=== Colorado Rockies Team Report - June 17 ===

(My Sportsbook) - Denny Neagle makes his first start of the season tonight, as he takes the mound for Colorado in the second contest of a four-game series against the San Diego Padres at Coors Field.

Neagle, who inked a five-year, $55 million contract with the Rockies prior to the 2001 season, will be activated from the 60-day disabled list to start tonight's game. He has been sidelined all season due to complications from offseason surgery on his left elbow.

The Rockies will now see if the 34-year-old can bounce back from a sub-par 2002 season. Last year, Neagle went 8-11 with a 5.26 ERA in 35 games, including 28 starts. It marked his first losing year since going 9-10 for the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1994.

Neagle is 7-4 in 26 career games, including 14 starts, against the Padres.

Last night, Jose Jimenez surrendered a three-run homer to Mark Loretta in the ninth inning, as the Rockies lost 7-5. Preston Wilson went 3-for-4 with an RBI and two runs scored for the Rockies, who have dropped four of their last six. Larry Walker knocked in two runs and Todd Helton added two hits, an RBI and a run scored in defeat.

Colorado has scored at least one run in a major league record 323 consecutive home games. Ironically, the last opponent to blank the Rockies at Coors Field was the San Diego Padres on July 4, 1999, when Andy Ashby threw a complete game.

Colorado is 25-11 at home this season. The Rockies have won nine of their last 12 games at Coors Field.

Colorado has won four of seven meetings against the Padres this season. The Rockies swept the Padres in a three-game set at Coors Field, April 18-20, outscoring San Diego, 30-10. The Rockies have won 11 of their last 14 at home against the Padres.