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PHOENIX — Shortstop Stephen Drew would likely win a vote for the Arizona Diamondbacks most valuable player.

He rebounded from an inconsistent season last year to produce career-best totals in home runs (21), doubles (44) and RBIs (67). On Saturday night, he hit a game-winning single in the D-backs' 6-4 victory over the Colorado Rockies.

But he believes he fell short of one individual goal.

"The only thing I would put an expectation on is — and I didn't do it — I wish I could have gotten single-digit errors," said Drew, who has 14 miscues this season. "My biggest thing is taking care of the pitchers and taking care of guys out there."

Yet on offense, Drew's turnaround has been dramatic. He hit .238 last season in his second in the majors. Manager Bob Melvin said Drew learned from his shortcomings and remained confident when opposing defenses caught well-struck balls. He is now hitting .293.

"I hit balls hard last year and didn't have anything for it, and this year it's the total opposite," Drew said. "Balls are falling. I changed my approach a little bit."

Melvin hopes other young players can follow suit in bouncing back from their sophomore slumps. Mark Reynolds and Justin Upton would be in that group.

"Whether it was the lineouts, the unluckiness, opponents knowing (Drew's) strengths and weaknesses, him having to work on his deficiencies, all those things made him a better player, a more focused player and you're seeing the fruits of some of the struggles he had last year," Melvin said.

Arizona's Brandon Webb and San Francisco's Tim Lincecum have been leading the NL Cy Young race, but Colorado manager Clint Hurdle voiced the name of another D-back for his choice as the No. 3 finisher.

"I still like Dan Haren for a bronze medal," Hurdle said.

Haren struck out nine, walked one and allowed four runs in seven innings Friday against the Rockies, racking up his career-high 206th strikeout of the season.

Hurdle pointed out Haren's biggest play of the night was on defense. With a runner at second, he snared a line drive and threw to Drew for a double play that ended the seventh inning.

"He's a ballplayer," Hurdle said. "The last game he played against us he beat us with his bat. He beats us (Friday) with his glove."

As for the winner, Hurdle said before Saturday night's game that he favors Webb.

"He gets a lot of strikeouts for a sinker-ball guy," Hurdle said.

Haren said he would be cashing in on bets with Webb and fellow starter Doug Davis about eclipsing 200 strikeouts.

"Next year the standard is going to be a little higher," Haren said.

Melvin said he might tweak the lineup today for the season finale, but he has stuck with almost all of his regulars since the D-backs were eliminated on Thursday.

"You hear about playing the younger guys, but the young guys are out there to begin with," Melvin said. "The guys on the bench are probably older than the guys on the field. We're trying to win as many games as we can."

Melvin is also emphasizing finishing over .500. The D-backs are 81-80.

● Aiming for career victory No. 295, Randy Johnson will start today.

● Center fielder Chris Young was back in the lineup Saturday after sitting out Friday because of puffiness in his left knee.