Rockies play hardball vs. Yanks

DENVER — Fast, Friendly, Convenient.

Jeff Francis lived the Circle K slogan on Wednesday night, making quick work of the vaunted New York Yankees lineup to lead the surging Colorado Rockies to an impressive 6-1 victory in front of another sellout crowd at Coors Field.

After each strikeout victim exited the batter’s box shaking his head, a placard with the popular convenience store chain’s logo was quickly placed on top of the advertising wall in right center field to keep track of the lefty’s tally.

Francis, pitching like the staff ace the Rockies need him to be, allowed only one run and five hits in seven innings and set a career-high with nine strikeouts (Circle Ks).

“I had more fun tonight than I’ve ever had pitching,” said Francis, who retired 11 consecutive batters at one point en route to his team-high seventh victory of the season. “The full crowd … I mean, everybody was into it like no game I’ve ever seen.”

The Rockies (37-34) — suddenly only 4½ games behind the NL West-leading San Diego Padres — have now wona franchise-record six consecutive series and are a sizzling 19-7 (.731) since May 22.

Meanwhile, this much-anticipated three-game interleague set is quickly turning into a Bronx bummer for the Yankees (35-34) and their many fans in attendance. Joe Torre’s club has cooled off at Coors Field of all places and now trails the Boston Red Sox by 10 games in the AL East.

“Offense is very exciting and it can send a bunch of guys to the All-Star Game,” Colorado manager Clint Hurdle said. “But pitching and defenses wins championships.”

Five years ago the Rockies and Yankees combined for 70 runs during a three-game series at Coors Field. That was before the humidor started to hum.

The Yankees — who scored 41 runs in the 2002 series here — were only able to scratch out four hits and one run against Josh Fogg on Tuesday night in a 3-1 Colorado victory.

“Foggy did a good job like I did tonight of just kind of picking your spots to go after guys,” Francis said. “I think we’ve done a really good job of pitching, probably two of our best games of the year. I don’t think it’s a coincidence.”

Derek Jeter was the only Yankee that seemed to have a clue against Francis. The All-Star shortstop extended his hitting streak to 14 games with a single in the first inning and gave the visitors a 1-0 lead with an RBI double in the sixth.

New York starter Andy Pettitte was matching Francis pitch for pitch and was actually more efficient having given up only two singles through five innings. But the veteran left-hander walked Francis to lead off the bottom of the sixth and Matt Holliday made him pay with a two-run homer to left field that flew an estimated 442 feet.

“Going against Andy we battled and I’m just glad we came out on top,” Francis said.

Pettitte was chased from the game in the seventh inning following an RBI single by Willy Taveras and a two-RBI triple by Kazuo Matsui. Holliday finished the four-run frame with an RBI single to make the score 6-1.

The Yankees will lean on Roger Clemens in the series finale today to avoid the sweep. The 44-year-old Rocket will be making his third start since rejoining the Yankees and will be looking for his 350th career victory.

“We need to go out and try to find a way to beat him,” Hurdle said. “He’s going to compete.”

Ratings spike

The Rockies are enjoying sellout crowds at Coors Field during this three-game series with the Yankees. And more people are watching the team on television, too.

Tuesday night’s 3-1 victory for Colorado was the highest-rated Major League Baseball game ever broadcast on FSN Rocky Mountain. According to the network’s analysis of Nielsen Media Research data, the telecast generated a 9.1 rating/16 share in the Denver DMA (designated market area), with an average of 127,400 homes watching the game.

It was the most-watched program on FSN Rocky Mountain since the Colorado State vs. Colorado football game on Sept. 4, 2004 (11.3 rating). FSN Rocky Mountain originally launched as Prime Sports on Nov. 5, 1988 and was renamed Fox Sports Net on Nov. 1, 1996.

Notable

Todd Helton collected his 1,000th hit at Coors Field with a single in the second inning and was called out at the plate in the sixth after reaching on a hustling double. … The crowd of 48,440 was the largest at Coors Field this season. The Rockies distributed 50,110 tickets. … Colorado improved to 3-5 all-time against the Yankees. … Colorado scored all of its runs with two outs.

Upcoming

Today — Rockies RHP Rodrigo Lopez (3-0, 2.90) vs. Yankees RHP Roger Clemens (1-1, 3.65), 1:05 p.m.

Friday — Rockies RHP Jason Hirsh (3-6, 4.78) vs. Blue Jays RHP Josh Towers (2-5, 5.29), 5:07 p.m.

Saturday — Rockies RHP Aaron Cook (4-4, 4.65) vs. Blue Jays RHP Ty Taubenheim (first outing), 11:07 a.m.

Sunday — Rockies RHP Josh Fogg (3-5, 4.58) vs. RHP Dustin McGowan (3-3, 5.68), 11:07 a.m.