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Rockies hope to avoid three-game sweep vs. Braves

Sep 11, 2008 - 10:17 AM Colorado (67-79) at Atlanta (64-82) 7:10 p.m. EDT

ATLANTA (Ticker) -- After toying with the possibility of repeating last season's dramatic second-half finish, the Colorado Rockies are quickly fading out of contention.

The Rockies try to end their four-game slide on Thursday against the Atlanta Braves.

Trailing Arizona by five games entering September last season, Colorado went 20-8 during the final month of the regular season. The surge included wins in 14 of its final 15 regular season games, that ended with an extra-inning win over San Diego in the 163rd game of the season and allowed it to capture a wild-card berth.

The Rockies carried that momentum over into the postseason, sweeping the Cubs and Diamondbacks in the playoffs to land in the World Series for the first time.

The same script appeared to be playing out for Colorado as it trailed the Diamondbacks by six games entering this September, but losses in five of the first eight games this month has dropped the Rockies eight games behind the Dodgers (75-71).

Colorado will look to Ubaldo Jimenez (10-12, 4.20 ERA) to turn around its recent fortunes. The righthander was responsible for the Rockies' last win, as he allowed three runs and five hits over six frames in Friday's 5-3 victory over Houston.

He'll match pitches against rookie Jair Jurrjens (12-9, 3.54 ERA), who has enjoyed a fair amount of success in his first two career starts against Colorado.

The righthander, who is 1-1 with a 2.45 ERA vs. the Rockies, will be eyeing his second straight win after permitting one run and six hits over five innings in a 10-5 victory over Washington on Friday.