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Cook eyes continued home dominance of Padres

Jul 1, 2008 - 2:59 PM San Diego (33-51) at Colorado (32-51), 9:05 pm EDT

DENVER (Ticker) -- The San Diego Padres unleashed their season-long offensive frustration with a scoring outburst on Monday. It's a good thing, because if history holds, it won't happen again with Aaron Cook on the mound.

Cook attempts to extend his dominance of the Padres at Coors Field when his Rockies continue their three-game set on Tuesday.

San Diego set season highs for runs and hits (22) in Monday's 15-8 victory over Colorado, temporarily halting the struggles of an offense that finds itself second-to-last in the majors in runs scored (317) due to a .248 team batting average.

Monday's offensive numbers seem unlikely if Cook continues to his recent hold on the Padres' bats. Since 2004, Cook (10-5, 3.64 ERA) is 7-1 with a 1.72 ERA over his last 10 outings against San Diego.

Even more impressive, the righthander has never lost to the Padres at Coors Field, going 5-0 with a 2.01 ERA in seven starts. Cook, however, will attempt to halt a two-game slide after permitting four runs over 5 1/3 innings in Wednesday's 4-2 loss to Kansas City.

San Diego will answer with rookie Josh Banks (2-2, 2.33), who has struggled in his last two outings after going 2-0 in his first four starts. The righthander took his second straight loss on Thursday, surrendering four runs and seven hits over 5 1/3 innings in a 4-3 loss to Minnesota.