Picked by many to win the division, Arizona (4-8) lost two of three games over the weekend to Colorado and have lost eight of 10 overall.

The D-Backs open a three-game series in St. Louis Monday night, the same Cardinal club that swept them earlier this month. Pitcher Curt Schilling, who failed in his attempt to get his third victory on Sunday, expects a change in attitude.

"One of the things about being a veteran team is this isn't the kind of thing that gets you down. It gets you angry," he said. "We gave up nine of the 10 runs today with two outs. It's not that the breaks aren't going our way or bad hops, we're just not playing well enough to win."

Brian Anderson (0-2, 14.14) was scheduled to pitch for Arizona in Monday's series opener. Matt Morris (1-1, 6.30) was the Cards' probable starter.

Manager Bob Brenly wouldn't use Coors Field as an excuse for his club losing two of three games there.

"We just really need to limit the mistakes, limit the walks and try to make good pitches every pitch," he said.

After an off day Thursday, Arizona return home to tangle with the Rockies again in another three-game set.

The Rockies out-homered Arizona 5-2 on Sunday while winning a 10-7 game. Todd Hollandsworth had three homers for the Rockies, his last a two-out, three-run shot to right field off Arizona closer Matt Mantei that ended the contest.

The Diamondbacks won Friday's series opener behind the pitching of Randy Johnson, but lost a see-saw battle on Saturday, 9-8.

Mantei didn't make any excuses.

"He beat me with my best pitch," said the D'backs' closer. "It wasn't a bad pitch either. I was ready, but the bottom line is I didn't get my job done. I'm going out there to get us out of the inning and give us a second chance, and I didn't get it done."

On Saturday, Byung-Hyun Kim too, the loss when he gave up a two-run home run to Jeff Cirillo in the seventh.

Arizona starter Mike Morgan was tagged for five runs and eight hits in four innings.

WHO'S HOT: Left fielder Luis Gonzalez leads the majors with nine home runs. He hit two on Friday in a 7-3 win over the Rockies. He was 0-for-4 Sunday, dropping his average to .292. Gonzalez and Larry Walker of the Rockies are tied for the RBI lead with 16.

WHO'S NOT: Steve Finley's still trying to get untracked. He was hitting (.079) after Sunday's game, collecting just three hits in 38 at-bats.

Schilling close to perfect

Kevin Brown said he would have had to have been perfect to win the April 10 game against Arizona.

He wasn't.

Curt Schilling wasn't perfect either, but was pretty close to it while throwing a two-hitter and picking up a 2-0 victory over Brown's Dodgers.

"We saw two of the best right-handers of their era locking horns tonight," Arizona manager Bob Brenly said to reporters after the game. "First and foremost, I'm a baseball fan, and that one was fun to watch."

Brown threw a three-hitter and struck out eight. Neither pitcher walked a batter. Schilling struck out 10 and never threw more than two balls to a Dodgers batter. "That was vintage major league pitching at its finest from both sides," Los Angeles manager Jim Tracy said.

Schilling (2-0), who beat the Dodgers for the second time in six days, earned his 16th career shutout and his 66th complete game. The two hits were the fewest ever allowed in a complete game by an Arizona pitcher.

"Our hands were completely tied," Tracy said. "We didn't get a man to second base."

No more than four batters went to the plate in any inning. Arizona left no one on base. Los Angeles stranded two. Schilling threw 93 pitches, 73 of them strikes. Brown threw 88, 65 of them strikes.

HAIR RAISING PERFORMANCE: Schilling retired the first 15 batters before Dodgers' catcher Paul La Duca led off the sixth with a single. The only other Dodgers' hit was a leadoff single by Eric Karros in the eighth.

"He was really locked in, you could tell by the way he was sitting on the bench between innings," manager Bob Brenly said of Schilling. "It's odd. He takes off his hat and his hair stands straight up and he's got this blank stare on his face. Nobody wants to get near him, and we didn't."

Schilling said it was the best he'd felt on the mound since his shoulder surgery in December 1999.

WITT NOT DONE FOR YEAR: Pitching Bobby Witt could be back in six weeks. He learned Monday that he has a second-degree lilgmaent sprain in his right elbow. Orginally, it was thought the 36-year-old right-hander had been lost for the season.

Wit, 138-157 in his career, earned the No. 5 spot in the rotation with a solid spring. He injured his elbow during an April 7 loss against St. Louis.

MORGAN REPLACES WITT: Because of Bobby Witt's elbow injury, Mike Morgan started Saturday's game at Colorado. The Rockies decided to go with Morgan, whose sinker should be better at Coors Field than Miguel Batista high fastballs.

Morgan, 41, was 0-2 in four starts for the Diamonbacks last season. The right-hander was a starter most of his career.

Arizona won't need a fifth starter again until April 24.

FAST FACT: At 1 hour, 55 minutes, the Schilling-Brown game was the shortest game ever at Bank One Ballpark.

QUOTEWORTHY: "That's Gibson vs. Drysdale or Fergie Jenkins vs. Seaver." -- Diamondbacks' first baseman Mark Grace after Curt Schilling had outdueled Kevin Brown 2-0 at the BOB on Tuesday night.