PHOENIX – At the top of the Rockies’ lineup tonight, Willy Taveras will star as the leading man in “The Fast and the Curious.”
Taveras, out since mid-September after aggravating a right quadriceps injury, was added to the National League Championship Series roster. Will his leg hold up? How will his timing be offensively? Taveras’ past success against the Arizona Diamondbacks – .286 average, five stolen bases – and the fact that speed rarely has a bad day outweighed any concerns about his near month-long layoff.
“I feel better than I did when I came back from the injury the last time,” Taveras said. “I am ready to be out there again.”
Taveras’ return tweaks the order a bit. Kazuo Matsui, the team’s best hitter in the division series, will move to the second spot with Troy Tulowitzki dropping to seventh to provide protection for Brad Hawpe.
“Willy’s had success career-wise against (Arizona). He matches up well with their three pitchers,” said manager Rockies Clint Hurdle, who briefly considered flip-flopping Matsui and Taveras before junking the idea. “It’s like a comfortable pair of old shoes.”
The Rockies’ roster was interesting as much for who wasn’t on it as who was. In a bit of surprise given his recent progress, Aaron Cook was a noticeable omission. The right-hander threw more than 90 pitches in an instructional game against the Diamondbacks on Wednesday, allowing just one run in seven innings. General manager Dan O’Dowd, however, said there’s a big difference between throwing in front of no fans in Tucson and pitching in the NLCS after a two-month absence.
“That’s the hardest decision that I’ve had to talk through with a player since I’ve been in uniform – because of who he is and what he has become,” Hurdle said. “He’s been here since Day 1 and he’s the guy we gave the ball to on opening day. If this was the regular season, he would be making another rehab start. We felt we would be forcing it.”
Taveras took Mark Redman’s roster spot, leaving Hurdle with a deeper bench. He will go with 11 pitchers for this round and 14 position players. That leaves two left-handed pinch-hitters in Cory Sullivan and Seth Smith and two righties off the bench, Jeff Baker and Ryan Spilborghs.
From his Tower. No one knows the Rockies and Diamondbacks as well Padres GM Kevin Towers. They cost his team a playoff berth. But he’s more happy than bitter, even though his club had an opportunity to erase the Rockies last week.
“I am rooting for both of them. People are going to finally have to give credit to the National League West,” Tower said. “A couple of years ago we were the laughingstock in baseball because we won only 82 games and go in. These are two good teams that are built to last.”
Footnotes. The wild-card Rockies enter the NLCS trying to keep a streak alive. At least one wild-card team has reached the World Series in five consecutive seasons. … This series marks the first NLCS in which two teams from the NL West face each other. … Here are the Rockies’ numbers during their 17-1 streak: .309 batting average, 3.00 staff ERA. … Todd Helton has had a field day at Chase Field this season, batting .469 (15-for-32) with four doubles, one homer, seven RBIs and nine walks.
