--LHP Jeff Francis, who won 17 games last year, is winless in seven starts. He has a 3.74 ERA in his last five starts, which includes a string of three seven-inning efforts in which he gave up six runs total. And there also was a May 2 game against the Dodgers in which he departed with one out in the sixth with a 3-1 lead and bases loaded. Reliever Ryan Speier allowed all three runs to score, and the Dodgers won 11-6.

--3B Garrett Atkins leads all major league hitters with 38 hits since April 16. He also has a 10-game hitting streak after singling on Sunday. It is his second double-digit hitting streak this season. He hit in 14 games in a row April 16-29, and then went 0-for-4 before starting the current streak. Houston 1B Lance Berkman (36) and SS Miguel Tejada (36) went into Monday night right behind Atkins.

--OF Scott Podsednik is 4-for-17 as a pinch hitter, but also has reached base once when he was hit by a pitch and five times with walks. He leads the majors having reached base in 10 pinch-hit plate appearances.

--RHP Ryan Speier, who allowed only one of 12 inherited runners to score last season, has seen seven of the 14 runners on base when he has entered a game this season score.

--3B Ian Stewart hit .409 in the first six games of Class AAA Colorado Springs' current homestand. He has three doubles, a triple, three home runs and eight RBIs. Stewart, a left-handed hitter, is hitting .341 against lefties this season.

BY THE NUMBERS
8 -- players from the first round of the 2006 draft that have appeared in the big leagues, with RHP Greg Reynolds, the second pick overall, debuting for the Rockies on Sunday. He joined RHP Luke Hochevar, No. 1 overall to Kansas City, 3B Evan Longoria, third overall to Tampa Bay, RHP Brandon Morrow, fifth overall to Seattle, LHP Andrew Miller, now with Florida, sixth overall to Detroit, RHP Tim Lincecum, 10th overall to San Francisco, RHP Max Scherzer, 11th overall to Arizona, and RHP Ian Kennedy, 21st overall to the Yankees.

QUOTE TO NOTE
"It's not like you go to a higher level if you do well here. There's a learning process. And the sixth inning was a learning curve for him," -- Rockies manager Clint Hurdle on RHP Greg Reynolds, who allowed one run the first five innings of his big-league debut on Sunday, then allowed three more in the sixth inning at San Diego.

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