So far so good -- even though my flight connected in O'Hare, I somehow managed to get to Tucson at 12:30 for a 12:45 arrival. So we made it to Tucson Electric Park in time for the first pitch.
Turns out we wouldn't miss much, in terms of actually watching the Sox perform. A brief rundown:
PITCHING:Javier Vazquez was Javyesque -- wholly inconsistent. The Rockies had their full lineup out there, and they hit Javy hard in the first inning, with Garrett Atkins and Matt Holliday with a pair of RBI doubles. His offspeed stuff was fooling hitters, but Colorado hitters were getting around on the fastball.
If we didn't know Javy was pitching, he started out the second by striking out the first two batters, then couldn't get a glove on a chopper, botched a Willy Taveras bunt, and a Kazuo Matsui triple later, the Rockies were up 4-0.
(And I just found out that they signed Vazquez to a
three-year, $34.5 million contract extension. Greeeeat.)
Matt Thornton continued to look good, only giving up a Jeff Baker opposite-field single. Boone Logan worked a perfect inning, and Heath Phillips looked especially impressive in his inning of work, striking out two. Some video of him in action coming up later.
Adam Russell is not ready for primetime quite yet, because the Rockies crushed him. Even the outs were hard, and Brad Hawpe hit a titanic shot over the center field batter's eye that still hasn't come down yet.
HITTING:Darin Erstad fans will be pleased to find out he went 2-for-3 in the leadoff spot, with two somewhat weak opposite-field singles. Juan Uribe crushed a couple balls, though one was a 4-3 double play because he smoked it up the middle on a hit-and-run. The other was an RBI double down the line, and A.J. Pierzynski followed it up with a long homer just inside the right field line:
Jim Thome is hitting a lot of ground balls. Luis Terrero laid down a perfect bunt single. Ryan Sweeney played the whole game, but didn't do anything worthwhile.
FIELDING:Aside from Vazquez's miscues, the Sox had a solid day in the field. Andy Gonzalez has a nice arm at short, and Joe Crede made one of his trademark flop, stop and throw plays.
More photos and videos later.