SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. (AP) — Jhoulys Chacin does not have to worry about earning a spot in Colorado’s starting rotation. His first time on the mound this spring was an example of why he has the job sewn up.

The 23-year-old right-hander threw two hitless innings Monday and the Rockies went on to beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 6-5.

“Of course you want to keep working hard and try not to give up too many runs or walks, but I’m pitching more relaxed than last year,” he said.

Chacin, under orders to work on his fastball command in the offseason, threw only two sliders and one changeup. The rest were fastballs.

“I was trying to throw my fastball for a strike,” he said. “If they get a base hit or a run, that happens. I just didn’t want to walk anybody.”

Rockies manager Jim Tracy said he is impressed with the evolution of the young Venezuelan, who started last season in the minors but eventually cracked the rotation, going 9-11 with a 3.28 ERA for the Rockies.

“You’re seeing a kid that’s just evolving into becoming somebody that has a chance to be special,” Tracy said. “That’s what you’re watching with this kid.”

The only batter to reach against Chacin was Justin Uptown, who got there on an error by shortstop Troy Tulowitzki. Chacin promptly picked off Upton at first.

Esmil Rogers relieved Chacin and gave up a hit in two scoreless innings. Huston Street gave up a run in one inning in his first outing of the spring. Brandon Allen, in the fight for the first base job for Arizona, singled against Street and stole second. He advanced to third on Street’s wild pitch, then scored on a groundout.

Armando Galarraga, whose perfect game for Detroit was ruined by an imperfect umpiring call last season, gave up a run with the second hitter of the game still at the plate — a scene reminiscent of the last-place Diamondbacks of the past two seasons.

Leadoff batter Dexter Fowler singled, then stole second. Shortstop Geoff Blum dropped the throw from catcher Henry Blanco, allowing Fowler to take third. Fowler scored on Galarraga’s wild pitch.

Jonathan Herrera tripled down the right-field line, then scored when Charlie Blackmon grounded out.

Top Arizona prospect Jarrod Parker pitched for the first time this spring after missing all of last season following reconstructive elbow surgery. The hard-throwing 22-year-old right-hander struck out Matt Pagnozzi, then walked three of the next four batters to load the bases.

He escaped the jam when Tulowitzki popped out to right.

Parker, whose fastball hits the mid-to-upper 90s, said he let it loose a few times, then reined it in only to have even more control problems. But he was pleased with how he was able to get out of trouble, especially against a hitter of Tulowitzk’s caliber.

While he most likely will start the season at Double-A Mobile and come up to the big club a couple of months into the season, Parker says he considers himself a contender for one of the two spots available in Arizona’s rotation to start the season.

Read More: Todd Helton (1B – COL), Armando Galarraga (P – ARI), Hernan Iribarren (2B – COL), Esmil Rogers (P – COL), Jonathan Herrera (2B – COL), Dexter Fowler (CF – COL), Jhoulys Chacin (P – COL), Tim Wheeler (CF – COL), Keith Weiser (P – COL), Charlie Blackmon (CF – COL), Colorado Rockies, Arizona Diamondbacks

The Colorado Rockies won their second spring training game against the Arizona Diamondbacks, 6-5, on Monday afternoon. Jhoulys Chacin took the mound for the Rockies and pitched two innings of hitless ball, striking out one on the way to win.

The Rockies got on board early when Dexter Fowler singled and then stole second and advanced to third on the errant throw. A wild pitch by Armando Galarraga pushed Fowler across the plate. Jonathan Herrera, who batted second, tripled and scored on a Charlie Blackmon ground out.

In the seventh inning, the Rockies struck against the D’Backs bullpen with a three-run frame. Hernan Iribarren singled in Jose Morales to start the scoring. Iribarren and Willy Taveras pulled off a double steal of second and third base after that. Tim Wheeler’s sac fly scored Taveras and Iribarren scored on a throwing error by Matt Davidson.

Other Rockies pitchers included Esmil Rogers (2 IP, 0 R), Huston Street (1 IP, 1 R), Matt Belisle (1 IP, 2 K), Eric Stults (2 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 1 HR, 3 K) and Keith Weiser (1 IP, 1 R, 1 SV).

Todd Helton made his spring training debut by hitting a ball 400 feet, only to see Gerardo Parra capture it in his glove got an out.

On Tuesday, the Rockies play as the home team at Salt River Fields for the first time. Their opponent will be the Diamondbacks once again. First pitch is scheduled for 1:10 p.m. MT.

By Rick Eymer
Palo Alto Online Sports

Stanford grad Greg Reynolds pitched two innings for the Colorado Rockies on Saturday in the Rockies’ Cactus League opener. It was the first time he’s thrown without pain in three years.

He also hopes it’s a sign of things to come. However, Reynolds has another challenge ahead after the Rockies optioned him to Double-A Tulsa on Sunday.

Reynolds reached the Major Leagues in 2008, but struggled in 14 games, going 2-8 with an 8.13 ERA. The next year he sustained an injury in a muscle in the back of his shoulder and eventually underwent surgery.

