[Full Cougar]

And, hey, it was twenty years ago this month that the headline would have been topical, after the similarly-named oil-tanker dumped ten million gallons of crude into Prince William Sound. This afternoon's outing was not quite as disastrous - no sea-otters were harmed, for example - but who am I, to let facts get in the way of my headline-writing?
Valdez ran onto the rocks early, surrendering a two-run homer to Todd Helton with only one Rockies hitter retired, and then allowed another run in the second inning, to make the score 3-0 for Colorado. He did finish strong, with a perfect third - still, three earned runs in three innings is probably not the note on which prospect Cesar Valdez wanted to end things. He was assigned to minor-league camp after the game, but more on that later. Makes sense to trim down the pitching staff, since there's only one split-squad game remaining (tomorrow). Plus all our rotation are now ready for regular action from there, with the return of Max Scherzer. Looking forward to that: only three weeks left until Opening Day!
Valdez was followed by Travis Blackley, who had shone for the Australians in the World Baseball Classic, allowing one run in 5.2 innings of work. Not so much back with Arizona, his control being as much an issue as the Colorado bats. Blackley allowed four walks over his three innings, but the only damage in his three innings, came in the form of another two-run homer, this one coming off the bat of former D-back, Carlos Gonzalez. Daniel Schlereth and Bobby Korecky pitched scoreless frames, though the former walked two, but another homer, this one a three-run shot in the ninth, wrecked Jon Coutlangus's afternoon.