Post by WVUfanPHILLY on Oct 3, 2007 18:17:47 GMT -5
Colorado 4, Philadelphia 2
Colorado 4, Philadelphia 2
Preview - Box Score - Recap
By ROB MAADDI, AP Sports Writer
October 3, 2007
AP - Oct 3, 6:41 pm EDT
PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- So much for a slugfest. This was a pitcher's duel.
Jeff Francis held the league's highest-scoring team in check, and the Colorado Rockies took advantage of one shaky inning by Cole Hamels to beat the Philadelphia Phillies 4-2 in Game 1 of their NL playoff series Wednesday.
"Who would've thought a good old-fashioned National League game would break out in this ballpark?" Rockies manager Clint Hurdle said.
Making just the second postseason appearance in the franchise's 15-year history, the Rockies played like October regulars. Colorado posted only its second postseason victory, the other coming in 1995.
Matt Holliday, his chin still cut up from the face-first slide that won Monday's wild-card tiebreaker over San Diego, hit a solo home run. Colorado carried over its momentum from that victory, and won for the 15th time in 16 games.
Francis pitched six effective innings and stayed out of big trouble, mostly by shutting down the Phillies' top trio of Chase Utley, Ryan Howard and Jimmy Rollins.
Utley, Howard and Rollins combined to go 0-for-11 with eight strikeouts. Utley, a .332 hitter, struck out four times for the second time in his career.
"Some of the hitters may have been uptight, but Francis was way better than the other times I've seen him," Phillies manager Charlie Manuel said. "His command was excellent and maybe we tried too hard."
Francis' lone problems came in the fifth when Aaron Rowand and Pat Burrell hit consecutive homers.
Francis gave up four hits and struck out eight. Once the 17-game winner departed, three relievers pitched three hitless innings, with Manny Corpas closing for a save.
With the two highest-scoring teams in the league playing in two of the most hitter-friendly ballparks in the majors, this series figured to see plenty of runs.
Instead, the clubs combined for six runs and 10 hits in the opener. Many hitters expected the late-afternoon shadows to be a problem, and they certainly struggled.
Game 2 is Thursday afternoon with rookies Kyle Kendrick and Franklin Morales taking the mound.
Kendrick (10-4) made the jump from Double-A to bail out Philly's depleted staff in June. Morales (3-2) made eight starts for Colorado, which also lost two starters to season-ending injuries.
Despite the support of a rally towel-waving sellout crowd -- the 45,655 fans in attendance was the second-largest total in four-year old Citizens Bank Park -- the NL East champion Phillies came out flat. Perhaps they celebrated their first postseason since 1993 a little too hard.
Or, maybe Francis was just that sharp, especially the first four innings.
Rowand finally got them going crazy, lining an opposite-field shot to right to start the bottom of the fifth. Burrell followed with a towering drive that just cleared the left-field wall to cut it to 3-2.
But Francis worked out of a two-out jam to preserve the one-run lead, retiring Shane Victorino on a grounder to second with two runners on.
Francis batted in the seventh and grounded out after faking a bunt. Hurdle then removed the 26-year-old lefty after warmups in the bottom half.
LaTroy Hawkins pitched a scoreless seventh, Brian Fuentes worked the eighth and Corpas finished.
Holliday, the MVP candidate, gave the Rockies an insurance run when he hit Tom Gordon's pitch into the left-center field seats for a 4-2 lead in the eighth.
Hamels, the 23-year-old All-Star lefty, was outstanding except for one inning. Making his first career start against the Rockies, he allowed three runs and three hits in 6 2-3 innings.
Hamels uncharacteristically walked four and fanned seven. He kept his cool after walking Troy Tulowitzki on a 3-2 pitch to force in Colorado's third run, and retired the next 13 batters.
"I was definitely focused," Hamels said. "You want to succeed in the spotlight. Nothing can prepare you for what this situation is like."
Roughed up by the Phillies in two starts this season, Francis seemed like he was in for another tough day after falling behind leadoff hitter Rollins 3-0. But he regrouped and ended up striking out the side in the first. Francis made it four straight Ks, getting Howard swinging at a slow curve to start the bottom of the second.
Francis had a 15.12 ERA against the Phils this season, but baffled their potent lineup with a mix of offspeed pitches.
"I'm always aware of my success or nonsuccess I have against teams," Francis said. "Today, my execution was better."
The Phillies' first postseason game since Joe Carter's homer clinched the World Series for Toronto in 1993 left this championship-starved city disappointed once again. At least, these Phillies will play another game.
Todd Helton lined a triple to start the second and Garrett Atkins doubled. Yorvit Torrealba's one-out single to center drove in Atkins for a 2-0 lead.
With two outs and the bases loaded, Hamels got ahead of Tulowitzki 0-2 before walking him to force in another run. But he struck out Holliday swinging on a changeup to leave the bases full. Holliday nearly hit a slam, just hooking a long foul down the left-field line.
Both of these teams needed strong finishes just to get here.
Aided by the Mets' historic collapse, the resilient Phillies went 13-4 to finally overtake New York for good on the final day. Their remarkable comeback made the Mets the first team ever to blow a seven-game lead with 17 games to play.
The Rockies were even better down the stretch, going 14-1 to erase a 4 1/2 -game deficit in the wild-card race and beating San Diego in a one-game playoff in 13 innings after rallying from two runs down against closer Trevor Hoffman.
Colorado's only other playoff win was on Oct. 6, 1995. The Rockies, then a third-year franchise, beat Atlanta 7-5 to temporarily avoid elimination. ... A young fan held a sign that read: "Tug and Vuk are watching." Former reliever Tug McGraw, who threw the final pitch to clinch Philadelphia's only World Series championship in 1980, passed away in 2004. Longtime Phillies coach and former player John Vukovich died in March.
