HELP FROM TRIPLE-A

Pitching needed in September

The numbers frame the Rockies’ dilemma.

In August, the club’s three best starters have been excellent: Kyle Freeland is 2-1 with a 2.27 ERA; German Marquez is 2-1 with a 2.12 ERA; and Jon Gray is 1-0 with a 3.33 ERA.

The club’s other two starters have struggled: Tyler Anderson is 0-4 with an 11.39 ERA; Antonio Senzatela is 0-1 with a 5.87 ERA.

With 32 games left, and a chance at winning their first National League West title within reach, Colorado can’t afford to go forward with only three-fifths of a rotation performing at a sufficient level.

So what do the Rockies do? After talking to manager Bud Black on Sunday, before and after Anderson got lit up by the Cardinals in a 12-3 loss, I do not get the sense that Anderson’s spot in the rotation is in jeopardy. I could be wrong, but it sounds like Black believes Anderson can work out his mechanical flaws.

Still, he’s looked bad on the mound. After getting rocked for six runs on seven hits in just twothirds of an inning, Anderson insisted he’s healthy and not fatigued.

“The frustrating thing is that I feel better than I ever have,” he said.

Anderson, in my opinion, could use a tune-up in Triple-A, like the one that helped Gray turn his season around. But it’s too late for that, so Anderson has to find his lost command — and in a hurry.

Senzatela is just 23 and remains a raw talent, yet quite a few steps behind his buddy Marquez, at least in terms of pitching maturity. With the September call-ups coming soon, I would not be shocked if was Senzatela’s replaced in the rotation by righthander Jeff Hoffman, pitching at the moment for Triple-A Albuquerque.

Hoffman has pitched two consecutive strong games for the Isotopes. He retired the first 18 batters he faced Saturday night before Reno’s Ildemaro Vargas ended his perfect-game bid with a lead-off double in the seventh inning. Hoffman ended up yielded two runs, four hits and no walks over seven innings. Hoffman struck out seven Saturday night to give him 267 strikeouts in his Isotopes career, surpassing Jeff Fulchino for the second-most in team history.

But strikeouts, and overall performance, at the Triple-A level don’t always transfer to the majors, and the front office see things we never will. So it remains to be seen if Colorado will trust putting Hoffman in the rotation during a pennant race.

Right-hander Chad Bettis, supplanted in the rotation by Senzatela, is another possibility, but he’s not stretched out and he struggled Sunday in relief of Anderson, giving up four unearned runs on four hits over 3 L innings.

The Rockies have just three off days remaining over the final 35 days of the season, so there’s not a lot of juggling that can be done with the rotation.

Overall, Colorado’s starters have done a terrific job this season, but now it’s getting down to crunch time and someone has to step up become a serviceable starter at the back end of the

rotation.