PHOENIX – Brandon Webb said he was making good pitches. Unfortunately, he was throwing them to Rockies hitters.
It’s not like Webb, your basic reigning Cy Young Award winner, can’t beat the Rockies. But he had only defeated them once in four decisions this season going into Thursday night’s Game 1 of the National League Championship Series.
Make it once in five decisions.
Arizona fans, some of whom pelted the field with debris, might tell you a controversial seventh-inning interference call beat the Diamondbacks. But what really beat them was some timely, if not hard, hitting by the Rockies.
This one, a 5-1 Rockies victory, had to hurt Webb the most. And making it more frustrating was that he had some of his best stuff, only to have a handful of hits, including three looping flyballs and one infield dribbler, do him in.
“They had some good luck on their side,” Webb said. “I was making good pitches. They didn’t hit too many hard, but give them credit. They put the ball in play and they hit it where we weren’t. There was nothing I could do about it. It was just bloops over short and second and one down the line that hit the bag. It’s just tough luck.”
But then, he always seems to have tough luck when facing the Rockies. Webb, whose 16 wins earned him the Cy Young in 2006, finished 18-10 this season – 17-7 against the rest of the league, 1-3 vs. the Rockies.
“No doubt, no doubt,” Webb said, when asked if the Rockies were his toughest opponent.
And they’ve only gotten tougher since Webb beat them at Coors Field on the final weekend of the season. Who knew that it would be the Rockies’ only loss in the span of 19 games?
“They’re playing some of the best baseball I’ve seen,” Webb said. “They’re doing it with the bats, doing it with the pitching. … All around, they’re playing good baseball. We’re going to have to put a stop to it (today).”
So, is it daunting, playing a team on a roll for the ages?
“That’s the way the punches are flying right now,” he said. “There’s not a whole lot you can do.
“You’ve just got to go out and try to keep them off the board as much as you can, do your thing and not worry about what they’re doing.”
The Rockies had to win 14 out of 15 to make the playoffs, and now they’ve won four straight after getting there.
“It’s the game of baseball,” D-backs first baseman Conor Jackson said. “Obviously, we thought four days off might be a little better for us. You know, let them cool off a little bit. But it just didn’t happen tonight.”
