Chris Iannetta's genetically enhanced brain has apparently figured out how to defy the humidor, as his broken bat, two-run HR last night clearly demonstrates. Iannetta's bat and Ubaldo Jimenez's recovery from a shaky beginning led the Rockies to a victory in last night's game. Iannetta's tenth homerun on the season is the most by a Rockies catcher since Charles Johnson hit 13 in 2004, and CDI would need ten more to tie CJ's club record of twenty set in 2003.

Kip Wells is getting set to rejoin the Rockies rotation, with Mark redman moving to the bullpen. It's a lesser of a lot of evils choice. While I'll get to the Pebble Report a little later today, clearly we should be counting down the days to the arrival of Jhoulys Chacin, who improved to 4-0 at Modesto last night despite allowing twelve hits a nd four runs. He struck out eleven in the win.

Even as the Phillies would seem to be out of the Brian Fuentes derby with yesterday's deal for Joe Blanton, another team is reportedly added to the list of those interested. The Chicago Cubs are the latest entrant to this crowded field.

After yesterday's start, it appears Jorge De La Rosa won't be back in the rotation once the second half of the season starts. De La Rosa will give way to Kip Wells, who still has two more rehab starts to make. Farther down on the article, Franklin Morales and Jason Hirsh are mentioned, but the possiblity of either pitching for the Rockies any time soon appears remote.

Aaron Cook and his family will add a baby girl in late July.

In a look at which teams have interest in which Rockies, Tracy Ringolsby's column mentions that Juan Morillo, Ryan Mattheus, and Casey Weathers are possible call-ups should some team trade for Matt Herges.

Mark Kiszla. Matt Holliday. New York. Scale of 1-10. Yankees at 11. Or something.

Colorado Springs, L 4-5 in 10 innings - Ian Stewart's home run (13) in the sixth and Jayson Nix's home run (12) in the seventh game the Sky Sox a 4-2 lead, but Jason Hirsh couldn't hold the lead. Hirsh, pitching in relief of Kip Wells, allowed two runs in the bottom of the ninth to tie the game and then allowed the winning run the next inning. In 4 1/3 innings, Hirsh walked four and struck out five.

Kip Wells went five innings, allowed two runs, and struck out four. In addition to their homers, Nix and Stewart each had a double as part of their three-hit nights.

Tulsa, L 3-4 - Tony Blanco hit a solo homer (13) and Justin Nelson had a two-run shot (8) in the seventh to give the Drillers a 3-0 lead, but two runs in the bottom of the seventh and two more in the bottom of the ninth gave Corpus Christi the victory.

Alan Johnson allowed two runs over 6 2/3 innings. Darren Clarke threw 1 1/3 innings of relief, but allowed a walk to the first batter in the ninth. Adam Bright relieved Clarke and committed a throwing error on a sac bunt. Edward Valdez came in and allowed a two-run single to blow the  save and give Bright the loss.

Modesto, L 4-6 in 11 innings - Brian VanderBeek sums up the game for you:

The Nuts made the final out of the ninth inning at home and all three outs in the 10th at the plate, giving the Giants the chance to win the game when two runs scored on a bases-loaded error in the 11th. San Jose tied the game in the ninth by scoring off Andrew Johnson, who blew his first save opportunity this season in 15 chances. The Nuts had 14 hits, including four by Daniel Mayora, but stranded 12 runners.

Mike Paulk's two hits were both doubles and Jay Cox drove in two. Keith Weiser started the game, went seven innings, and allowed three runs. Tommy Baumgardner pitched a clean eighth inning. David Patton allowed the final two runs (one earned).

Asheville, W 7-1 - Bruce Billings went seven innings, allowed one run, and struck out five. He had 10 ground outs and six fly outs. Edgmer Escalona pitched the final two innings and struck out two (1.88 ERA/.199 BAA on the season).

Kevin Clark had a big night with the bat, as he hit a two-run homer (his ninth) and drove in a total of four. Mike Mitchell and Everth Cabrera both had two hits and each scored a run. Brian Rike and Darin Holcomb each drove in a run.

