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Rocks finish training camp with a tie
Mar 17th
Nolan Arenado chased Dodgers starter Hyun-Jin Ryu with a long home run to left field in the sixth. The Rockies’ third baseman is batting .353 (12-for-34) in Spring Training.
The Dodgers fielded a lineup of potential starters for the team’s season-opening series in Sydney, Australia.
Ryu allowed two runs (one earned) on seven hits and struck out three without issuing a walk in 5 1/3 innings. His next start will be the second game in Sydney.
“I need to work on my curveball a little bit. I missed a few of those, but in time, I’m sure I’ll get it back,” Ryu said through an interpreter. “I hit the 80-pitch count, so I’m happy with that as well.”
Rockies starter Jordan Lyles, who is competing for a rotation spot, lasted 4 1/3 innings and struck out two. He was charged with three runs on five hits and walked two.
Trailing 1-0 in the fourth, the Dodgers scored twice off Lyles. Carl Crawford doubled down the right-field line to lead off, then scored on an Adrian Gonzalez single to tie the game.
Gonzalez came around to score on a two-out double into the left-center-field gap by Juan Uribe to give the Dodgers the lead.
The Rockies opened the scoring in a somewhat odd fashion. Matt McBride reached on an infield single, moved to second on another hit and took third on a wild pickoff throw from Ryu that bounced into center field. McBride broke for home on a fly ball to right from Jordan Pacheco but appeared to be thrown out at home plate by the Dodgers’ Yasiel Puig.
Puig’s laser-beam throw beat McBride home, but Rockies manager Walt Weiss challenged the call. Replays showed Dodgers catcher A.J. Ellis missed the tag on McBride and the out call was reversed.
“It was good to see the system work,” Ellis said. “I knew right away that I didn’t touch the guy.”
The Rockies put runners on the corners in the fifth against Ryu, but Brandon Barnes‘ flyout ended the inning.
Charlie Blackmon‘s single drove in Tim Wheeler to tie the game at 3 in the seventh.
A crowd of 13,115 saw the Dodgers off. Los Angeles finished with a cumulative attendance of 114,402 in 12 home dates at Camelback Ranch for an average of 9,534 per game, the highest average attendance since the team relocated Spring Training to Arizona in 2009.
Up next: Left-hander Brett Anderson, acquired from the Athletics during the offseason, has posted a 1.80 ERA with five strikeouts and one walk in his first 10 Cactus League innings, impressing his new team. He’ll have another chance Monday, when the Rockies face the Padres at Peoria Sports Complex at 2:05 p.m. MT.
Rocks tie Mariners in spring ball
Mar 15th
It was the eighth game in five days for the Rockies, who lost earlier in the day to the Giants, 4-0, at Scottsdale Stadium.
Rockies lefty Franklin Morales, competing with righty Jordan Lyles for the final rotation spot, struck out four in four innings but gave up two big hits. Stefen Romero homered in the first inning. Brad Miller tripled to open the third and scored on Abraham Almonte‘s sacrifice fly. Morales said both big hits were on split-finger pitches.
Still, Morales, who has been a reliever much of his career with the Red Sox and the Rockies but relishes the chance to start, was happy with his plan. Morales has a 3.97 ERA in 11 1/3 innings this spring. Lyles has a 1.13 ERA in eight spring innings.
“I feel very good,” Morales said. “Only thing I tried to do was attack the hitter. It doesn’t matter what happens in the game. When you put your pitch in your spot, it’s going to be fine.”
It was a big swing for Romero, who played at Triple-A Tacoma last year and is trying to land a spot as a backup outfielder. Romero opened the spring 0-for-8, but since then is 9-for-19 with two home runs, two doubles and two triples.
Mariners ace Felix Hernandez — preparing for his club-record seventh Opening Day start on March 31 against the Angels — held the Rockies to one unearned run and two hits in his four innings. Michael Cuddyer, who went 2-for-3 with a double, scored the only run off Hernandez on a wild throw when second baseman Jack Reinheimer was trying to complete a double play.
But Reinheimer and shortstop Miller completed a dazzling double play on a Cuddyer grounder in the fourth.
Hernandez felt better after rebounding from his last outing, when he gave up four runs in 2 1/3 innings to the Rangers.
“My last time out was too many runs,” he said. “I wanted to get my work in and I was happy with the results. Today was good.”
Rockies closer LaTroy Hawkins worked out of a bases-loaded, no-out situation in the fifth.
Mariners righty Erasmo Ramirez, competing for a rotation spot, wiggled in and out of trouble. He gave up leadoff doubles in the sixth and seventh but escaped unscathed. However, the Rockies’ Cristhian Adames walked, moved to third on DJ LeMahieu‘s hit-and-run single, and scored on Charlie Blackmon‘s sacrifice fly to tie the score at 2. Ramirez gave up one run on four hits and struck out three in four innings.
