The Rockies are relying more on left-hander Jorge De La Rosa following the likely loss of lefty Jeff Francis for the season. Francis' shoulder surgery moved De La Rosa up to fourth in the rotation, but De La Rosa's early spring outings have done nothing to assure the Rockies they will be able to count on him.
De La Rosa threw 40 pitches and retired one of the eight A's batters he faced March 10, allowing four hits, three walks and five runs in one-third of an inning. He gave up six runs on 11 hits in 2 2/3 innings in his previous outing, March 5 against Team Mexico in a game that doesn't count in the Cactus League statistics. "He's disappointed that he's not pitching to his capabilities and that he's not in the spot he needs to be at this point in spring," manager Clint Hurdle said. "What he needs to do is take his spring so far, bury it, and get moving forward."
Pitching coach Bob Apodaca said De La Rosa's problems were mental, not physical.
"It's the demons during the game," Apodaca said. "He can't have cluttered thoughts. That's when he goes too fast and runs into problems (with his delivery)."
Apodaca insisted De La Rosa has enough time this spring to rebound. But there is the memory of last year, when De La Rosa pitched his way out of the rotation before returning and finishing the season strong.
Rather than have him throw between starts in the bullpen, Apodaca had De La Rosa throw to Ryan Spilborghs and Matt Murton on March 12. As if things weren't bad enough, Spilborghs lined a ball that struck De La Rosa in his left side. But De La Rosa got through that session, which was aimed at helping him avoid distractions on the mound.
"I never want to push the panic button, because they sense it when they feel that you are hitting the panic button," Apodaca said. "But I don't want to use the phrase, 'Oh, we've got time.' No, to me, (the outing March 10) was unsatisfactory, it was unacceptable. ... We have to be able to finish the inning."
Play FOX Fantasy Baseball today
