Home Run Derby

The 2007 MLB Playoffs start off with a matchup of two teams who have been on fire during the latter half of September. 

Not to mention a matchup of the 2006 National League MVP (Ryan Howard) against the likely 2007 NL MVP (Matt Holliday).

This matchup looks to be the most fun of the four Divisional series from an offensive standpoint.  

• The Colorado Rockies, who fought against elimination seemingly every night for the last week of the season by finishing 14-1 (including Monday night’s dramatic 13-inning victory that was a 163rd game) to clinch the NL Wild Card berth.
• The Philadelphia Phillies, who came back from 6 1/2 games down with two weeks to go by finishing 13-4 to steal the NL East Championship.  Special thanks go the the Mets (without their collapse, none of this would have been possible).

National League stats:  No one scored more runs than Philly (892) and Colorado (860).  Colorado had the highest batting average (.280) while Phily was sixth (.274).  Philly had the highest slugging percentage (.458) and 2nd most Home Runs (213) in the NL.  They rank 1-2 in OPS (PHI – .812, COL -.791).  Each team stole 100 base, the Phillies were #2 with 138.

Check out this collection of hitters …

The Phillies  

Did I mention that the pitching staffs aren’t going to shut anyone down?  Philadelphia ranked 13th of 16 in NL ERA (4.73) while Colorado ranked 8th (4.32).  

Throw in the fact that this series will be played at the offense-friendly ballparks of Coors Field and Citizens Park Park (Coors Light) and this should be a barnburner of a series.  There is no truth to the rumor that every fan in the outfield will be presented with a home run ball.

The Rockies won the season series 4-3, taking two of three at Coors while splitting a four game series in Philly.  Colorado outscored Philly 32-29 over the seven games and won a 1-0 game in Philly.

Prediction:  ROCKIES  in 4.  The Phillies have more MLB experience, but their pitching staff should give Philly Phans the willies when they’re not pitching against the likes of the Cardinals and Nationals. 

The Rockies have been playing playoff-caliber baseball the past 15 games just to stay alive in the NL West.  They went 2-1 and 4-0 against NL West contenders Arizona and San Diego and swept seven games from the Dodgers.  No one has been playing better baseball of late.

And besides, the Rockies seem to be the team of destiny.  They’ve even got the umpires on their side.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 3rd, 2007 at 9:42 am and is filed under 2007 MLB Playoffs, Phillies, Rockies. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.