Hits

Table setters

Dexter Fowler and Jonathan Herrera got the Rockies offense off on the right foot Monday. Fowler opened the game with a single, stole second (though it took a poor throw that allowed him to advance to third), and scored a wild pitch. Herrera immediately followed with a triple and scored on a Charlie Blackmon groundout.

Consistent production from these guys (or at least these spots in the order) would be a huge boost to the Rockies offense. It's something they haven't really had since late in the 2007 season.

By the way, Willy Taveras and Hernan Iribarren continued the production at the top in the later innings. In total the Rockies 1-2 hitters were 4-for-9 with a BB, 4 SB, 4 R, and 1 RBI. That's more than good enough.

Jhoulys Chacin/Esmil Rogers

Two very smooth and very clean innings for the 23-year-old Chacin. His only base runner (Justin Upton) reached on a Tulowitzki error, but Chacin quickly picked him off. Good start.

Esmil Rogers followed with two shutout innings of his own. His only base rummer (Justin Upton) singled hard to right field but was left stranded right there.

Tim Wheeler

We'll give the Rockies prospect a head nod for delivering a sacrifice fly in the 7th inning.

Misses

Troy Tulowitzki

0-for-3 at the plate! Left the bases loaded in the 5th! He made an error! I bet he's gets tomorrow off!

Eric Stults

Stults falls to the back of the line in the competition for a roster that spot likely isn't available unless Colorado suffers a couple injuries. He allowed three earned runs on five hits in his two innings, including a solo HR to Collin Cowgill (great spring name). Stults also committed a throwing error on a pickoff attempt. We'll note the three strikeouts to conclude this otherwise ugly paragraph with a positive spin.

Foul Tips

Huston Street

Not exactly a smooth outing for the Rockies closer. He allowed a single to Arizona's first baseman Brandon Allen. Allen would go on to steal second, advance to third on a wild pitch, and score on a Gerardo Parra groundout. Obviously not concerned about allowing the hit, but I'm sure he heard from Bob Apodaca about controlling the running game.

Very minor issue. It gives me something to write about to knock off the rust.