Seibert knows how Gen. Custer felt

Tim Graham

Tuesday, July 2, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.

He may be the Gen. George Custer of baseball, the man responsible for training men for a battle they are sure to lose.

His name is Sonny Seibert, the pitching coach of the Colorado Rockies' Triple-A affiliate, the Colorado Springs Sky Sox. Aside from ordering extra neck isometrics to prevent whiplash, it is Seibert's job to prepare his charges for the possibility of pitching in the home run haven known as Coors Field.

Located in Denver's mile-high altitude, Coors Field is site of some of the most offensive numbers in baseball, where home runs seem to occur as frequently as respiration. Sunday at Coors, Colorado beat Los Angeles 16-15 in a game that featured 10 home runs and capped a four-game, 85-run series.

"Day in and day out, we're working on the mental part of it," Seibert said before the Sky Sox played the Las Vegas Stars at Cashman Field Monday night. "You have to stress that solo home runs are not going to beat you, that you have to be aggressive to hitters and stay away from the big inning."

According to Seibert, who pitched 12 years in the major leagues and was a Las Vegas coach in 1984-85 and 1987-88, hurlers get intimidated at Coors and get overly cautious.

"Pitchers tend to start nibbling the corners, and then they start walking people," said Seibert, noting he had to warn many Stars pitchers of doing the same at Cashman. "Then they have to throw the strike, and the batters know it. That's when they get into trouble.

"The main thing is that pitchers have to gain confidence, and to do that they have to have a successful outing. That's why in a hitter's environment like Coors Field you have to dwell on different things. It's a lot easier to develop a pitcher in a ballpark where the balls stay in and it takes two or three base hits to score off you."

Help for the Rockies doesn't appear to be on the way any time soon.

Both the Rockies and Sky Sox have the worst pitching numbers in their respective leagues, with ERAs approaching 6.00. The Sky Sox are giving up a homer every eight innings.

"You can tell Colorado needs pitching," Seibert said. "But our teams are pretty much similar.

"Colorado has concentrated more on offense, while a team like San Diego has been drafting pitching, and you can see that in Las Vegas right now with the arms they have. I think Colorado is starting to do the same thing."