The Arizona Diamondbacks and the Colorado Rockies continued to
impress in the post-season by sweeping their Major League Baseball
first round series over the Chicago Cubs and Philadelphia Phillies
on Saturday.
Livan Hernandez pitched his way out of a jam in the fifth inning
as the Diamondbacks beat the Cubs 5-1 Saturday to win in three
games.
"You try not to think about it. Just take it one series at a
time, one game at a time," Arizona's Chris Young said. "Obviously
we came through and swept the Cubs, but that's not your plan.
"You win the series any way you can and try to find a way and
deal with the celebrations afterwards."
Arizona advances to the National League Championship Series to
face Colorado who beat the Phillies 2-1 Saturday with the help of
Jeff Baker's single and pitcher Ubaldo Jimenez, who carried a
one-hitter into the seventh inning on a breezy night at Coors
Field.
Hernandez escaped trouble throughout his six innings and Chris
Young homered on the first pitch of the game for the Diamondbacks.
Eric Byrnes and Stephen Drew also homered for Arizona.
"He's done it so many times. He's been in this type of situation
before and had an outstanding effort," Arizona manager Bob Melvin
said of Hernandez.
Hernandez, the veteran righthander from Cuba, allowed five hits,
five walks and yielded just one run while leaving eight runners
stranded on base.
He also had help from his infield, which turned four double
plays including a key one in the fifth to blunt a Cubs rally.
The loss was especially troubling for the Cubs, who had trouble
scoring runs and have now gone 100 years without winning a World
Series.
Like fellow starters Brandon Webb and Doug Davis, who pitched
Arizona to victories in the first two contests of this best-of-five
series, Hernandez and the bullpen continued to baffle the Cubs' big
hitters.
After combining for 29 homers in September, Alfonso Soriano,
Derrek Lee and Aramis Ramirez failed to advance nine baserunners in
this series and were a combined six-for-38 with no RBIs and 28
stranded runners for the series.
"We had numerous opportunities, numerous," Chicago manager Lou
Piniella said. "What did we hit into, four double plays? When you
don't score runs and leave a lot of runners on bases, it looks
lackluster, but we gave it our all."
Said Lee, "You can never envision a sweep. We just didn't play
well. They were the better team. They deserve to go on."
The 32-year-old Hernandez - the 1997 World Series MVP who
entered 6-2 with a 3.99 ERA in 10 career post-season games - did
his best pitching in the fifth, when the Diamondbacks had a 3-1
lead.
The Cubs loaded the bases with one out and Hernandez fell
behind, 3-1, in the count to Mark DeRosa. However, Hernandez got
the Cubs second baseman to roll into a double play, silencing the
raucous Wrigley faithful.
Tony Pena took over for Hernandez in the seventh and got Lee to
hit into an inning-ending double play.
Brandon Lyon worked a scoreless eighth and Jose Valverde closed
out the ninth, sparking a wild celebration on the mound after
inducing a game-ending flyout by Soriano.
In Denver, Baker provided the big hit, but it was really an
outstanding performance by the 23-year-old rookie Jimenez that
allowed the Colorado Rockies to reach new heights.
Yorvit Torrealba had two hits and scored the first run for
Colorado, which has won an incredible 17 of 18 games to advance to
the NLCS for the first time in its 15-year history.
(China Daily via AFP October 8, 2007)