Already the winningest southpaw in franchise history, Jeff Francis is emerging as the ace of the Colorado staff. (Doug Pensinger/Getty Images)

Just in time for his first trip to Toronto, Jeff Francis is really starting to make a name for himself.

The 26-year-old left-hander from Vancouver, who is in town with the Colorado Rockies for a three-game series with the Blue Jays beginning Friday, is nearing the halfway point of what has the makings of a career year.

Francis, in fact, has been so good of late that he has the perennial doormat Rockies entertaining thoughts of - dare they say it? - the playoffs.

Since opening the 2007 season with an unsightly 1-4 record and 6.19 earned-run average, the slender, six-foot-five Francis has trimmed his opponents' production down to something more in line with his emerging reputation as the undisputed ace of the Colorado staff.

Beginning with a no-decision in St. Louis on May 7, when he held the Cardinals to two runs and four hits over seven innings, Francis has gone 6-1 in last nine starts. During that stretch, he has allowed more than two runs in a game just once, cutting his ERA by almost three runs.

"I've been throwing more quality strikes early in the count, getting ahead of hitters," Francis told CBC Sports Online from outside the visiting clubhouse at Rogers Centre, where, despite not being scheduled to pitch, he was one of the first Rockies to arrive for the series opener. "Those are things pitchers try to do all the time, and I think I've been more consistently executing those things."

Neutralizes AL East powers

In his last two starts before visiting the Blue Jays, Francis was nothing short of stellar in earning back-to-back victories over the power-laden lineups of the Red Sox and Yankees.

After gutting out five shutout innings at Fenway Park to help the Rockies to a 7-1 pounding of Boston on June 14, Francis completed a personal sweep of AL East superpowers by striking out a career-high nine batters as Colorado beat Andy Pettitte and the Yankees 6-1 on Wednesday at hitter-friendly Coors Field.

"I had more fun tonight than I think I ever had pitching," Francis said after allowing a run and five hits with one walk to help put his team within striking distance of NL West leaders San Diego and Arizona. "Pitched well, a crowd like that (48,440), against a team like that, in a game like that where we're facing probably a future Hall of Famer."

The only downside to the outing was that it put Francis in line to miss what would have been his first career start at Rogers Centre, where he last attended a game in the summer of 2000.

"It's not disappointing," said Francis, who expected to have his wife's family from London in attendance. "When you're not pitching you have more time to visit with family and friends."

Learning major-league lessons

The Rockies, of course, aren't really concerned about who Francis gets to face, so long as he continues to fulfil the promise that convinced them to take him out of the University of British Columbia with the ninth overall pick in the 2002 draft.

UBC is hardly a gold mine for scouts - Francis is the only alumnus to make it to the majors - but even the most grizzled observers found it hard to ignore the school records Francis set in 2001 for ERA (0.92), wins (eight), complete games (eight), shutouts (six), strikeouts (118) and pick offs (nine).

Francis, who wasn't heavily recrutied out of high school by U.S. colleges, feels that his pro development wasn't much affected by his missing out on facing top American competition at the university level.

"I may have started a little bit behind, but I made the right adjustments at the right time to get where I am," he said.

After making his major-league debut as a late-season callup in 2004, Francis submitted a workmanlike 65 starts over the next two seasons combined while cutting his ERA from 5.68 in 2005 to 4.16 in 2006. And he's lopped another three-quarters of a run off this year.

The development of the homegrown Francis into a potential ace has been a godsend for the Rockies, whose losing ways - one playoff appearance in the club's 14-year history - and thin-aired ballpark make them about as attractive to free-agent pitchers as elective rotator-cuff surgery.

Bargain price

But thanks to a developing staff and a typically strong offence led by peaking sluggers Matt Holliday and Brad Hawpe, the Rockies - who head into the Toronto series at four games above .500 - are eyeing their first winning season since 2000.

"Any time a team's record gets better, usually that's a reflection on two things," said CBC baseball analyst Rance Mulliniks. "Generally the pitching has gotten better and the defence has been better. Ultimately, you win with pitching and defence."

Credit Colorado general manager Dan O'Dowd, then, with locking up Francis to a team-friendly contract this past offseason.

A physics major at UBC, some suggested the all-time-winningest lefty in Rockies history brush up on his economics after signing on for $13.25 million US over four years - including just $500,000 in this, the first season of the backloaded deal.

Quite a bargain for a guy who, if he can maintain his current level of play, could soon be a household name.