A day after the first “televised” Spring Training game for the Rockies finds us, the fans, in a national “blackout” as far as following the game is concerned. There will be no streaming play-by-play of either match-up in a split-squad double-header. The first is against the Texas Rangers at 2:05 MST and then we meet the Diamondbacks at 8:05.
Line-Up vs Rangers:
CF Eric Young Jr.
2B Marco Scutaro
SS Troy Tulowitzki
DH Jason Giambi
1B Todd Helton
C Jordan Pacheco
RF Tyler Colvin
3B Brendan Harris
LF Tim Wheeler
P Chatwood
Night Line-up:
CF Dexter Fowler
2B Jonathan Herrera
LF Carlos Gonzalez
1B Michael Cuddyer
C Ramon Hernandez
RF Charlie Blackmon
SS Brandon Wood
3B Nolan Arenado
RHP Juan Nicasio
EY2 is so fast, he beat a pitch-out.
Speed kills
Unfortunately, you have to get to first base before you can steal 2nd.
Looks like Pacheco has something to say about the UT position today. Nice to see Todd is also knocking it around the park.
I really am liking Pacheco. Maybe he caps out as 10 HR a year but the kid gets the necessary hits when runners are on and this team needs that so bad. Too many guys on this team over the years that were experts in solo HR department but couldn’t hit with RISP.
Where/how do we get him in the lineup regularly?
He is replacing Ty Wigginton. So he will get a lot of ABs and play all over the field including catching.
Johnny Sparkplug – keeping it goin!
Sparkplug 3 for 3 so far!
CarGo crushes a 430 foot 3 run home run! No shock it is against AZ. Glad he got the first one out of the way!
Ed,
Any idea what’s up with Dex? His BA is .050 or so. I know it’s ST, but that is low…..
Yeah, he isn’t good
From the boxscore it appears that Nicasio had a great outing. So far, he’s one of the great stories of spring training.
Can Pacheco field well enough at 3B to be the starter there, at least until Arenado shows up? BTW, I assumed, contrary to many, that Arenado would start the season in the minors (probably Tulsa) and I think that his performance so far is supporting that assumption. It won’t be long until he’s a Rockie, but I don’t think that it will be in April , particularly if Pacheco and Wood keep performing well.
Agreed Julian. I really believe Nicasio is the real deal. I was worried about his injury but so far he is going in the right direction. Unless Chacin does some serious soul searching and get consistent, I think it’s very possible for Nicasio to overtake him.
Both you and RMH make some interesting comments/points on Pacheco. I keep thinking about the conflicting stories from last season along with a Mr. O’Dowd interview in the off season. I don’t subscribe to what appeared to be a new Rockies template last season. Super utility guys. I hope that Mr. O’Dowd and JT get on the same page with Pacheco.
NoDo (Nolan Arenado) helped himself a bit tonight; he had a bases-loaded, bases clearing double.
Pitching has been great tonight; only blemish is Matt Reynolds giving up three hits in a row allowing two runs after getting the first two batters out. Josh Roenicke went two innings and gave up zero runs.
Roenicke’s box scores have looked good, but I have no idea whether by the time he pitches in the game whether he’s pitching to major leaguers or minor leaguers. It does seem that he has a decent shot at winning a bullpen job as a 7th inning guy. BTW, should we start calling Betancourt, Brothers, and Belisle the “Killer Bs” or some such nickname?
Josh Roenicke pitched with the Rockies the last few months of 2011 and he was no slouch.
Egmer Escalona just breezed through an inning pitched with three strikeouts while giving up one single.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Escalona also makes the bullpen as a seventh inning guy. Does he have any options left? I could see the bullpen being Betancourt, Brothers, Belisle, Reynolds (do we have another lefty reliever option?), Roenicke, Escalona, and Rogers as the long reliever/spot starter.
Trip etal…
Dexter is hitting with much more power this year…his hits are just not falling in. It happens…ST seems to magnify those AB’s as we want to see instant success. He will be fine.
All our pitchers last night pounded the strike zone, especially Nicasio, who looked unhittable.
Cargo’s HR was a laser shot…the substantial crowd was noticeably buzzing after that bomb.
Arenado made an A-ball error which is proof(to me anyway)that he still has much work to do…his pulled double down the line was a textbook at bat.
As a mea culpa, I have forgotten my phone, with resultant camera game pics not being forwarded to jaredean, the last two games. My chick is down this week and I am paying considerable attention to her at the games(since I am down here the entire month and she is here only this week, I thought it prudent).
Guaranteed pics this afternoon for the Cubbies/Rox tilt.
Thanks Ed.
I was hoping that was the case. Can’t really trust the box scores during ST I have learned in the past.
As to Arenado, that is not the first time he has made a mental mistake. Listening to an earlier game he had an easy throw to second for the final out, but for some reason he throws to first and does not get the fast batter. Hoping he is a fast learner. At this point I’m starting to think neither Arenado or Blake is going to make it at third opening day, and we’re looking at someone else there for a while.
Good to have someone at the game. Living vicariously through you…
That is nice to hear that Fowler is at least making good contact. That BA is distressing on its own.