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CarGo hopes to bat this weekend

LOS ANGELES -- Rockies All-Star left fielder Carlos Gonzalez took batting practice on Friday afternoon and is debating whether to take some at-bats during the series with the Dodgers or save testing his sprained right middle finger for Instructional League games in Arizona.

Gonzalez raised the idea of playing instructional ball last week in an interview with MLB.com, but he and manager Walt Weiss hope he can at least test it under the speed and adrenaline of a Major League game. If his finger responds without undue soreness, he will forgo surgery. He figures he must have the surgery by Nov. 1 in order to recover in time for Spring Training 2014.

"We're definitely going to test it, and I hope it will be this weekend," said Gonzalez, whose last at-bat was Aug. 4, before he finally went on the disabled list. He suffered the injury July 7.

Weiss said he doesn't plan on starting Gonzalez, but would like to see him have at least a couple of at-bats.

"That'll help us make a decision on whether or not he's going to have surgery," Weiss said. "If he goes in and takes some swings in a game and that thing flares up again, that gives us our answer."

Catcher Wilin Rosario's strained right calf muscle, which has kept him off the field since Sept. 17, didn't respond well to running tests Friday. Weiss said Rosario still holds hope of playing. Lefty Jorge De La Rosa, out with a bruised left thumb, will not return to the mound this season.

Thomas Harding is a reporter for MLB.com. Read his blog, Hardball in the Rockies, and follow him on Twitter @harding_at_mlb.
Read More: Colorado Rockies, Jorge De La Rosa, Carlos Gonzalez, Wilin Rosario