Rockies sweep Phils for NLCS trip
Baker's RBI single in eighth the difference at delirious Coors
Once upon a time, long before 50,724 at Coors Field waved their white towels and celebrated an improbable trip to the National League Championship Series, the Rockies lost games like Saturday night's. Now they almost never lose. The Rockies used three soft, two-out, eighth-inning hits -- the last an RBI single by pinch-hitter Jeff Baker -- for a 2-1 victory over the Phillies that completed a three-game sweep of the NL Division Series. It was the Rockies' 17th victory in 18 games, the first home playoff triumph in their 15-year history -- the only other postseason trip was 1995 -- and their first series victory. It was their first home win when scoring two or fewer runs since July 9, 2005, 1-0 over the Padres. "There used to be stats like that, that we didn't do well in that type of game -- but all those stats don't matter," said Garrett Atkins, who started the rally with a soft liner to left field against Phillies lefty J.C. Romero, who had not given up a run since Aug. 30. "It's symbolic of the club we have, and it's a versatile club," Rockies manager Clint Hurdle said. "We've been able to slug, pitch ..." The Rockies' Brad Hawpe, whose single off the glove of diving second baseman Chase Utley set up Baker's floater to right off Romero, said the Rockies don't have the interest in analysis, statistical or otherwise. "It may be a long time before we look back and really understand what's happened," Hawpe said. Said Baker, "Day in and day out, guys grind, and that's what this team is all about." Now all that matters is their best-of-seven NLCS starting Thursday against the Diamondbacks, who finished a sweep of the Cubs in the other NLDS on Saturday. The first two games, 4-2 and 10-5 wins at Citizens Bank Park, Matt Holliday hit two home runs and the Rockies did their share of slugging. Saturday was different. The announced game-time temperature was 73 degrees. It was down to a windy 56 by the end of the second. That included a delay of 14 minutes in the top of the second by a computer malfunction that turned off the stadium lights. Kazuo Matsui knocked his second RBI triple of the series, which was aided by an ill-timed dive by left fielder Pat Burrell in the fifth. Shane Victorino's homered to right with one out in the seventh against otherwise dominant Rockies starter Ubaldo Jimenez, who held the Phillies to three hits and fanned five against four walks in 6 1/3 innings. Otherwise, the power was off for this game. A perfect example came in the second, when Atkins crushed a pitch from Phillies starter Jamie Moyer, who held the Rockies to one run and five hits in six innings, but saw the arc headed toward the seats turn into a drop into the glove of Burrell on the warning track. "I hit it all right, probably enough to get it out on a normal day, but that wind was blowing in pretty good," Atkins said. "It was a tough night to hit." Jimenez, 23, called up in August because of injuries to the rotation, escaped a one-out, two-on sixth by forcing a Burrell fly ball and a Ryan Howard grounder. It was similar to Sunday in the scheduled regular-season finale against the Diamondbacks, a 4-3 Rockies victory that set up a Wild Card tiebreaker victory over the Padres the next night. Jimenez held the D-backs to one run and fanned 10 in 6 1/3 innings. The calm Jimenez was thrown only by the blackout, but he found it more humorous. "I was like, 'What? What is happening right now? C'mon,'" he said. "I felt great. I didn't want the game to stop." Reliever Matt Herges finished off the seventh after Carlos Ruiz singled off Jimenez. Winning pitcher Brian Fuentes fanned Jimmy Rollins to start his perfect eighth, before retiring Chase Utley on a flyout to left. Burrell would then narrowly miss a homer when his blast blew just foul to left. He would eventually strike out to end the inning. "As soon as he hit it, I thought was gone," Fuentes said. "As soon as he hit it, I thought that somebody upstairs, a grandfather or something, blew that thing up. They're up there. Thank you for doing that." Manny Corpas, who earned saves in all three games, struck out leadoff man Howard and worked grounders from Aaron Rowand and Victorino.
