Results tagged ‘ Jason Hammel ’

Redding provides pitching reinforcement

The Rockies’ signing of right-hander Tim Redding to a Minor League conract with an invitation to Major League camp gives the pitching staff a much-needed veteran reinforcement.

The Rockies go into Spring Training with a rotation already penciled — left-handers Jeff Francis and Jorge De La Rosa, and right-handers Aaron Cook, Ubaldo Jimenez and Jason Hammel. But that apple cart could be upset if Francis needs extra time early in the year, after missing last year because of shoulder surgery, or one of the others is hurt or struggles.

Redding, 32, provides an experienced option. If he pitches well and makes the club, he could fill the role the club envisioned for Jose Contreras, who instead signed with the Phillies. After Redding, the most-experienced option is lefty Greg Smith, who missed last season with various illnesses and ailments. Smith threw 190 1/3 innings as a rookie with the Athletics in 2008.

Tulowitzki at cleanup: a strategic tool

Rockies manager Jim Tracy placed shortstop Troy Tulowitzzi in the cleanup position for the second time this year and in his career for Tuesday night’s game with the Phillies.

Tracy did it during a recent series against the Mets, but that was because the offense had been struggling. Tuesday’s game was a strategic move to combat Phillies left-handed starter Jamie Moyer, not to mention a bullpen with just one lefty.

Tulowitzki is between the team’s most dangerous left-handed hitters, No. 3 hitter Todd Helton and usual cleanup man Brad Hawpe. That gives Moyer different looks. And if Phillies manager Jerry Manuel uses lefty Scott Eyre later against Helton, he’ll have a decision to make: keep Eyre against Tulowitzki before facing Hawpe or lose the possibility of a left-on-left matchup with Hawpe.

This could be a trend through the rest of the series, with the Rockies facing lefties J.A. Happ on Wednesday and Cliff Lee on Thursday. But don’t expect this move to become permanent.

“Actually, I’m very comfortable where ‘Tulo’ is at [normally] in the five spot in our order,” Tracy said.

Also, switch-hitting Dexter Fowler center fielder is leading off, right-handed hitting Ryan Spilborghs is in left field and right-handed hitting Garrett Atkins is at third base.<p>

Here are the lineups:

Rockies

Dexter Fowler, CF

Clint Barmes, 2B

Todd Helton, 1B

Brad Hawpe, RF

Ryan Spilborghs, LF

Garrett Atkins, 3B

Chris Iannetta, C

Jason Hammel, P

Phillies

Jimmy Rollins, SS

Shane Victorino, CF

Chase Utley, 2B

Ryan Howard, 1B

Raul Ibanez, LF

Jayson Werth, RF

Pedro Feliz, 3B

Carlos Ruiz, C

Jamie Moyer, P

Atkins siezes chance; Time to take notice?

This could turn out well for third baseman Garrett Atkins and the Rockies.

Atkins lashed three hits, including a home run, Wednesday against the Angels, and is back in the lineip for Friday night’s opener of three against the Athletics. If this is Atkins’ showcase for a trade, then so be it.

Atkins has hit .302 (13-for-43) this month, with three home runs and six RBIs in 15 games. Also, the Athletics are starting left-hander Dallas Braden, and Atkins is 9-for-his-last-21 against lefties.

Rockies manager Jim Tracy is proud of how Atkins has worked despite being supplanted by Ian Stewart at third base.

“He has been a complete professional,” Tracy said. “And I really believe if I’m looking at this correctly, from some of the types of at-bats I’ve seen him take as of late, he’s real interested of making a statement, ‘I’m still the Garrett Atkins that drove in over 100 runs three out of the last four years.’

“If he continues to force the issue that way, then obviously he will force our hand to do something very positive for the Colorado Rockies.”

Atkins will hit cleanup and clint Barmes, who went 0-for-12 in three games against the Angels, will bat ninth. Ryan Spilborghs moves into Barmes’ No. 2 hole. Here are the full lineups for both teams:

Rockies

Dexter Fowler, CF

Ryan Spilborghs, LF

Todd Helton, 1B

Garrett Atkins, DH

Brad Hawpe, RF

Troy Tulowitzki, SS

Chris Iannetta, C

Ian Stewart, 3B

Clint Barmes, 2B

Starting pitcher — Jason Hammel

Athletics

Adam Kennedy, 2B

Jack Cust, RF

Matt Holliday, LF

Jason Giambi, DH

Kurt Suzuki, C

Orlando Cabrera, SS

Ryan Sweeney, CF

Daric Barton, 1B

Jack Hannahan, 3B

Starting pitcher — Dallas Braden

 

 

Smith steps to the top

The Rockies’ lineup is much like the field in an automobile race. It seems one or two need to pull in for a pit stop to correct some problem with his offensive game. Friday night it’s center fielder Dexter Fowler. Also, the repairs for third baseman Garrett Atkins are going to take another day. He sat also on Thursday.

Fowler has not stolen a base since his modern rookie record five-steal game on April 27. He has scored just two runs and struck out 14 times in his last nine games.

Left fielder Seth Smith becomes the first player other than Fowler or Ryan Spilborghs to bat leadoff. Smith is second on the club with 13 walks. Smith and shortstop Troy Tulowitzki will bat ahead of Todd Helton (17 RBIs), Ryan Spilboghs (14 RBIs) and Brad Hawpe (18 RBIs).

