Thursday, March 10, 2011

Spring Training Game 13: Hits, Misses & Foul Tips

Rockies 9, Brewers 8 (boxscore)


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.


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.