Tri-City, L 3-5 - Josh Sullivan took the mound again, allowed no runs in four innings, walked two, and struck out three. Brad McAtee didn't fare as well in his four innings. He allowed  four runs (one earned), walked three, and struck out four. Three of the four runs scored in the eighth on a passed ball by Jordan Pacheco and a throwing error by Patrick Rose.

Charlie Blackmon went 2-for-3 with a double, an RBI, a run scored, and two walks. Pacheco drove in two on a single in the eighth.

Casper, W 4-2 - Over his five innings, Matt Baugh allowed two runs, which scored on a two-run homer in the fifth. He struck out five. The four relievers that followed allowed only one hit. Juan Rodriguez struck out one, Isaiah Froneberger allowed the hit and struck out two, Adam Jorgenson struck out three, and Kurt Yacko struck out two on his way to his third save.

Carlos Martinez scored twice and hit a double and a triple.

Ubaldo Jimenez beat his childhood hero, Pedro Martinez, last night:

"He's been my hero ever since I was little," Jimenez said. "I loved the way he pitched; I tried to never miss his games. He was aggressive and you could just see it in his face. It didn't matter who he faced, he was going to get them out."

And in beating his hero, Jimenez not only won his first game since April 8, but he also pushed the Rockies back out of last place and into a tie for third place with the Giants. The Giants lost to our next opponent, the Royals, last night. The Giants send TIm Lincecum to the mound to oppose the Royals' Kyle Davies. Winner takes the series.

Troy Renck mentions that Cedrick Bowers will be considered for a call-up this week when the Rockies look to add a left-hander. At this point, we've already seen what the others have done for the Rockies (Rusch, Redman, and Bowie), so taking a look at Bowers may not be a bad thing. There's also a quote there from Dan O'Dowd about Franklin Morales: 

"Franklin's not even on the radar right now," Rockies general manager Dan O'Dowd said. "He can't help us right now. And he might not be able to help us this season."

Todd Helton believes he's over "a little issue" he had, and Kip Wells pitched in a simulated game yesterday in preparation for a rehab start later this week.

Clint Hurdle still wants Willie Randolph coaching in the All-Star Game after the Mets fired him.

Dave Krieger explains why we saw Yorvit Torrealba pinch hit for Scott Podsednik:

Sometimes, National League managers seem to love the double switch so much it becomes an end in itself. With Taveras having run for Iannetta earlier in the inning - a center fielder for a catcher - it was just so symmetrical to hit Torrealba for Podsednik - a catcher for a center fielder - even though Podsednik was hitting 70 points higher than Torrealba.

So much for a symmetrical move working out. A little asymmetry is not going to kill anyone.

The Rockies signed Todd Ritchie to a minor league contract and sent him to extended spring training. He last pitched in the majors during the 2004 season for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. It doesn't hurt to see what Ritchie can do, but really? Ritchie's had one good season and that was in the last century. He was a 15-game winner for the Pirates in 1999 with 3.49 ERA that season, his career low. Nice to see a guy attempt a comeback, but at 36 (37 in November) what can we expect out of him? Yes, I already know the responses to that question.

There's also a bit in the last link on Kip Wells, his surgery, and the surgery his daughter recently had.

If Todd Ritchie isn't the solution to the Rockies' pitching woes, maybe the Dragonslayer is? Or Julian Tavarez? Or Rich Harden? Or Joe Blanton? Or Kevin Millwood? The first two names are the most likely candidates to don Rockies uniforms as the club waits for Morales to show improvement, for Reynolds to be ready in a month, and for Hirsh to return from his injury. As O'Dowd says, he's looking for a guy to make a few starts between now and sometime in June. Morales makes his first Triple-A start Sunday in the meantime.

Woody Paige's editors left some stuff out of his column on Kip Wells this morning:

He began 2000 as the No. 2 starter for the White Sox... and had a 6.02 ERA that season.

