DENVER - Baseball fans trying to snap up Colorado Rockies World Series tickets overwhelmed computers set up for the online-only sale on Monday, forcing the club to temporarily suspend transactions.

"Right now we're shutting the system down," club spokesman Jay Alves announced outside Coors Field, drawing boos from fans. "We expect to be online at some point."

There was no immediate word on when that might happen.

After getting server-busy or error messages for over two hours on home, work and public library computers, about 100 fans gathered outside the stadium. They chanted "We want tickets!" when Alves came out to speak to reporters.

"We're as frustrated and disappointed as they are," Alves said of the fans.

Alves said last week the Rockies were prepared for any computer problems. But he said Monday there were 8.5 million hits, or attempts to connect with the computers, in the first 90 minutes after sales started.

Officials were on conference calls into the evening, Alves said, while outside Coors Field excited fans lined up at the ticket office only to leave disappointed after security guards insisted no tickets would be sold at the ballpark.

The team said fewer than 500 tickets were sold Monday before the sale was shut down.

The Rockies said fewer than 20,000 tickets - less than half of Coors Field's 50,449 seats - would be available for general sale in each World Series game in Denver. The remaining seats are allotted to season-ticket holders, the two teams and Major League Baseball.

About 20 people had lined up in near-freezing temperatures outside the Denver Public Library before it opened in hopes of using public-access computers to score tickets.

Clayton McLeod, a 26-year-old heavy-machine operator, took the day off to try to get seats. He went to the city's main library to use its computers because he was worried the cable connection in his downtown high-rise might be too slow.

All he had to show for his effort was a parking ticket.