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Rockies aim to continue historic roll in NLCS Game Three

Oct 14, 2007 - 2:25 PM Arizona at Colorado 8:37 pm EDT National League Championship Series Rockies lead, 2-0

DENVER (Ticker) - The Colorado Rockies are on a historic roll.

Looking to continue their sizzling play, the Rockies aim to take a commanding three-games-to-none lead over the Arizona Diamondbacks in Game Three of the National League Championship Series at Coors Field on Sunday.

The Rockies are an impressive 19-1 over their last 20 games - with their lone defeat coming here at the hands of the Diamondbacks on September 24. Colorado needed a victory in a one-game playoff against the San Diego Padres just to gain entry to the postseason.

It certainly has taken advantage - winning all five postseason contests so far.

On Friday in Game Two of this series, Willy Taveras drew a bases-loaded walk in the top of the 11th inning from Diamondbacks closer Jose Valverde as the Rockies swept the first two games of the series at Chase Field.

Livan Hernandez (1-0, 1.50 ERA) takes the mound for Arizona, which is hoping to snap Colorado's five-game postseason winning streak. The Cuban righthander bring lots of playoff experience in this one, including winning the NLCS and World Series MVP awards while with the Florida Marlins in 1997.

"You come in here and try to win three games and come back home and try to win another one," Hernandez said. "That's the only reason, you got to come and try and play smart and try to win some games."

The 32-year-old veteran went 11-11 with a 4.93 ERA through 33 starts this season, highlighted by a 1-0 mark with a 1.54 ERA in five outings against the Rockies.

Colorado will counter with Josh Fogg (1-0, 0.00), who is making his fourth career trip to the hill in the postseason. Over 12 lifetime meetings with Arizona, Fogg is 6-1 with a 3.71 ERA.

"You can definitely feel the energy. That play in the game against San Diego (in the one-game playoff), the energy was unbelievable," Fogg said. "When this place is packed and loud, it's a lot of fun. You try to step back and regroup and not let it get the best of you. But you definitely feel the energy.

"You hear the crowd when you get two strikes. They want a strikeout, fortunately that's not the type of pitcher I am, hopefully they root for ground balls and pop-ups (Sunday)."

The 30-year-old went 3-0 over his final seven regular-season starts to post a 10-9 record this campaign.

On May 22, Fogg and Hernandez both dazzled but neither managed to pick up the win in Colorado's 3-1 victory. Both allowed just one run in the contest.

Despite the Rockies' success in the first two games of this series, NL MVP candidate Matt Holliday hasn't stood out. He and teammate Todd Helton each are batting just 1-for-8 in the series.

Taveras has been a huge spark plug for Colorado, which joined the 1976 Cincinnati Reds as the only another NL club to win their first five games in postseason play.

"Willy is good. He's really good," Diamondbacks left fielder Eric Brynes said. "He's one of the better center fielders in the game. Defensively, he brings a lot to that team."