He had back-to-back earned-run averages of 3.58 and 3.28 (and 22 victories) with the Pirates, but they gave up on Wells in 2006... after back to back to back ERA's of 4.55, 5.09, and 6.69 (and 30 losses) for Pittsburgh over the next three seasons.

He was shipped to Texas for a minor-leaguer... because no team was dumb enough to offer more than Jesse freakin' Chavez for Kip Wells. Then, it was on to St. Louis, which gave up on him.., after 17 losses and a 5.77 ERA, and now, Colorado... who would be wise to realize that over the last four seasons Wells' teams have gone 32-61 in his starts.

He earned the right to be in the Rockies' rotation a bunch of money. He earned respect, if not revenge one win. We need to see some more.

I don't want to take anything away from what was a very good start by Kip last night, and certainly I remain hopeful he proves worthy of his contract, but he did have very good starts early in the season for St. Louis last year before things went South quickly. Let's not put too much into the results of one game just yet.

The same wait-before-passing-judgment caveat should be said for Jayson Nix, but coaxing two walks from the eighth slot in the lineup was as an encouraging sign as Wells' performance. The eighth slot walk didn't happen frequently enough early last season for the Rockies-albeit Chris Iannetta and Jamey Carroll did a lot more of it later in the year- so it's nice to see the change. It's one of the little things that the Padres in particular have been very good at over the last few seasons: taking advantage of opponents' being too careful before the pitcher to flip the lineup. Nix saw a total of seventeen pitches in four plate appearances,  when compared to Willy Taveras -who saw just twelve in five PA's- he comes off looking particularly well.

Taveras was just miserable all around at the plate -the one notable home plate slip on a potential infield single inclusive- but I found his fifth inning fielder's choice out to shortstop particularly troubling as it followed an equally aggravating failed bunt attempt by Wells to move Jayson into scoring position after his first walk. Having to endure relying on small-ball tactics on nights like yesterday is bad enough, having to endure poorly executed small-ball is excruciating. Taveras and Brad Hawpe (who at least saw 24 pitches) were the only two in the lineup to fail to connect solidly on at least one occasion, everybody else either had solid hits or just missed moments, so I don't think we need to worry about the O tanking just yet.

At any rate, let's give lots of credit to our bullpen for the victory yesterday, Micah Bowie, Taylor Buchholz, Brian Fuentes and Manny Corpas  allowed just two singles (one of the weak infield variety) and a walk in three and two thirds innings. Conspicuously -and most thankfully- absent was Luis Vizcaino. I know the team signed him with the expectation that he would have been the one to call on in the seventh instead of Buchholz, so that Hurdle didn't allow a LaTroy Hawkins-esque Opening Day disaster come to pass is a credit to our manager's ability to learn his lessons. Speaking of learning high leverage lessons from last year, compare Bowie's appearance to the first time Jeremy Affeldt came into the game with runners on in a one run ballgame in 2007. As Tracy Ringolsby points out, the new faces in 2008 are so far looking alright. Let's hope that trend continues today.

Which team will be on the wrong end of today's April Fool's Day joke? We have the guy who was with the opposing team last season starting for us, and he's says he's not surprised something like this happened. Wells also believes that, "Obviously, this is an opportunity for me to go out and get us started on the right track." No argument there, but when the opposing team sends out the guy who coughed up a huge gopher ball to the Rockies back in October, you have to wonder which team is setting itself up to be today's fool.

Bernie Miklasz believes Lohse should use his curveball today to throw off Rockies hitters since they're a good fastball-hitting team. Apparently, during his good seasons, Lohse used his curveball upwards of 10% in his total number of pitches during the season. Nah, that curveball will be a joke once a Rockie crushes it over the wall.

If we take a look at the standings:

We see that the Rockies are still better than the Giants on April Fool's Day, and that's no joke. Jake Peavy held the Astros to three hits in seven innings and struck out four in the 4-0 victory. His three walks didn't do much for the 'Stros, but his sac fly in the second proved to be the winning run (not to mention his RBI single in the 4th also)!

