Rockies' modest goal: avoid last place in West

Tracy Ringolsby, Rocky Mountain News

Published September 15, 2006 at midnight

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SAN FRANCISCO - A Rockies season that began with hopes of what could be and was spiked by a midseason flirtation with the top of the National League West, has faded to black.

Sixteen games remain, and a team that woke up in first place in the NL West on July 5 is looking up at the rest of the division today.

It has come down to the Rockies opening a three-game series tonight against Arizona at Chase Field looking to move ahead of the fourth- place Diamondbacks.

With a 5-0 loss Thursday afternoon against the Giants at AT&T Park, the Rockies slipped one game back of Arizona, which was idle.

"Obviously, if you are a competitive athlete, you don't want to finish last," Rockies left fielder Matt Holliday said. "But it's not like finishing ahead of (Arizona) is going to salvage the season. We're not where we want to be, and we aren't going to be where we want to be (this season). We just need to win some games, and if we win some games we won't be last."

The Rockies' chance to make a statement to Arizona is this weekend, the final time the teams meet. They get a major challenge in the opener tonight, facing Brandon Webb, who is a fringe Cy Young Award candidate and is coming off a one-hit effort against St. Louis on Saturday.

Meanwhile, the Rockies' rotation has Byung-Hyun Kim and Josh Fogg, the fourth and fifth starters, working the first two games.

That's not promising considering the way the Rockies have been rendered helpless by the game's upper- tier pitchers this season. Matt Cain reaffirmed his Rockies-killer status by working eight scoreless, two-hit innings and beating the Rockies for the third time in three starts this season.

With one out in the fourth inning, he gave up back-to-back singles to Garrett Atkins and Holliday, walked Brad Hawpe to load the bases, then got Vinny Castilla to ground a first-pitch slider into a double play to end the inning.

The only other Rockies player to reach base was center fielder Jeff Salazar, who was hit by a pitch in the first inning.

Cain is 5-0 with a 0.21 ERA in his past six starts.

"We move on," Rockies first baseman Todd Helton said.

And that means the Rockies look toward Arizona, a team that, like the Rockies, had an unexpected flirtation with contention earlier this season but quickly has slipped into oblivion. The Rockies would like to help the Diamondbacks' slide continue.

"(Finishing) fourth would at least be a tiny step in the right direction," Helton said. "It's not something you take pride in, but you want to do as well as you can, and in our situation, getting to fourth place is at least a very, very small step forward.

"It's not what we envisioned earlier in this season, but it is where we are."

It's moments like the bottom of the seventh Thursday that dropped the Rockies into their current state of oblivion.

After Pedro Feliz hit a leadoff single, Aaron Cook got back-to-back groundball outs. Cook, though, didn't get another out, giving way to Ray King after Shea Hillenbrand hit a run-scoring single.

The Giants, meanwhile, got a few more runs.

King walked Barry Bonds, the only batter he faced, to load the bases and Moises Alou hit a two-run single off reliever Nate Field.

The Rockies, meanwhile, suffered their 12th shutout of the season, two short of NL-leading Atlanta, and had their road record since the All-Star break slip to 7-25, losing 17 of their past 20.

They can find some solace in their fourth-place bid in the fact that after their weekend visit to Arizona, the Rockies play 10 of their final 13 at Coors Field, where they 39-32. Arizona has nine of its final 16 games on the road.

"I don't like last place," Hurdle said. "Anywhere is better than last place. I always feel there is something to play for if you like to compete. . . . If we do it we will make a positive step."

The challenge is for the players to make it matter, and the players know it.

"There are points in a season where you have to find something to get you going," Atkins said. "We've finished last a year ago, and it's not something you want to become a regular event.

"There is something about starting off so well and not wanting to end in the cellar. We'll try to use that mind-set the next few weeks."

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