Morales' Emergence Gives Rockies Embarrassment of Bullpen Riches

SAN FRANCISCO -- You know your team is having one of those magical seasons when an injury to your closer reveals that you had two all along.

Rockies closer Huston Street has been out since Sept. 1 with biceps tendinitis. That injury came just after the Giants swept the Rockies to pull into a tie for the wild-card lead.

In Street's absence, Franklin Morales has emerged as yet another pleasant surprise for upstart Colorado. He has converted all six of his save opportunities as the Rockies' wild-card lead has ballooned to 4 1/2 games heading into the start of a showdown series in San Francisco on Monday night.

Now that Street is perhaps just days from returning, the end of the Rockies' bullpen looks to be set for October, assuming they get there.

"When I get back healthy where I'm supposed to be in the ninth inning, it's going to be a pretty short game in the playoffs," Street said.

Street, who has converted 33 of his 34 save opportunities with a 2.96 ERA, is expected to throw off a mound on Tuesday. He could see some hitters in a simulated game as soon as Friday, and then be activated soon after that.

While Street has been hurt, the Rockies have enjoyed the continued coming-out party for Morales.

Morales emerged as one of the Rockies top starters on the 2007 pennant-winning team, but he struggled in 2008 and got sent to the minors after just five games. This year he started off well enough, but then got hurt. When he was healthy, he went to the minors, where the Rockies made him a reliever.

The thinking was that he could maintain his concentration and mechanics better over a short time.

"He grew and developed [in the minors]," manager Jim Tracy said. "There are a lot of people in this organization that are responsible for him, but he himself is responsible for the work he did and the job he did in listening to the information and applying it."

Essentially, Morales simply had to learn to harness his plus fastball to keep it in the zone.

"When you throw the ball 97 mph and throw it over the plate, you've got a good chance," Tracy said. "That's hard to hit."

Morales returned to the big leagues just before the All-Star break, and he's been dominant. Opponents have hit .186 against him as a reliever. Lefties have hit .121.

"You look at his mound presence, his demeanor, look at his face," Tracy said, "nothing overwhelms this kid. He embraces all of it."

Because of Morales' stuff and his makeup, Tracy said it was an easy call to plug him into the ninth inning when Street went down. Now that Street is coming back, Tracy has Morales and right-hander Rafael Betancourt as seventh- and eighth-inning setup men.

"Because of what Morales has done, he and Betancourt became a little more interchangeable in the seventh and eighth as far as what makes more sense," Tracy said. "It's deepened us in the bullpen and allowed us to think along the lines of, if you're a starting pitcher, you give us 18 outs and we're in the game, we've got a chance to win."