May 2009
No hot seat, but still …
I’ve been asked on a number of radio shows recently about the jobsecurity of Rockies manager Clint Hurdle. It’s logical. After all, the D-backs fired Bob Melvin, and that team had a slightly better record than the Rockies. I said all along that it’s not the Rockies’ style to make such a quick change. None of my sources have said anything different. If there was heat, it was from the outside. A story in the Denver Post today confirms; ownership isn’t looking to make the big change.
Anyhow, here’s the issue: they’ve got to score to win. The Rockies’ pitching was supposed to be weak, yet the staff leads the National league with a 2.81 ERA in May. Their May record is 4-6 going into Tuesday night’s game against the Astros at Coors Field.
hHit and everyone stays employed. Or at least that’s the way it seems to me.
Shortstop Troy Tulowitzki will do his part tonight. The pain from the quadriceps strain he suffered Sunday is manageable, so he’s in the lineup.
Here are tonight’s lineups:
Astros
Kazuo Matsui 2B
Michael Bourn CF
Lance Berkman 1B
Carlos Lee LF
Miguel Tejada SS
Hunter Pence RF
Geoff Blum 3B
Ivan Rodriguez C
Felipe Paulino P
Rockies
Dexter Fowler CF
Troy Tulowitzki SS
Todd Helton 1B
Brad Hawpe RF
Garrett Atkins 3B
Seth Smith LF
Chris Iannetta C
Ian Stewart 3B
Ubaldo Jimenez P
Tulowitzki suffers slight quadriceps injury
Rockies shortstop Troy Tulowitkzi left Sunday’s 3-2 victory over the Marlins before the top of the ninth inning because he suffered a strain of his left quadriceps in the same area of a complete quadricesp tendon tear that cost him 47 games last season.
Tulowitzki suffered the injury in the sixth while trying to change direction and reach for an errant throw from pitcher Aaron Cook, who had fielded Ross Gload’s groundball. Tulowitzki stayed in the game until the ninth, when he was pulled from the game after a discussion with head trainer Keith Dugger.
Clint Barmes replaced him and helped preserve the lead by fielding a Cody Gross grounder and starting a double play to erase pinch-runner Cameron Maybin, who entered the game after John Baker’s one-out double. Huston Street struck out Jeremy Hermida to end the game.
“I definitely wanted to be out there, but at the same time I was trying to be smart about it,” Tulowitzki said. “I thought that ‘Barmie’ was the best option. Everybody agreed. ‘Doogie’ said, ‘If you go out there, blow out and miss two months of the season, it doesn’t do the team any good.’ “
Manager Clint Hurdle said, “He probably might’ve been able to play through it. But if something crazy happens and he’s got to go make a play, and and that thing really is injured with the way he started to heat up at the plate, it wasn’t in our best interest.”
The Rockies are off Monday, but Tulowitzki will come to Coors Field for treatment, and he’ll possibly test the condition of the leg. From there, the club will determine whether he will miss time or how much he will miss.
“It’s the same thing as last year … I mean, it’s not obviously the same thing,” he said. “My leg is obviously a little weaker than the other one. It’s expected a little bit. But at the same time it’s more sore than normal.”
While the exact nature of the injury was not known Sunday, the Rockies know they must proceed with caution. Tulowitzki homered and went 2-for-3 Sunday, has had multiple hits in his last three games and is batting .326 (14-for-43) over his last 12 games to improve his batting average from .167 to .237.
“I feel real good up there,” he said. “I feel I’ve come a long way. I’ve been telling everybody I get off to a slow start every year and I’ll be OK. No one really wants to listen.
“It seems like I was still in a good place. I wasn’t down on myself. I still have a ways to go. I’m not happy with where I’m at. I want to get better each and every day, and I’m always working on things.”
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