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D-backs stun Cubs, head to NLCS
Once upon a time, long before 50,724 at Coors Field waved their white towels and celebrated an improbable trip to the National League Championship Series, the Rockies lost games like Saturday night's. Now they almost never lose. The Rockies used three soft, two-out, eighth-inning hits -- the last an RBI single by pinch-hitter Jeff Baker -- for a 2-1 victory over the Phillies that completed a three-game sweep of the NL Division Series. It was the Rockies' 17th victory in 18 games, the first home playoff triumph in their 15-year history -- the only other postseason trip was 1995 -- and their first series victory. It was their first home win when scoring two or fewer runs since July 9, 2005, 1-0 over the Padres. "There used to be stats like that, that we didn't do well in that type of game -- but all those stats don't matter," said Garrett Atkins, who started the rally with a soft liner to left field against Phillies lefty J.C. Romero, who had not given up a run since Aug. 30. "It's symbolic of the club we have, and it's a versatile club," Rockies manager Clint Hurdle said. "We've been able to slug, pitch ..." The Rockies' Brad Hawpe, whose single off the glove of diving second baseman Chase Utley set up Baker's floater to right off Romero, said the Rockies don't have the interest in analysis, statistical or otherwise. "It may be a long time before we look back and really understand what's happened," Hawpe said. Said Baker, "Day in and day out, guys grind, and that's what this team is all about." Now all that matters is their best-of-seven NLCS starting Thursday against the Diamondbacks, who finished a sweep of the Cubs in the other NLDS on Saturday. The first two games, 4-2 and 10-5 wins at Citizens Bank Park, Matt Holliday hit two home runs and the Rockies did their share of slugging. Saturday was different. The announced game-time temperature was 73 degrees. It was down to a windy 56 by the end of the second. That included a delay of 14 minutes in the top of the second by a computer malfunction that turned off the stadium lights. Kazuo Matsui knocked his second RBI triple of the series, which was aided by an ill-timed dive by left fielder Pat Burrell in the fifth. Shane Victorino's homered to right with one out in the seventh against otherwise dominant Rockies starter Ubaldo Jimenez, who held the Phillies to three hits and fanned five against four walks in 6 1/3 innings. Otherwise, the power was off for this game. A perfect example came in the second, when Atkins crushed a pitch from Phillies starter Jamie Moyer, who held the Rockies to one run and five hits in six innings, but saw the arc headed toward the seats turn into a drop into the glove of Burrell on the warning track. "I hit it all right, probably enough to get it out on a normal day, but that wind was blowing in pretty good," Atkins said. "It was a tough night to hit." Jimenez, 23, called up in August because of injuries to the rotation, escaped a one-out, two-on sixth by forcing a Burrell fly ball and a Ryan Howard grounder. It was similar to Sunday in the scheduled regular-season finale against the Diamondbacks, a 4-3 Rockies victory that set up a Wild Card tiebreaker victory over the Padres the next night. Jimenez held the D-backs to one run and fanned 10 in 6 1/3 innings. The calm Jimenez was thrown only by the blackout, but he found it more humorous. "I was like, 'What? What is happening right now? C'mon,'" he said. "I felt great. I didn't want the game to stop." Reliever Matt Herges finished off the seventh after Carlos Ruiz singled off Jimenez. Winning pitcher Brian Fuentes fanned Jimmy Rollins to start his perfect eighth, before retiring Chase Utley on a flyout to left. Burrell would then narrowly miss a homer when his blast blew just foul to left. He would eventually strike out to end the inning. "As soon as he hit it, I thought was gone," Fuentes said. "As soon as he hit it, I thought that somebody upstairs, a grandfather or something, blew that thing up. They're up there. Thank you for doing that." Manny Corpas, who earned saves in all three games, struck out leadoff man Howard and worked grounders from Aaron Rowand and Victorino.
