Rangers 8, Rockies 4

Wash. Rinse. Repeat. The Rockies once again lost to the Texas Rangers on Saturday, this time be the score of 8 to 4, once again suffering from inconsistent pitching and an inability to string hits together to form any significant rally. This time it was Jorge De La Rosa and Jhoulys Chacin that gave up the damage, but De La Rosa did continue to show some progress as he works toward opening the season in the Rockies rotation. Paul Phillips, Matt Murton and Joe Koshansky hit solo home runs for the Rockies, the only other score came after a triple by Ian Stewart in a sign of the lack of station to station movement by the team.

Matt Murton

#14 / Left Field / Colorado Rockies

Height: 6-1

Weight: 220

Bats: R

Throws: R

Born: Oct 03, 1981

Joe Koshansky

#47 / First Base / Colorado Rockies

Height: 6-4

Weight: 225

Bats: L

Throws: L

Born: May 26, 1982

Murton and Koshansky each hit their second HR's of the Spring.

THE BIG QUESTION: While the Rangers MLB leading offense is aided a bit by the ballpark they play in, make no mistake that this is a quality lineup, and the performance by the back middle of the Rockies rotation these last two days could be a sign that the team's not ready for the biggest stage yet. The secret of a 162 game season is that you don't have to win your division in April or May or even June, but you can't lose it in those months. Are De La Rosa and Marquis sufficient at this point to keep us in the thick of an easy division? I think they're close, eleven strikeouts and one walk in nine innings pitched between the two of them is very encouraging, even if the nine runs given up is not.

The smaller question: Where does Jhoulys Chacin start the season? I don't want to make a knee jerk reaction today anymore than I do after he does well. The two questions that need to be asked are "How close is he to being a major league pitcher?" and "How soon will the Rockies need him when he is?". The answer to the second question is what's pushing him to AAA as much as the first.

Wrap Rating: EZ-Wrap, with Troy Tulowitzki being a late scratch, the trainer's room seems to be a revolving door of minor maladies this Spring. This might help streamline the operation.