Colorado 4, Philadelphia 2
Preview - Box Score - Recap
By ROB MAADDI, AP Sports Writer
October 3, 2007
AP - Oct 3, 6:41 pm EDT
PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- So much for a slugfest. This was a pitcher's duel.
Jeff Francis held the league's highest-scoring team in check, and the Colorado Rockies took advantage of one shaky inning by Cole Hamels to beat the Philadelphia Phillies 4-2 in Game 1 of their NL playoff series Wednesday.
"Who would've thought a good old-fashioned National League game would break out in this ballpark?" Rockies manager Clint Hurdle said.
Making just the second postseason appearance in the franchise's 15-year history, the Rockies played like October regulars. Colorado posted only its second postseason victory, the other coming in 1995.
Matt Holliday, his chin still cut up from the face-first slide that won Monday's wild-card tiebreaker over San Diego, hit a solo home run. Colorado carried over its momentum from that victory, and won for the 15th time in 16 games.
Francis pitched six effective innings and stayed out of big trouble, mostly by shutting down the Phillies' top trio of Chase Utley, Ryan Howard and Jimmy Rollins.
Utley, Howard and Rollins combined to go 0-for-11 with eight strikeouts. Utley, a .332 hitter, struck out four times for the second time in his career.
"Some of the hitters may have been uptight, but Francis was way better than the other times I've seen him," Phillies manager Charlie Manuel said. "His command was excellent and maybe we tried too hard."
Francis' lone problems came in the fifth when Aaron Rowand and Pat Burrell hit consecutive homers.
Francis gave up four hits and struck out eight. Once the 17-game winner departed, three relievers pitched three hitless innings, with Manny Corpas closing for a save.
With the two highest-scoring teams in the league playing in two of the most hitter-friendly ballparks in the majors, this series figured to see plenty of runs.
Instead, the clubs combined for six runs and 10 hits in the opener. Many hitters expected the late-afternoon shadows to be a problem, and they certainly struggled.
Game 2 is Thursday afternoon with rookies Kyle Kendrick and Franklin Morales taking the mound.
Kendrick (10-4) made the jump from Double-A to bail out Philly's depleted staff in June. Morales (3-2) made eight starts for Colorado, which also lost two starters to season-ending injuries.
Despite the support of a rally towel-waving sellout crowd -- the 45,655 fans in attendance was the second-largest total in four-year old Citizens Bank Park -- the NL East champion Phillies came out flat. Perhaps they celebrated their first postseason since 1993 a little too hard.
Or, maybe Francis was just that sharp, especially the first four innings.
Rowand finally got them going crazy, lining an opposite-field shot to right to start the bottom of the fifth. Burrell followed with a towering drive that just cleared the left-field wall to cut it to 3-2.
But Francis worked out of a two-out jam to preserve the one-run lead, retiring Shane Victorino on a grounder to second with two runners on.
Francis batted in the seventh and grounded out after faking a bunt. Hurdle then removed the 26-year-old lefty after warmups in the bottom half.
LaTroy Hawkins pitched a scoreless seventh, Brian Fuentes worked the eighth and Corpas finished.
Holliday, the MVP candidate, gave the Rockies an insurance run when he hit Tom Gordon's pitch into the left-center field seats for a 4-2 lead in the eighth.
Hamels, the 23-year-old All-Star lefty, was outstanding except for one inning. Making his first career start against the Rockies, he allowed three runs and three hits in 6 2-3 innings.
Hamels uncharacteristically walked four and fanned seven. He kept his cool after walking Troy Tulowitzki on a 3-2 pitch to force in Colorado's third run, and retired the next 13 batters.
"I was definitely focused," Hamels said. "You want to succeed in the spotlight. Nothing can prepare you for what this situation is like."
Roughed up by the Phillies in two starts this season, Francis seemed like he was in for another tough day after falling behind leadoff hitter Rollins 3-0. But he regrouped and ended up striking out the side in the first. Francis made it four straight Ks, getting Howard swinging at a slow curve to start the bottom of the second.
Francis had a 15.12 ERA against the Phils this season, but baffled their potent lineup with a mix of offspeed pitches.
"I'm always aware of my success or nonsuccess I have against teams," Francis said. "Today, my execution was better."
The Phillies' first postseason game since Joe Carter's homer clinched the World Series for Toronto in 1993 left this championship-starved city disappointed once again. At least, these Phillies will play another game.
Todd Helton lined a triple to start the second and Garrett Atkins doubled. Yorvit Torrealba's one-out single to center drove in Atkins for a 2-0 lead.
With two outs and the bases loaded, Hamels got ahead of Tulowitzki 0-2 before walking him to force in another run. But he struck out Holliday swinging on a changeup to leave the bases full. Holliday nearly hit a slam, just hooking a long foul down the left-field line.
Both of these teams needed strong finishes just to get here.
Aided by the Mets' historic collapse, the resilient Phillies went 13-4 to finally overtake New York for good on the final day. Their remarkable comeback made the Mets the first team ever to blow a seven-game lead with 17 games to play.
The Rockies were even better down the stretch, going 14-1 to erase a 4 1/2 -game deficit in the wild-card race and beating San Diego in a one-game playoff in 13 innings after rallying from two runs down against closer Trevor Hoffman.
Colorado's only other playoff win was on Oct. 6, 1995. The Rockies, then a third-year franchise, beat Atlanta 7-5 to temporarily avoid elimination. ... A young fan held a sign that read: "Tug and Vuk are watching." Former reliever Tug McGraw, who threw the final pitch to clinch Philadelphia's only World Series championship in 1980, passed away in 2004. Longtime Phillies coach and former player John Vukovich died in March.
