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.

Spring Training Game 4: Hits, Misses & Foul Tips

Padres 7, Rockies 3, (boxscore)

Hits

Greg Reynolds

Reynolds bounced back solidly from a shaky first spring appearance with three scoreless innings, two hits allowed, and one strikeout. He faced the minimum nine batters and needed only 23 pitches. I'm looking for any glimmer of hope I can with guys like Reynolds and Greg Smith, so hopefully he can build off this outing and attain some consistency moving forward.

Jonathan Herrera

Herrera started a 4-6-3 double play (Renck tweet) that had the San Diego Padres radio broadcast in awe. This kid just never stops impressing every time he steps on the field and he's going to push the issue for playing time at second base.

Troy Tulowitzki

He hit a baseball that, judging by sound, traveled a long damn ways. I love that sound.

Misses

Rafael Betancourt/Matt Reynolds

Sounded like Raffy was hit pretty hard. The triple off Jorge Cantu's bat, plating San Diego's first two runs, sounded especially violent. Ryan Ludwick followed that with an RBI single.

Reynolds had an equally disappointing spring debut, allowing a three-run homer to Will Venable. What concerns you there is Reynolds is being counted on to be the top lefty in the bullpen, and Venable is a left-handed stick. That's an area of concern for a lot of Rockies fans, and today's outing certainly won't ease that discomfort.

That said, both relievers have 30 days to figure out what went wrong.

Foul Tips

San Diego Padres broadcast

This should probably go under misses, since these guys were boring and often annoying, but since it didn't happen on the field and you probably don't care, I'll just list it here.

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.