If you follow Colorado Rockies baseball, you know that the relationship with pitcher Ubaldo Jimenez was, well, rocky to say the least. Sure, he was, and still is, the only Rockie to ever throw a no hitter, and had some great seasons on the mound for the Rockies. But, he also struggled a lot, and became very dysfunctional when his then teammates Carlos Gonzalez and Troy Tulowitzki received large contracts from Colorado and he didn’t. Jimenez was traded to Cleveland last season, and while facing the Rockies in a spring training game yesterday took some frustration out on Troy Tulowitzki’s elbow.

“I saw the catcher set up inside and at that point I thought something might happen,” Rockies pitcher Jeremy Guthrie said. “It did.” Jimenez, facing his old team for the first time since being traded last season in a move that left hard feelings, drilled Tulowitzki with the first pitch of his at-bat in the first inning.

“I was trying to go inside on him,” Jimenez said. “That’s probably the weakest point that he has. Then the ball just got away. The thing that I did was because he was calling me. I’m a man. I try to relax every time, but I’m a man. If somebody calls me out, I have to go.

“Yeah, he was calling me names. … I said, ‘You’re calling me out?’”

When Tulowitzki took first base, he was being shielded by the Rockies and Jimenez could be seen gesturing for Tulowitzki to come after him.

There were no ejections. The Rockies pulled Tulowitzki from the game for Brendan Harris and sent him to the clubhouse with the trainer. The club later announced that Tulowitzki was taken to a local hospital, then followed up by saying X-rays were negative.

Tulowitzki didn’t deny angrily confronting Jimenez.

“I definitely wasn’t happy about getting hit,” Tulowitzki said. “I don’t think you ever are. It was back and forth. To say it was just me is wrong.”

Rockies manager Jim Tracy called Jimenez’s hitting Tulowitzki and following it up by stepping toward him “the most gutless act I’ve seen in 35 years in baseball,” and he called for Major League Baseball to take action.

“He intentionally threw at him,” Tracy said. “He should be suspended. I’m going to be very disappointed if he doesn’t.”

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