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D-backs stun Cubs, head to NLCS
Trio of home runs back veteran Hernandez in win
The secret is out: The Arizona Diamondbacks are a darn good baseball team. The D-backs seemed to fly under the radar heading into the postseason, but after they completed a three-game National League Division Series sweep of the Cubs with a 5-1 win Saturday night, they can no longer hide. Certainly, their opponent in the NL Championship Series, the Colorado Rockies, will know that the NL-best 90 wins the D-backs compiled were no fluke. "If it stays like that, that's OK, we're comfortable with that," catcher Chris Snyder said of the D-backs' anonymity. "But after these three games, I think we turned some heads." No doubt about that, as they held the Cubs to just six runs over the three games, while scoring 16 against the team that had the second-best ERA in the NL during the regular season. Not bad for a team that finished the regular season near the bottom of the league in batting average and was actually outscored overall by its opponents. "I think it's out now on a national level," outfielder Eric Byrnes said. "I think the people that watched us play all year realized how good of a team we were. Look, we kind of got it done with smoke and mirrors all year, but that's fine. I don't think there's anything wrong with it. That's one of the ways to win ballgames." The D-backs won Saturday's game in front of a raucous sellout crowd at Wrigley Field the way they did so many times throughout the season. They got a solid outing from their starting pitcher and enough timely hits to turn a lead over to the bullpen, which in turn shut the door. Chris Young, one of four rookies in the starting lineup, got things started when he hit Rich Hill's first pitch of the game into the left-field bleachers. "I never swing at the first pitch," said Young, who hit nine leadoff homers during the regular season. "But tonight I actually decided ahead of time I was going to go ahead and try to see if he leaves one over the middle on the first pitch, and he did." It was just one run, but it seemed to lift the D-backs while deflating the home crowd. "Chris Young's first-pitch homer gave us a lot of momentum," D-backs manager Bob Melvin said. Arizona starter Livan Hernandez then went out and did what he has done all year long. The veteran right-hander pitched his way into and then out of trouble. Hernandez allowed 11 baserunners in his six innings, but he lived up to the Houdini nickname that Melvin gave him by finding a way to allow just one run. "Livo, I've said before, you've got to be patient with him," Melvin said. "And even though you're in a different situation in the postseason, you still have to be patient with a guy that you've treated a certain way all year. At times, you're going to get burned." The flames certainly crept high in the fifth, when Hernandez walked the bases loaded with just one out, with Mark DeRosa at the plate and the D-backs clinging to a 3-1 lead. Even by Hernandez's standards, this was a major jam. "If there's a guy on first, or first and second, we don't really worry about it," third baseman Mark Reynolds said. "But with the bases loaded and DeRosa up there, we were like, 'Oh no.'" But just as soon as some were ready to take away the NL Manager of the Year Award -- which Melvin almost certainly has coming to him -- for leaving Hernandez in, the hurler got DeRosa to hit into an inning-ending double play. "When we got the double play from DeRosa there, we kind of sensed something good was going to happen," Melvin said. A lot of good things happened on the night for the D-backs. Shortstop Stephen Drew, who struggled offensively throughout the regular season, put together another dynamite playoff performance, going 3-for-5 with a double and a home run. Meanwhile, Byrnes, who was 1-for-10 heading into his sixth-inning at-bat, hit a home run off Carlos Marmol. And when Alfonso Soriano's fly ball landed in right fielder Jeff Salazar's glove with two outs in the ninth, the celebration began. Showing the wisdom of their champagne-popping experience in Colorado less than a week ago, several D-backs sported swimmer's goggles courtesy of a quick trip to a local sporting goods store. The D-backs seemed unfazed by the increased pressure and scrutiny that the postseason brings, even though their everyday lineup is made up almost entirely of rookies or second-year players. "Like I said, we've already exceeded expectations," Byrnes said. "Even this series, I think that's why everyone was so relaxed heading into it, because we didn't have a whole lot to lose." Except, of course, for their anonymity. "I think people are starting to see this is how we play baseball," Snyder said. "We're going to go after it, we're going to be intense and we're going to push the envelope, and that's what we did all three games and that's how we won."
