TUCSON - The Rockies have a middle-of-the-lineup that has the potential to dominate.

A key, said manager Clint Hurdle, is finding an alignment that allows the potential to be met.

"It's something that was thought about a lot over the winter," Hurdle said Wednesday. "It's something we wanted to see if we could tweak a bit."

Done deal.

The Rockies debuted a new-look lineup in their exhibition opener, a 12-4 victory against the Chicago White Sox at Tucson Electric Park.

Todd Helton slipped up a notch into the fourth spot and Matt Holliday moved back to bat fifth, giving the Rockies a better balance of left- and right-handed hitters in the middle of the order and ostensibly making it more difficult for opposing managers to manipulate their bullpen in the late innings.

"We just feel it is the best way to complement each other," Hurdle said. "You go back and look at this and it is a very challenging lineup."

Having announced when spring training opened that he figured to go with Willy Taveras, a right-handed hitter, in the leadoff spot and switch-hitting Kaz Matsui second, Hurdle now says he wants to put Garrett Atkins, Helton, Holliday and Brad Hawpe in the Nos. 3-6 spots. That's a right-left-right-left alignment, contrasted with the final months of the 2006 season when the primary alignment was right-handed-hitting Atkins and Holliday ahead of the left-handed-hitting Helton and Hawpe.

This season, if a manager wants to bring in a lefty to face Helton, he is either going to have to pitch around Holliday, gamble that his lefty can beat Holliday or bring in a right-handed reliever, knowing that the left-handed-hitting Hawpe is in the on-deck circle, which could force a third pitching change to go back to a lefty.

"It's going to force a few more difficult decisions," Hurdle said.

The big four clicked against the White Sox. Atkins, Helton, Holliday and Hawpe combined to go 8-for-12 with three doubles, an opposite-field home run by Holliday off Jon Garland that banged off the wall at the back of the right-field bullpen and six RBI against the White Sox's Big Two, Mark Buehrle and Garland.

"What happens down here isn't an issue," Helton said. "This is spring training. What matters is what we do starting April 2 (when the regular season opens against Arizona at Coors Field). Everything right now is geared toward being ready on April 2."

The realigned lineup isn't some mad-scientist experiment. None of the four middle-of-the-lineup hitters is being asked to do anything bizarre. Holliday has primarily batted fourth in the big leagues - and he had a .334 average in that spot last year - but he also has had considerable time hitting third, fifth and sixth.

Helton, meanwhile, has batted third more than anything else in his career, but he has played 309 games as a cleanup hitter and his .344 average there matches what he has hit in the No. 5 hole to lead any lineup spot on his résumé.

"Obviously, I'm going to benefit from having Matt hit behind me, but if it helps anybody it is going to help Hawpe," Helton said. "If they bring in a left-hander to face me, and they can't do anything with Matthew, they are not going to be able to leave that lefty in."

However, Helton knows that - more important than where anybody hits in the lineup - the key for the Rockies' offensive success is for Helton to bounce back from the two subpar seasons when he was slowed by back problems (2005) and intestinal problems (2006). His .302 average and 15 home runs last year were single-season lows for his career. He drove in 81 runs, second fewest in his career, and only two more than in 2005.

"I definitely was missing something," he said. "I didn't have my strength. I tried to get strength in my swing, and it causes me to develop bad habits. I felt I had to start early because I wasn't as quick. I moved my hands a lot. I had a big loop in my swing. It wasn't pretty."

He checked into spring training at 230 pounds this year, up 25 pounds from the end of last season, the result, he said, of an extensive offseason program in which he worked to get stronger but retain flexibility.

"I feel good right now, but I could care less about spring training," he said. "My whole game is geared to be prepared for Opening Day. If I don't get another hit this spring, it won't make a difference as long as I am ready to hit when the real season starts."

Middle of things

Where the Rockies' current middle-of-the-lineup hitters batted in the order in games in 2006:

Player Second Third Fourth Fifth Sixth Seventh

Garrett Atkins 9 59 38 51 0 0

Todd Helton 27 88 1 29 0 0

Matt Holliday 0 14 121 19 0 0

Brad Hawpe 0 0 2 50 73 9

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