A Schelling For Your Thoughts

Injured Cuddyer comes through in pinch

By Jordan Schelling / Special to MLB.com

MILWAUKEE — Michael Cuddyer was already scheduled to get a game off this week. So, with his injured toe still bothering him a bit on Friday, Cuddyer was not in the starting lineup.But injured toe and all, Cuddyer delivered the biggest hit of the game on Friday night: A pinch-hit single in the ninth to score what proved the winning run in a 4-3 victory over the Brewers.

Having fouled a ball off his foot during Wednesday’s game against the Padres, Cuddyer left after six innings with a bruised left big toe. Two pitches after the foul ball in question, Cuddyer belted a two-run home run in the Rockies’ 8-4 victory.

“It’s feeling better, but still sore,” Cuddyer said before Friday’s game.

Tyler Colvin got the start in right field on Friday.

Rockies manager Jim Tracy indicated that while Cuddyer could play if necessary, they would prefer to take the extra day and avoid any further injury to the toe. It helped that Cuddyer already was supposed to a day off soon.

“It was supposed to be this day, but it’s kind of a combination of both,” Tracy said. “If he was to bang another one down off there tonight very quickly and he walks in there tomorrow and tells me it will be a month before you see him again, I think it’s a really, really good idea to just back off for a day.

“As a result he gets a couple days in a row … and if everything goes according to plan, he’ll be out there tomorrow and ready to go again for another extended period of time.”

De La Rosa, Outman to pitch spring games

MILWAUKEE — Rockies left-hander Jorge De La Rosa will pitch on Saturday in an extended Spring Training game, along with fellow lefty Josh Outman.

De La Rosa, who is in his fifth season with the Rockies, made just 10 starts a year ago before having Tommy John surgery on his left elbow.

“It will be to the tune of four innings and 60 pitches,” Rockies manager Jim Tracy said.

Outman is working his way back after an oblique strain sustained earlier this month, after the 27-year-old reliever got food poisoning that resulted in a significant amount of vomiting.

“His will be a more controlled circumstance,” Tracy said. “His is more of a batting practice-type situation than it is actually pitching in the game like Jorge’s going to do.”

For Roenickes, series a family affair

MILWAUKEE — When right-handed reliever Josh Roenicke looks in from the visiting bullpen this weekend at Miller Park, he’ll see a very familiar face in the home dugout.

That’s because Roenicke’s uncle, Ron, is the Brewers’ second-year manager.

“I’m never very comfortable having him on the other side,” Ron said of Josh. “I’m rooting for him, but I’m rooting against him today. I hope he has a good year, but not against us.”

The younger Roenicke is in his second year with the Rockies, and will be squaring off against his uncle for the fourth time in his career. While he did not pitch last September during the Rockies’ two-game set in Milwaukee, Josh took the mound three times during the 2009 and 2010 seasons with the Blue Jays against the Angels, when Ron was bench coach under Mike Scioscia.

Toronto won two of those three games against Los Angeles.

“I did pretty well against them,” Josh said. “It’s always fun [to face] him.”

Josh and Ron Roenicke talked on the phone on Thursday night, and also chatted on the field before Friday’s series opener.

The two are fairly close, and always spend time together in California during the holidays, where baseball is one of the main topics of conversation within the Roenicke family. Josh’s father Gary also played in the Major Leagues and Ron’s son Lance, who is an outfielder at UC-Santa Barbara, could be the next to carry on the family tradition.

“I saw him during Spring Training, and we went to dinner,” Josh said of Ron. “I’ll text him once in a while. A couple times a month, maybe.”

Josh, whose athletic ability Ron raved about before Friday’s game, said he keeps up with how the Brewers are doing throughout the season, checking the standings and boxscores, while also getting updates when he talks to his father.

With the Rockies having missed the 2011 playoffs, Josh was a big Brewers fan during the month of October.

“That was cool seeing him in his first year go to the playoffs; they had a good team,” said Josh, who also liked what he saw out of the Brewers in winning two of their last three coming into this weekend.

“It was good that they took a couple from the Dodgers.”

Jordan Schelling is a contributor to MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.