Rockies pitchers set for Thursday’s spring training opener
The Colorado Rockies begin spring training with high hopes
Photo from Webshots user jal27boom
People ask me what I do in winter when there’s no baseball. I’ll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring. ~Rogers Hornsby
Less than 60 hours remain before the boys of summer take the field for the first time this spring. The weather in Tucson hasn’t exactly been cooperative for baseball play, but the calendar did just turn over to March less than a day ago, so we shouldn’t complain too hard. With football season over, basketball and hockey just reaching the final stretches before the playoffs, and the hangover of a frantic two weeks of Olympic games, it is with the utmost anticipation that we await the start of the 2010 campaign for the Colorado Rockies – never before has a season started with such optimism.
Thursday, the Rockies take the field against the Diamondbacks, with Hammel taking the mound for the start. He’s only expected to work a couple innings, followed by Morales, Betancourt, Flores, and Corpas. As much as we want to really see what these guys can do, it’s tough to remember that spring training is a process, one that slowly brings the team back into the routine of playing every day. So while from a baseball perspective spring games can hardly be called games and are more difficult to watch than a cross-country skiing race (sorry, still have Olympics on the brain), the baseball fan takes it for what it is – a sign that stadiums that have sat empty all winter are soon to be filled with the smell of hot dogs and peanuts.
As the week wears on, expect most of the Rockies pitchers to get a little work, including Ubaldo Jimenez, who expects to enter spring fairly sharp, thanks to a stint in winter ball this year. Jeff Francis will also get his first work against opposing batters this week, scheduled to throw a couple innings against the Giants.
