San Francisco (17-29) at Colorado (18-27)

The Colorado Rockies and the San Francisco Giants haven’t had much to be excited about in 2008. Starting pitchers Aaron Cook and Tim Lincecum are the exceptions.

Cook hopes to help the suddenly surging Rockies get their fourth straight win while Lincecum tries to snap the Giants’ six-game skid as the NL West rivals continue their three-game series Tuesday night at Coors Field.

The defending NL champion Rockies (18-27) have won three straight, but still have the league’s third-worst record despite featuring largely the same roster that helped the franchise to its first World Series appearance in October.

Though the team hasn’t yet regained its 2007 form, Cook (6-2, 2.82 ERA) has far surpassed his performance from any other season. The right-handed sinkerballer has never finished a campaign with an ERA below 3.67 or with more than nine wins. Nine starts into 2008, he’s only two wins shy of the total he posted in 25 starts last year.

Entering a rebuilding season, the Giants (17-29) didn’t have high expectations like the Rockies, but they weren’t expecting their current slump. They’ve lost 12 of their last 15, including six straight for their longest losing streak since they dropped eight in a row from June 13-22.

Lincecum (5-1, 1.92) could be the pitcher to snap the club’s current skid. The right-hander leads the NL in ERA and the majors in strikeouts (63), and is the only San Francisco pitcher with more than two wins.

Despite those numbers, the Giants have lost three of Lincecum’s last four starts, including an 8-7 defeat against Houston on Thursday. Lincecum held Houston to three runs and five hits while striking out 10 in six innings, but San Francisco’s bullpen gave up five runs.

“This happens to every team,” Lincecum told the Giants’ official Web site. “You just kind of roll with it and move on.”

Cook is also coming off a frustrating outing. He had won a franchise-record six straight starts before an 8-5 loss to Arizona on Thursday. He allowed a season-high five runs in five innings - his shortest outing of the year - as the Rockies continued their struggles against division rivals.

Colorado, though, snapped a five-game skid against NL West teams with a 4-3 win in Monday night’s series opener. Yorvit Torrealba hit a go-ahead two-run double in the sixth inning and Omar Quintanilla turned a pivotal double play in the eighth as the Rockies improved to 7-18 within the division.

“He needed the big hit, he got the big hit,” Rockies manager Clint Hurdle said of Torrealba. “But the biggest play was Quintanilla turning the double play. You lose sight of that, you missed the game.

“He turns the double play as well as anybody that I’ve come across in a long, long time. He’s very talented.”

San Francisco’s Randy Winn hit a solo homer in the first to extend his hitting streak to 14 games, and added a single and a sacrifice fly. The switch-hitting outfielder is batting .375 (21-for-56) with 11 runs scored during his run.

“(Winn) is playing great,” manager Bruce Bochy said.

Winn’s streak could be challenged by Cook, against whom Winn is 3-for-18 lifetime with four strikeouts.

Cook is 5-6 with a 4.47 ERA in his career against the Giants, while Lincecum is 1-1 with a 4.24 ERA lifetime against the Rockies.