Spring Training Game 9: Hits, Misses & Foul Tips

Dodgers 7, Rockies 1 (boxscore)

Hits

Ubaldo Jimenez

Thumb infection behind him, Jimenez delivered three very strong (and scoreless) innings, allowing only one hit and walking one. According to scouts in attendance he ranged anywhere from 91-98 on his fastball. And he even stuck around long enough to lay down a sacrifice bunt. That's getting your work in.

Hector Gomez

Gomez finally makes the hit list after spending most of last week in the misses with five errors. No errors today, and he even contributed a single, triple and an RBI at the dish. Good for him.

Misses 

Greg Reynolds

On the positive side, his first three innings were actually pretty solid (1 ER, 3 H, 2 K), but that all important final inning (1/3, 4 R, (3 ER), 1 BB, 1 E-1) was the doozy. I always look/hope for a strong finish to these outings as an indication that a pitcher is getting better/stronger as the game moves along. Reynolds didn't pass that test today, but he's still giving me a reason to feel like he could contribute in some fashion if needed.

Foul Tips

Matt Belisle/Matt Lindstrom

Both were touched up a bit today, but both got their inning in and that's all I'm concerned about with these guys.

No Coverage

Pretty quick recap with no video or audio coverage of today's game available to form further opinions on. Not sure what the status is on that for tomorrow's split squad games with the Cubs & White Sox, but we'll be here again with some more thoughts on both of those.

Spring Training Game 8: Hits, Misses & Foul Tips

Rockies 3, Indians 1 (boxscore)

Hits

Ty Wigginton

As I've said before on Twitter, Wigginton replaces Melvin Mora as the professional hitter/jack-of-all-trades defender. The good news? He's a much better version of Melvin Mora at this stage of his career in both roles, so this will prove to be a nice upgrade.

Dexter Fowler

Here's another guy that can benefit greatly from Carney Lansford's addition to the coaching staff. So much untapped potential here, and I believe today (two doubles, walk) is a great example of what Dex can be capable of if he completely embraces what Lansford teaches him.

Huston Street

Everybody worried about Huston Street can breath a little easier. He looked fine today setting the Indians down in order in the 4th inning.

Bullpen

In addition to Street's scoreless frame; Matt Reynolds, Sean White, Matt Daley (team's only strikeout), Billy Buckner and Alan Johnston each tossed a scoreless inning of their own to preserve the 3-1 victory. Nice job by all those guys.

Misses 

Chris Iannetta

Iannetta struggled at the dish going 0-for-3 with two strikeouts. No reason to get too worked up though, it was a light day for misses so I had to find something.

Foul Tips

Jason Hammel

Hammel didn't produce an overwhelming line this afternoon, but seems to be in a good place overall for early March. Hopefully that arrows continues pointing up as we get closer to opening day.

The Rockies are still lucky to have a pitcher of his abilities occupying a spot towards the back of the rotation. Sure, he's no Cole Hamels pitching out of the #4 spot, but he's better and more reliable than most 4's and some 3's.

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.

Spring Training Game 6: Hits, Misses & Foul Tips

Indians 6, Rockies 2 (boxscore)

Hits

Heaven & Helton

This is my 500th post since opening the blog last February. I'm not sure what that says about my social life, but I appreciate all the folks who continue to support the site and make the time and effort worthwhile.

Jason Giambi/Ryan Spilborghs

A couple of hits apiece for the Rockies veteran reserves. That's about the extend of the positives on another uninspiring day of baseball in very early March.

Misses

First Inning

The Rockies started out a little sloppy on Friday afternoon, going down in order offensively in the top and committing two errors in bottom half.

The first error was charged to Jhoulys Chacin for an errant pickoff attempt. It sounded as if it was a play 1B Mike Jacobs could have made, but the error almost always goes on the throw in those situations. The second error went to 2B Chris Nelson, whose rely throw to third on Orlando Cabrera's triple squirted away from Thomas Field. Another play that sounded like it could have been made, but Nelson gets the error.

The Rockies would commit five errors in total. That's completely unacceptable at any level of baseball, at any time of the season. It's hard to dress up sloppy play as anything other than that, even in spring training. But at least those involved here aren't likely to be factors at the big league level. Aside from Chacin, of course.

Mike Jacobs

Jacobs later had a "mental mishap" as it was called by the Indians audiocast, when he failed to cover first base on a chopper that was easily flagged down by Chacin. Things like that bug me.

Foul Tips

Jhoulys Chacin

Sloppy or uneven might be the best words to describe Chacin's outing today (3 IP, 3 ER, 5 H, 1 BB, 1 K). Sure the defensive didn't make matters an easier for him, but he did bring trouble on himself by creating traffic the first two frames.

Bottom line, though, he got his work in and his best inning by far was his final one. That's always a good sign in the spring.

Spring Training Game 5: Hits, Misses & Foul Tips

Giants 7, Rockies 5 (boxscore)

Hits

Todd Helton

Helton vowed to swing better today after a rough afternoon on Wednesday. He delivered on his promise, lining out to right in his first appearance and doubling in his second. So that's good.

Jordan Pacheco/Ben Paulsen

Another day. Another hit. Another RBI. Another dollar for Pacheco.

Paulsen has also been impressive in the early going. Today he contributed two hits (one triple), a run, and two RBI.

Despite the admirable attempt to comeback from a 7-0 deficit, this was a difficult day to find many true positives, so forgive me if these hits weren't all that exciting.

Misses

Jorge De La Rosa

Jorge allowed the first run by a Rockies starter all spring. And then he allowed the second, third and fourth. The damage included a solo HR by the light-hitting Darren Ford and a monster home run to straight away center by the heavy-hitting Buster Posey.

The bad news? It could have been even worse if not for a line drive that was snagged by Ty Wigginton that resulted in a 5-3 double play, and a full out diving grab by Willy Taveras. De La Rosa just didn't have it today.

Huston Street

Sounded like Huston struggled putting a couple hitters away today and it cost him. He struggled with that at times last season, and boy did that not only cost him but it cost the Rockies big time. Street's progress this spring will be worth monitoring. It he can't find that put away slider that made him so dominant in 2009, things could get a little too interesting in Colorado's 9th innings.

Hector Gomez

Upped his spring error total to four with a throw that sailed over Ben Paulsen's head, allowing San Francisco's 7th run to score. I don't think we'll ever see this once promising prospect make his big league debut at Coors Field.

Foul Tips

Felipe Paulino

A decent line (3 IP, 1 R (0 ER), 3 H, 2 BB, 2 K) for the guy whose chances to become the Rockies 5th starter seem to increase with every update on Aaron Cook's shoulder. I've been impressed with Paulino the times I've seen him in the past. Granted, most of those were against Colorado while they were struggling and the Cubs while they were Cubbing, but I really think he can help the Rox if indeed he ends up starting.

Camp Caution

Troy Tulowitzki was the latest to leave a game for precautionary reasons after hitting himself in the foot with his bat on an awkward swing. The official diagnosis is a bruised right heel.

The Rockies are correctly taking a more cautioned approached this spring. A sign of a team that is confident and positioned for success. While some fans (too many fans) are treating this like the regular season, freaking out about scores and looking to trash talk other fans, the rest of us (including the Rockies) are holding our breath with each tweak, sprain and infection.

Sure that makes spring training a lot less fun, but that's fine with me, because the regular season is a lot more fun than it used to be. That's a trade every fan should be willing to make.