NL NOTEBOOK: PLAYING AT COORS NOW NOT AS ROCKY.

Byline: TONY JACKSON Staff Writer

Four years after it was first utilized under a cloud of secrecy that didn't sit well with the commissioner's office, the infamous Coors Field humidor finally is achieving its intended purpose. That much was evident during three games last week when the Dodgers and Colorado Rockies combined to score 20 runs.

Total. For the series.

``It has some similarity to real baseball games,'' Dodgers manager Grady Little said Wednesday, just before his team took the rubber game 3-2.

That's great news for baseball purists, who long ago tired of the beer- league softball scores for which Coors Field was notorious. But it could be even better news for the Rockies, who essentially will change their entire, organizational personality now that use of the humidor -- the first balls in are now the first balls out, with each dozen stored for about six months -- has been honed to a science.

``A great offense sends a lot of guys to the All-Star Game,'' Rockies manager Clint Hurdle said. ``Pitching and defense win championships. It's how we have to win. Our park is not a pinball machine anymore.''

Through 20 home dates entering Friday, Coors Field had produced an average of 8.85 runs a game and 1.65 home runs.

That was 20 percent off last year's figures for the same number of games. And while the pending warmer weather should help balls carry farther in the mile-high air, the humidified balls still should keep the average runs scored well below the 13.83 the park yielded from its 1995 opening through 2001, the year before the humidor was incorporated.

``It's not the place that people used to see,'' Rockies left fielder Matt Holliday said. ``It's not just us who aren't hitting home runs and scoring. It's the opponents too. How we finish is going to have a lot to do with our pitching.

``All you have to do is check the statistics and see this park is different.''

And so are the Rockies, who finally are shedding their longtime image as a bunch of hackers in their hitter-friendly home who can't adjust to normalcy on the road.

``It was mentally draining trying to be two different teams,'' Hurdle said. < --Hitting stride: Plagued by a horrendous sophomore jinx throughout April, Atlanta right fielder Jeff Francoeur finally is beginning to look the part of a guy who almost captured the National League's Rookie of the Year award last year despite playing only half the season in the big leagues.

Francoeur entered Friday with a 16-game hitting streak, during which he had hit .351 with six homers and 22 RBIs, and he led the club with 10home runs.