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KRIEGER: Kid Rocks on historic roll

By Dave Krieger, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published October 15, 2007 at midnight

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Let's walk away from the punch bowl and be honest for just a moment: It is not supposed to be this easy.

Either the kid Rocks are the modern day equivalent of the Big Red Machine, the last team to start the postseason with six straight wins, or they are facing oddly docile opposition.

They are similar to the 1976 Reds in one respect: The Rocks have a host of famous hitters and a largely unknown cast of hurlers.

So the most stunning stat of the National League Championship Series so far is this: Through three games, the Rocks have an ERA of 1.24.

That has to surprise even them. Doesn't it?

"I don't think anything surprises us," Josh Fogg said with a smile after befogging the Diamondbacks for the second postseason win of his career, giving up seven hits in six innings but just a single run.

"I think we expect to go out and do what we do. People may say this staff's not the hardest throwing, not the most flashy staff, but we go out there and try to get results. That's what we've done all year.

"We try to go out there and if we can keep them to one less run than we have, that's the goal. It doesn't matter if it's 9-8 or 1-0. Our job's to go out there and hold them for as long as we can."

The Rocks had the NL's best ERA after the All-Star break, so it would be a mistake to call this a fluke. Still, 1.24?

"It's kind of been the theme of the series so far, is they've gotten that one big hit where we haven't," said Diamondbacks manager Bob Melvin.

The best illustration of the mojo the Rocks have used to win an astounding 20 of their last 21 games came in the top of the first. In the cold, misting rain that fell all night, Arizona's Chris Young and Stephen Drew led off the game with consecutive singles.

That brought Eric Byrnes to the plate, the Diamondbacks outfielder who said between Games 2 and 3 that his team had outplayed the kid Rocks during the first two games but the Rocks had luck on their side.

Byrnes ripped the ball back up the middle.

"I never saw it," Fogg said. "It ended up in my glove. It's reaction. It just hit me in the glove and I turned around and saw the guy was off second so I flipped it over there. Chance of a triple play, I was hoping for that, but we didn't get it."

Shame, that, but the double play did the trick.

"That's not one we work on a lot," manager Clint Hurdle said dryly.

It was just another letdown for the NL West champs. Again in the second, they put together consecutive singles. Again, Fogg induced a double play, this one of the more conventional variety.

Asked what he was thinking after giving up four hits to the first seven batters, Fogg grinned.

"I got to get a groundball here eventually," he said. "I got to get a ball hit to Tulo somewhere. That's the goal. Let them hit it to Tulo and let him work his magic."

Which is, naturally, what happened. Shortstop Troy Tulowitzki pulled a basketball spin move getting around Arizona's sliding Miguel Montero on the double play that got Fogg out of the second.

When the bullpen took over in the seventh, it was again outstanding. Three scoreless innings from Jeremy Affeldt, Brian Fuentes and Manny Corpas put the 'pen's series totals at one run in 11 1/3 innings, an ERA of 0.79.

As impressive as the Rocks' pitching and defense have been, it is worth noting that the Diamondbacks ranked last in the National League during the regular season in batting (.250), batting from the seventh inning on (.240) and batting with runners in scoring position (.249).

They were 0-for-3 in Game 3 in that last category, which makes them 2-for-17 (.118) in the series.

You can certainly understand Byrnes' frustration. For all the D-backs' struggles, they are still out-hitting the Rocks in the series, .248 to .231. But you aren't going to win very often scoring four runs in three games.

However you apportion the responsibility, the Rocks now have a prohibitive 3-0 lead in the best-of-seven League Championship Series.

"Didn't they used to do (the LCS) in a best of five?" Matt Holliday asked. "It would be even better if this was a best-of-five."

Yes, that would make two series sweeps in a row, but that could still be in the offing tonight.

Either way, the kid Rocks are one win from the World Series.

"This is why we play the game," Fogg said. "This is why we're here. A lot of people didn't believe that we would get here, but you ask the 25 guys in this locker room, I bet you everybody says they never doubted it for a second."

Maybe not, but that doesn't change this simple fact: We are witnesses to one of the most amazing runs in baseball history.