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Red-hot Rockies take on Peavy in one-game tiebreaker

Oct 1, 2007 - 1:20 PM San Diego (89-73) at Colorado (89-73) 7:30 pm

DENVER (Ticker) -- The Colorado Rockies' recent hot play has them on the verge of ending a 12-year postseason drought.

Unfortunately, the Rockies may run into a brick wall when the they face Jake Peavy and the San Diego Padres in a one-game playoff for the National League wild card on Monday.

The Rockies, led by MVP candidate Matt Holliday, won 13 of their final 14 games to pull even with San Diego, which simply needed to win Saturday or Sunday against the Milwaukee Brewers to clinch the wild card.

After San Diego dropped an 11-6 decision Sunday, the Rockies scored three runs in the eighth inning to snap a 1-1 tie before holding on for a 4-3 victory against the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Colorado won a coin toss this week and will host the seventh one-game playoff in baseball history, and the first since the New York Mets beat the Cincinnati Reds, 5-0, in 1999.

"The craziness isn't over, we get to play 163," Rockies manager Clint Hurdle said. "We're happy about it. We're very happy about it."

But the Rockies won't be happy about facing likely Cy Young Award winner Peavy (19-6), who leads the league in wins, strikeouts and ERA.

"Peavy is tough, he's obviously the front-runner for the Cy Young," said Colorado right fielder Brad Hawpe, who drove in three runs Sunday and finished the season on fire, going 21-for-45 with 20 RBI in his last 11 games. "We've got a good challenge in front of us. But we've had some success against him before, and you know he's going to bring his A game."

The righthanded Peavy is 10-1 with a 2.20 ERA in his last 14 starts, and he allowed eight of the 21 runs surrendered during that stretch in one start in which he pitched on three days' rest.

Peavy is 0-0 with a 1.29 ERA in two starts vs. Colorado this season, the last outing coming last Friday when the 26-year-old allowed one run and three hits in seven innings with eight strikeouts.

"It's going to be fun," Peavy said. "We're starting the playoffs with Game Seven. I'm excited about the opportunity, and I think the boys will come out battling and fighting hard.

"The season is on the line. You play 162 and you still need one more to decide it. You're going home, or you're in."

While San Diego is looking for its third straight trip to the postseason, Colorado is counting on a strong performance from Josh Fogg (10-9, 4.79) for its first and only trip to the playoffs since 1995.

Fogg is unbeaten in his last six starts and is 1-1 with a 6.28 ERA in three starts vs. San Diego this season. For his career, Fogg is 3-2 with a 4.54 ERA in six starts against the Padres.

"They know me and I know them. It's a matter of me making my pitches and they take bad swings," Fogg said. "We're glad it's at home, that's for sure. We like playing here, we're already here and we don't have to worry about traveling anywhere.

"There's probably a handful of people in the world that have pitched in a game of this magnitude. I'll go out there with the best stuff I have, and we'll see what happens."

The teams split the season series, 9-9, but the Rockies will be tough to beat here since they tied for the best home mark in the NL at 51-30.

"They're hot," Peavy said. "They're as good as anybody in baseball, but they are a beatable team. They play tough baseball at home, but if I go in there and execute and we score and have good at-bats, I think we'll come out victorious."