SAN FRANCISCO — Jim Tracy, circa a month ago, when asked if Seth Smith and Dexter Fowler were platooning: “You’ll never hear me say that word.”
Tracy kept his record intact Monday after Fowler was optioned to Triple-A Colorado Springs. Yes, Smith will hit second against right-handers, and Ryan Spilborghs will see the bulk of the action against left-handers. But Tracy may spot Smith against a left-hander and Spilborghs versus a right-hander depending on past performances against certain pitchers.
Smith and Carlos Gonzalez aren’t your typical table-setters atop the lineup — Smith hasn’t attempted a stolen base all season — but Smith likes the combination. No wonder. The Rockies are 9-5 with that combination at the top of their lineup.
“I love hitting in the two hole behind CarGo,” he said. “He gets on base a lot, and he distracts the pitchers for me so I get better pitches to hit. What would you rather have, a couple of slap-hitting fast guys at the top of the lineup or a couple of guys who are able to drive the ball and maybe get some extra-base hits for your three- and four-hole hitters?”
Smith logged 335 at-bats last season, hitting .293 with 15 home runs and 55 RBIs, and figures to get even more ABs this year. He hit .299 in May with three doubles, three triples and four home runs.
Fowler needs to play.
Tracy said the move with Fowler was made for two reasons: Fowler needs to get his swing back from the left side, where he was hitting .162 (16-for-99), and the Rockies need all the offense they can muster.
“We’re not firing on all cylinders offensively,” Tracy said. “If that’s not happening, you have to try to do something with your lineup. . . . You can’t keep piling on and feel like you’re writing down a lineup on a given day and, as you look at it, see four guys, including the pitcher, who are searching offensively.
“So how do you fix it? You get Dexter back to the workshop. . . . Dexter needs at-bats, bottom line. He needs to play, and he needs to go to home plate and hit. He needs to regain the line-drive stroke we saw for much of the second half of last season.”
Fowler, a natural right-handed hitter, began switch-hitting after turning pro. For all of his struggles from the left side, the Rockies remain committed to him as a switch-hitter. Sure enough, he went 4-for-4 with a home run Monday in his Triple-A debut.
Footnotes.
Jonathan Herrera, who replaced Fowler, was hitting .286-1-11 in 45 games with the Sky Sox. He’ll be used as a utility infielder, giving Tracy more flexibility in his use of Melvin Mora. . . . Ubaldo Jimenez was favored in Las Vegas in his matchup against two-time Cy Young Award winner Tim Lincecum. The over/under for the game was 5 1/2, the lowest of the season at Vegas sports books. . . . Talk about the definition of a stopper: Jimenez is 7-0 after a Rockies loss.
Jim Armstrong, The Denver Post
