Tucson – Feel free now to fill out your Rockies lineup card for the opening-day game against Arizona on Monday, April 2.
In indelible ink.
There were only 3,517 attendees in the stands Sunday and only a couple of mysteries in the clubhouse.
I wanted to become the new public address announcer at Coors Field for this season, but nobody from the Rockies invited me to the final tryouts tonight in LoDo. I coulda been a contender. I have a Bob Sheppard kind of voice, and I have a bit of experience as a loud talker. What might have been:
“YOUR ATTENTION, PLEASE! Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Here are the Colorado Rockies’ starters. (Pause for tremendous roar.) Leading off and playing center field, Willy Taveras. TAVERAS. Batting second, the second (oddly enough) baseman, Kazuo Matsui. MATSUI. Hitting third, third (oddly enough, too) baseman Garrett Atkins. ATKINS. Batting fourth and playing first base, Todd Helton. HELTON. Batting fifth, the left fielder, Matt Holliday. HOLLIDAY. Hitting sixth and playing right field, Brad Hawpe. HAWPE. Batting seventh, the catcher, Yorvit (uh) Torrealba. TORREALBA. Batting eighth, the shortstop, Troy (uh) Tulowitzki. TULOWITZKI. And batting ninth, the pitcher, Aaron Cook. COOK.
“Please rise, remove your hats and join with Kate Smith in the singing …”
Three weeks remain before the home opener, and the Rockies say it’s too early to make concrete personnel decisions.
“We’ve got a couple of (roster) spots open (with the position players), and I think we know who our first three starters will be. We need another setup man, and I don’t know that he’s here. So we’ve got time to work it all out. It doesn’t have to be done today,” manager Clint Hurdle said.
Yes, it does.
After many days of intense scrutinization and many hot dogs and many diet drinks, I’ve got the whole thing figured out.
Outfielder Seth Smith smacked a three-run, walk-off homer Sunday afternoon against Kansas City as worlds crossed (Hurdle and Buddy Bell, the current and ex-Rockies managers). If you want to enjoy watching Smith play this season, Colorado Springs is just down Interstate 25, or wait until the September call-ups.
There’s an easy way to remember the starting position players. Begin with the 3-H Club (Helton, Holliday and Hawpe), the “T” Amigos (Taveras, Tulowitzki and Torrealba) and AMtrak (Atkins and Matsui).
On the 25-player roster the Rockies will keep two catchers, five infielders, five outfielders, one pinch hitter/infielder/outfielder and 12 pitchers.
We’ll save the pitchers for last, although they are foremost.
YOUR ATTENTION, PLEASE!
Catcher: Torrealba and Chris Iannetta. Veteran Javy Lopez still has a whippy bat (.375 and four doubles this spring), but he will be edged out by Ianneta, who is better defensively and could have a future. Torrealba, who has not played more than 66 games in six major-league seasons, could double that number in 2007. Lopez can’t throw out the late Kate Smith. And the Rockies will have a couple of other elder statesmen on the bench.
Infielders: Helton will be at first for the Rox, not the Sox, with Matsui at second, Tulowitzki at short and Atkins at third. Tulowitzki and the Rockies were scared silly when the youngster was hit on the wrist Saturday, but he’s OK, and Clint Barmes won’t be feeling so good. He’ll end up in the Springs. Jamey Carroll will back up at three positions, and John Mabry occasionally will spell Helton – and pinch-hit.
Outfielders: Holliday, Taveras and Hawpe, with Jeff Baker playing right field against left-handers and Steve Finley (18 big-league seasons) playing center randomly against right-handers. Mabry can spot. Finley (.400) and Mabry (.417) are not fishing like old men and the sea.
Pitchers: The starting rotation will look something, no, exactly like this: Cook, Jeff Francis, Rodrigo Lopez, Jason Hirsh and Josh Fogg. Byung-Hyun Kim will be traded, probably for another late-inning reliever. Brian Fuentes will serve as the closer again, and LaTroy Hawkins, over from Baltimore, will begin the season as the eighth-inning setup man. The Rockies also will have available Manny Corpas, Taylor Buchholz, Jeremy Affeldt, Mike Gallo and Ramon Ramirez. Pull for the comeback of Castle Rock’s Dave Veres.
PA announcer: Not I.
Staff writer Woody Paige can be reached at 303-954-1095 or wpaige@denverpost.com.
