Spring Training Game 31: Hits, Misses & Foul Tips

Mariners 7, Rockies 6 (boxscore)

Hits

Offense

Everyone in the lineup today (minus Jose Lopez) recorded at least one hit. Willy Taveras and Ty Wigginton each had three, with Willy scoring twice and Wiggy driving in three. Matt Pagnozzi muscled up for a long ball. 14 hits in total.

Rafael Betancourt

Dial it up big man. Betancourt with his best outing of the spring, striking out all three batters he faced. And I don't care that they were Brendan Ryan, Jack Wilson and Kalian Sams.

Misses

Jorge De La Rosa

Eh, final tuneup wasn't very smooth, but who cares. He gets the D-Backs on Saturday and I expect a much sharper and more focused DLR.

Matt Belisle

Belisle was unable to record an out today. Three singles and an error by right fielder Bronson Sardinha were enough to give Seattle the two runs they needed to pull the game out. So that's nice for them. I think their announcers are still screaming like they won a game in September or October. Sheesh.

Foul Tips

One more

Tomorrow is the final day of Cactus League baseball before the Rockies move on to Tulsa. That means tomorrow will be the final Hits, Misses & Foul Tips of the spring. Fine with me. I'm ready to talk about games that count. Apparently the Mariners announcers are as well.

Spring Training Game 29: Hits, Misses & Foul Tips

Rockies 5, A's 2 (boxscore)

Hits

Ubaldo Jimenez

Good at pitching. Next time we see The Cheif the 2011 season will be officially underway. Relievers Huston Street and Felipe Paulino were equally outstanding in their scoreless innings.

Willy Taveras

The Taveras resurgence continues with three more hits and two runs scored. Great spring and great depth for the Rockies if he sticks in the organization.

Misses

Franklin Morales

Morales is kind of wavering between good and bad lately. Of course the bad will be overreacted to by people with bad memories from last season. And it doesn't help in people's minds that he's made the roster over Matt Daley. Problem is the Rockies want two lefties in the pen, and Daley, while talented and effective, can only pitch with his right arm.

Foul Tips

Mark Tracy

In a cool moment, Jim Tracy's son was allowed an opportunity to pinch-hit. He walked on five pitches, showing more discipline in one at-bat than the Rockies did on their entire trip through Pittsburgh and New York last summer.

Spring Training Game 13: Hits, Misses & Foul Tips

Rockies 9, Brewers 8 (boxscore)

Hits

Willy Taveras

Taveras had a monster game today (3 hits, 3 runs, 3 steals) and is quietly having a really strong spring. Barring a change of mind or injury, he's not going to fit in with the Rockies, but he's probably playing himself into a job somewhere. Now it'll be interesting to see if the Rockies let him go early so he can latch on elsewhere or hold on to see what he really has left.

Todd Helton

Helton is really heating up going 4-for-6 with two doubles over his last two games. Alright, so that's what the kids with the calculators call a small sample size, but we're really just looking for signs of life from Todd at the plate. This definitely qualifies as signs of life. Now we just hope it means something and continues when it counts.

Misses

Esmil Rogers

The good news: The Rockies only need a 5th starter twice in the first 3 1/2 weeks.

The bad news: There are 20+ weeks after that where they will need a 5th starter, so someone will have to step up soon.

It wasn't Rogers today. His inconsistency and inability to finish innings continue to be his biggest hurdles. He battled through it in the 2nd inning. That's a plus. He just couldn't again in the 3rd as Ryan Braun took him out to straight away center (3-run HR).

Rogers can't be seen as anything than a five inning pitcher. That's not where's he going to end up, but that's where he is right now, and the Rockies need better right now.

Matt Reynolds

If you were worried about the Rockies left-handers coming into camp, you're probably bouncing your head off the wall right now. One more bad outing for Reynolds and I may be joining you.

Foul Tips

Chris Iannetta

Is it time to get worried about Iannetta's slow start to an important spring for him personally? Probably not, but that's not to say I could blame you if you were. We're all at different places when it comes to our level of patience with Chris. Mine is still fairly high, most aren't. Either way, the next three weeks will be important for him.

