Spring Training Game 23: Hits, Misses & Foul Tips

Reds 10, Rockies 3 (boxscore)

Hits

Um...

Well, no one got hurt. And everyone remembered their uniform.

Misses

John Maine

Whatever mystery was left in the Rockies 5th starter derby was gone about three batters into today's game. Maine was brutal... to put it nicely. His velocity was down according to people on scene. His command left a lot to be desired. He committed an error on a throw. Awful.

Sadly, it actually fit right in with several other performances by Rockies starters this week, only they weren't pitching for a job.

Sloppiness

Three more errors defensively. Some more icky base running. They should be playing much sharper baseball at this point. You can understand it when everyone is getting their feet under them and just getting work in. We're less than two weeks from opening day now, it's time to work out the kinks and play solid ball. Hopefully we see the beginning of that tomorrow.

Foul Tips

Franklin Morales/Reds broadcast

First real discouraging outing this spring for the man Reds radio described as one of the most dominant lefties in the game. Eh, well, he should be, and maybe he will be, but come on guys.

The funny thing is, knowing Reds broadcasters (mostly the Brennamans) as well as I do, I know they didn't say that because they didn't do their homework. They know who Morales is and the numbers have to be right there in front of them. They just go out of their way to dress up everything the Reds do. 

Yeah, all home team announcers do that to an extent. The Reds guy take it to levels that are laughable.

Five players reassigned to minor league camp

Among them were Ben Paulsen and Charlie Blackmon, who represented themselves VERY well this spring. All Rockies fans should be impressed and encouraged by both.

Hernan Iribarren had a better than average spring. Didn't run the bases particularly well, but I'm not sure the Rockies view that as a negative.

Pitchers Claudio Vargas and Sean White will likely go to Colorado Springs. White might be one of those relief arms you see come up in September... or he could be released tomorrow.

Spring Training Game 12: Hits, Misses & Foul Tips

Rockies 8, Angels 1 (boxscore)

Hits

Jhoulys Chacin

Chacin backs up De La Rosa's exceptional start from yesterday with a decent one of his own (4 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 1 K). Aside from DLR's hiccup last week and Paulino's disaster, Rockies starters have been on point in the early going. Hopefully we'll be saying the same thing four weeks from now.

Cole Garner/Ben Paulsen/Charlie Blackmon

A combined 5-for-6 with a HR (Paulsen), 4 RBI and 3 runs in limited time for these young guys this afternoon. Again, none of the three will make the opening day roster (barring injuries), but each has taken advantage of their chances to play and impressed on an almost daily basis.

The star of camp, Jordan Pacheco, actually cooled off with a 0-for-3, 1 BB performance. Maybe he was just allowing his buddies to have a little spotlight.

Jose Morales

Morales is quietly having a good spring and is almost a lock to be Chris Iannetta's backup come April 1st. He's not going to have a first half that comes anything close to Miguel Olivo's last season, but it's not far fetched to believe he will outproduce what Yorvit Torrealba gave the Rockies during his stay. I'll take that.

Hernan Iribarren

Iribarren is another guy that's taking advantage of his playing time. He helped break today's game open with an RBI during Colorado's 7-run 8th inning and is hitting a cool. 350 on the spring. The only real problem I've noticed so far with Hernan is his baserunning (picked off), so I guess he fits right in.

Misses

Nothing really stood out as a miss today. I could nitpick a couple things like Seth Smith misjudging a flyball or Iribarren getting picked off again, but we'll save all that for June.

Foul Tips

Dexter Fowler

No hits for Fowler but he did reach base twice via the base on balls. That's another good sign from where I sit.

John Maine

Congratulations to Maine for getting out there and throwing a couple scoreless innings. He dealt with a little traffic, probably wasn't as sharp as he would prefer, but all in all it had to feel good to retire some major league hitters and see 0's on the board.

Spring Training Game 3: Hits, Misses & Foul Tips

Rockies 7, Diamondbacks 4 (boxscore)

Hits

Jason Hammel

Nice opening effort for Hammel Time with two scoreless frames. Troy Renck summed up the outing with this tweet.

We also intercepted this tweet from Jason's brother Bill to Renck.

Chris Iannetta

If you hit a home run, your chances to make the hit list are very good. He also flew out to RF right after a runner scored from third on a passed ball. I was actually very annoyed by that passed ball because I wanted to see if Iannetta would come through with a good situational AB. Guess we'll have to wait.

Jordan Pacheco

Pacheco has future man crush written all over him. Two more hits today with an RBI. He can flat rake.

Hernan Iribarren

First of all, that's a fantastic spring training baseball name. Second, he's played quite well in back-to-back games. Seeing as we've only played three, we'll call go ahead and call Hernan the early favorite for the surprise of camp 2011. What that gets him who knows.

New opponent tomorrow

You can only beat up on the Arizona Diamondbacks for so long without getting bored. Rockies head to Peoria tomorrow to take on the San Diego Padres.

Misses

Greg Smith

The Good: The 3rd inning. He pitched a scoreless top half and doubled leading off the bottom.

The Ugly: Yes, straight from good to ugly. Smith's horrendous 4th inning -- which consisted of 4 ER, 5 H, 2 BB and one home run allowed to Russell Branyan -- will keep him a long ways off the Rockies radar.

In his defense, I'm sure it won't be the last home run Russell Branyan hits off Rockies pitching in 2011. He fits the mold of a Rockies killer the same way Pedro Feliz and Scott Hairston did.

Foul Tips

Franklin Morales

A scoreless inning! Sure there was one little walk mixed in there, but no runs, no hits, no balks, no wild pitches. We're on to something here.

Patience

The Rockies swung at the first pitch of every at bat today. Alright, not really, the At Bat Ap/Gameday on MLB.com only keep track of the pitches put in play. That gets confusing for a half inning or so.

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.