Positive step for Morales

Left-hander has strong outing in bid for rotation

By Jack Etkin, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published March 9, 2008 at 6:48 p.m.

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Photo by Jeff Chiu / Associated Press

Left-hander Franklin Morales throws during his outing against San Francisco on Sunday. Morales retired 10 of the final 12 batters he faced and impressed catcher Yorvit Torrealba. "He was really good," Torrealba said. "He was pounding the strike zone, most of the time with fastballs."

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SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. - Three weeks from today, the Rockies begin the regular season in St. Louis. They are set with Jeff Francis, Aaron Cook - he came through a bullpen session fine Sunday and is scheduled to start Wednesday - and Ubaldo Jimenez at the front of their rotation.

Deciding on the fourth and fifth starters were questions at the outset of camp. While nothing has been settled, left-hander Franklin Morales took a step toward securing a spot in the rotation with his outing here Sunday. And Jason Hirsh, who has missed two starts because of an inflamed right shoulder, could begin the season on the disabled list.

Morales, who held the San Francisco Giants to three hits and one run in four innings in a 10-2 victory, has to show the Rockies he can't pitch in the majors.

Mark Redman, Kip Wells and Josh Towers - the candidates for the final spot in the rotation in the absence of Hirsh and if Morales, 22, stays on course - to varying degrees have to show the Rockies that they can pitch in the majors.

Redman, who will start in a "B" game this morning against the Chicago White Sox, and Towers, who will start against Arizona in a Cactus League game this afternoon, rely on location.

After two good performances, both are coming off spotty outings.

So was Morales, who allowed five baserunners in three innings Tuesday, the last time he took the mound. Sunday, he gave up a one-out double to Kevin Fransden in the first - left fielder Scott Podsednik ran to his left and made a diving attempt but the ball went past him - and a run- scoring, bad-hop single to Aaron Rowand that bounced off the chest of third baseman Jeff Baker.

But after walking Ray Durham on five pitches, Morales struck out Daniel Ortmeier and retired 10 of the final 12 batters he faced. Morales termed his his 56-pitch outing that included 34 strikes a "good performance" and said it was helpful and comforting to work with catcher Yorvit Torrealba.

"He was really good," Torrealba said. "He was pounding the strike zone, most of the time with fastballs. To me, that's what you need to do more often. The offspeed was there when he need to - couple bad pitches, obviously, but overall (he) was really good. I'm really happy to see what I saw."

Manager Clint Hurdle has been ready for someone in the group of Morales, Wells, Redman and Towers to separate himself from the pack.

While Hurdle didn't say Morales necessarily had done that, it was clear Hurdle was pleased.

"He pitched better," Hurdle said. "Much better downhill plane to his fastball. His mound presence showed improvement. His overall outing showed improvement. With two strikes, he's still showing a little bit of youthful enthusiasm, putting a little bit too much energy into pitches, overthrowing some pitches. But I thought he did some really good things out there."

After a 23-pitch first, Morales set the Giants down in order on six pitches in the second. He gave up a leadoff double in the third when Rajai Davis grounded a ball inside third base but got first-pitch outs when Fransden grounded to second base and Randy Winn grounded to shortstop.

Morales hit Rowand with a 2-2 pitch but retired Durham on a first-pitch pop fly.

"Toward the end of the second inning on is when he really focused on seeing that ball down," pitching coach Bob Apodaca said. "I thought his changeup and his two-seamer - because of the importance of getting those pitches down - really helped him get his four-seamer down.

"I thought he was very, very successful going to his glove-hand side (inside to a right-handed hitter), which he has worked very hard to get to."

Hirsh hasn't been able to work hard at anything much beyond cardiovascular conditioning. He missed a second scheduled start Sunday because of shoulder soreness, and at this point in spring training, Apodaca said time is "not his ally."

The Rockies start the season March 31 and are scheduled to play 13 games in 14 days to open the season before they have their second and final scheduled April off day April 14.

Barring postponements, that means a fifth starter will be needed no later than April 6 and will make two starts in that initial 13-game stretch.

Hirsh came to camp trying to lock up the job of fourth starter. But his opportunity to claim a spot in the Rockies rotation is on hold until his shoulder improves and he can take the mound. And with days off between bullpen sessions and having to face hitters in batting practice before getting into games that means . . .

"It must be impressed upon Jason that time will take care of it," Apodaca said, "and don't have March 31 circled. That's not the most important date."

