The 6-foot-5 lefthander struck out Ryan Howard to lead off the second for his fourth K in a row, the most in a postseason game since Curt Schilling struck out five Atlanta Braves in Game 1 of the 1993 National League Championship Series at Veterans Stadium.
"I think it was good for all of us," Francis said after working six innings and picking up the win in the Rockies' 4-2 victory.
"It's not that I was out there to strike people out, but that's kind of the way it went with the first four batters. I was making some good pitches with two strikes and I think it kind of set us on a good roll."
It was quite a difference from Francis' last trip to the mound at the Bank on Sept. 13. He worked just 31/3 innings and allowed eight earned runs, swelling his 2007 season ERA against the Phillies to 15.12 (14 earned runs in 81/3 innings).
Obviously, the Canadian-born lefty did not allow any negative thoughts to enter his mind. He said the key was throwing strikes early in the count.
"I think I'm always aware of the successes I've had or not had against teams," he said. "You know it's there and you try not to let it get to you because you know it's just a matter of execution. Today I stayed ahead in the count for the most part."
Francis struck out eight, getting Utley and Howard on strikes five times combined. His only stumbles came when Aaron Rowand and Pat Burrell socked back-to-back home runs to lead off the fifth, but he got out of the inning without any further damage.
"He did a great job again," Rockies third baseman Garrett Atkins said. "But it's not a surprise to us. He's been pitching great for the last four months of the year and been our most clutch pitcher and our best pitcher the whole year."
Francis had all three of his pitches working - fastball, curve and change-up. He threw almost twice as many strikes as balls (62-32) and often was ahead of opposing batters.
"He was throwing strikes with all his pitches, keeping the ball down in the zone," said Utley, who struck out in all four of his plate appearances. "He pitched well. He was keeping us guessing up there."
"He was dealing," Howard added.
Francis' performance enabled the Rockies to get the jump in the best-of-five series with their 15th victory in the last 16 games. It came less than 48 hours after Colorado's exhausting 13-inning victory over San Diego in the wild-card playoff and a red-eye flight to Philadelphia.
Francis, who set the tone yesterday, said energy was not a problem.
"We've had the same energy we've had every day for the last 21/2 weeks," he said. "I think we are going to try to keep that energy level high throughout the whole thing. We come out, we're confident, and that's about it."
Contact staff writer Joe Juliano at 215-854-4494 or jjuliano@phillynews.com.
