Yorvit Torrealba

Colorado manager Jim Tracy took the search for offense against lefthanded pitching to an extreme last night, using catcher Yorvit Torrealba as the No. 5 hitter. It was only the third career start in that spot in the order for Torrealba, a career .255 hitter. The other starts came in July 2003, while he was with San Francisco. Torrealba began play at Coors Field at 1 for 12 lifetime when batting fifth. Tracy based the decision on two factors: Torrealba was 3 for 7 with a homer and two RBIs in the first two games of the National League division series, and the Rockies lack a true No. 5 hitter against lefthanders.

Troy Tulowitzki, Colorado's cleanup hitter, begs to differ on the conventional wisdom about Phillies closer Brad Lidge. Forget those 11 blown saves in the regular season. Lidge can still lock up victories, Tulowitzki said. "His stuff was really good," Tulowitzki said. "I tip my cap to him. You go through ups and downs in this game. I think he's still pretty good. " Tulowitzki spoke from the voice of hard experience. Lidge retired him to finish the Phillies' wins in each of the final two games of the National League division series.

The National League playoff puzzle neared completion yesterday when the Phillies learned they would host the wild card in the first round Wednesday at Citizens Bank Park. So, who is the wild card? Well, it will be one of the two teams that were on the field last night at Dodger Stadium. The race for the NL West title has come down to the final two days of the season between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Colorado Rockies. The teams entered last night's game against each other separated by just a game in the standings.

Cardinals sputtering as playoffs near St. Louis, the first team this season to clinch a division title, has struggled on offense. The NL Central champions are 13-13 in September. They have lost 11 of 17 games. "You can't just turn the light on and off," shortstop Julio Lugo said. "I don't think the light is off. But we have to stay after it. " In 16 games before last night's, the Cardinals were hitting .271 and had managed only 59 runs. In that span, the Cards had drawn 37 walks but had struck out 124 times.

The Colorado Rockies turned the flyout into a weapon. The Rockies tied a major league record with five sacrifice flies in their 16-9 win over visiting Pittsburgh yesterday. "We were talking about it a little bit and we had only 10 going in and we put that play in the offensive handbook today," said Colorado manager Clint Hurdle, who was ejected after a confrontation with home-plate umpire Tony Randazzo, who chest-bumped the manager during the argument. Reliever Ray King also was ejected.

DENVER - When the grounds crew rolled the silver tarp off the field at 8:28 p.m. Eastern time, only a quarter of the stands at Coors Field were filled. By the time 11:41 rolled around, the hearts of 50,137 fans - soaked, cold and covered in plastic ponchos - were overflowing with emotion as the Colorado Rockies moved just one game away from making their first World Series appearance in the 14-year history of the franchise. With temperatures well below 45 degrees, the Rockies kept their hot streak glowing, as they defeated the Arizona Diamondbacks, 4-1, in Game 3 of the National League Championship Series.

Bobby Cox sat in his chair, his postgame victory cigar lit and watched a game on television. Just minutes after he watched Javier Vazquez throw a complete game to keep his Atlanta Braves' flickering wild card hopes alive, Cox was rooting for the St. Louis Cardinals. After Vazquez stifled Washington with a three-hitter in visiting Atlanta's 4-1 victory, Cox had his eyes on the Cardinals-Rockies game. "They need to beat those mountain boys up a little bit," Cox said. But the Rockies won to keep their wild-card lead at 3 1/2 games.

What awaits Manny on the trip back to Boston? Dodger slugger Manny Ramirez will be taking his outsize hairdo and personality back to Fenway Park on Friday for the first time since he left in 2008. And since the Dodgers-Red Sox game will be the day after an emotional Game 7 between Boston's Celtics and Los Angeles' Lakers, the anti-Manny sentiment should be fueled by the "Beat-L.A. " hysteria of Beantown's vocal fanatics. "Never mind Ramirez's eight all-star appearances in 71/2 seasons in Boston, or the two World Series titles he helped bring," wrote Baxter Holmes of the L.A. Times.

Troy Tulowitzki, Colorado's cleanup hitter, begs to differ on the conventional wisdom about Phillies closer Brad Lidge. Forget those 11 blown saves in the regular season. Lidge can still lock up victories, Tulowitzki said. "His stuff was really good," Tulowitzki said. "I tip my cap to him. You go through ups and downs in this game. I think he's still pretty good. " Tulowitzki spoke from the voice of hard experience. Lidge retired him to finish the Phillies' wins in each of the final two games of the National League division series.

Colorado manager Jim Tracy took the search for offense against lefthanded pitching to an extreme last night, using catcher Yorvit Torrealba as the No. 5 hitter. It was only the third career start in that spot in the order for Torrealba, a career .255 hitter. The other starts came in July 2003, while he was with San Francisco. Torrealba began play at Coors Field at 1 for 12 lifetime when batting fifth. Tracy based the decision on two factors: Torrealba was 3 for 7 with a homer and two RBIs in the first two games of the National League division series, and the Rockies lack a true No. 5 hitter against lefthanders.

A clutch home run came from an unlikely source yesterday as the Colorado Rockies beat the Phillies, 5-4, in Game 2 of the National League division series. Catcher Yorvit Torrealba hit a 1-1 hanging curveball off Cole Hamels for a two-run homer to left field in the fourth inning, extending the Rockies' lead to 3-0. The catcher's home-run trot was admittedly rusty. He hit only two this season, and his last one came May 6 against the San Francisco Giants. Torrealba went his final 56 regular-season games plus the first game in this series without breaking out that trot.

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 National League playoff puzzle neared completion yesterday when the Phillies learned they would host the wild card in the first round Wednesday at Citizens Bank Park. So, who is the wild card? Well, it will be one of the two teams that were on the field last night at Dodger Stadium. The race for the NL West title has come down to the final two days of the season between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Colorado Rockies. The teams entered last night's game against each other separated by just a game in the standings.

Bobby Cox sat in his chair, his postgame victory cigar lit and watched a game on television. Just minutes after he watched Javier Vazquez throw a complete game to keep his Atlanta Braves' flickering wild card hopes alive, Cox was rooting for the St. Louis Cardinals. After Vazquez stifled Washington with a three-hitter in visiting Atlanta's 4-1 victory, Cox had his eyes on the Cardinals-Rockies game. "They need to beat those mountain boys up a little bit," Cox said. But the Rockies won to keep their wild-card lead at 3 1/2 games.