DODGERS NOTEBOOK: ENDING SEASON ON LOWE NOTE.

Byline: TONY JACKSON 

Staff Writer

DENVER -- Dodgers right- hander Derek Lowe made what probably was his next-to-last start in a frustrating season Thursday, and he didn't exactly make it count.

Lowe lasted just three-plus innings, gave up eight hits, walked five and wound up getting charged with six earned runs in a 9-4 loss to Colorado.

It didn't help that Lowe was facing what probably is the league's hottest-hitting team right now. All the Rockies' runs came in the second inning, and they included a three-run homer by Matt Holliday, who might have cinched the National League Most Valuable Player Award by going 7for15 with four homers and nine RBIs in the Rockies' four-game sweep of the Dodgers.

Not that Lowe was interested in any excuses.

"I stunk," he said. "I gave up a lot of hits, and I walked five in a park where you can't walk anybody."

Unless manager Grady Little juggles the rotation -- the Dodgers are off on Monday, so Lowe could make two more starts on regular rest if Little were to bring him back Tuesday night against the Rockies -- Lowe will make his final 2007 start Wednesday. He is 12-13 despite a respectable 3.93 ERA, and a win would give him a break-even season.

"Anytime you have that many losses, it's tough to say you're successful," Lowe said. "It has definitely been a frustrating year, and not only for me.

"Hopefully, we can go out there these last nine games and finish strong. Nobody wants to play like this heading into the offseason, because that can leave a really bad taste in your mouth."

Still out: Dodgers shortstop Rafael Furcal missed his third consective game because of tightness in the left side of his lower back, which Furcal said might have resulted from compensating for the pain he still feels in the left ankle he severely sprained in a spring-training collision with outfielder Jason Repko.

But even with the Dodgers apparently out of the hunt for a playoff spot, Furcal said he has no intention of sitting out the rest of the season if he is deemed physically able to play.

"We have (some) of the greatest fans in all of baseball," Furcal said. "Even if we're out of it, they're going to come and watch us play. If my back feels better, I want to start playing as soon as possible."

Dramatic turnaround: As recently as two years ago, the National League West was something of a national joke when San Diego took the crown with 82 victories. This year -- assuming the Rockies win one more game and the Dodgers win three more -- four of the division's five teams will finish with winning records.

None of the other five divisions will have more than three winning clubs, a clear indication that the NL West is now baseball's deepest division.

"That probably isn't the only indicator," Little said. "The other indicator is the individual records within our division. That is kind of an amazing stat."

Although San Diego entered the day 38-28 against the rest of the West -- and last-place San Francisco was 26-40 -- the other three clubs all are within five games of .500. And given that all five clubs have an abundance of young talent -- even the Giants have Matt Cain and Tim Lincecum -- this figures to be a highly competitive division for years to come.

"Probably, unless the West Coast washes into the Pacific," Little said. "I don't see any way it would change. If you look at a lot of the Cy Young candidates and a lot of the top relievers in the National League, where are they? It's tough, and there isn't going to be a break in that for the next few years."