Spring Training Hits & Misses: Game 31 vs. Cleveland

Hits

Tyler Colvin

I don't how good his 400+ foot home run off Ubaldo Jimenez felt to him personally (probably pretty good), but it damn sure felt great to Rockies fans. Colvin would later add a second home run and two additional hits, finishing the day at 4-for-5 with six RBI.

Welcome to the big club, Tyler Colvin. Happy to have you.

Chris Nelson

Speaking of making the big club and homering off Jimenez, Chris Nelson also belongs to this club. His fourth inning two-run shot tied the game momentarily. He later added an RBI double giving him three on the day.

Josh Roenicke

Two more scoreless innings lowers his spring ERA to 0.79. That would be good enough to make the 1990 Cincinnati Reds bullpen, so I'm pretty sure it'll get him on the 2012 Rockies. Especially if they go eight deep initially in the 'pen.

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Spring Training Hits & Misses: Game 28 vs. Cleveland

Hits

Troy Tulowitzki

Three hits today. Scalding the baseball over the past week or ten days. Somewhere Wandy Rodriguez is wishing he didn't get that opening day assignment for Houston.

Wilin Rosario

A lot of debate today about Rosario's opening day status (and current value) after another multi-hit game raised his spring average to .474. I stayed out of the debate because I honestly don't know what his true status or value is. I just know that I continue hearing he's working hard, he's producing. he's maturing and that's all coupled with what nearly every scout has described as elite tools for a 23-year-old catcher. And honestly, that he's making all of us take a real hard look at his status and value this late in the spring likely solidifies both.

Josh Roenicke

I've overlooked Roenicke all spring and I apologize for that. Much like he did for the Rockies last season, Roenicke has quietly pitched nothing but quality innings. After his scoreless seventh today, he's now allowed only one run over nine and one-third innings.

As Troy Renck pointed out today, he's out of options, and the Rockies might be unwilling to expose him to waivers. I guess that just put a little more pressure on Esmil Rogers to bounce back and Alex White to prove he's comfortable in the bullpen.

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Rock Solid Recrap: No sweep for us... again

Well crap, one of these days the Rockies need to go ahead and sweep somebody just to see how fun and satisfying it can be. Like that time in New York when...

I'm digressing already. A series victory on the road is something I'll definitely accept with a smile on my face. That makes two straight winning series on the road, and five unbeaten series overall with the home split with the Dodgers mixed in there.

Definitely a lot better baseball than we saw in May.

Indians 4, Rockies 3 (boxscore)

Jason Hammel: Alright, aside from the balk, which was bizarre and possibly the most herpy derp moment of the season, was Hammel really all that bad? I didn't think so. Frustrating in a couple innings? Of course. But who isn't?

He lost command for a short time in the third inning. Then the balk.

I don't know? Brain cramp? Thought the batter called timeout? Back spasm?

Jason?

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Lineup Card: 6-22-11 Rockies @ Indians

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 60-90 minutes before first pitch. They should be here waiting for you.

Links

• Yesterday's recap: Seth Smith plays hero in dramatic road win
• Rob Neyer (SB Nation): Rockies roller-coaster season heading up once more
• Blake Street Bulletin: Will the real Rockies please stand up?
• Purple Row: Seth Smith is really good

Lineups

Colorado Rockies (37-36)

1. CF Carlos Gonzalez
2. 2B Jonathan Herrera
3. DH Jason Giambi
4. SS Troy Tulowitzki
5. RF Seth Smith
6. 1B Ty Wigginton
7. 3B Chris Nelson
8. RF Ryan Spilborghs
9. C   Matt Pagnozzi

SP Jason Hammel

So we're looking at off days for Todd Helton (needed one), Charlie Blackmon (definitely needed one) and Chris Iannetta (always could use one).

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Rock Solid Recap: Seth Smith plays hero in dramatic road win

One of the early highlights of Tuesday's game was getting to hear Seth Smith's dad in the broadcast booth with Drew Goodman and Jeff Huson talking about his son's terrific accomplishments in sports other than baseball while growing up. 

I've said a time or two I believe Smith is the best pure hitter on this team. Is it possible he's also the best pure athlete? Sounds like he could be.

It was also entertaining hearing Mr. Smith's southern drawl. That was a nice changup from Jeff Huson's robotic tone and use of the same cliches and pieces of analysis over and over. If I had a vote, I'd actually have Mr. Smith replace Huson when George Frazier is off doing whatever things George Frazier does. But of course my first choice would still be Lisa Iannetta.

Rockies 4, Indians 3 (boxscore)

The only thing I wish I could change about the game is having Smith's dad in the booth for one or both of Seth's home runs.

Wow, were those two blasts HUGE for the Rockies.

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Lineup Card: 6-21-11 Rockies @ Indians

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 60-90 minutes before first pitch. They should be here waiting for you.

Links

Yesterday's recap: It's not a beauty contest. It's American League baseball.

Lineups

Colorado Rockies (36-36)

1. CF Carlos Gonzalez
2. 2B Jonathan Herrera
3. 1B Todd Helton
4. SS Troy Tulowitzki
5. DH Jason Giambi
6. RF Seth Smith
7. 3B Ty Wigginton
8. LF Charlie Blackmon
9. C   Chris Iannetta

SP Jhoulys Chacin

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Rock Solid Recap: It's not a beauty contest. It's American League baseball.

Call it ugly. Call in shaky. Call it whatever you like. That's just American League baseball. Pretty wins are few and far between in that league. So to go on the road and beat a first place team, as unlikely as it is that they'll hold the spot, is a feather in your cap. Especially when you're trotting out the No. 5 in your rotation (who's really a 7 or 8) against their opening day starter.

Know what I mean?

Rockies 8, Indians 7 (boxscore)

5th Inning: This is where the game took a turn for the better. After Ty Wigginton and Charlie Blackmon grounded out harmlessly to start, Chris Iannetta drew a two-out walk. Hey, I told you before the game he was going to turn the lineup over a lot tonight! I just had two no idea a two-out walk would turn into six-run outburst.

• Iannetta walk
• Gonzalez single
• Chris Nelson walk
• Todd Helton walks in one

That set the stage for the Rockies first big break of the game. The Troy Tulowitzki bouncer down the third base line that kicked off the bag and into foul territory for a two-run double.

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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 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.