“You’ve got the run producers at 3, 4 and 5, so I’m looking at somebody else to lead off who can get on base,” Rockies manager Clint Hurdle said. “If you look at the on-base percentages (.426), his is as good as anybody we’ve got on the club.”

Here are the lineups:

Marlins

Emilio Bonafacio           3B

Chris Coghlan               2B

Hanley Ramirez            SS

Jorge Cantu                  1B

John Baker                     C

Cody Ross                   RF

Jeremy Hermida           LF

Alfredo Amezaga          CF

Ricky Nolasco               P

Rockies

Seth Smith                  LF

Troy Tulowitzki             SS

Todd Helton                 1B

Ryan Spilborghs          CF

Brad Hawpe                 RF

Chris Iannetta                C

Ian Stewart                  3B

Clint Barmes               2B

Jason Hammel             P

Taming Barry Zito

 

The Rockies are preparing to face Giants left-hander Barry Zito, whose struggles since signing a massive free-agent contract are well-documented. But Rockies manager Clint Hurdle noted that he thinks Zito has pitched well in stretches and there are signs of a rebound.

“He had some success against us late last season — soft early, hard in late, still uses his changeup as a go-to pitch and he’ll mix in the breaking ball,” Hurdle said. “One of the things we’ve seen is his control has bene more challenged out of the stretch than out of the windup. He’s been on some nice rolls in some outings, eight, nine, 10 hitters in a row, then somebody’s gotten on base and some problems have come up.”

Here are the lineups:

 

Rockies

Dexter Fowler         CF

Ryan Spilborghs      LF

Todd Helton            1B

Garrett Atkins         3B

Brad Hawpe            RF

Troy Tulowitzki        SS

Chris Iannetta           C

Clint Barmes           2B

Jason Hammel          P

Giants

Fred Lewis               LF

Edgar Renteria         SS

Pablo Sandoval        3B

Aaron Rowand         CF

Travis Ishikawa         1B

Emmanuel Burriss    2B

Steve Holm                C

Barry Zito                  P

 

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 

Jackie Robinson Day, and the goings on of the Rox

Today is 62nd anniversary of Jackie Robinson breaking baseball’s color barrier. Everyone is wearing No. 42. I know I would if I had a uniform. But let’s all scribble a “42″ in our scorecards today.

This also is one of those rare days where something going on miles away is almost as important as the Rockies-Cubs game today. Triple-A Colorado Springs faces Reno in a few minutes — a special 11:05 a.m. MT start time.

Left-hander Franklin Morales, who held the D-backs to one run and struck out six in six innings to win for the Rockes last week, is starting for the Sky Sox. The Rockies sent him down because they don’t need a fifth starter until April 21. But they also didn’t promise they would bring him back, and they traded for Rays right-hander Jason Hammel. The club also said Hammel is a candidate for rotation work. Hammel had bright spots but oerall a so-so debut, giving up two runs with five hits and two walks in a 2 2/3-inning performance against the Phillies.

Anyhow, to keep up with the Sky Sox’s game, click here to go to MiLB.com audio. You can click on the Sky Sox or the Reno Aces’ broadcast. There have been technical difficulties with the Sky Sox’s streaming broadcast, so the Reno feed is an option.

In Chicago, the Rockies are going with left-handed hitters high in the oder, although that’s not a guarantee of success against Cubs righty Rich Harden. Last year, left-handed batters hit .200 against Harden. Righties did worse, .167.

It’s another tough pitcher for the Rockies, who faced a strong Phillies bullpen for the last two games of a three-game set at Coors and were vanquished by the Cubs’ Ted Lilly on Monday.

“This is the part of the game you embrace, the matchups,” Rockies manager Clint Hurdle said. “It doesn’t get any easier. There’s never an off-day when you’re playing. We need to show up and continue to do all the things we did in Spring Training and have trust in all those things that we did.”

Also, right fielder Brad Hawpe, who left Monday’s game with tightness in a left hamstring that gave him problems during Spring Training, is not in the lineup. Ian Stewart will make his first career start in right field.

Here are the lineups:

Rockies

Ryan Spilborghs               CF

Seth Smith                      LF

Todd Helton                     1B

Garrett Atkins                  3B

Ian Stewart                      RF

Troy Tulowitzki                SS

Chris Iannetta                   C

Clint Barmes                   2B

Jason Marquis                  P

Cubs

Alfonso Soriano               LF

Ryan Theriot                   SS

Kosuke Fukudome          RF

Derrek Lee                     1B

Mike Fontenot                3B

Reed Johnson                CF

Geovany Soto                  C

Aaron Miles                   2B

Rich Harden                    P

The last days of sweat …

Manager Clint Hurdle announced the position players for his Opening Day roster, but until the team takes the field Monday against the D-backs no one can be sure.

This makes for nervous moments for some players.

– Utility man Jeff Baker is considered a player who could hit for power with regular playing time. Manager Clint Hurdle will try to find that for him, but there’s always a shot that another team with a greater opportunity for him at third base may want to make a trade.

– It looks as if right-hander Juan Morillo will make the squad. Morillo is out of options but has pitched well enough in camp to earn a job. However, the Denver Post reported Wednesday that the Rockies are considering trading for the Rays’ Jason Hammel, a starter type, or the Cubs’ Chad Gaudin.

Right-hander Matt Belisle, who looks to be the odd man out with the Rockies, also is in a fluid situation, since deals could open a spot for him here or something could pop elsewhere.

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