Spring Training Hits & Misses: Game 7 vs. Kansas City

Hits

Brandon Wood

The Rockies offense is kind of sputtering along over the first week of spring training games, so basically any player with multiple hits will be recognized with a Hit until it starts to become a regular occurrence. In this case it was infield hopeful Brandon Wood, who singled, doubled, tripled and knocked home one of the Rockies two runs in three plate appearances.

My cousin's wedding

I had a really nice time at my cousin Kate's wedding on Saturday. The ceremony was presided over by their youth pastor, who played a part in introducing them 11 years ago, so it was cool hearing him tell their story with a personal touch and perspective. I also spent most of the reception tracking the Colorado/Arizona Pac 12 Championship Game with my cousin Andy (an Arizona graduate). He took the outcome well, but did not send along any congratulations. I wished them well in the NIT.

Misses

Christian Friedrich

After starting his spring with a Hit worthy outing last Xday, I noted that consistency would go a long for Friedrich if he planned on working himself back into the Rockies long term plans. Well, guess what? He took a step back. In three innings, Friedrich allowed four runs (three earned) on five hits and a walk. The three strikeouts were nice, but again it's the inability to string promising performances together that has everyone doubting what once seemed to be undoubtable (new word) talent.

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Spring Training Hits & Misses: Game 5 vs. Kansas City

Hits

Drew Pomeranz

Make that back-to-back strong outings to start the spring for Pomeranz. In today's outing he threw three scoreless innings, allowing two hits, walking one, and striking out three. To break it down a little further, he forced three groundball outs, picked the speedy Lorenzo Cain off first, and teamed up with Ramon Hernandez to have another speedy runner, Mitch Maier, thrown out attempting to steal second.

Good stuff all the way around for Pomeranz individually, but that about covers the good for Colorado today.

Misses

Josh Outman

Outman's day was a miss, no doubt, but not the total miss it looked like it would be after his first inning. That first inning, which was the game's fourth inning, included the Royals plating four runs on five hits, with Yuniesky Betancourt's home run greeting him on just his second pitch. His second inning didn't start much better with a walk and single leading it off, but Outman did bear down at that point to retire six in a row.

Again, not a good outing, but you definitely take note of his ability to collect himself and finish his three innings of work strongly. How a pitcher finishes his outing after a rough start is one of the few things you can actually take away from these spring games, so I wouldn't say Outman harmed his chances of making the team based on this. But he definitely needs to bounce back with a more complete performance his next time out.

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Rock Solid Recrap: Sundays. Bloody Sundays.

You know the drill by now. Rockies have a chance to wrap up a series sweep. Rockies fall flat on their face in grand fashion. Happens every time.

Sunday may have taken the cake though. What a flat out miserable day in so many different ways. Most of which revovlve around usually dependable pitchers having their worst outings of the season. But there was so much more. So. Much. More.

Royals 16, Rockies 8 (boxscore)

Jason Hammel: I wonder if his back is still bothering him. He really hasn't looked like the same guy since leaving that start 2-3 weeks ago when if stiffened up on him. I'm not trying to make excuses for him, but something is amiss. I don't think he just went sour for no reason, but I could be way off on my speculation.

Either way, his outing was lousy. Hopefully he can bounce back in Washington.

Matt Belisle: This one came out of nowhere. Belisle allowed ONE run the entire month June. I even ranked him as the Rockies No. 1 player in June.He's not likely to repeat in July, but we must not overreact to one awful outing. As long as nothing is physically wrong, he's going to continue being a critical and effective part of the bullpen.

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Lineup Card: 7-3-11 Rockies vs Royals

If you're looking for Rockies game lineups and you don't feel like searching all over Twitter or waiting for MLB.com to post them, check back to Heaven & Helton about 30-60 minutes before first pitch. They should be here waiting for you.

First things first, congratulations to Troy Tulowitzki on being named to the National League All-Star team. We still have a chance to vote Todd Helton in there as well and you'll get the link to that in a second.

Links

• Yesterday's recap: The honeymoon continues for Mark Ellis
• All-Star Final Vote: Vote Todd!

Lineups

Colorado Rockies (41-42)

1. CF Carlos Gonzalez
2. 2B Mark Ellis
3. 1B Todd Helton
4. SS Troy Tulowitzki
5. RF Seth Smith
6. 3B Ty Wigginton
7. LF Charlie Blackmon
8. C   Matt Pagnozzi
9. P   Jason Hammel

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Rock Solid Recap: The honeymoon continues for Mark Ellis

We're getting a really good look at how dangerous the Colorado Rockies lineup can be with an effecitve hitter slotted into the #2 spot. Of course it's anything but a guarantee that Mark Ellis will continue being that effective hitter, but his first two games give us a lot of hope that he will be a measurable upgrade over those who played before him.

