Rockies Pregame Rockies writers Tracy Ringolsby and Jack Etkin will be filing reports before every Rockies game this season.

The Rockies could put themselves among the elite.
And if they want to make sure they advance past Sunday they need to take advantage of that opportunity.

The Rockies arrive at Coors Field tonight to open a three-game series against Arizona to wrap up the regular season. The Rockies have won 11 in a row. If they sweep Arizona, extending their winnign streak to 14, they can do no worse than tie with the Mets or Philadelphia for the NL wild-card, which would necessitated playoffs to determine who advances to the post-season.

Here's the catch. Only once in the history of baseball has a team finished a season with a winning streak longer than 10 games. The Yankees wrapped up the 1960 regular season by winning their final 15 games. Now, the 1887 Philadelphia Quakers did not lose in their final 17 games, but the Quakers tied the 15th game in that stretch and then won their final two.

There have been four teams finish a regular season by winning 10 in a row -- Baltimore in both 1970 and 1971, Pittsburgh in 1937 and the White Sox in 1915.

The Rockies get a challenge right away against Arizona. Brandon Webb will start for the Diamondbacks tonight. He has revenge onhis mind. He is 17-10 overall this year, but 0-3 in five starts against the Rockies, and left both no decisions trailing. The Rockies have four players expected to be in tonight's lineup who have hit better than .300 against Webb. 2B Kazuo Matsui is hitting .409 off Webb, Cory Sullivan .375, Todd Helton .313 and Brad Hawpe .314 with four home runs but also 10 strikeouts. Garrett Atkins has hit only .155 off Webb.

The Rockies have a challenge for Arizona, too. Jeff Francis will be looking for his franchise record 18th win. He is currently tied for the record at 17 with Kevin Ritz (1996) and Pedro Astacio (1999). Francis has had more success against Arizona than any team. He is 7-1 against Arizona. While Mark Reynolds is 2-for-3 off Francis, no Diamondback with more than three at-bats has hit higher than Connor Jackson at .286. Eric Byrnes is hitting only .222.

LINEUPS

ROCKIES

2B Katsui Matsui (sh)
SS Troy Tulowitzki (rh)
LF Matt Holliday (rh)
1B Todd Helton (lh)
3B Garrett Atkins (rh)
RF Brad Hawpe (lh)
C Yorvit Torrealba (rh)
CF Cory Sullivan (lh)
LHP Jeff Francis (lh)

DIAMONDBACKS

CF Chris Young (rh)
RF Justin Upton (rh)
LF Eric Byrnes (rh)
1B Conor Jackson (rh)
3B Mark Reynolds (rh)
C Chris Snhyder (rh)
SS Stephen Drew (lh)
2B Augie Ojeda (rh)
RHP Brandon Webb (rh)

MAIL BAG

Dennis Helsel writes, ``Did any of the Rockies come so late to the team that they will not be eligible if they make it to the postseason? Redman, for example?''

Dennis, everybody who has appeared for the Rockies in Septemer is eligible for the 25-man roster. The rules read that a player needs to be on the 25-man roster at the end of the day on Aug. 31 to be eligible, but if there is a player on the disabled list, any player within the organization can replace him on the post-season roster. Every play on the Rockies current roster was in the organization Aug. 31, and the Rockies have some elbow room. They had eight players on the disabled list at the deadline.
Dennis Helsel