The secret is out: The Arizona Diamondbacks are a darn good baseball team. The D-backs seemed to fly under the radar heading into the postseason, but after they completed a three-game National League Division Series sweep of the Cubs with a 5-1 win Saturday night, they can no longer hide. Certainly, their opponent in the NL Championship Series, the Colorado Rockies, will know that the NL-best 90 wins the D-backs compiled were no fluke. "If it stays like that, that's OK, we're comfortable with that," catcher Chris Snyder said of the D-backs' anonymity. "But after these three games, I think we turned some heads." No doubt about that, as they held the Cubs to just six runs over the three games, while scoring 16 against the team that had the second-best ERA in the NL during the regular season. Not bad for a team that finished the regular season near the bottom of the league in batting average and was actually outscored overall by its opponents. "I think it's out now on a national level," outfielder Eric Byrnes said. "I think the people that watched us play all year realized how good of a team we were. Look, we kind of got it done with smoke and mirrors all year, but that's fine. I don't think there's anything wrong with it. That's one of the ways to win ballgames." The D-backs won Saturday's game in front of a raucous sellout crowd at Wrigley Field the way they did so many times throughout the season. They got a solid outing from their starting pitcher and enough timely hits to turn a lead over to the bullpen, which in turn shut the door. Chris Young, one of four rookies in the starting lineup, got things started when he hit Rich Hill's first pitch of the game into the left-field bleachers. "I never swing at the first pitch," said Young, who hit nine leadoff homers during the regular season. "But tonight I actually decided ahead of time I was going to go ahead and try to see if he leaves one over the middle on the first pitch, and he did." It was just one run, but it seemed to lift the D-backs while deflating the home crowd. "Chris Young's first-pitch homer gave us a lot of momentum," D-backs manager Bob Melvin said. Arizona starter Livan Hernandez then went out and did what he has done all year long. The veteran right-hander pitched his way into and then out of trouble. Hernandez allowed 11 baserunners in his six innings, but he lived up to the Houdini nickname that Melvin gave him by finding a way to allow just one run. "Livo, I've said before, you've got to be patient with him," Melvin said. "And even though you're in a different situation in the postseason, you still have to be patient with a guy that you've treated a certain way all year. At times, you're going to get burned." The flames certainly crept high in the fifth, when Hernandez walked the bases loaded with just one out, with Mark DeRosa at the plate and the D-backs clinging to a 3-1 lead. Even by Hernandez's standards, this was a major jam. "If there's a guy on first, or first and second, we don't really worry about it," third baseman Mark Reynolds said. "But with the bases loaded and DeRosa up there, we were like, 'Oh no.'" But just as soon as some were ready to take away the NL Manager of the Year Award -- which Melvin almost certainly has coming to him -- for leaving Hernandez in, the hurler got DeRosa to hit into an inning-ending double play. "When we got the double play from DeRosa there, we kind of sensed something good was going to happen," Melvin said. A lot of good things happened on the night for the D-backs. Shortstop Stephen Drew, who struggled offensively throughout the regular season, put together another dynamite playoff performance, going 3-for-5 with a double and a home run. Meanwhile, Byrnes, who was 1-for-10 heading into his sixth-inning at-bat, hit a home run off Carlos Marmol. And when Alfonso Soriano's fly ball landed in right fielder Jeff Salazar's glove with two outs in the ninth, the celebration began. Showing the wisdom of their champagne-popping experience in Colorado less than a week ago, several D-backs sported swimmer's goggles courtesy of a quick trip to a local sporting goods store. The D-backs seemed unfazed by the increased pressure and scrutiny that the postseason brings, even though their everyday lineup is made up almost entirely of rookies or second-year players. "Like I said, we've already exceeded expectations," Byrnes said. "Even this series, I think that's why everyone was so relaxed heading into it, because we didn't have a whole lot to lose." Except, of course, for their anonymity. "I think people are starting to see this is how we play baseball," Snyder said. "We're going to go after it, we're going to be intense and we're going to push the envelope, and that's what we did all three games and that's how we won."
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