Jose Lopez

Lopez is another guy having an "eh" spring. With Ian Stewart coming along very slowly from his knee injury, Lopez could be seeing even more action in the early going. Which leads me to this tweet I saw yesterday.

@KendallRocksOn If Jose Lopez's best (2009) is better than Jonny Herrera's best (2010), rooting for Herrera to win the 2B job is rooting against the Rockies

I don't buy this at all. A lot of people know what Lopez is capable of. A lot of people know Herrera's best can't match Lopez's best, but a lot of people also wonder if Lopez can get back to or near his best.

Personally, I just want the guy out there that gives the Rockies the best chance. I don't see why they can't be Herrera, and if that's who some people would prefer to see, could you really blame them? Herrera stood out for reasons you can't measure with stats, and despite what the SABR folk want you to believe, he really did help the Rockies win games in 2010.

I'm not saying I'm opposed to Jose Lopez being the every day second baseman. In fact, I may prefer it to an extent because Herrera's value is maximized when you can plug him at different places in different situations. But if people are pulling for Herrera, that's not wrong. If Herrera wins the job, that's not wrong either. He will have earned it.

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.

Moe Belismel tag team broken up

The righty-lefty Rockies reliever tag team I affectionately named Moe Belismel (Matt Belisle & Joe Beimel) is no more. We figured the day was coming when Troy Renck stated the Rockies had no interest in bringing Beimel back, but after the surprising return of Jason Giambi a couple weeks ago, it was worth waiting for the official word.

The word is now official.

Joe Beimel is headed to the new Coors Field East in Pittsburgh.

Much dismay is now ensuing amongst Rockies fans. I understand it to an extent. I liked Joe. Didn't love him, though. His value in the Rockies community is a tad inflated due to the simple fact his name isn't Franklin Morales. Plus the ladies think he's cute and he entered to a kick ass song.

I'm more concerned with the pitching and business side of it. Thankfully the Rockies are too.

There is definitely risk in putting so much stock and faith in a less experienced Matt Reynolds and a roller coaster ride like Morales, but tough decisions have to be made somewhere. And I'm sure the Rockies feel like their right-handers, especially at the back end of the pen, are plenty capable of retiring tough lefties. That's why each of them is making pretty decent coin.

-- In other news... The Rockies have signed OF Willy Taveras, IF/OF Alfredo Amezaga, and C Chad Moeller to minor league deals with invites to spring training. In addition, they have shipped RHP Ethan Hollingsworth to Oakland for AAA RHP Clayton Mortenson.

If I had to venture a guess, I would say Amezaga has the best chance to do something meaningful for Colorado this season. It would take injuries and such, but he has always been an O'Dowd guy and reports are the Rockies came away from his workout at Arizona St. impressed. The fact that he can play three infield positions and the outfield certainly helps his case.

@PoseidonsFist (Andrew T. Fisher, Purple Row) set the over/under at negative three for number of games Willy Taveras would start for the Rockies in CF this season. I'll still take the under there.

-- Rockies avoided arbitration with Ian Stewart on Thursday.

I would hope so. Stewart knows what's at stake this season for him personally. He knows Ty Wigginton, Jose Lopez and Joe Crede are coming to camp. He's heard the far fetched Michael Young rumors. Wouldn't make a whole lot of sense to get hung up over $450K difference in arbitration offers and allow bad feelings to come into play.

Simple advice to Ian going forward... not that he needs it.

Go out on the field, hold off the competition behind you, play at the level we all mostly believe you're capable of playing, and you'll make up whatever money you feel like you're giving up.

I believe Ian Stewart can do it, too. I just doubt Jim Tracy will have the patience to let him play through his slumps, especially with the new options at his disposal.

-- Jim Tracy... Still the two scariest words that come to mind when I think about the 2011 Rockies and how far they can go.

Will he learn when to get out of the way?

Will he learn when to press buttons?

Will there be enough healthy relievers left standing in September?

Will there be lineup stability?

I'm crossing my fingers.