The two hottest baseball teams in MLB open the Division Series round on Wednesday afternoon as the wild-card Colorado Rockies travel to Philadelphia to take on the NL East champion Phillies.
The Rockies closed the season with 14 wins in 15 games, including an epic rally in Game 163 against the Padres to reach the postseason.
"It's been an incredible run from game 1 to game 163," said Rockies manager Clint Hurdle, whose team began the season 17-25.
Meanwhile, the Phillies, the money line favorite for today's game at WagerWeb.com, closed 16-6 to catapult past the dying Mets and win the NL East on the season's final day.
"No matter what the stakes are, we're never going to quit," Phillies center fielder Aaron Rowand said.
Both teams are sending their aces to the mound - Cole Hamels (15-5, 3.39 ERA) for the Phillies and Jeff Francis (17-9, 4.22 ERA) for the Rockies in Wednesday's opener.
It will be the lineups getting the most attention in this series. Philly trots out Jimmy Rollins, Chase Utley, Ryan Howard, Pat Burrell and Aaron Rowand, while Colorado brings Matt Holliday, Todd Helton, Garrett Atkins, Brad Hawpe and Troy Tulowitzki.
"In their lineup, there doesn't seem like there's a break," said Francis.
Philadelphia scored 892 runs to lead the NL for the second straight year, while Colorado was right behind with 860. The Rockies led the NL with a .280 batting average, while the Phillies ranked second behind Milwaukee with 213 home runs. Both their ballparks rank in the top five for homers.
"I don't think any ballpark is an issue about anything," Phillies closer Brett Myers said. "Yeah, they're hitter-friendly, so they say, but if you go out and think about that, you're just going to choke." Colorado batted .327 as a team and hit 14 homers in going 4-3 against the Phillies this season. However, Game 1 starter Francis was hammered in his two starts against Philly. The left-hander was 0-1 with a 15.12 ERA.
"The two games I faced them, I didn't execute well," Francis said. "It might be a big scoring game, but I'm confident our offense can back us up and take a little of the pressure off me."
Hamels, meanwhile, is 1-0 with a 2.25 ERA in his last three since coming off the disabled last month due to a mild elbow sprain. The 23-year-old left-hander, who was 8-2 in 12 starts at home, has never faced the Rockies.
"For me to succeed, and obviously keep my pitch count down, I have to get some outs and keep them off balance," Hamels said.
Philly's bullpen was a big problem early in the season but has rebounded, while the Rockies' bullpen has been very good of late.
It's the first playoff trip fo the Phillies since 1993 and first for Colorado since 1995.
"There is a lot of common fabric between the two teams," Hurdle said.
The difference in Game 1 could very well be that the Rockies are worn down after that 13-inning win against San Diego. Between that, the travel and Francis' struggles against the Phillies, look for the home side to win Game 1 -- and eventually the series; Philly is -135 to win the series at WagerWeb.com.
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