Rockies Blog Review: Pictures of the Spring

It was a somewhat slow week in the Rockies blogosphere, here's hoping a couple of wins pick up the production as we start heading into the heart of the Spring.

ROCKIES BLOGGER OF THE WEEK: Rockpile Rant

The winning entry this week goes to the Ranter's farewell to Spring Training blog post, "Snagged my holy grail at Maryvale, last day of vacation", as he chronicles his quests not only for some batting practice snags, but also that elusive Clint Hurdle autograph. Rockies fans who followed his trip have been treated to some great pics of the players and Rockies fans and can get a sense what a trek down to Arizona is like this time of year, and why those of us that have had that opportunity long to return.

For more great pictures of Spring Training, check out Inside the Humidor's post, "Gameday 2/28 vs Dodgers...", including the great, but disappointing picture of Eric Young Junior flailing at an 82 mph pitch (he captures the scout's radar gun as well as EY2).

NOT REALLY BLOGGERS, BUT SOMETIMES THE PROS DO BEAUTIFUL BLOG TYPE WORK:

Since it is a slow week for Rockies blogs not affiliated with the media, I thought I might point out some of the better blogging by those that are pros. First a hybrid, Jack Etkin's great story, "The back fields: where dreams are reality", is a good deal of traditional reporting, including a talk with Clint Hurdle, but also mixes a personal style more reminiscent of writing on the Internet.

Thomas Harding's post prior to the game against Mexico goes into a great spin on why the Rockies spring record isn't nearly as important as what's being accomplished in player development. It's something we have to keep repeating, but now that the team has won a couple of games in a row, maybe the sense of panic among Rockies fans that was fomenting will dissipate.

I had enough non-media posts last week to work with, but since I'm giving the pros their due this week, I would feel I was cheating you if I didn't also bring up Patrick Saunders rant on why he's wanting the Rockies to stay in Tucson from February 24th. He's got some great counterarguments to those of us that think moving camp closer to Phoenix would be ideal.

FINALLY...

A couple more posts of note, Tom Stephenson's piece on Omar Quintanilla's improving odds of making the roster will make Jabberwocky cringe, but I never got the sense that Kwentinillah's job was in serious jeopardy this Spring from the buzz prior to camp. You can usually tell who's on the fence by who the team acquires, and I'm sorry, Luis A. Gonzalez just isn't that serious a challenger to Q the second.

My favorite blog take on Taylor Buchholz's injury was written by another Tom, Rocky Mountain Way's Tom Walsh. A blog post complete with a medic symbol and a voodoo doll, you've got to like that.