TUCSON, Ariz. — Yorvit Torrealba isn�t worried about Franklin Morales. The Colorado Rockies catcher smiles when talking about his teammate. Torrealba shakes his head a few times as he smiles. It�s a knowing shake, as if to say, �if you only knew what I know.� Morales is the youngest of the likely starting pitchers entering spring training at Hi Corbett Field. But plenty of questions surround the development of the 22-year-old left-hander from San Juan de los Morros, Venezuela. What�s right? What�s wrong? Should he be the team�s fifth starter? Should he start the season with Triple-A Colorado Springs? Are the Rockies rushing him? Can he handle the big leagues for the whole season the way he did the last two months of 2007? Do those short-term questions matter for a pitcher who might someday be the team�s best? Like Torrealba, neither manager Clint Hurdle nor pitching coach Bob Apodaca worry about Morales. �Pressure is something we�ve talked about at length here in our organization, and that�s usually what you feel when you don�t know what you�re doing,� Hurdle said. �I think Franklin has a good idea of what he�s doing. I think the experience he garnered last season late when he was with us is invaluable.� Morales might be too young to realize there should be some concern, or possibly some pressure, as he begins his fight for a spot in the rotation. �I have a lot of competition, but I don�t think too much about that,� he said. �I feel excited about my spring training. I feel comfortable.� Morales was one of the team�s saviors last season. The Rockies lost three starting pitchers, and Morales � along with Ubaldo Jimenez � made fans and even team members forget who was hurt. From Sept. 11 to Sept. 17, Morales tossed 20 consecutive scoreless innings. The Rockies won each of his past seven starts � including games in the National League Division Series and the League Championship Series. But there was that fifth inning that still looms large. Remember Game 1 of the World Series? It was the 13-1 debacle that the Rockies would love to forget. The fifth inning rolled around and Morales, in a reliever�s role for the first time in his career, allowed seven runs in q of an inning. Morales pitched in Game 3, too, throwing 23 scoreless innings. But it was the seven runs that remain a nightmare. Still, nobody seems worried. Those games and all the others supposedly prepared Morales better than anything that could�ve happened with the Sky Sox or Double-A Tulsa for what will happen this spring. �This is a different kind of stress,� Apodaca said. �What he had to do last year was perform immediately. Being put into that pressure-cooker situation with the injuries that we had to the three starters, him pitching in big games down the stretch, playoff games � nothing is going to compare to that.� Apodaca likened Morales� situation to that of young shortstop Troy Tulowitzki, who joined the Rockies at the end of the 2006 season. �He saw the speed of the game,� Apodaca said. �He saw how much faster Major League Baseball is. It afforded him that opportunity to feel what the game is about heading into his first major league spring training.� In other words, there should be fewer unknowns for Morales. There are fewer questions about what he has to do. Morales, who is in a battle with Kip Wells, Josh Towers and Mark Redman for the fifth spot, needs to learn to go deeper in the count. Morales might not get a long of groundouts. He doesn�t want hitters making too much contact. When Morales throws strikes, he�s at his best. But Morales must throw his fastball to the proper spots. �The times he would struggle would be when he would get ball one and ball two,� Torrealba said. �But every time he was aggressive and would pound down in the strike zone, he was effective. �This is a guy who also has a good changeup, a big curveball and he throws a 95-, 96-mph fastball. That�s not something you see everyday, especially in a left-hander.� Regardless of the pressure Morales feels or even how that pressure is defined, this is going to be a big spring for him. If he pitches the way he pitched last year, he definitely should make the team. �I just need to make my pitches,� Morales said. �That�s it, make my pitches.� Maybe it is that easy. Make pitches and nothing else matters. For Morales� sake, hopefully that�s the case.

Elizabeth Price bowled a strike during a Wii tournament at Winslow Court in January. The owner of the community partnered with Nintendo for the console. Photo by ( KIRK SPEER, THE GAZETTE)