Graduated from Robinson High School in Fairfax, Va. in 1995...attended the University of Virginia, going 12-9 with a 6.30 ERA in 40 games (31 starts)...also hit .319 with 15 home runs, 71 RBI and 22 stolen bases...served as Colorado's player representative in 2004-05...is married to Renee...attended luncheons in 2006 for the BoSox Club and the Blohards.

The submarine southpaw came from virtually nowhere to emerge as one of the top rookie relievers in baseball...was picked up during spring training from the Red Sox having never pitched above the Double A level...Javier not only made his first Opening Day roster but went on to set a club rookie record with 75 appearances, third most among all major league rookies...he trailed only Arizona's Oscar Villarreal (86) and Houston's Brad Lidge (78)...broke the previous rookie mark of 64 set by Steve Reed in 1993...the 75 games also tied fellow left-hander Brian Fuentes for the staff lead...Javier completed his first major league season with a 4-1 record, 3.70 ERA and 1 save (58.1 ip, 24 er)...was leading all NL relievers with a 0.72 ERA through June 11 (25.0 ip, 2 er) before giving up 18 earned runs over a stretch of 9.2 innings from June 12-July 7...the lefty allowed just 3 runsb2 earnedbin his first 30 ML appearances, the only reliever since 1980 to accomplish that according to the Elias Sports Bureau...take away a 7 run blemish on June 12 at Minnesota and Javier's yearly ERA would have been just 2.65 (57.2 ip, 17 er)...the lefty tossed shutout ball in 63 of his 75 outings...compiled a 1.71 ERA in 39 appearances at Coors Field (31.2 ip, 6 er), the lowest ERA ever by a Rockies reliever with at least 10 games at the hitter-friendly ballpark...broke the previous low of 2.05 set by Mike Myers in 2000...Lopez held league hitters to a .209 average at Coors, yielding just 24 hits in 115 at-bats...that barely fell short of Reed's record for lowest average against at Coors, .207 in 1997...Lopez had a perfect 3-0 record at home but was just 1-1 with a 6.08 ERA on the road (26.2 ip, 18 er)...inherited a team-high 43 runners, stranding 35 of them (81%), fourth best in the NL...retired 54 of his 75 first batters faced (.720)...ranked second on the club with 15 relief holds and was officially 1-for-2 in save situations...had 3 balks called against him this year, the most by a Rockie since Jamey Wright also had 3 in 1998...made his major league debut in the season opener April 1 at Houston (1.0 ip, 0 h, 1 bb)...notched his first ML victory in his fourth appearance, April 10 vs. St. Louis...entered the game in the eighth inning down 4-6 and stranded 2 inherited runners, one at third...Rox rallied to score 3 in their half of the eighth to win 7-6...didn't allow his first earned runs until his ninth appearance, April 19 vs. San Diego, and those were let in by another reliever after Javier departed... therefore, he didn't allow his "own" earned runs to score until his 31st game on June 12...gave up 11 hits in 74 at-bats over the first two months of the season, only two going for extra-bases (both doubles)...compiled an 18.2 scoreless innings streak from April 22 to June 8...the streak was a season high for a Rockie in 2003 and the fifth longest in franchise history...retired 54-of-65 batters faced throughout that stretch, fanning 16 with just 2 walks and a .115 average against (7-for-61)...worked a scoreless month of May covering 13 appearances and 12.0 innings...gave up 5 hits during the month (.128 avg) with 2 BB and 13 K's...overall, had a 0.87 ERA through his first 25 appearances (20.2 ip, 3 r, 2 er)...only two other ML pitchers in the last 10 years have allowed 3 or fewer runs in their first 25 big league appearances: Jason Christiansen with the Pirates in 1995 (3 runs) and John Hudek with Houston in 1994 (2)...lowered that ERA to an NL best 0.72 through his first 30 appearances (25.0 ip, 3 r, 2 er), becoming the first and only reliever since 1980 to allow that few amount of runs in his first 30 ML games...all of that came to an end on June 12 at Minnesota, when he gave up 7 runs on 8 hits with 2 home runs in just .2 IP...would go on to yield 18 earned runs over a stretch of 9.2 innings from June 12-July 7...but that turned out to be more of an aberration than simply the "league catching up with him"...he allowed only 4 runs in his final 33 appearances, 25.2 innings (1.40 ERA), including just 2 earned in his last 27 appearances, 22.1 innings (0.81 ERA)...collected his first major league hit and RBI with a run-scoring single off Villarreal on July 2 vs. Arizona...retired 18 consecutive batters faced from July 31 to Aug. 16...had the streak snapped on Aug. 16 at Shea Stadium when he walked Jason Phillips intentionally...it fell 3 shy of the Rockies record of 21 straight batters retired set by Darren Holmes, Sept. 13-28, 1996...broke the single-season club rookie record in appearances with his 65th on Sept. 5...earned the victory in the Rockies season finale on Sept. 28 at San Diego, the final game ever at Qualcomm Stadium.