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Jeff Francis held the league's highest-scoring team in check, and the Colorado Rockies took advantage of one shaky inning by Cole Hamels to beat the Philadelphia Phillies 4-2 in Game 1 of their NL playoff series Wednesday.
With the two highest-scoring clubs in the league playing in two of the most hitter-friendly ballparks in the majors, this series figured to have plenty of offense.
Instead, the teams combined for six runs and 10 hits in the opener. Several hitters had trouble seeing the ball because of the late-afternoon shadows at Citizens Bank Park.
"It was tough," said Todd Helton, who tripled and scored Colorado's first run in the second inning. "If you got a hit after the first inning, you deserved it."
Garrett Atkins followed Helton's triple with an RBI double that gave the Rockies a 2-0 lead. He didn't feel too comfortable at the plate, either.
"I wouldn't mind if there was a cloud cover," he said.
Colorado posted its second playoff victory (the first was in 1995), and won for the 15th time in 16 games.
Matt Holliday, his chin still scraped up from his face-first slide that put the Rockies in the playoffs, hit a solo home run.
Francis pitched six effective innings and stayed out of big trouble, mostly by shutting down the Phillies' top hitters.
Chase Utley, Ryan Howard and Jimmy Rollins combined to go 0-for-11 with eight strikeouts. Utley, a .332 hitter, struck out four times for the second time in his career.
"Francis was way better than the other times I've seen him," Phillies manager Charlie Manuel said.
Francis' lone problems came in the fifth when Aaron Rowand and Pat Burrell hit consecutive homers.
The left-hander gave up four hits and struck out eight. Once the 17-game winner departed, three relievers pitched three hitless innings, with Manny Corpas closing for a save.
"It isn't going to be as high-scoring as you think," Rowand said. "It's hard to see with the shadows."
Francis used a mix of off-speed pitches to keep a potent lineup off-balance and improve to 9-0 in day games this season. The 26-year-old lefty had a 15.12 ERA against the Phils this season.
"I'm always aware of my success or nonsuccess I have against teams," Francis said. "Today, my execution was better."
Game 2 is Thursday afternoon -- which could mean more shadows -- with rookies Kyle Kendrick and Franklin Morales taking the mound.
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Kendrick (10-4) made the jump from Double-A to bail out Philly's depleted staff in June. Morales (3-2) made eight starts for Colorado, which lost three starters to season-ending injuries.
Despite the support of a rally towel-waving sellout crowd -- the crowd of 45,655 was the second-largest total in the four-year old park
-- the NL East champion Phillies came out flat.
Or, maybe Francis was just that sharp, especially the first four innings.
Rowand hit an opposite-field shot to right in the fifth. Burrell followed with a towering drive that just cleared the left-field wall to cut it to 3-2.
But Francis worked out of a two-out jam to preserve the one-run lead, retiring Shane Victorino on a grounder with two runners on.
LaTroy Hawkins pitched a scoreless seventh and Brian Fuentes worked the eighth before Corpas finished.
Holliday, the MVP candidate, gave the Rockies an insurance run when he hit Tom Gordon's pitch into the seats for a 4-2 lead in the eighth.
Hamels, the 23-year-old All-Star lefty, was outstanding except for one inning. Making his first career start against the Rockies, he allowed three runs and three hits in 6 2-3 innings.
Hamels uncharacteristically walked four and fanned seven. He kept his cool after walking Troy Tulowitzki on a 3-2 pitch to force in Colorado's third run, and retired the next 13 batters.
"Their game plan outplayed my game plan," Hamels said.
The Phillies' first postseason game since Joe Carter's homer won the World Series for Toronto in 1993 left this championship-starved city disappointed once again. At least they won't have to wait 14 years for another playoff game.
Notes: Both teams needed strong finishes just to get here. Aided by the Mets' historic collapse, the resilient Phillies went 13-4 to overtake New York for good on the final day. ... The Rockies were even better down the stretch, going 14-1 to erase a 4 1/2-game deficit in the wild-card race and beating San Diego in a one-game playoff in 13 innings after rallying from two runs down against closer Trevor Hoffman. ... Colorado's only other playoff win was on Oct. 6, 1995. The Rockies, then a third-year franchise, beat Atlanta 7-5 to temporarily avoid elimination.
[Associated Press;
by Rob Maaddi]
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This
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