And I'm not just talking about this season. I'm talking about several seasons.

On Saturday, Ellis collected three more hits -- three more doubles to be exact -- making him 6-for-10 with five extra base hits and five runs knocked in through two games as a Rockie. Something tells me he's not going to miss the Oakland Coliseum. Or anything about Oakland for that matter, but especially that graveyard for hitters.

But I think the most important part here is that twice Carlos Gonzalez has been intentionally walked ahead of him, and twice Ellis made the Royals pay with an extra basehit. If Jim Tracy wants to continue hitting Gonzalez lead-off, which I can live with, he absolutely needs a respectable hitter to protect him. Ellis will start earning that respect with a couple more clutch knocks.

Watch Ellis come through

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Lineup Card: 7-2-11 Rockies vs Royals

If you're looking for Rockies game lineups and you don't feel like searching all over Twitter or waiting for MLB.com to post them, check back to Heaven & Helton about 30-60 minutes before first pitch. They should be here waiting for you.

Links

• Yesterday's recap: Nothing beats fun at the old ballyard
• Blake Street Bulletin: Evaluating the Mark Ellis Trade (Logan's Take - Rich's Take)

Logan Burdine really summed the deal up with this perfect paragraph.

"To be honest, I really don’t care about his bat. I know, at the very least, he will produce at a comparable level to the group they had. In my mind, this deal meets two key sets of criteria for any trade. First of all, he improves the team, and, second, they didn’t surrender more value than Ellis is worth. The Rockies gave up a reliever that was without a place on the big club."

Lineups

Colorado Rockies (40-42)

1. CF Carlos Gonzalez
2. 2B Mark Ellis
3. 1B Todd Helton
4. SS Troy Tulowitzki
5. RF Seth Smith
6. 3B Ty Wigginton
7. LF Charlie Blackmon
8. C   Chris Iannetta
9. P   Greg Reynolds

Get used to this lineup; we'll be seeing a lot of it over the next few weeks.

Kansas City Royals (33-49)

1. 2B Chris Getz
2. CF Melky Cabrera
3. LF Alex Gordon
4. RF Jeff Francoeur
5. 1B Eric Hosmer
6. C  Brayan Pena
7. 3B Mike Moustakas
8. SS Alcides Escobar
9. P   Kyle Davies

Still bad. 

Rock Solid Recap: Nothing beats fun at the old ballyard

And finally the Colorado Rockies and their fans got to have a little fun at the expense of the Kansas City Royals.

The Rockies haven't been involved in too many laughers this season. That goes both ways. Just about every day we're sitting on the edge of our seats waiting for that one little thing to go wrong, but praying the Rockies can either overcome it or flat out avoid it. I prefer night's like last night, where the game is essentially over from pitch one to pitch done.

Rockies 9, Royals 0 (boxscore)

Juan Nicasio: The main reason it was over early was this kid. Now, it would be easy to joke that he continued his dominance of the Texas League with this win over Kansas City, but I honestly don't care who he owned. It was all about the confidence and command he had over his entire arsenal. It was damned impressive.

Watch Nicasio deal

I think it was an encouraging glimpse into what Nicasio's future could look like if the secondary stuff becomes more consistent. Either way this was a masterpiece. Just leave it at that and wait patiently to see how he follows it up.

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Spring Training Game 14: Hits, Misses & Foul Tips

Rockies 4, Royals 3 (boxscore)

Hits

Jason Hammel

Hammel made one mistake this afternoon -- which Mike Aviles hit for a HR. He also walked one, but retired each of the 12 other batters he faced. He's having as good as a spring as anyone in a Rockies uniform.

Todd Helton

Two more hits this afternoon. He's definitely locked in and feeling good. Cross your fingers it continues.

Seth Smith

Nice to hear a little noise from Seth in the spring. He's been relatively quiet, which doesn't necessarily mean he's struggling, but it's good to see him muscle up and take Luke Hochevar yard.

Misses

Carlos Gonzalez

0-for-3 with two strikeouts? Is that even allowed under his new contract?

Obviously it was a light day for misses, which is always a good thing.

Foul Tips

Franklin Morales

Four scoreless outings to start the spring for Franklin. I couldn't be happier for him. The sad thing, though, he could give up one run in his next outing and Rockies fans will go into their hate Morales routine. Just let the kid be and let him get his confidence.

Rex Brothers

Brothers had uneven inning of work today, loading the bases on one hit and two walks, but pitching out of the mess undamaged.

We're starting to hear his name more and more as an outside possibility to make the roster. Some of that has to do with how well he's pitching, but most of it has to do with how poorly Matt Reynolds has fared to this point. I think Reynolds will work his way through this stretch and be fine, but we'll have to take a closer look at Brothers' outings from here on out just in case.