Mariners first baseman Corey Hart, a free-agent signing this winter, went 0-for-3 in his return from being out for five games with a stiff lower back.
Up next: When Spring Training started, talk was righty Juan Nicasio‘s rotation spot was up for grabs. But through two Cactus League starts, Nicasio is unscored upon and has seven strikeouts in seven innings, and it looks as if he just has to be healthy to be in the regular-season rotation. Nicasio will start Saturday against the Angels at 2:10 p.m. MT at Salt River Fields at Talking Stick.
De La Rosa given nod for opening day
Mar 13th
A Tommy John elbow surgery cost De La Rosa 16 months, from May 2011 to September 2012. Finally healed, De La Rosa posted his best career year in 2013 — 16-6 with a 3.49 ERA — and was one of the brightest performers in a last-place season for Colorado.
The performance, his years of accomplishment in a Rockies uniform, and the fact he is healthy led Rockies manager Walt Weiss to name De La Rosa the starting pitcher in the season opener on March 31 at Miami. The Marlins will start righty Jose Fernandez.
“I think it was a hard time, the last three years,” De La Rosa said. “Last year, I think of all the sacrifice I did, and rehab and everything. This year, I think it’s going to be exciting for me. I’m ready for this, and I hope I can help this team to win a lot of games again.”
Weiss is happy to reward De La Rosa.
“He’s worked really hard, and he deserves it,” Weiss said. “He’s a great pitcher for us, a great pitcher at our park.”
The decision also puts De La Rosa in position for two starts in April against the Giants, a National League West foe against whom he has had success (8-4, 3.90 ERA in 19 games, 16 starts).
Last season, De La Rosa, who turns 33 on April 5, matched the career-high wins total he established in 2009, but did it with a lower ERA, and went 10-1 with a 2.76 ERA in 14 starts at Coors Field. De La Rosa pitched through a bruised left thumb for much of the second half of last season.
The 2013 performance was enough to convince the Rockies to pick up his $11 million club option. Although he will be a free agent at season’s end, De La Rosa has said he would like to stay with the Rockies.
De La Rosa was at his best after a Rockies loss — 10-0 with a 3.52 ERA in 14 of those starts. Now the Rockies are counting on him to start the season on the right track.
“It’s exciting for me,” De La Rosa said. “It’s an honor for me to be the Opening Day starter. It’s going to be my first one. Not too many guys can do this in their career. I’m ready for the challenge.”
Going into Spring Training, the Opening Day start was a toss-up between De La Rosa and righty Jhoulys Chacin, who also rebounded from injury in 2013 and went 14-10 with 3.47 ERA in 31 starts last season. But Chacin reported to camp suffering from pain and inflammation in his throwing shoulder and has yet to throw a bullpen session. He is improving but is still expected to miss two or three starts.
Still, De La Rosa expects the rotation, buoyed by the addition of left-hander Brett Anderson — last season’s Opening Day starter for the Athletics — and with righties Tyler Chatwood and Juan Nicasio entering with another season’s experience, to be a team strength. The Rockies have finished last in the National League West the last two seasons, but De La Rosa sees enough talent for dramatic improvement.
“We’ve got a lot of good pitching right here,” De La Rosa said. “I think Anderson can be a No. 1, too. They say I will be the opener, and I said yes. It’s an honor for me to be the Opening Day pitcher.
“It’s a goal to be in the playoffs and go as far as we can. I think we’ve got enough talent to be in the playoffs or win the World Series. I believe in this team a lot. I think we can do it. We’ll see what happens.”
Weiss also revealed that he is considering using lefties De La Rosa and Anderson consecutively in the rotation. They work at different paces — De La Rosa the most deliberately of any Rockies starter, Anderson at a lightning pace — and are different enough to not create a problem.
“We can go either way there — I talked about splitting them up early on, but that’s not the priority, really,” Weiss said. “We’ll see. There’s the possibility they could go back-to-back.
“It makes it tough on opposing left-handed hitters. If there’s a semi-platoon, with two left-handers back-to-back, they’re not going to sit a good left-hander out back-to-back. It kind of puts them in a spot to make a decision.”
De La Rosa is thankful to be healthy enough to earn his status.
The elbow injury occurred on May 24, 2011. De La Rosa expected to miss about a calendar year and seemed ahead of schedule, but setbacks kept occurring. He didn’t make it back to the mound until Sept. 20, 2012. The team was long out of contention, and De La Rosa spent so much effort rehabbing that he was not in good condition. He went 0-2 with a 9.28 ERA in three starts, and was a question mark heading into last season.
“It’s hard when you get setbacks like I had that year when I got the surgery,” he said. “It puts a lot of things in your mind, but I never gave up. I kept working the same way, and I’m here now. I’ve got a good year last year, and I hope I can have good years like I had last year, something similar or better than I had last year.”