NUMBERS GAME

3 home runs allowed by left-handed reliever Chris George in five spring innings, two to left-handed hitters, including Clay Timpner in the ninth.

MOVING AHEAD

After throwing a 45-pitch bullpen session in Tucson, Aaron Cook is scheduled to start Wednesday. Soreness in his shoulder caused him to miss a start Friday.

Special assistant Marcel Lachemann watched Cook throw and said, "He did fine. No problems," adding that Cook threw all his pitches, threw from a windup and a stretch and didn't try to add any extra over-the-top effort to his pitches.

STRANGE PLAY

Yorvit Torrealba was thrown out at the plate as Keiichi Yabu of the Giants threw a wild pitch on ball four to Joe Koshansky with one out and runners on first and third in the fourth. Torrealba broke for the plate and was out when the ball hit the backstop and caromed back over the head of catcher Eliezer Alfonzo to Yabu, who tagged Torrealba.

"What you want (me to say), I look stupid out there?" Torrealba joked when asked about the play. "There's nothing you can do on those things. It bounced perfect."

Manager Clint Hurdle said, "That was the double Max Patkin play. I was waiting for him to call timeout and point to the sky -- about the only option he had."

NEXT STEP

Reliever Jose Capellan, who is returning from a sprained right ankle and has yet to pitch, is scheduled to throw his second bullpen session today. If all goes as expected, Capellan will take a day off, then throw batting practice, as he moves toward pitching in games.

MONDAY'S GAMES

* Rockies (Josh Towers) vs. Arizona Diamondbacks (Randy Johnson), Hi Corbett Field in Tucson, 2:05 p.m. No TV or radio.

Also scheduled to pitch for the Rockies: Greg Reynolds, Brian Fuentes, Taylor Buchholz and Ryan Speier.

Rockies 10, Giants 2

Colorado ab r h bi San Fran ab r h bi

Taveras cf 4 0 2 1 Davis lf 3 0 1 0

Bowie p 0 0 0 0 Threets p 0 0 0 0

Stewart 3b 0 0 0 1 Frandsen 3b-2b 3 1 1 0

Podsednik lf 1 1 0 0 Santos p 0 0 0 0

Herges p 0 0 0 0 Matos p 0 0 0 0

Quintanilla 2b 2 0 0 0 Wilson p 0 0 0 0

Baker 3b 4 2 2 1 Ishikawa 1b 1 0 0 0

Ramirez p 1 0 0 0 Winn rf 3 0 0 0

George p 0 0 0 0 Bowker rf 1 0 0 0

Torrealba c 3 0 2 0 Rowand cf 2 0 1 1

Kata 1b 2 0 0 0 Timpner cf 1 1 1 1

Spilborghs rf 3 1 1 1 Durham 2b 1 0 0 0

Barker rf 2 0 1 0 Yabu p 0 0 0 0

Koshansky 1b 2 0 0 0 Denker 2b 2 0 0 0

Rose c 2 0 0 0 Ortmeier 1b 3 0 0 0

Barmes ss 2 1 0 0 Holm c 1 0 0 0

Herrera ss 1 1 0 0 Alfonzo c 3 0 0 0

Nix 2b 1 2 0 0 Kline p 0 0 0 0

Fowler cf 1 1 1 0 Leone lf 0 0 0 0

Morales p 1 0 0 0 Burriss ss 4 0 1 0

Smith lf 2 1 2 3 Misch p 1 0 0 0

Velez 2b-3b 2 0 0 0

Totals 34 10 11 7 Totals 31 2 5 2

Colorado 000 215 020 - 10 11 0

San Francisco 100 000 001 - 2 5 2

E - Velez, Burriss. DP - Colorado 1, San Francisco 1. LOB - Colorado 5, San Francisco 6. 2B - Baker, Fow- ler, Davis. 3B - Frandsen. HR - Timpner. SB - Podsednik, Spillborghs. CS - Taveras. S - Morales. SF - Stewart.

Colorado IP H R ER BB SO

Morales W 4 3 1 1 1 3

Herges 1 0 0 0 0 0

Bowie 1 0 0 0 0 1

Ramirez 2 1 0 0 1 2

George 1 1 1 1 1 1

San Francisco IP H R ER BB SO

Misch L 31/3 1 2 2 2 0

Yabu 12/3 3 1 1 1 0

Santos 2/3 3 5 4 2 0

Matos 1/3 1 0 0 0 1

Wilson 1 1 0 0 0 2