MESA, Ariz. - A day away from breaking camp, the Rockies were faced with a redesigned bullpen Wednesday.

The plan was to carry two left- handers in the bullpen in addition to closer Brian Fuentes.

But they are expected to have only one when the season begins Monday against Arizona at Coors Field.

Tom Martin's springlong struggle continued in a 4-4, 10-inning tie against the Chicago Cubs at Ho Ho Kam Park on Wednesday, creating the likelihood Martin will wind up on the disabled list and that the Rockies will wind up with Jeremy Affeldt as the only left-hander other than Fuentes working in relief.

But that will clear up the one decision that remained in the bullpen. The Rockies will keep Byung-Hyun Kim in addition to Ramon Ramirez and Manny Corpas, one of whom was expected to be sent out to make room for Kim after he lost his bid for the fifth spot in the rotation to Josh Fogg.

Right-handers LaTroy Hawkins and Taylor Buchholz also will be in the bullpen.

The Rockies finish off the Arizona portion of their schedule by playing the Chicago White Sox at Tucson Electric Park today, then fly to Denver. They are scheduled to play their Triple-A Colorado Springs affiliate, the Sky Sox, on Friday in Colorado Springs, and after taking Saturday off, they will work out Sunday at Coors Field in preparation for the opener Monday.

On Wednesday, Martin came on with a 4-2 lead to start the bottom of the sixth and gave up back-to-back home runs to Derrek Lee and Aramis Ramirez, the first two batters he faced, before walking Jacque Jones, the lone left-handed hitter he faced.

After Ryan Theriot lined to right, pitcher Angel Guzman put down a sacrifice bunt, and Martin gave way to Ramirez.

"Obviously, he is not getting the results he would like to get or we're trying to help him get," Rockies manager Clint Hurdle said. "We don't want to have an overreaction, but his velocity is not an issue at all."

Martin, guaranteed $800,000 on the one-year contract he signed with the Rockies in the offseason, met with Hurdle, general manager Dan O'Dowd and pitching coach Bob Apodaca after the game Wednesday.

No announcement was made, but Martin did not look upset when he left the room. By being disabled instead of released, Martin would have some time to work out his problems and eventually rejoin the Rockies.

Martin dropped his delivery point from high three-quarters to low three-quarters early in spring training because of a "twinge" in the back of his shoulder. He said the twinge was not a problem Wednesday, but the lower delivery point was causing him problems, and there is a concern that if he raises his arm angle, it will aggravate the earlier injury.

"I don't know if I'm worrying too much about my release point or what but, obviously, I have to do something different than I am doing right now, because right now, I am terrible," Martin said.

He has been scored upon in four of six appearances this spring, having given up nine earned runs and six home runs in 5 1/3 innings. He has allowed 17 baserunners - 11 hits and six walks - and retired only 16 batters.

"We made a commitment to him in the offseason," Hurdle said. "Obviously, he is trying to pitch and work things out. This time of spring, things can get dicey."

For the Rockies, placing Martin on the disabled list could provide at least a momentary solution to one of their roster decisions. The Rockies, unable to trade Kim, who is guaranteed $2.5 million, seem set on using him in relief, which meant they would have to send out either Corpas or Ramirez, both of whom have options.

But they both were key parts of the bullpen last year and have pitched well this spring. Corpas worked a scoreless inning Wednesday, giving him eight scoreless appearances this spring.

Ramirez, who took over for Martin, worked 1 1/3 scoreless innings. He has given up four runs in 6 1/3 innings this spring, but three of those runs came in a May 18 appearance against Texas, when he retired only one batter. He has allowed one run in six innings of six other appearances.

COLORADO	ab	r	h	bi	CHICAGO (N)	ab	r	h	bi
Taveras cf	3	1	1	0	Soriano cf	5	1	2	2
MMiller lf	2	0	0	0	Izturis ss	3	0	0	0
Matsui 2b	3	1	0	0	Cedeño ss	1	0	1	0
Herrera 2b	2	0	0	0	Lee 1b	4	1	1	1
Atkins 3b	1	1	0	0	ARamirez 3b	5	1	2	1
Gil c	2	0	0	0	JJones rf	3	0	0	0
Helton 1b	3	0	0	0	Floyd lf	2	0	1	0
Menechino 3b	1	0	0	0	Theriot pr-2b	3	0	0	0
Holliday lf	2	0	1	2	DeRosa 2b	2	0	1	0
McClellan p	0	0	0	0	Guzman p	0	0	0	0
Fowler cf	1	0	1	0	Cotts p	0	0	0	0
Finley rf	3	0	0	0	Chirinos ph	1	0	0	0
Martin p	0	0	0	0	Dempster p	0	0	0	0
RRamirez p	0	0	0	0	Baez p	0	0	0	0
Baker ph	1	0	0	0	Blanco c	4	1	1	0
Corpas p	0	0	0	0	Prior p	0	0	0	0
Arias p	0	0	0	0	Reynolds ph	1	0	0	0
Gomez ph	0	0	0	0	Wuertz p	0	0	0	0
Bright p	0	0	0	0	Murton lf	2	0	0	0
Tulowitzki ss	1	1	1	0
Carroll ss	3	0	1	0
Iannetta c	2	0	0	0
Spilborghs cf-rf	2	0	0	0
Cook p	1	0	0	0
Mabry 3b-1b	1	0	0	0
Totals	34	4	5	2	Totals	36	4	9	4
Colorado......210	010	000	0	-	4	5	2
Chicago Cubs......002	002	000	0	-	4	9	4

E - Atkins, Spilborghs, Soriano, Floyd 2, Theriot. DP - Colorado 2. LOB - Colorado 9, Chicago 8. 2B - Tulowitzki, Holliday. 3B - Fowler. HR - Soriano, Lee, ARamirez. SB - Fowler, Soriano. CS - Carroll. S - Cook, Guzman, Murton. SF - Holliday.

COLORADO	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO
Cook	4	3	2	1	1	0
McClellan	1	0	0	0	0	0
Martin	2/3	2	2	2	1	0
RRamirez	1 1/3	1	0	0	1	0
Corpas	1	0	0	0	1	1
Arias	1	2	0	0	0	0
Bright	1	1	0	0	0	0
CHICAGO CUBS	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO
Prior	3	2	3	0	2	3
Wuertz	1	0	0	0	1	2
Guzman	3	2	1	1	1	1
Cotts	1	0	0	0	1	1
Dempster	1	0	0	0	1	1
Baez	1	1	0	0	1	0

WP - Prior 2.

T - 2:59. A - 12,712.

Today's game

Rockies (Jeff Francis) vs. White Sox (Jon Garland), 1:05 p.m MDT. Tucson Electric Park. (No television or radio).

ringolsbyt@RockyMountainNews.com

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