He was impressive last spring, but suffered a chipped elbow when hit by a line drive during a batting practice session.

“First and foremost I want to show them I’m healthy,” said Reynolds, the second overall pick of the 2006 First-Year Player Draft. “I want to prove, in this camp, that all the adversity is in the past.”

He gave up a home run to Kelly Johnson, buts finished his stint with a pair of strikeouts.

“He gave up the home run, and what you’re anxious to see is are we going to get tentative to the next hitter, and are we going to try to make absolute perfect pitches and just deepen the hole?” Rockies manager Jim Tracy said. “He bounced back and went right back to attacking and right back to pounding the strike zone, and ended up having himself a very nice outing.”

Reynolds attended Stanford on a baseball scholarship but that didn’t deter then coach Buddy Teevens to ask him to try out for football there.

“I always knew my career would be baseball and that was going to be hard enough,” Reynolds said. “It was a decision I had to make and being my first year I wanted to concentrate on baseball at that time.”

A strong junior season, in which he was matched against Pac-10 starters like Tim Lincecum at Washington, Brandon Morrow at California and Ian Kennedy at USC, led to his high draft status. Morrow went fifth in the same draft, Tim Lincecum went 10th and Kennedy went 21st overall.

It was one particular game, during his sophomore year, in which Reynolds came of age as a college pitcher, and he lost.

Reynolds threw 11 innings in a 4-3 loss to Baylor at the Waco Regional in 2005. He struck out 10 hitters and kept the hometown Bears at bay until allowing a solo home run leading off the 12th.

“Something just happened,” Reynolds said. “I remember after that game coach (Dean) Stotz coming up to me and saying what a great outing it was and how there was no reason I couldn’t do it every time. That was a big growing point in my career.”

Stanford’s lineup featured other future major leaguers like John Hester, John Mayberry, Jr. and Jed Lowrie.

The next year he started 18 games for Stanford and finished five of them, including three straight at one point. He had a 3.31 ERA in over 127 innings pitched.

“I must have been throwing 120 pitches a game,” Reynolds said. “But we were only throwing once a week.”

He arrived at the Colorado Rockies’ spring training site this month with a clean slate, healthy body and the determination to show he can deliver.

Elsewhere at spring training: Former Stanford outfielder Jody Gerut has retired following six seasons in the major leagues. Gerut, 33, had been invited to Seattle’s spring training as a non-roster player. He announced his retirement Sunday. Gerut appeared in 574 games with the Indians, Cubs, Pirates, Padres and Brewers from 2003 until last season. His major league totals are a .262 batting average and 472 hits.

Track and field
Palo Alto High grad Philip MacQuitty (’10) scored in two events for UCLA over the weekend in Seattle at the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Indoor Track and Field Championships. The UCLA men came in third overall, behind winner Stanford and second place Arizona, but beat distance powerhouse Oregon.

MacQuitty, a redshirt freshman, came in fourth in the 800 meters on a frigid day where temperatures inside the largest indoor track structure in the Western USA hovered in the mid-40′s. His time was 1:51.29.

MacQuitty also led off the distance medley relay, running the 1200-meter leg in 2:56. The Bruins finished seventh with a time of 9:41.4.

Are you receiving Express, our free daily e-mail edition? See a sample and sign-up for Express.

The Colorado Rockies are it again this season, producing another batch of highly-entertaining and award-winning commercials for the upcoming baseball season.

Among the 2011 gems is the ad featured above. It features shortstop Troy Tulowitzki(notes) being forced to relinquish his brand new Gold Glove and Sliver Slugger awards to get past the airport metal detector. It’s a great commercial, even though we’ll be forced to suspend reality for a few weeks until Tulowitzki actually receives his new hardware. That typically happens during the teams first homestand.

The little head nod to Todd Helton(notes) and his career achievements at the very end is also a nice touch. From the Toddfather to the grizzled, old school veteran, I’ve always enjoyed the varying roles Helton has played in these ads over the years.

But I have to admit, as much as I enjoyed the Tulo/TSA ad, my personal favorite features a group of Rockies lecturing an overzealous fan for starting the wave during a key moment of a game. As a staunch opponent to any and all forms of the wave, I appreciated this message below.  

Unfortunately, the Rockies didn’t listen to some of their fans criticisms, as their purple dinosaur mascot Dinger was featured prominently once again.

On the bright side, at least he wasn’t blocking anyone’s view. 

Related: Troy Tulowitzki, Colorado Rockies, Baseball commercials on BLS

Read More: 2011 spring training, Todd Helton (1B – COL), Troy Tulowitzki (SS – COL), Ian Stewart (3B – COL), Jonathan Herrera (2B – COL), Carlos Gonzalez (LF – COL), Matt Pagnozzi (C – COL), Chris Nelson (SS – COL), Dexter Fowler (CF – COL), Jhoulys Chacin (P – COL), Cole Garner (LF – COL), Charlie Blackmon (CF – COL), Colorado Rockies, Arizona Diamondbacks

The Colorado Rockies and the Arizona Diamondbacks play the second game at Salt River Fields on Monday afternoon. The Rockies took the first game in 10 innings, 8-7, on the strength of a Charlie Blackmon solo home run in the top half of the extra frame.