Adam Jorgenson

Remember Adam from the first game of spring training? Things went much, much better today, as he lowered his ERA to 32.40 with one inning of one run baseball.

Spring Training Game 7: Hits, Misses & Foul Tips

Rockies 10, Royals 9 (boxscore)

Hits

Carlos Gonzalez

Pretty good hitter when he's locked... which is apparently all the time. The sound off his bat is second to no one in either league.

Jason Giambi

The ball was making a nice sound off Giambi's bat as well. Two doubles, two RBI. I get the feeling he's going to help the Rockies a lot this season after struggling to gain comfort in his role most of 2010.

Jordan Pacheco

What? Only 1-for-4 today? What's the matter with Jordan?

Kidding. That one hit was a 2-run double. He also stole a base and gunned down the speedy Alcides Escobar on a SB attempt. He's the unquestioned star of camp through the first week of games.

Misses

Esmil Rogers

Felipe Paulino is now the clear favorite for the 5th rotation spot after Esmil's bleh outing today. You can live with the four hits he allowed, but it's the walk and the two hit batters in just three innings that lead to extensive damage, short outings and taxed bullpens.

The good news is he has time to find his release point and get that consistency down, but not as much time as a guy like Chacin or De La Rosa, who already have their roster spots locked up.

Claudio Vargas

Nothing to see here. Triple A roster filler at best.

Greg Smith

Smith had his second uneven performance is as many appearances. He may not even get past the first cut down.

Foul Tips

Franklin Morales

Another scoreless outing for Morales despite a Mike Aviles triple, which is encouraging. Obviously there's a big difference between showing poise now and showing poise in April or August, but it's a start.

Also, the more Rockies fans hate on this kid the more I pull for him. There's no better feeling than silencing critics. That's the feeling I want for Franklin. I also want him to make the Rockies better, so that kinda goes hand-in-hand.

Ben Paulsen/Charlie Blackmon

Paulsen and Blackmon continue to contribute something positive whenever they're afforded the opportunity. That's all you can ask for of these kids. Great attitudes that fit the Rockies mold perfectly.

Lineup Card: Game 3 @ Kansas City

I am really excited to watch today's game. Love the pitching matchup.

Aaron Cook will be out there looking to equal his recent strong efforts against the Phillies (Roy Halladay) and Cubs (Randy Wells).

This will be a challenging day for an already challenged Rockies offense.  Zack Greinke is currently in the same tier as Ubaldo, Halladay, Tim Lincecum and few others. In fact, that may be the first tier in its entirety right there.

But you know, it can't get too much worse for the offense than we've seen this week.  Sometimes matchups like these are just what the doctor ordered to bust a slump.  Maybe the Rockies peck away at Greinke a few innings before finally breaking through with a 3-4 spot.

Crossing my fingers for that result, along with a Cookie victory.

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Lineup Card: Game 1 @ Kansas City

Nothing better than some hot Interleague Action in Kansas City.

It's easy to assume Kansas City stinks... because they do.  But the Cubs and Astros aren't exactly contenders either... and we know the problems that happened there.  There's no reason this series can't or won't go the same frustrating way if the Rockies leave the door open for bad things to happen.

Rockies Lineup

• CF Gonzalez 
• DH Giambi
• 1B Helton
• SS Tulowitzki
• RF Hawpe
• C   Olivo
• LF Spilborghs
• 3B Stewart
• 2B Barmes

Jason Hammel pitches.  

Last night I mentioned my Helton hitting second idea again.  So naturally Giambi hits there tonight.  Seriously, if Tracy has totally soured on Fowler, which he clearly has, move Helton up to 2.  Of course my whole reasoning for that idea is to put Gonzalez in an RBI spot, but Tracy doesn't see the value in that either.  

Royals Lineup

• LF Podsednik
• 2B Aviles
• RF DeJesus
• 1B Butler
• DH Guillen
• 3B Callaspo
• CF Maier
• SS Betancourt
• C   Kendall

Brian Bannister pitches.  The Rockies offense has a golden opportunity to snap out of their collective funk against this guy.  Seriously.  Nothing about Bannister is impressive.  

KC has a pretty decently balanced lineup card.  2-6 can do some damage.  Aviles is on fire right now.  DeJesus and Butler are professional hitters.  Jose Guillen is streaky veteran that tore up in April, but not so much May.  Still, he could have a big series.  

The guy to really watch is Alberto Callaspo.  Arizona gave up on him last year and that completely shocked a lot of people... me included.  He's off to a good start on his breakout season in 2010.  I also recall him being a pest against Colorado in a handful of appearances.

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