Results tagged ‘ Chris Young ’

Cook goes extra time in shortened game

Rockies right-hander Aaron Cook had a choice — wait for rain to blow over or pitch through a little rain. Cook pitched, and pitched.

Scheduled for two innings, Cook was efficient enough to throw three scoreless innings with strikes on 30 of his 45 pitches in the Rockies’ 4-1 victory over the D-backs at Hi Corbett Field. The game was shortened to 6 1/3 innings once a major storm hit, so Cook ensured that the teams played as much baseball as the weather would allow.

It was not a bad Cactus League debut for Cook, who knew rain was coming and smply wanted to pitch.

“I woke up this morning and said, ‘It looks nice … Let’s start the game,’” said Cook, who said since the mound was in good shape, he informed manager Jim Tracy and umpire Tony Randazzo it was better to start as soon as possible.

Cook gave up singles to Adam LaRoche and Mark Reynolds with two out in the first, but ended it with a Chris Young infield pop. He pitched two 1-2-3 innings after that.

“What was really  neat about it was the third inning was the best of the three, and that’s not to say the first two were all that bad,” Tracy said.

The only problem with Cook’s early spring, not that it is much of one, is he has maintained his lower weight, 200. After pitching around 220 last season, he wanted to drop the weight before camp, then put on 5-10. He said the pounds are not coming back like he thought they would, but he’s fine with his metabolism.

“I feel good, my legs feel good, my body feels good,” Cook said. “I’m not going to worry.”

 

Not worried about the West

Rockies manager Jim Tracy was asked about his team’s 16-22 record against the National League West. His reply was, essentially, the record isn’t as bad as it looks.

“I don’t think we’ve had struggles inside the National League West,” Tracy said. “I think we had some struggles specifically with one club in the early part of the season. But as far as the rest of the division is concerned, we played very good baseball.”

 

That one club, of course, is the Dodgers, against whom the Rockies are 2-10.

 

“And as we go forward, we have to be mindful of that, and hopefully through the months of August and September rectify that situation somewhat,” Tracy said. “I said at the end of the L.A. series, we’re 2-10 against them, I believe. But as far as I’m concerned, you can take those 12 games and throw them out the window because the six games we have left with them are the most important. Not to say that the other 12 weren’t, but they don’t have much baring moving forward because of where we’ve come from and where we’re at sitting here today.”

 

Well, that’s a subject for another time. The Rockies first post-All-Star break series at home is against the D-backs. And the Rox are 4-5 against them.

 

Here are the lineups:

 

D-backs
Stephen Drew, SS
Ryan Roberts, 2B
Justin Upton, RF
Mark Reynolds, 1B
Gerardo Parra, LF
Chris Young, CF
Luke Carlin, C
Augie Ojeda, 3B
Doug Davis, P
 
Rockies
Dexter Fowler, CF
Clint Barmes, 2B
Todd Helton, 1B
Brad Hawpe, RF
Troy Tulowitzki, SS
Ian Stewart, 3B
Seth Smith, LF
Chris Iannetta, C
Jorge De La Rosa, P
 
In another development, outfielder Ryan Spilborghs is not with the team tonight. He is with his wife, Stacey, for the anticipated birth of the couple’s first child. Spilborghs earlier announced that the girl will be named Kierra Esperanza Spilborghs, in honor of Ryan’s mother, Esperanza, who died during Spring Training after a long illness.

Snow, snow, gone away

Is Troy Tulowitzki simply a poor April hitter or is something seriously wrong? Can someone other than Jason Marquis consistently pitch the Rockies deep into games? What will the press meal be at Coors Field? These are a sports writer’s thoughts in the middle of the night. So I woke up at 2:25 a.m. and saw snow covering my yard and car. Woke up at a normal human hour and saw more flakes falling.

Yet, this is Denver. Each time I went outside, I needed to bundle a little less. We have baseball tonight. All questions will be answered eventually.

And the meal was Mexican.

Here are the lineups for Rockies vs. Padres:

Padres

Jody Gerut               CF

David Eckstein         2B

Brian Giles              RF

Adrian Gonzalez      1B

Chase Headley        LF

Kevin Kouzmanoff    3B

Nick Hundley            C

Luis Rodriguez        SS

Chris Young             P

Rockies

Dexter Fowler         CF

Ryan Spilborghs     LF

Todd Helton           1B

Garrett Atkins        3B

Ian Stewart            2B

Clint Barmes         SS

Chris Iannetta         C

Jason Hammel       P 

No patience with walks

Rockies manager Clint Hurdle has attempted to maintain a consistent and calm demeanor, even though the execution and fundamentals the Rockies emphasized all spring have been lacking. But that patience disappears when relievers can’t throw strikes in the late innings of close games.

Huston Street lost his closer job that way last week at Wrigley Field. Tuesday night, Hurdle unceremoniously yanked righty setup man Jason Grilli when he walked two in the eighth inning of the 9-6 victory over the D-backs.

There would have been cause for Hurdle to try to let Grilli escape. By using lefty Alan Embree to complete the inning, Hurdle left himself with only Manuel Corpas to finish the game. The only other reliever on the squad, Jason Hammel, had thrown two innings the previous game, and Franklin Morales’ injury early in Tuesday’s game meant Hammel was going to move into the starting rotation.

But he was not going to lose a game because Grilli wasn’t throwing strikes.

“We’ve got no time for walks late in ballgames,” Hurdle said. “Nobody. We’re not going to put up with that. If you can’t throw the ball over the plate late in a ballgame, I’ve got to get somebody else. It’s that simple.

“If you want more, and you’ve got an opportunity to do more but you walk two left-handed batters and you’re missing on your arm side six or seven straight pitches, I’ve got to go get you. He knows that.

“You saw the guy two nights ago, then you saw the guy last night. I asked him, ‘Which guy are you?’ That’s part of the challenge that’s in front of him. If you want more, do more.”

Here are the lineups for Wednesday afternoon:

Rockies

Ryan Spilborghs              CF

Jeff Baker                        2B

Todd Helton                     1B

Garrett Atkins                  3B

Brad Hawpe                     RF

Troy Tulowitzki                SS

Chris Iannetta                   C

Seth Smith                      LF

Jorge De La Rosa              P

D-backs

Felipe Lopez                   2B

Stephen Drew                 SS

Conor Jackson                LF

Mark Reynolds               3B

Chad Tracy                    1B

Chris Young                   CF

Eric Byrnes                    RF

Chris Snyder                   C

Dan Haren                      P

Helton takes a seat

The Rockies promised all along that they would be smart about first baseman Todd Helton’s playing time, since he’s 35 and coming off back problems. So he did not start agianst D-backs left-hander Doug Davis on Wednesday. The team is off on Thursday, so he’ll go into Friday’s home opener with plenty of rest.

Right fielder Brad Hawpe was the only left-handed hitter in the lineup. It’s the first start of the year for center fielder Dexter Fowler, third baseman Jeff Baker and catcher Yorvit Torrealba.

Here’s the Rockies’ lineup:

Dexter Fowler            CF

Troy Tulowitzki          SS

Ryan Spilborghs        LF

Garrett Atkins            1B

Brad Hawpe               RF

Jeff Baker                 3B

Clint Barmes             2B

Yorvit Torrealba           C

 

Here is the D-backs’ lineup against lefty Franklin Morales.

Felipe Lopez               2B

Stephen Dres              SS

Chris Young                CF

Conor Jackson             1B

Mark Reynolds             3B

Eric Byrnes                  LF

Chris Snyder                 C

Justin Upton                RF

Doug Davis                   P

 

 

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