I cannot, and will not, speak on behalf of Colorado outfielder Carlos Gonzalez, but Friday could have been that day. During the Rockies 5-2 win over Milwaukee, Gonzalez went 2-3 at the plate with a solo home run and a two run double.
The Rockies are built around Gonzalez and shortstop Troy Tulowitzki, but with Tulo's injury problems of the recent past, the success of a young Colorado team could become the responsibility of Carlos Gonzalez. After a 34 homer, 117 RBI season in 2010, when Gonzalez hit a robust .336, Gonzalez was expected to become the next big thing in baseball. As fate would have it however, Tulowitzki has been injured, meaning Gonzalez has not had as much protection in the lineup as he did during the 2010 season.
If Tulowitzki and Gonzalez both remain healthy all season long, the Rockies could sneak up on some teams and find themselves in the middle of the Wild Card hunt in October.
Scores from Friday:
Arizona 6, Chicago Cubs 2
Cleveland 9, Chicago White Sox 7
Kansas City 3, Cincinnati 2
L.A. Angels 16, L.A. Dodgers (SS) 8
San Diego 7, L.A. Dodgers (SS) 5
San Francisco 13, Oakland 9
Colorado 5, Milwaukee 2
Notes from Friday:
The Diamondbacks got an outstanding performance from one of their plethora of outfielders on Friday, as Tony Campana went 2-2 with a double and a triple and two RBI. On the pitching side of things, Arizona got another perfect inning from Heath Bell, which has to make manager Kirk Gibson smile, knowing he could have the Bell of 2011 and before on his roster, instead of the terrible version of 2012. Marcus Semien and Brent Morel of the White Sox each hit home runs in their 9-7 loss to Cleveland. Semien's shot was a three run bomb, while Morel's homer was with one man on base. Chris Sale of the White Sox had his first start of the spring, pitching 2.1 innings and giving up just two hits while striking out three Indians. Cleveland got a pair of three run homers in their win over Chicago, one from Mike McDade, who went 2-2 in the game, the other from Matt Carson, who hit his third bomb of the spring. Kansas City continued their winning streak, pushing it to seven games. The Royals got a pair of solo homers from Brett Hayes and Chris Getz in their 3-2 win over Cincinnati. The Reds also got a pair of solo home runs from Devin Mesoraco and Kristopher Negron. Mat Latos (Cincinnati) and Ervin Santana (Kansas City) each pitched two scoreless innings in the game. Josh Hamilton hit his first home run as an Angel on Friday as part of a 2-2 performance. The Angels also got 3 RBI days from Peter Bourjos and Matt Young. Jered Weaver pitched two innings for the Angels, giving up two hits and a run while striking out two. Hyun-Jin Ryu made his first start in America for the Dodgers, pitching two innings against the Angels and giving up four hits and two runs. He struck out three batters, but did give up the home run to Josh Hamilton. Hanley Ramirez went 2-3 with an RBI in the Dodgers 7-5 loss to San Diego on Friday, while Matt Kemp and Adrian Gonzalez each went 0-2. The padres got a pair of runs batted in from Jaff Decker, who hit a two run double. Jonathan Galvez also knocked in a run on a run scoring triple. San Francisco had three players knock in two runs each in their 13-9 win over Oakland. Juan Perez, Brock Bond and Gary Brown each drove in two runs each, while Brandon Belt went 3-4 with one RBI. Oakland got two scoreless innings from Jarrod Parker against the Giants, while Travis Blackley struggled for the Athletics, giving up seven runs on five hits while recording just one out. Ryan Cook and Sean Doolittle, two of the key contributors down the stretch for Oakland's playoff run in 2012, each pitched a scoreless inning. And finally, Jean Segura went 2-3 for the Brewers, but it was not enough as the Rockies won 5-2. John Axford, the Brewers closer, pitched one inning, giving up two hits and allowing just one run.
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