Thursday, March 17, 2011

Spring Training Game 21: Hits, Misses & Foul Tips

White Sox 12, Rockies 6 (boxscore)

Hits

Chris Iannetta

Iannetta isn't blowing anyone away with his numbers, but we're starting to see a steady improvement in his plate appearances. He reached base twice today, that on the heels on of reaching base twice on Tuesday. It's something. Maybe he's not driving the ball for power like you want to see, but it seems to be getting closer to that for Chris. And finding ways on base out of the eight hole is always a positive.

Mike McKenry

Speaking of catchers and hitting for power, McKenry delivered (a based on tweets) monstrous three-run shot (2nd this spring) to straight away center off of former Rockies farmhand Shane Lindsay. Good for Mike. He's kind of becoming a forgotten man in the catching situation, through no fault of his own, so it's good to see him make some noise.

Misses

Ubaldo Jimenez

4 1/3, 8 H, 7 ER, 4 BB, 2 K, 1 HR, and 1 double allowed to relief pitcher Tony Pena.

This is further evidence that Rockies starters have been instructed to get their clunkers out of the way this week. I'm all for this strategy!

Matt Reynolds

Another outing, another home run allowed, and another step further from the opening day roster. It's too bad, but it's not like Reynolds can't go back to AAA, get himself together and make an impact later in the season. That's exactly what I think he'll do.

Foul Tips

Geno Espineli

Geno has a story to tell his grand kids. He relieved Ubaldo Jimenez in the middle of an inning in spring training, and helped inflate his ERA by allowing two inherited runners to score. Pretty cool, but I'd probably leave the second part out.