Hey, what'd I say? Jeff Francis start, automatic win. This kid is saving our season (such as it is). Todd Helton homered (maybe his mental health is improving), as did J.D. Closser. Something old, something new. Somehow Francis managed to work around the unstoppable onslaught of Oscar Robles (WHO is Oscar Robles?) and 11 Los Angeles hits overall. He didn't walk anybody, though. Funny how that leads to good things.

The Rockies were back in double-digit hits, something we haven't seen often enough from them even at home. Helton and Rookie of the Month Garrett Atkins had threefers. Aaron Miles didn't play, but Dustan Mohr did, so that's a wash there. The Rockies, like their opponents, didn't draw any walks. I guess Odalis Perez is usually around the strike zone (you could say that: 10 walks on the year) but the Colorado lineup got three innings of Elmer Dessens and Scott Erickson too. Oh well, a win's a win.

Meanwhile the good team I follow, the A's, got back to .500 in extra innings in Toronto. That makes me really happy. Of course, the Angels have obnoxiously been almost as hot the last few weeks, keeping Oakland 9 1/2 back despite their winning 14 of their last 16. Stupid, rich, name-changing, having-their-nickname-on-their-road-jerseys Angels. It would be nice one day to hate some teams in the Rockies' division as much as I hate Anaheim and Seattle. I'm indifferent to the Giants and Dodgers, mildly dislike the D-Backs, and am kind of partial to San Diego. The Rockies need to help me out here by finding their way into some pennant races before I get too old. Also, as a few people have taken to pointing out lately, the NL West is a really poor division right now.

Trouble brewing: The team the Rockies really want to do business with, the Cubs, are playing so badly that they might fall right out of the wild card race and hence out of the Preston Wilson sweepstakes...I recommend you go vote for Scott Podsednik in the AL "Final Vote" poll, if only to keep that showboating jackaninny Jeter from taking any staged dives into the stands at Comerica and damaging his delicate features. The guy who deserves to win in the NL, Roy Oswalt, is out ahead in that contest, possibly because I voted for him (with Podsednik) like 90-something times last night...the Dodgers and Paul DePodesta may step in on Wilson bidding with the loss of J.D. Drew. Rockies brass will attempt to convince Preston to change his name to "Jason" to expedite a deal.