DENVER -- Hand Rockies manager Bud Black a schedule, no matter how weird, and the first thing he’ll do is look for an opportunity. Black saw the beginning of the 60-game season as giving him options with the structure of the pitching staff.

The Rockies are idle on two of the regular season’s first seven days, which could allow for some play in the structure of the Opening Day 30-man roster. They’re also off the day before the July 24 opener at Texas.

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“Early in the season, it will allow us to potentially be able to build some arm strength or keep it fresher because of the off-days,” Black said Tuesday. “We’ll be able to keep guys fresh or maybe even keep one less arm. We’ll discuss that.”

After the light early schedule comes a challenge -- games on 33 of 34 days from July 31 to Sept. 2.

“August will be a challenge for the entire team, playing with just one off-day,” Black said. “That can be good or bad. If you’re playing well, pitching well, hitting the ball, you want to keep playing. That could be a good thing. It could work either way.

“Initially, it’s a good thing to have a couple of days off, because it does freshen up the players. But when you get into the meat of the season in August, that’ll test our physicalness, and our arms a little bit, too.”

An open field

Live batting practice sessions had seen the pitchers with an “L-screen” in front of them, to protect from line drives like the one that felled the Yankees’ Masahiro Tanaka on Saturday. But on Tuesday, relievers Tyler Kinley, Bryan Shaw and Daniel Bard threw without one. Soon, Black said, they’ll be pitching with fielders behind them, which brings the workouts closer to how games will look.

Bard, who last pitched in the Majors with the Red Sox in 2013 before signing with the Rockies during the spring, kept the ball in the strike zone. Black and pitching coach Steve Foster have said that he could figure into the bullpen picture. Bard spent the previous two seasons working for the D-backs in the mental skills department.

Under the lights

After having morning/afternoon schedule for the first few days of Summer Camp, the Rockies will go to an afternoon/evening schedule from Thursday through Sunday.

Temperatures through the weekend are forecast to approach or reach triple digits.

More one-on-one time

Ryan McMahon figures to split time between second base and first base, with Daniel Murphy serving as the designated hitter instead of the first baseman for some games.

McMahon noted that because the Rockies are taking the precaution of having players work out at different times (to reduce crowding in hopes of lessening the chance for viral spread), he gets more practice.

“It’s kind of like those later times in spring when you’re really ramping up for the season," he said. "We have a lot more coaches available. It definitely makes it easier to get your work in.”

There is time

Rockies hitters are stepping in against pitchers who are throwing at near their in-season velocity. They’re getting ready for a season set to begin in a little less than three weeks, with just two planned exhibition games against the Rangers (July 22-23). But hitting coach Dave Magadan relied on experience to say it’s possible to be ready quickly.

“In 1990, it was a short Spring Training [because of a lockout], and I had my best year as a player,” Magadan said. “Then in ’95 we had a really short Spring Training coming back, because of the strike. I think it was two-and-a-half to three weeks. For me, it was two weeks. By the time I signed out of the free-agent camp, it was two weeks. I signed and went to [join] Houston in Kissimmee [Fla.], it was a short Spring Training and I had one of my best years.

“I know these guys can get a little impatient. They want to be ready when the bell rings. They will be. They’re going to start getting a lot of at-bats, whether it’s in intrasquad games or simulated games. It’s going to be ramped up a little bit, but when the bell rings they’re going to be ready.”