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Brewers, Rockies open three-game series

Aug 6, 2007 - 1:39 PM Milwaukee (60-52) at Colorado (56-54) 9:05 pm EDT

DENVER (Ticker) -- The Milwaukee Brewers will look to hold on to their lead in the National League Central Division when they visit the Colorado Rockies on Monday.

Milwaukee, which begins a six-game road trip, owns a one-game cushion over the Chicago Cubs (58-52) for first place in the division. But the Brewers are 31-32 away from home this season.

"On the road, we're going to have to really try to slow the games down," Milwaukee manager Ned Yost said. "Veteran players really kind of do that naturally, because they've been through it. Younger guys evolve into that."

Claudio Vargas (9-3, 4.78 ERA) takes the hill for Milwaukee in the series opener. Vargas saw his personal three-game winning streak end after giving up seven runs in just 2 2/3 innings of Wednesday's 8-5 loss to the New York Mets.

The Dominican righthander has been solid through eight career outings against the Rockies, going 4-0 with a 4.76 ERA. Vargas gave up two runs through six frames to down Colorado on July 21, 2006 while with Arizona.

Colorado counters with Josh Fogg (5-7, 4.87), who will make his first appearance at Coors Field in three starts. In his last start, the righthander allowed four runs over five frames of a 4-3 loss to Florida.

The Brewers have lost eight of their last 12 contests, including Sunday's 8-6 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies.

The Rockies have won five of their last eight games and trail the San Diego Padres (60-50) by four games in the NL wild card race.