Catch the daily spring training roundup each afternoon from Rockies beat writers Troy E. Renck and Patrick Saunders in Tucson. You’ll find insider information on players and what the team is working on as they get ready for the 2007 season. Check every afternoon for the Rockies Rundown.
What Jeff Baker started last September he continued today.
The country-strong outfielder blasted a three-run homer over the center field fence in the third inning at Hi Corbett Field. It was his first homer of the spring.
After his call-up from Triple-A Colorado Springs in early September, Baker hit .368 with five homers, seven doubles, two triples and 21 RBIs. In last year’s spring training, Baker hit four homers and drove in 13 runs. However, he hit just .237 and didn’t break camp with the big club.
Managers are rightfully skeptical of talent that shines in September and March, but the Rockies’ Clint Hurdle has high hopes for Baker.
“I’m looking forward to what Jeff Baker can bring,” Hurdle said. “We got a great, memorable snapshot of him last year. I’m not a great September guy, but you can’t turn your back or your head on the noise he made offensively.”
Inside the game
Center fielder Steve Finley has 303 home runs and 320 career-stolen bases, making him one of only six players ever with 300 home runs and 300 stolen bases. But ask him about his favorite feat in baseball and he’ll tell you it’s hitting a triple.
“I don’t care who you are, if you hit a triple, most guys are more excited than when they hit a homer,” Finley said. “It’s a 90-yard sprint, you have to hit the ball into the gap and you have to get out of the box quick. It’s not easy and a lot of things have to fall into the place.”
Finley, who turns 42 on Monday, hit 12 triples last season with San Francisco, tying Willie Mays for the club record. He has 124 in his career.
“I have hit so many that I just know how to get there,” he said. “I don’t even look at the third-base coach. I know when I hit the ball and it goes to a certain place that I can go for three.”
The desert scene
The red-tinted contacts Aaron Cook wears when pitching day games gives his eyes a devilish, vampire-like appearance. But that’s not going to stop him from wearing them.
“They really cut down on the glare and let you focus in without wearing sunglasses,” Cook said this morning after pitching four innings of a “B game” at Hi Corbett.
Talkin’ baseball
Cheese – short and simple, it means a fastball.
Quotable
“I came in under the radar and was coming off an injury, so I really had nothing to lose that camp. That’s kind of the way I’m approaching this camp.”
— Center fielder Cory Sullivan, the club’s primary starter last year, about adopting the same attitude this year as he did as rookie in 2005. He was named Rockies spring training MVP that year.
Staff Writer Patrick Saunders
can be reached at 303-954-1428
