Lowe is downcast about struggles

DENVER -- Jeff Kent isn’t the only Dodgers veteran who has endured a difficult season.

Right-hander Derek Lowe also saw his long summer continue Thursday when he managed to get only nine outs -- while giving up six runs and eight hits -- in a 9-4 loss to the Colorado Rockies.

With the win, the Rockies completed a sweep of the four-game series, giving them a two-game lead on the Dodgers in the battle for third in the National League West. It also pushed the Dodgers, who have lost five in a row, a season-worst 6 1/2 games behind in the wild-card race with nine games to play.

“It’s definitely been a frustrating year,” said Lowe, who walked five and gave up four extra-base hits to fall to 12-13. “Not only for me. It seems this little streak we’re on probably couldn’t have come at a worse time. You don’t want to continue playing like this heading into the off-season. It kind of leaves a little sour taste in your mouth.”

The Rockies sent 10 men to the plate in the second, scoring six times with two out. The big blow was Matt Holliday’s three-run, 438-foot home run to center, his 11th in 12 games.

“It was the longest three days and four games I’ve ever been through,” Dodgers Manager Grady Little said. “And it was miserable right to the very last pitch. It’s not a good feeling, it’s not a good time.”

Although he’s hobbled by a sore ankle, a bum shoulder and a tight lower back, Rafael Furcal said he doesn’t plan to ask for any time off when he’s healthy enough to return to the lineup.

“As soon as I feel better I want to keep playing,” he said. “This is my job. I don’t know how to do anything else.”

When his balky back will allow him to sleep -- much less play -- again is anyone’s guess, said Furcal, who said Thursday he still felt bad.

“I feel like I can’t even move sometimes,” said Furcal, who said his back started bothering him last weekend, perhaps as a result of favoring his sore left ankle. “I don’t want to keep playing like that. I can’t finish my swing.”

With the Dodgers all but eliminated from postseason contention, Furcal said his motivation now was to get back on the field for the team’s final homestand.

“We’ve got some of the greatest fans in all of baseball,” he said. “No matter if we’re eliminated, they keep coming to watch us play.”

Logan White, the Dodgers’ chief executive for scouting, lost out on the vacant general manager’s position in Houston when the Astros gave it to former Phillies GM Ed Wade.

White, interviewing for a GM job for the first time, was considered a longshot for the position. Former Dodgers GM Dan Evans was also a finalist for the job.

Rookie Andy LaRoche, who started the afternoon hitting .193, had two hits, including his first big-league homer, hitting a first-pitch fastball out to left off Matt Herges in the seventh.

“That’s what I was hoping for. And I guessed right,” said LaRoche, who had a dozen text messages of congratulations on his cellphone when he got back to the clubhouse.

LaRoche blamed his struggles at the plate on trying too hard to make an impression. He said he was going to try to simplify his approach.

“I think I was putting too much pressure on myself,” he said. “I just have to get back to see the ball, hit the ball.”

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