TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Colorado Forces Playoff For NL Wild-Card Berth

ADVERTISEMENT

By ARNIE STAPLETON The Associated Press

Published: October 1, 2007

DENVER - The Colorado Rockies' late-season surge set up one wild finish.

The Rockies will face San Diego in a one-game tiebreaker for the NL wild-card spot tonight, forcing the playoff with a 4-3 win Sunday against the NL West champion Arizona Diamondbacks.

A single by would-be batting champion Matt Holliday set up the Rockies' go-ahead, three-run burst in the eighth inning, then closer Manny Corpas held off Arizona's two-run rally in the ninth for the Rockies' 13th win in 14 games.

San Diego and Colorado will play at Coors Field for the final playoff spot in the majors.

The Padres, who missed a chance to clinch the slot by losing their last two games at Milwaukee, plan to pitch ace Jake Peavy. The Rockies will counter with Josh Fogg, whose tendency to beat other teams' aces of late has earned him the nickname 'Dragon Slayer.'

Momentum is nice, Holliday said, but it won't matter when today's game begins.

'I don't think anything will help us tomorrow other than going out and getting hits off Jake Peavy,' Holliday said. 'Everything's out the window. Tomorrow's one game. Everything in the last two weeks is in the past and now we've got to focus on beating the Padres for a chance to go to the playoffs.'

This will be baseball's first one-game playoff since 1999, when the New York Mets beat Cincinnati 5-0 for the NL wild card.

Holliday went 1-for-3 and is hitting a league-leading .340. He leads Atlanta's Chipper Jones by three points for the batting title - today's playoff counts as a regular-season game, and Holliday will win the crown provided he doesn't go 0-for-5.

Holliday has his mind on matters much more important than that.

'It's not even close. We've got our playoff lives on the line,' said Holliday, who led the league in doubles, hits and total bases and has a chance to leapfrog Ryan Howard today.

Colorado went 71-46 after May 22, when they were 8 1/2 games back in the wild card race.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT