(Sports Network) - The traveling circus that is the New York Mets makes a stop at Denver's Coors Field tonight for the opener of a three-game series with the defending National League champion Colorado Rockies.

The Mets began a turbulent week by firing manager Willie Randolph just a few short hours after the team began its current road trip with Monday's 9-6 victory over the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. Randolph was replaced on an interim basis by one-time Chicago White Sox skipper Jerry Manuel, who lost his debut as the man in charge in Tuesday's setback to the Angels.

New York then rebounded with a thrilling come-from-behind win in Wednesday's series finale. The Mets sent the contest into extra innings on David Wright's two-out RBI single off Angels closer Francisco Rodriguez in the top of the ninth, then pulled out a 5-4 win when Damion Easley belted a solo homer in the 10th.

The win was only the Mets' second in 33 chances when trailing after eight innings this season.

Wright finished with two RBI on the evening, while Jose Reyes went 3-for-5 with a triple and three runs scored to help give New York its third win in its last four games.

Like the Mets, the Rockies are trying to overcome a surprisingly slow start to their 2008 campaign. Colorado has certainly shown signs of a breakout as of late, as Clint Hurdle's squad comes in having won 11 of its last 15 outings and is fresh off a three-game home sweep of Cleveland.

The Rockies kept up their roll with Thursday's 6-3 triumph over the Indians. Jeff Baker belted a go-ahead solo home run in the sixth inning, and Colorado Rockies used an efficient start from Jorge De La Rosa to record its first sweep of any team this season.

De La Rosa (2-3) was credited with the win after giving up three runs on just four hits and racking up 10 strikeouts over six innings.

Colorado amassed 14 hits as a team in Thursday's win, three of which came from Willy Taveras. Matt Holliday added a pair of two-run singles for the victors.

Baker has now homered in three straight contests and is batting .350 (7- for-20) with nine runs scored during a five-game hitting streak.

The Rockies will send out ace Aaron Cook in tonight's opener, with the steady right-hander attempting to earn a share of the major league lead in victories.

Cook enters with a sparkling 10-3 record and trails Arizona's Brandon Webb by just one win for tops in the big leagues. The Yankees' Mike Mussina and Cleveland's Cliff Lee also have 10 wins so far in 2008, and both hurlers are also pitching tonight.

The sinker specialist won his third straight start and fourth decision in a row in Sunday's 5-3 triumph over the Chicago White Sox. Cook scattered 10 hits in that game and limited the White Sox to three runs over his six-inning stint.

Cook, who has worked at least six innings in all but one of his 15 starts this year, is an impressive 4-1 with a 2.56 earned run average in six appearances at hitter-friendly Coors Field in 2008.

The 29-year-old also boasts a 3-0 record and a 2.14 ERA over seven games (5 starts) against the Mets, which includes a complete-game four-hitter in a 4-1 Colorado victory in Denver on May 25.

John Maine opposed Cook in that above-mentioned game and will do so for the Mets again tonight. The right-hander struck out eight Rockies over six innings that night, but was reached for four runs (3 earned) and walked four to suffer the loss.

Maine has dropped three of his last four decisions and is coming off a losing outing against Texas this past Sunday, in which he surrendered five runs on seven hits in 6 1/3 innings of work. He has posted a mediocre 5.40 ERA over his last six starts.

The 27-year-old is 1-1 with a 2.63 ERA in two lifetime starts against Colorado.

The Rockies took two of three games from the Mets when these clubs faced off in Denver from May 23-25. New York is just 1-6 over its last seven tilts at Coors Field.