SURPRISE, Ariz. - The ball soared over the fence in straightaway center field, bounced at the very top of a grass hill and disappeared behind a row of small bushes in front of the batter's eye.

Estimated distance: 440 feet.

It was a majestic, jaw-dropping home run, the latest example of just how strong Matt Holliday is. The two-run homer came in the sixth inning of the Rockies' 12-8 loss to the Texas Rangers when Holliday, in his fourth and final plate appearance, walloped a 2-1 pitch from Rick Bauer.

"I was just looking for a fastball to drive in that situation," Holliday said. "He missed twice with his sinker. I was looking for a fastball up a little bit."

Holliday is hitting .333 (11-for-33) this spring training with five doubles, two homers, six RBI and a .405 on-base percentage.

Cactus League numbers are of minimal consequence, statistics that have no shelf life and are almost incidental to the gearing-up process that matters most. In Holliday's case, he is preparing for his third full season with the Rockies and his first in the wake of a breakthrough year.

"I expect a lot out of myself, so I would expect great results," Holliday said. "I would expect the time and effort you put into doing things (to pay off). I feel like at this point I can remain pretty consistent with my approach and my swing and have a pretty good idea what pitchers are going to try to do to me."

Holliday made the All-Star team last year on his way to finishing with a .326 average, 34 homers and 114 RBI. Last season, 464 of Holliday's 602 at-bats came batting cleanup.

He'll start this season hitting fifth, slotted there behind Garrett Atkins and Todd Helton and just ahead of improving Brad Hawpe in what the Rockies expect will be a productive heart of the order. As the fifth batter in this lineup, which also possesses speed at the top, Holliday should be presented with abundant RBI opportunities.

"It's hard to say how it's going to shake out, but there's definitely that potential," Holliday said. "Garrett and Todd are both high on-base (percentage) guys, and the way Brad's swinging the bat right now, I don't see too many teams pitching around me. Could be a really good situation.

"It was a good situation last year, having Todd behind me and Garrett in front of me. That could be just as good this year."

Helton, who expects Holliday to have a big RBI season, said, "That's the good thing about having him hit behind you. If there's runners on base in front of me, yeah, my job's to drive them in. But if I don't get a good pitch to hit, I just want to get on base, because he can drive me in, too."

Besides honing his swing for the regular season, Holliday has worked on his defense in left field and baserunning. On the bases, Holliday said he has tried "to pay a little closer attention" to getting leads as big as possible.

Veteran center fielder Steve Finley, Holliday said, has been helpful on balls hit into the left- center gap, working with Holliday on a spin move and a sidearm throw to get the ball to the cutoff man as soon as possible.

That particular defensive ploy was not evident against the Rangers. But Holliday did make two nice plays. With one run home and runners on first and second in the second, Holliday ran in and to his left and made a sprawling catch of a ball hit by Kenny Lofton. And in the fourth, Holliday dashed into left-center to catch Jerry Hairston's deep drive.

"I work hard at it, and I take pride in it," Holliday said of his defense. "I just try to do the best I can out there and get good reads. I feel like I'm getting better."

No improvement is necessary, or maybe possible, in what manager Clint Hurdle called Holliday's "top-shelf power." He proved that again Sunday with one memorable swing and a shockingly long home run in, fittingly, Surprise Stadium.

COLORADO	TEXAS
	ab	r	h	bi		ab	r	h	bi
Carroll 2b	3	1	0	0	Lofton cf	3	0	2	0
RJohnson 2b	1	0	0	0	Guzman pr-rf	1	2	0	0
Sullivan cf	4	1	4	3	Kata ss	5	3	4	5
Frey cf	1	0	0	0	Teixeira 1b	2	0	1	0
Atkins 3b	3	0	1	0	Gold 1b	3	1	1	2
Menechino 3b	1	0	0	0	Sosa dh	2	0	0	1
Helton 1b	4	0	2	1	Byrd ph-dh	2	0	0	0
Almonte pr-1b	0	1	0	0	Wilkerson lf	3	0	0	0
Holliday lf	3	2	1	2	Botts lf	0	1	0	0
Gomez rf	1	0	0	0	Hairston 2b	4	3	3	0
Hawpe rf	4	1	3	2	Meyer 2b	1	0	0	0
Thigpen pr-lf	1	0	0	0	Cruz rf-cf	5	1	2	2
Tulowitzki dh	4	0	1	0	Ojeda c	3	0	2	1
Gaetti ph-dh	1	0	0	0	Stewart c	1	0	0	0
Iannetta c	3	1	0	0	Metcalf 3b	3	1	1	1
Gil c	1	0	0	0	Chen p	0	0	0	0
Barmes ss	2	1	1	0	Littleton p	0	0	0	0
Quintanilla ss	1	0	0	0	Wilson p	0	0	0	0
Francis p	0	0	0	0	Bauer p	0	0	0	0
Herges p	0	0	0	0	Wood p	0	0	0	0
RRamirez p	0	0	0	0
Speier p	0	0	0	0
Totals	38	8	13	8	Totals	38	12	16	12
Colorado......000	305	000	-	8	13	0
Texas......011	011	80x	-	12	16	1

E - Kata. DP - Colorado 1. LOB - Colorado 9, Texas 7. 2B - Atkins, Tulowitzki, Hairston, Cruz 2, Ojeda. 3B - Sullivan. HR - Hawpe, Holliday, Kata 2, Gold. CS - Sullivan. SF - Sosa.

COLORADO	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO
Francis	6	11	4	4	0	1
Herges, L	2/3	4	5	5	1	1
RRamirez	1/3	1	3	3	2	0
Speier	1	0	0	0	1	1
TEXAS	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO
Chen	3	5	0	0	0	1
Littleton	1/3	1	3	3	3	1
Wilson	1 2/3	2	0	0	0	1
Bauer	1	5	5	1	0	1
Wood, W	3	0	0	0	1	2

HBP - by Chen (Atkins), by Littleton (Holliday).

T - 2:48. A - 5,014.

Rockies today

The Rockies are off for the only day this spring training. They have 10 Cactus League games remaining and conclude exhibition play March 30 at Triple-A Colorado Springs.

etkinj@RockyMountainNews.com

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