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Rockies look to close out Diamondbacks, reach first World Series

Oct 15, 2007 - 1:58 PM Arizona at Colorado 10:18 pm EDT National League Championship Series Rockies lead, 3-0

DENVER (Ticker) -- The Colorado Rockies are in the midst of one of the most remarkable runs in baseball history. Another win with put them in a place considered unthinkable at the beginning of the season.

Colorado, which has won an incredible 20 of its last 21 games, aims for a sweep of the Arizona Diamondbacks and its first World Series appearance in franchise history in Game Four of the National League Championship Series on Monday.

Yorvit Torrealba hit a tie-breaking, three-run homer in the sixth inning and Josh Fogg threw six solid innings as the Rockies posted a 4-1 win on Sunday.

Now Colorado will look to join the 1976 Cincinnati Reds as the only teams in NL history to open the postseason with seven straight wins.

"All our focus is on winning the game (Monday)," manager Clint Hurdle said. "If we don't win the game (Monday), all our focus will be on winning the next one. It's just the way we've gone about our business."

The Rockies, who had just one postseason victory in their 15-year history prior to this season, hope that rookie fireballer Franklin Morales can close out the series.

Morales, who is making just his ninth career start, displayed his inexperience in his first postseason outing on October 2, allowing three runs and three hits in three innings of a 10-5 win over Philadelphia in the NLDS.

The 21-year-old lefthander has never faced the Diamondbacks, something that Hurdle thinks can be an advantage.

"From my history as a hitting coach, when you haven't seen a pitcher before, sometimes it can present some complications or some challenges," he said.

With his team's back against the wall, Arizona first baseman Tony Clark is not ready to concede anything.

"Until that last out is made and they've won four games, I still believe we have an opportunity to win," said Clark, who is 2-for-8 with a double in the series.

Looking to avoid being swept, the Diamondbacks will hand the ball to rookie Micah Owings instead of going with ace Brandon Webb on short rest. Oddly enough, Owings did not face Colorado this season despite the fact that the division rivals played 18 times.

That's something not lost on Rockies' left fielder and NL MVP candidate Matt Holliday.

"It will be a little different because obviously you would think in our division, playing them so much in spring training we would have faced him before," Holliday said.

"But you just try to watch a little more tape maybe more than usual. Maybe look at some tendencies. That's about all you can really do is watch the tape and look for situations where he goes to certain pitches and that's pretty much all we can do."

The 25-year-old Owings went 8-8 with a 4.30 ERA in 27 regular-season starts, and did not have to pitch in the NLDS because the Diamondbacks swept the Chicago Cubs. The righthander will be pretty fresh since he has not started since September 27.

But Owings dismissed the notion that the long layoff would be a factor in his performance.

"First of all, not getting to pitch there (in Chicago), that was a good thing," Owings said. "But I'm just happy to be here. I'm going to go out and do the best I can, put my team in position to win and just take advantage of it and enjoy it."

Arizona, which has scored just four runs in the first three games, may benefit the most from having Owings' bat in the lineup. He is the only player on the Diamondbacks' roster hitting over .300 and has four homers with 15 RBI this season.

"He definitely brings a different dynamic to the game," manager Bob Melvin said. "They throw him breaking balls right away. They pitch to him like a hitter right away, and he responds. He gives us an added dynamic when he's in the lineup to having nine hitters."

Arizona has been outscored 12-4 and left 24 runners on through the first three games, and Melvin acknowledged that is not good enough.

"The amount of runs that we are putting up in three games are not going to win you very many," Melvin said. "We're going to have to score some runs (on Monday), give us a chance to win the game."