• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Rockies continue postseason push vs. lowly Padres

Aug 29, 2008 - 10:38 AM Colorado (63-72) at San Diego (51-82) 10:05 pm. EDT

SAN DIEGO (Ticker) -- The Colorado Rockies have climbed back into the pennant race in the mediocre National League West. They continue their late-season push against the last-place San Diego Padres on Friday.

The Rockies have won 10 of 14 and will try and move the closest they've been to first place since April. Colorado's resurgence is eerily similar to last season when it won 21 of its last 22 games en route to its first World Series berth.

The Rockies are in this predicament because they went into the All-Star break with the third-worst record in the league (39-57).

"That seems to be the reality of it, but it's not the game plan," manager Clint Hurdle told the team's web site. "We're disappointed in the way we played earlier. Now there's nowhere else to look and somehow we've found a way to respond to the challenge. I don't know whether to laugh or cry."

The Padres, who have the second-worst record in baseball, helped the Rockies by sweeping the first-place Arizona Diamondbacks earlier this week. Colorado hopes San Diego has cooled off.

The Rockies, who had their four-game winning streak snapped by Tim Linceum and the Giants on Wednesday, send All-Star Aaron Cook (15-8, 3.91 ERA) to the hill. The righthander has struggled, going 1-2 with a 6.75 ERA in his last four starts. Cook enjoys pitching at Petco Park, as he is 4-1 with a 1.50 ERA in six starts here.

The Padres counter Dirk Hayhurst (0-0, 6.75), who is making his second career start. Hayhurst allowed three runs and five hits in four innings of San Diego's 4-3 loss to San Francisco on Saturday.