Rockies don't need big names to get it done in NLDS

OUTSIDE THE LOOP, it almost looked like one of those white-flag moves that out-of-contention teams make right before the trading deadline in July. Except that the Rockies sent star outfielder Matt Holliday to Oakland last November, shortly after the Phillies popped their corks at the end of the World Series.

A year before that, Holliday finished second in the National League MVP voting. So that left the team with first baseman Todd Helton and, and . . . well, and a bunch of guys few people who don't live in the metro Denver area had heard of.

That much, at least, hasn't really changed. With baseball's postseason beginning today, the Rockies remain the most anonymous of the NL contenders left standing even though they have a premium shortstop in Troy Tulowitzki and a cadre of rising young stars.

The Phillies are the defending world champions with All-Stars dotting the roster. And who ever turns away when Ryan Howard is at the plate?

The Dodgers have Manny Ramirez, always a headline waiting to be written. They have a manager, Joe Torre, making his 14th straight postseason appearance. They have Hollywood glitz.

The Cardinals have Albert Pujols and, coincidentally, Holliday, who came from the A's in a trade. They also have a high-profile manager, Tony La Russa. They, too, have a storied franchise history.

And the Rockies, who face the Phillies in Game 1 this afternoon at Citizens Bank Park, have the 36-year-old Helton, who despite an impressive list of career achievements, has spent his entire career obscured by Mountain Time Zone starts and usually lousy teams.

The reality is, though, that it's not about assembling the biggest names. Even in an individual game like baseball, winning demands teamwork and playing the game right. As a template, consider the Atlanta Braves during their unparalleled run of excellence from 1991 through 2005. They rarely had a player finish high in the MVP voting in those years. All they did was win.

Last weekend in Los Angeles, Rockies general manager Dan O'Dowd talked about the organization's "belief that if you're going to build something, it's got to be built [in such a way] that no one player is more important than the entire team."

He conceded he caught a lot of flak for trading Holliday.