Today, Jhoulys Chacin starts on the mound for the Rockies. He is expected to be the No. 2 pitcher for the Rockies this season.

The Rockies’ official Twitter feed has the starting lineup for the game:

CF Dexter Fowler
2B Jonathan Herrera
RF Charlie Blackmon
SS Troy Tulowitzki
1B Todd Helton
3B Chris Nelson
LF Cole Garner
C Matt Pagnozzi
P Chacin

Helton makes his spring debut while both Carlos Gonzalez and Ian Stewart will sit out this game. Gonzalez and Stewart collided with each other in Saturday’s game, leading to an MCL sprain for the latter. He will be out for a week.

Blackmon makes his first start of the spring, as well as Garner and Herrera. Garner went 2-for-3 with a run scored and had a nice throw in Saturday’s game. Herrera went 3-for-3 (all singles) and drew a walk.

While FSN Rocky Mountain originally planned to have coverage of this game, it appears that that will no longer be the case.

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. – The Colorado Rockies looked just fine to their manager, especially considering it was only the team’s fourth day together as a full squad.

Ace Ubaldo Jimenez threw two scoreless if slightly shaky innings and the Rockies inaugurated the fancy new spring training facility they share with Arizona by beating the Diamondbacks 8-7 in 10 innings Saturday.

Ryan Spilborghs and Mike Jacobs each doubled in two runs off Arizona relievers in front of a capacity crowd of about 12,514 at Salt River Fields at Talking Stick, the $130 million complex built by the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community.

“We were very aggressive,” Jim Tracy said. “We were everything that I want to see this team be as we move forward.”

Colorado led 7-2 entering the ninth inning before young Adam Jorgenson surrendered five runs in the ninth.

“I was extremely pleased with what happened offensively,” Tracy said, “and our two-strike approach was absolutely terrific.”

Kelly Johnson hit a solo home run for the Diamondbacks. Non-roster invitee Paul Goldschmidt, who played at Class A Visalia last season, hit a two-out, three-run homer off Jorgenson in Arizona’s five-run ninth.

Charlie Blackman homered off Daniel Stange in the 10th for what proved to be the winning run.

“You want to go out and play good and see a lot of good things and we did do that,” Arizona manager Kirk Gibson said. “Obviously some things didn’t go so good. It is a long spring, we have a lot of games. You like to win the game but it was good that they came back. “

Both teams moved their spring facilities from Tucson, where they had trained for their entire major league history, Colorado for 18 seasons and Arizona for 13.

Diamondbacks starter Aaron Heilman, a longtime reliever who re-signed with the Diamondbacks with the understanding he would get to compete for a starting job, gave up a hit in two scoreless innings. He threw the first pitch in the new park.

“It is a great complex and we are very fortunate to have a place like this to train,” Heilman said. “To be able to throw out that first pitch is pretty special.”

(2 of 2)

Lefty Zach Duke, another in the battle for a spot in Arizona’s rotation, gave up a run on five hits in two innings, including Seth Smith’s leadoff double in the fourth. Carlos Gonzales followed with an RBI single to make it 1-1.

The Rockies took the lead 3-1 in the sixth when Jacobs’ double off the right field wall, off the Diamondbacks’ Juan Gutierrez, brought in two runs.

Jimenez opened the game by walking Johnson, then giving up a single to Gerardo Parra. Stephen Drew hit a sharp grounder to Troy Tulowitzki’s left, but the shortstop easily got to the ball, then threw perfectly to second baseman Jose Lopez for a double play. Chris Young ended the inning by popping out to first.

Wily Mo Pena singled with one out off Jimenez in the second, but Juan Miranda flew out and Henry Blanco grounded out to end the inning.

Tracy liked what he saw in his best pitcher’s early outing.

“The thing I was the most impressed with was how clean he was and how smooth his delivery was, and how he was driving the ball down in the strike zone (Saturday),” he said. “He really looked good. I didn’t see him any time within the two innings he pitched ever try to overthrow a pitch, which brings him out of his delivery and throws that front side out of there.”

Jimenez, 19-8 last season with a 2.88 ERA, pronounced himself satisfied after throwing most fastballs with a few sliders and a couple of changeups mixed in.

“I wasn’t throwing that hard,” he said. “I was only trying to go out there and hopefully throw strikes and get hitters out.”

Jimenez said last year’s success, despite a late lull that denied him a 20-win season, has left him feeling “more comfortable and more confident” this spring.

That could go for the entire Colorado squad, out to dethrone the World Series champion San Francisco in the NL West.

“We feel we have unfinished business,” Jimenez said