I don't think we'll see the Giants out of the cellar any time soon, or ever, this season.

After today, we'll see Lohse and the Cardinals on the wrong end of today's joke and the Rockies will have a nice '1' in the 'W' column.

Oh, wow, take a look at this:

The players hold each other accountable and their work ethic is staggering. Two weeks after the World Series, the Coors Field weight room was full. So it was not surprising that when reliever Ramon Ramirez reported to spring training overweight, he stuck out like a cactus in a rose garden and was subsequently traded.

So, the rationale behind trading Ramon Ramirez had nothing to do with keeping Kip Wells on the team? You know, the guy Renck also says the Rockies will need in the rotation at some point. It goes like this, it appears: Ramirez enters camp overweight, violating the team's work ethic --> Therefore, he's traded during spring training. It may be more accurate to say this: The Rockies sign Kip Wells during the offseason, guaranteeing him money he does not deserve --> Ramon Ramirez starts the spring overweight --> Kip Wells performs as we expected in camp --> Ramirez performs better than expected --> Kip Wells moves to the bullpen in order to not become a waste of money (and to act as some sort of depth for the rotation) --> Therefore, Ramirez is traded. That seems to be a bit more accurate than the two-step process we have above.

I did like Renck's piece on current and former Rockies and their gloves, however.

Irv Moss takes a look at Casey Weathers, Brandon Hynick, and Keith Weiser in his latest minor league entry. Weathers learned about major league etiquette during his stint in major league camp. Hurdle's gave him a past this time and expects him to show us what he's really made with Tulsa this season.

The season's almost here!

Now that he is officially the second baseman for the Rockies, Jayson Nix will need to step up and work with Tulo in the infield. We all want to see him be part of the 6-4-3 combination that worked so well on double plays last season. Nix is taking the right approach with his mate up the middle:

"I expect that Troy is going to be able to teach me a lot, especially since last year was his first in the big leagues," Nix said.

This probably isn't much of a surprise to anyone here, but Troy's a decent ballplayer. The same can't be said for Kip Wells, who doesn't understand why he's been demoted to the bullpen. It's a demotion for Wells, but the move spares the Rockies from being punished when he starts a game. Though, is there any hope that he  won't completely tank in the bullpen either? Because, with only one spot left in the 'pen the question is, do the Rockies keep lefty Micah Bowie or righty Ramon Ramirez? Seems to be unfair punishment for the rest of the 'pen to have Wells in there.

Franklin Morales will pitch today against the White Sox, and depending on how he pitches we may hear an official announcement on the final two spots in the rotation. Really, it appears that the only rotation question is between Morales and Towers. Redman has the other spot locked up.

Miscellaneous:

- Tracy Ringolsby breaks down the payroll for your 2008 Colorado Rockies.

- Rox Girl answered Five Questions for the Hardball Times.

- Darren Rovell is running an NCAA-style tournament for the best Minor League Logo. The Modesto Nuts are the only remaining #1 seed left in the contest. Today's voting should start shortly after this goes up, so vote for the Modesto Nuts.

Oh gee what a surprise, Jayson Nix is the starting second baseman, Kip Wells is headed to the bullpen and Marcus Giles made his goodbyes to teammates yesterday. I wish I had seen that coming. I wouldn't expect much in a trade with the Dodgers, but at least Marcus will be close to his brother again and at home in Southern Cal.

I'm on the road today, so I'm going to have to keep this post very brief and I'll have to wait until tomorrow to check out the new look to the site in more detail. At any rate, go ahead and play with some of the features.

Whoah, I'm over here now.

The Hardball Times is shifting to the NL West for their Five Questions series this week. My Rockies preview will be up tomorrow, but  Ducksnorts' Geoff Young and I came up  independently with one question in common regarding a certain play involving a bald guy -you'll have to wait for my answer- and Jon Weisman also previews the Dodgers today.