It's not so much that the Colorado Rockies are running out of patience with Jason Hirsh. It's more that Jason Hirsh is running out of patience with Jason Hirsh.

"At this point, for me, it's time to put up or shut up," the 6-foot-8 right-hander said.

"There's no more second chances. There's no more ifs, ands or buts. I've just got to go out and compete. I've been telling everybody it's time for me to kind of realize that I have the ability to play at this level and that now is the time to do it. I can't wait anymore."

Hirsh might be the most overlooked candidate for the Rocks' starting rotation this year. Aaron Cook, Ubaldo Jimenez and Jason Marquis are penciled into the first three spots. Assuming he pitches the way he did in the second half of last season - and not the way he did the 2 1/2 seasons before that - Jorge De La Rosa has the inside track on the fourth spot.

Then comes the chorus line general manager Dan O'Dowd has assembled to avoid the shortage of starting pitching the Rocks faced each of the past two seasons - Franklin Morales, Greg Reynolds, Greg Smith and Hirsh, not to mention safety valves Josh Fogg, Matt Belisle and Glendon Rusch.

Two years ago, Hirsh was considered the centerpiece of the Jason Jennings trade, but both of the other players who came from Houston - reliever Taylor Buchholz and departed center fielder Willy Taveras - played more than Hirsh.

You would call him a disappointment except that Jennings was such a disaster for the Astros (2-9, 6.45) that Buchholz alone made it a good trade for the Rocks.

"This is the first time I've ever really had injuries," Hirsh said. "I had maybe one injury in the minor leagues coming up. Throughout my career, from when I was a little kid, I've never had arm problems, I've never broken a bone, I've never rolled an ankle. But I've managed to do all three of those in the last two years."

Hirsh made just four appearances last year, all in September. Maybe the most memorable came against Arizona on Sept. 21, when he gave up five runs in one inning of relief.

Looking back, he can see why.

"I got my priorities mixed up," he said. "Instead of going after guys with my fastball and my slider, I'd try and throw curveballs and changeups and be more of a thumber."

A thumber?

"A thumber. Like a junk pitcher. I've always been a fastball-slider guy. And then, for some reason the last year and a half, it was like curveball, changeup, slider, then fastball.

"It probably happened when I first got up with Houston. It was kind of that thing where you think you have to do more at this level to get guys out when you really don't. You just have to keep doing what made you successful at the lower levels.

"The hitters are the same. They're going to get themselves out the majority of the time. You've just got to go out there and pitch your game. I think that's what I got away from, and now I've just got to get back to where I was."

Hirsh did not arrive at this epiphany on his own. During a 10-day stint working out in the Dominican Republic just before spring training, organizational pitching coaches Bo McLaughlin and Jim Wright watched him throw.

"Those guys hammered home what they remembered from me when I was in the minor leagues," Hirsh said. "And it kind of rekindled that competitive fire, almost that hunger to go out there and compete again at the highest level.

"They told me, 'You were a fastball, sinker, slider guy. You pound the zone away, then you come hard in and then you throw that hard slider away.' They remembered that I was coming with this extreme angle and I was always a feared pitcher, and that's something that I need to come back to."

It's not just a matter of pitch selection. Hirsh has his own personality working against him. He smiles more in a day than Bob Gibson did in a season. A little attitude would go a long way.

"I think they're just looking for somebody to compete," Hirsh said. "Am I going to go out there and show the fire that was the big reason why they brought me in here? That's what I've got to get back to. I can't sit there and fool around with guys. I've just got to go out there and play to my strong suits and not second-guess them."

After two years of false starts, no one is counting on Hirsh to make the rotation this time around. He deserves points for his tough self-evaluation, but that doesn't make it any less true. Hirsh turns 27 on Friday. It is about time for the big right-hander to put up or shut up.

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