Rockies Still Rollin’, Colorado Beats D-backs in NLCS Opener
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Even after four days of rest, the Colorado Rockies extended their incredible run to 18 of 19 games winning the opener of their NLCS by a 5-1 score in Arizona over the Diamondbacks.
Rockies lefthander Jeff Francis (17-9) pitched 6 2/3 innings giving up 1 run of 7 hits while walking 1 and striking out 4 in outdoing Arizona’s ace Brandon Webb (18-10) who gave up 4 runs on 7 hits. Webb walked 2 and struck out 4 in 6 innings.
Arizona scored first in the bottom of the 1st inning on leftfielder Eric Byrnes’ RBI double to leftfield.
Colorado came back to tie the game in the 2nd inning as 1st baseman Todd Helton scored on shortstop Troy Tulowitzki’s grounder into a doubleplay. The Rockies took the lead with 3 runs in the 3rd inning and added an insurance run in the 7th inning.
AP Sports Writer Bob Baum recaps the game from here for Yahoo sports;
Colorado won on almost a daily basis during its surge. But the Rockies hadn’t played since completing a three-game sweep of Philadelphia on Saturday.
The time allowed the nervousness to mount for the first NLCS game in Rockies’ history.
“As soon as I stepped on the field, I’m sure I speak for everybody else, you had butterflies,” said [Brad] Hawpe, whose bases-loaded single brought home two runs in Colorado’s three-run third. “It was an emotional, high-energy day for all of us. We weren’t in the flow of it like we had been. So you know today’s win, I think, is even more special because of that.”
“Our offense can find a lot of ways to win games,” Francis said. “It’s been fun to have them behind me this year.”
On a hot night in the desert — it 93 degrees outside at gametime — tempers flared after a relatively calm six innings.
Down 5-1, Arizona put runners at first and second with no outs in the seventh. Augie Ojeda bounced to third baseman Garrett Atkins, who threw to second baseman Kaz Matsui.
Justin Upton, running from first base, slid over second base and then rolled his right shoulder into second baseman Kaz Matsui’s left leg, knocking the infielder to the ground. Second base umpire Larry Vanover immediately called Upton out for interference, resulting in a double play.
“I was just playing the game. I did what I was supposed to do,” Upton said. “That’s what you’re taught to do when you slide is pop up.”
“It’s his decision,” he said. “I told him I was close to the bag.”
Vanover wasn’t buying that explanation.
“You had obvious intent on the part of the runner to break up the double play, and when it turns into intentional, that’s when he’s out for interference,” he said.
“Once he got to the base, I thought he threw his hip up into the guy, and his intent at that point is not to get to the base. His intent is to crash the pivot man, so you’ve got obvious intent there,” he said.
Said [Rockies manager Clint] Hurdle: “It looked like a good, aggressive slide going in, and I thought he went out of his way to make contact.”
Upton, barely 20 years old, was in Class A when the season began, but on this big stage he didn’t hesitate to let Vanover know how he felt in arguing the call.
“He’s battling out there,” Melvin said. “He’s trying to take somebody out. He’s trying to get us an extra out. He’s trying to break up a double play. He was emotional about it.”
Fans started throwing water bottles onto the field from the upper decks. When more debris followed, umpires told the teams to get back in the dugouts.
“We were tired of getting water bottles thrown on the field, that’s all,” Hurdle said.
The Rockies returned to the field after admonishments from the public address announcer that anyone throwing objects on the field would be ejected.
“It was just fans being upset. It’s too bad,” Hawpe said. “A few like that label a lot of people, but sounds like the other fans took care of it and were pulling the people out who were throwing stuff at us.”
Rockies rookie starter Ubaldo Jimenez (4-4), who tossed a masterful 1 run, 3 hit effort in 6 1/3 innings against the Phils in the 2-1 sweep game, opposes Diamondbacks veteran lefthander Doug Davis (13-12) in Friday’s game two.
The two teams are off on Saturday. On Sunday, the venue changes to Colorado for the next 3 games before returning to Arizona for games 6 and 7 if necessary.
The ALCS begins on Friday night as the Boston Red Sox face the Cleveland Indians.
Josh Beckett (20-7), MLB’s only 2007 20 game winner is opposed by veteran Cleveland lefthander C.C. Sabathia (19-7) in Friday’s opener. Saturday’s game two sees a match-up between 2nd year pitcher Fausto Carmona (19-8) and future Hall of Famer veteran Curt Schilling (9-8).
For the scores, boxscores and recaps on Friday’s and Saturday’s NLCS and ALCS games, click here and here.
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