BIG MOUNTAIN TO CLIMB

Rockies are trying to rebuild by creating culture with young nucleus

- By KEvIN BAXTER

JUSTIN EDMONDS Getty Imag VETERAN Kyle Farmer (6) says Colorado is starting to find an identity behind, from left, young infielders Rvan Ritter. Ezequiel Tovar and Kyle Karros.

Anyone getting off the elevator outside the Colorado Rockies’ clubhouse in the bowels of Coors Field is greeted by the logo from the 2007 World Series, the only one the Rockies have played in.

Around the corner, near the entrance to the visitor's clubhouse, the walls are covered with drawings of Dante Bichette, Todd Helton, Larry Walker, Andrés Galarraga and other former Rockies greats. The youngest of those players is 52 and hasn’t played for a dozen seasons, giving the whole tableau the feel ofa tattered and worn museum exhibition.

Colorado has made the playoffs just twice in the last 15 seasons, winning no postseason games over that span. The Rockies last wona playoff game in 2009.

This year the team has the worst record in the majors, have already lost 101 games for a third straight season and their run differential of minus-372 heading into Tuesday’s action is the worst for any team inat least 125 years. The team’s WAR, orFanGraphswins above replacement, is a big-league low16.

In other words, it’s a mess.

Yet the Rockies, who were eliminated from playoff contention long ago, just may factor in who wins the National League West. They are in the middle of a 10-game stretch in which they'll play either the second-place Padres or _ first-place Dodgers. After the Rockies complete a three-game series at Dodger Stadium on Wednesday, they head to San Diego for four more with the Padres.

But as the Rockies prepared for those showdowns, they were focused on neither a glorious past nor a dismal present. The team was concentrating instead on what it insists will be a bright future, one that will arrive sooner rather than later.