The upstart Colorado Rockies continue their quest for a World Series berth Thursday night, and chances are they'll need ace pitcher Jeff Francis at or near his best to make it happen.
The Vancouver left-hander gets the assignment at Arizona's Chase Field to open the best-of-seven National League Championship Series against the Diamondbacks (8:37 p.m. ET).
Francis, 26, went a tidy six innings in Game 1 of a NL Division Series against Philadelphia on Oct. 3, but hasn't fared well this season pitching beyond his regular four days rest.
Francis allowed 13 runs in 10 innings over two starts he made with more than five days rest, but shrugged off the current seven-day layoff while addressing reporters Wednesday.
"I think it's a good thing," he said. "I think it's a good time of year to have a few extra days off."
A 17-game winner in the regular season, Francis will oppose reigning NL Cy Young Award winner Brandon Webb, who outpitched the Canadian in a 4-2 Arizona win on Sept. 28.
But Francis has had success at Chase Field, posting a 4-0 record and 3.24 earned-run average in seven lifetime starts there. On May 23, he tossed seven shutout innings against the hometown Diamondbacks.
"I had a good changeup working that day," Francis, who is 7-2 in 14 career starts versus Arizona, told MLB.com. "If [Thursday] comes around, and it's just not as effective as I need it to be, I need to go to something else.
"I can't just go out and try to recreate what I did five months ago. It's gotta be in the moment."
Arizona manager Bob Melvin said Francis has matured as a pitcher in his three-plus years in the majors.
"You can see confidence-wise earlier this season he's taken it to the next level, and an indication, obviously, is his record [17-9] and what he means to those guys."
Francis has meant plenty to the Rockies but so, too, has closer Jose Valverde (major league-leading 47 saves), hitters Todd Helton and Matt Holliday (NL batting champion) and rookie shortstop Troy Tulowitzki (24 home runs, 99 runs scored).
Colorado enters Thursday's contest having won 17 of its last 18 games, including a one-game playoff over San Diego for the NL wild card to earn the franchise's second-ever playoff berth.
"It's been worth the wait," said Rockies manager Clint Hurdle. "Because you don't ever know if you're going to get there. But you gotta have faith."
The Diamondbacks won only 76 games a year ago but defied expectations with an NL-best 90-72 mark to win the West Division despite a league-low .250 batting average.
Solid pitching, led by Webb, timely hitting and a team-oriented approach were keys to their success this season and during a three-game divisional series sweep of the Chicago Cubs.
Eric Byrnes (team-leading 83 runs batted in), Stephen Drew and rookie outfielder Chris Young (32 homers) have been the catalysts.
Webb might be in need of such support, considering he was 0-3 with a 6.47 ERA in five starts against Colorado this season prior to that Sept. 28 outing.
The two teams split their first 16 encounters in 2007 before the Rockies took the final two games of the season series.
Meanwhile, Colorado has added centre-fielder Willy Taveras to their post-season roster in favour of left-handed pitcher Mark Redman. The team also didn't include right-hander pitcher Aaron Cook on the roster.
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Choi leads; Norman, Duval surprise at Open
Korean veteran K.J. Choi was atop the leaderboard Friday after two rounds at Royal Birkdale in Southport, England, but was somewhat overshadowed by the exploits of past British Open champions Greg Norman and David Duval.
Francis making playoff debut for Rockies
Colorado's Jeff Francis will try to avenge a pair of rough starts against Philadelphia when the two teams open Major League Baseball's post-season on Wednesday afternoon.
Contact Us About Us HomeTuesday, January 6th, 2009