It was a tepid evening in Tucson, the kind that makes retired people think that Arizona isn’t a bad place to set up shop. The Colorado Rockies were closing in the regular season, as spring training more than half over, and Chris Iannetta was eating dinner with friends at Ra, an upscale sushi joint just minutes away from his home during the spring. The conversation was superb and the night was young, but Iannetta had to go.

There would be no night out with the boys. There was no longer a need to socialize, definitely nothing that couldn’t wait. Eat dinner, get some rest and focus on the next day’s task – catching an entire spring training game for the Rockies. In his mind, and according to his friends, this was standard operating procedure for the 25-year-old catcher who had yet to establish himself as a bona fide major league ball player. The game was to be played in the afternoon and sleeping in was a realistic option, but in Iannetta’s mind, not much could be gained by extending the evening.

“He gets up early every morning,” one teammate said.

In the eyes of most, Iannetta was a bubble player. His first two years in a Rockies uniform might be classified as “inconclusive,” at best. He only shared a slice of the pie when it came to the job of being the Rockies starting catcher, and when he was given a night behind the plate, he wasn’t hitting consistently.

In his first two seasons of major league experience, Iannetta’s numbers were unimpressive. In just 21 games in the 2006 season, he hit .260 and drove in 10 runs – not a bad start. But in 2007, a season in which the Rockies were more than interested in giving their young prospect a shot, Iannetta only mustered a .218 batting average over 67 games and 197 at bats. By the time Rocktober rolled around, the catching job had been given to Yorvit Torrealba.

Heading into the 2008 season, if Iannetta was to get a shot, he would have to earn it in spring training. With Torrealba contributing significantly in the postseason, the job was his to lose.

Despite a healthy spring – 16 games, a .333 average and four home runs – and a disciplined approach that kept him “in” on tempting nights in Tucson, Iannetta didn’t get the call on opening day. When he finally did, he capitalized, going 2-for-3 in the Rockies third game of the young season.

Flash forward to a similarly tepid evening in Denver, Colo. – last night, to be exact. The Rockies, losers of 13 of their previous 16 games, had once again gotten themselves in a jam. Jeff Francis had given up two runs in the first, and six runners had been left in scoring position, two of which were left on base by Iannetta.

But the night was still young, and Iannetta would be given another chance. With two outs in the eighth inning, the score 3-2 in favor of the St. Louis Cardinals, Iannetta stepped to the plate. Garrett Atkins stood on third, while Ryan Spilborghs waited on first. Iannetta stepped to the plate and coolly slapped a triple to right field and brought the go-ahead run home in the process.

But that hit, a game-winning triple laced with redemption, is only symptomatic of the fever that has infected Iannetta of late. Coming into last night’s game, Clint Hurdle opted to ride hot bat of his young catcher for the fourth straight game – an excellent decision considering Iannetta had driven in three runs and went deep the night before. On the season, he’s hitting .353 in just 15 starts and has already driven in more runs than he did during his entire 2006 campaign.

Catcher is a position that has eluded the Colorado Rockies since Joe Girardi called Colorado home; it’s been a position that nobody has fully claimed as their own. Last night, when Iannetta dusted himself off after sliding into third base, pumping his fists in front of a sparse but appreciative crowd at Coors Field, he may have done just that.

With one sweet swing and the focus of someone who’s serious about earning an everyday job behind the plate, Chris Iannetta may have seized the moment for good.

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