RON CORTES / Staff photographer
Carlos Gonzalez beats the throw to Carlos Ruiz and scores Rockies' first run of the game.
Video: NLDS Game 2 recap- Phillies Zone: Moyer hospitalized with blood infection
- Win has Rockies thinking positively about future
- Game 3 promises to give teams - and fans - cold feet
- Ibanez coming to life for Phillies in the postseason
- Phillies fans can do better than towels
- Phillies Notebook: Denver's unpredictable weather could play havoc with series
- Police: Thief of 3 World Series rings made capture easy
- Martinez ready if named Game 3 starter
- Who will Phillies' Game 3 starter be?
- Highs and woes at the ballpark
- Phillies fans beat Rockies in Game 1 TV ratings
- Highs and woes at the ballpark
- Bill Conlin: Phillies' manager's moves could go down in infamy
- Phil Sheridan: Phillies' offense betrayed Manuel
- Phillies Notes: Free-agent solution to Utley burnout?
- Few closer problems for Rockies
- Rockies were ready for Hamels
- Sam Donnellon: Phillies' manager Manuel was just playing to win
- As Hamels pitches, wife goes into labor
- Manuel gambles with Phillies starters
- Bob Ford: Manuel on using Blanton, Happ: 'Trying to win'
- Rich Hofmann: For Phillies' Hamels, it was a day of expectations
- Paul Hagen: Rockies like their position heading home, tied 1-1
- Phillies-Rockies: Big Play X-ray
- LIFE'S A PITCH
- Pattison Avenue freeze out: Bruce Springsteen and his band close down the Spectrum
- Broad Street Billy: Home games are foam games
- Rockies fueled by unlikely power source
- Rockies fans weather icy reception at Phillies game
- Bruised Happ: 'I'm OK'
- Phillies bullpen regulars take moves in stride
- LIFE'S A PITCH
- Sam Donnellon: Phillies' manager Manuel was just playing to win
- Bill Conlin: Phillies' manager's moves could go down in infamy
- Rich Hofmann: For Phillies' Hamels, it was a day of expectations
- Ibanez coming to life for Phillies in the postseason
- Phillies-Rockies: Big Play X-ray
- Phillies Notebook: Denver's unpredictable weather could play havoc with series
- Phillies-Rockies: Talking points
- Phillies fans beat Rockies in Game 1 TV ratings
- Paul Hagen: Rockies like their position heading home, tied 1-1
- Who will Phillies' Game 3 starter be?
- Highs and woes at the ballpark
- Game 3 promises to give teams - and fans - cold feet
- Dodgers lead series, 2-0, after Holliday's blunder
- Yankees' Girardi comfortable with Molina behind the plate
- Hunter homers, Lackey pitches Angels to series lead vs. Boston
- Tigers GM stands by Cabrera
- 3 WINNERS
- High Cheese
- GALLERY: 2009 Phillies
- GALLERY: 2008 World Series champs
- PDF: Seating at Citizens Bank Park
- PDF: Schedule
- PDF: Ticket prices and sales
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Paul Hagen: Rockies like their position heading home, tied 1-1
SOMETIMES a cigar is just a cigar. Sometimes a loss is just an isolated defeat.
Sometimes, though, it's a lot more.
The Phillies were beaten by the Rockies in Game 2 of their National League Division Series yesterday afternoon at Citizens Bank Park. Could turn out to be just a bump in the road. Could even turn out to be a wake-up call for a team that occasionally seems to believe nobody would have the audacity to beat it.
But manager Charlie Manuel talked a lot in the waning days of the regular season about how important home-field advantage would be once the playoffs started.
The Phillies had that edge on the wild-card Rockies when the NLDS started. But after splitting the first two games, it has suddenly swung to Colorado. Two of the final three games are scheduled for Coors Field, beginning tomorrow night, weather permitting.
And that's more than just a passing concern for the defending world champions, who lost at home for the first time after eight straight postseason wins.
Coors Field, with its mile-high altitude and spacious outfield, is unlike any other park in baseball. The Rockies are almost always highly successful there. Their 51-30 home record was second only to the Giants' during the regular season. And they were 43-17 after Jim Tracy took over as manager in late May.
It's true that the Phillies led the NL with 48 road wins in 2009. It's also a fact that the bulk of that success was achieved early in the year. In the final 2 months of the schedule, for example, they were a pedestrian 16-17 away from their familiar surroundings.
"Definitely, this was a big game for us," said Rockies Game 2 starter Aaron Cook. "Anytime you can go back to your home field tied, it's always huge. The crowd was really into it today, and that's something we're going to have on our side going back . . . playing in Coors Field and the momentum and the crowd in Denver."
Added catcher Yorvit Torrealba: "Going back, it was our goal to win at least one game here, and we did that. It's huge, because we've been playing really well at home, especially lately."
Throw in the fact that Manuel used two of his potential Game 3 starters, Joe Blanton and J.A. Happ in relief yesterday, and one thing is certain. The Phillies have an uphill climb ahead of them if they hope to repeat.
Battle of the bullpens
The Rockies' basic approach coming into the NLDS was pretty simple. They knew that, on paper, they were at a disadvantage because they didn't have any lefthanded starters to use as an antidote to Chase Utley, Ryan Howard and Raul Ibanez. They also knew that their hitters hadn't been too successful against lefthanders and that Cliff Lee and Cole Hamels were lined up to start the first two games against them.
But they also thought that, if it came down to a battle of the bullpens, the pendulum would swing in their direction, since the Phillies have an unsettled situation at closer and are without the injured J.C. Romero and Chan Ho Park.
The first two games haven't proved the case either way. Cliff Lee pitched a complete game for the Phillies in the opener. Yesterday, each team got four innings out of its bullpen and each gave up one run.
The Rockies were in position to do more damage, loading the bases with nobody out in the seventh and with one out in the eighth, but settling for one run. The Phillies' only score off the Colorado bullpen came on a Jayson Werth home run off Rafael Betancourt in the eighth.
Did you notice
* That with an announced first-pitch temperature of 70 degrees, Phillies starting pitcher Cole Hamels came out with long sleeves, while Rockies righthander Aaron Cook opted for short sleeves?
