Go to the mobile version of this Web site.

Login | Contact Us | Site Map | Paid archives | Electronic edition | Subscription Questions | Extras

Rockies raising bar even higher

Tracy Ringolsby, Rocky Mountain News

Published September 23, 2007 at midnight

Text size  

More Colorado Rockies

More stories »

Rockies-Padres box score

SAN DIEGO — These Rockies are looking for better things than being the best in franchise history.

It was an afterthought that they set a franchise record for victories in a season with a 7-3 victory Sunday afternoon that completed a sweep against the National League wild-card-leading San Diego Padres.

The Rockies extended their winning streak to eight games, their longest since winning a club- record nine in a row from Aug. 26- Sept. 5, 1997.

"That's nice," said right fielder Brad Hawpe, "but it's not enough."

These Rockies have postseason possibilities on their minds.

And with the weekend sweep at Petco Park, what seemed impossible turned possible, even if not probable. Not only have they won 84 games — that's one more than in 1996 and 1997 — but with six games remaining in the regular season, they are only 1 1/2 games behind the Padres and a game behind Philadelphia in the NL wild- card race.

"Mission accomplished here," manager Clint Hurdle said. "Now we have to pick up and go down the road. We still have unfinished business."

The Rockies are off today. They will start a three-game series against the Dodgers in Los Angeles on Tuesday before returning to Coors Field for a three-game series against NL West-leading Arizona that will wrap up the regular season. And then?

"We haven't gotten involved in math," Hurdle said. "We'll just play the next game and see where that puts us."

Thanks to eight strong innings from Jeff Francis, who equaled the franchise record with his 17th win this season, and the off day, the bullpen should be fully rested for the opener in Los Angeles. And cleanup hitter Matt Holliday said he also will be ready to return after missing the past two games because of a strained oblique muscle.

"You want to be part of this," Holliday said. "Things are happening."

Strange things, particularly Sunday.

• The Rockies' Garrett Atkins had his first inside-the-park home run since Little League, "if you want to count one of those balls you hit between the outfielders and it just keeps rolling."

• The Padres lost center fielder Mike Cameron and left fielder Milton Bradley in back-to-back innings.

• Rockies' left-handed-hitting outfielder Hawpe continued his recent surge against lefties.

Cameron suffered a swollen right hand when he fell while chasing Atkins' drive in the seventh, and Bradley became so enraged at an ejection by first base umpire Mike Winters in the eighth that Bradley suffered a right knee injury when manager Bud Black threw him to the ground to keep him from bumping Winters. Cameron and Bradley will undergo magnetic resonance imaging exams today.

And Hawpe not only singled to ignite a four-run fourth against Greg Maddux, he also homered off left- hander Justin Hampson in the ninth. That followed up his run- scoring single off Hampson in a 6-2 win Saturday, and the winning homer off left-hander Joe Thatcher in a 2-1, 14-inning victory Friday.

But then, abnormal has been normal for the Rockies.

This is a team that was 18-27 in mid-May. From July 26 through Aug. 10, they lost Opening Day starter Aaron Cook, No. 3 starter Rodrigo Lopez and No. 4 starter Jason Hirsh to season-ending injuries. Last weekend, they lost two out of three, at home, to a Florida team that shares the NL's worst record with Pittsburgh.

Yet, here the Rockies are, peeking at scoreboards that show Philadelphia losing 5-3 to Washington, then going about the business at hand of taking on the challenge of future Hall of Famer Maddux and his Padres teammates and not backing down.

Todd Helton doubled home a run in the third, then capped a four-run rally with an RBI single in the fourth. The latter hit kept Maddux from surviving the fourth inning. It was the second- shortest start of the 27 he has made in his career against the Rockies, and the shortest of the 13 starts outside of Coors Field.

Francis, meanwhile, followed up his 3-1 victory against the Dodgers by allowing two runs in eight innings, his second strong start in a row on the heels of a fourth-inning knockout at Philadelphia, where he let a 3-0 first-inning lead disappear Sept. 13.

"I don't need any motivation to try and pitch well," Francis said.

But he did pitch well, controlling the Padres other than Bradley, who homered in the fourth, and Evergreen High School alum Kevin Kouzmanoff, who drove in the other run that Francis gave up, with his third double, in the eighth.

That allowed Francis to match the 17 wins Kevin Ritz compiled in 1996 and Pedro Astacio equaled in 1999. It put Francis in position to break the single-season record, in his final scheduled start of the season, Friday night at Coors Field against Arizona.

"That will be nice to think about in the offseason," Francis said. "But it's not what is the focus right now."

The Rockies, after all, have their sights set on a wild-card berth.