Matt's wrap-up from Tucson

It's been a great week in Tucson.  There's nothing quite like the Rockies practice facility, where if you're not quite paying attention, you might look up and realize that BK Kim and Jeff Francis just walked right by you.  One thing that's good to note, Francis seems eve taller in person.  I always thought he was a little guy, but he's a good 6'4".  

Today I staked out the Rockies practice facility before heading inside Hi Corbett to catch the Rockies-White Sox game.  One note for anyone heading to Hi Corbett for a spring training game; check the weather report.  If it's a sunny day, make sure you get off the metal bleachers, because they'll turn a 80 degree day into a hundred and ten degree day in a hurry.  Pay the extra five bucks for lower box seating, and you'll be much more comfortable.

As you have already heard, today was a bit of a slugfest.  It's what you get with 26 runs, 32 hits, and 4 errors between the two teams.  Thankfully, this was a spring training game so we were still only baked in the sun for a good three hours.

Hirsh looked decent in the first inning.  Nothing spectacular, as Darrin Erstad stung a pitch out to right for the first AB of the game, but was left stranded at second.  What was impressive was the pure speed of the top of the order.  It's hard to find faults with those two jackrabbits when they're getting on base.  Tavares was particularly impressive since he stole second every time he reached first while I was out here, save one fielder's choice where he broke up a double play in the third inning today.  That let the inning continue for Spillborghs' three run shot over the left field fence.  I cannot see a way that the organization can fathom sending him down to AAA.  He just keeps on hitting.

Some other important notes from the day's action:

-Hawpe was completely overmatched by Buehrle today.  Both times he faced him, Buehrle struck him out easily.  None of Hawpe's swings came anywhere close to the pitches.  A good three inches or more on each wiff.  Once Buehrle came out, Hawpe easily took a very shaky Mike McDougal's fastball out to right for a double off the wall.

-Scary moment here too.  Ianetta took a Buehrle pick off his right hand, made a nasty sound.  He shook it off and ran down to first, so luckily we've still got a young gun healthy.  Best wishes to Troy.

-Outside of a bomb to Jim Thome, Brian Lawrence looked pretty good.  After the shot, he settled down and went through the White Sox's order without any real problems.

-Fowler looked very promising.  First off, he's a skinny guy.  He can't weigh anything over 155, so he'll have a chance to put on some muscle.  What really impressed me was his plate discipline.  He got down 1-2 quickly to Nick Masset, Sox back of the bullpen/ first call up from AAA right hander, before fighting off four or five pitches to work a walk out of it.  Hell of an AB.  Even better that it was immediately followed up by a double from Quintanilla where he easily scored from first.  Impressive showing from only two AB's.

-Tom Martin is an absolute train-wreck against righties.  When it gets to the point where you turn to someone and say "there's about a 25% chance that Eduardo Perez jacks a homer off Martin," and it goes off without a hitch, that's a problem.  Then when you turn to the same person and say that "Martin will somehow turn this [six-run lead] into a save situation," and you're right again, there's a huge friggin' problem.  Unfortunately, there seems to be a lack of good options here.

-Javy Lopez is still killing the ball.  The only out he made today was a shot he ricocheted off the pitchers leg right to the first basemen.  He's worth a look if we've got the room.

-The White Sox were absolutely frightened of Ian Stewart for some reason.  They walked him four times, and none of them were particularly close.  I think he had one full count on him the entire day.

-I'll stress this again.  I'm in love with the top of our order.  As long as Tavares and Matsui keep getting on, it's going to cause havoc for the other team.  It's just fun having Willy on, because you know he's going to run.  They know he's going to run.  And there's not a damn thing they can do about it.  Today was the closest that he came to being thrown out while I've been here, and he was still safe by a good foot by my eye.  Keep in mind, I am a complete and vicious homer.

So there you all go.  That's a complete wrap up of  today's action.  After a week of 80 degree weather, I'm headed back to the lovely state of Colorado to really get back to work.  This is a great vacation if anyone can make it out here.  If you need any sort of tips on Tucson, drop me a line and I'll recommend some places.