World Series in sight

DENVER – The Colorado Rockies were one strike away from not even making the playoffs. Now, they’re one win away from their first World Series.

With a cold rain falling, Josh Fogg shut down Arizona’s bats in his first postseason start and Yorvit Torrealba hit a tiebreaking three-run homer to fuel the Rockies’ 4-1 victory Sunday night in Game 3 of the N.L. championship series.

MVP hopeful Matt Holliday also homered as the wild-card Rockies took a 3-0 lead with their 20th win in 21 games, a streak that has taken Colorado from afterthoughts to the buzz of baseball.

“Tomorrow we’re going to come here just like we have been doing,” Torrealba said. “We’re going to relax, watch TV, and when it’s time to play, we’re going to try to get one more win.”

And not think about their first World Series until then.

“No, no, no, no, I’m not thinking about that,” insisted the face of the franchise, Todd Helton, whose decade of disappointment has disappeared in one of the most incredible winning streaks in baseball history.

“We’re still focused on the task at hand.”

About two weeks ago, the Rockies had no control over whether they’d even make the playoffs.

The San Diego Padres could’ve eliminated Colorado on the final Saturday of the regular season. But Milwaukee’s Tony Gwynn Jr. hit a tying, two-out, two-strike triple off San Diego’s Trevor Hoffman that gave the Rockies a chance.

The next day, Colorado caught the Padres. The night after that, the Rockies beat San Diego in a 13-inning, N.L. wild-card tiebreaker.

Since then, the Rockies have been unbeatable.

Arizona, which has scored just four runs in the series so far, must win four straight times against a Rockies team that is the first since the 1935 Chicago Cubs to win at least 20 of 21 games after Sept. 1, according to Elias Sports Bureau.

They haven’t looked back, sweeping past Philadelphia and taking the first three against Arizona.

They will try to sweep the Diamondbacks today night when Franklin Morales faces Arizona’s Micah Owings in a matchup of rookies who have never faced each other’s teams.

The Rockies, who this season set a major league record for fielding percentage, turned three double plays in the first three innings.

“When you can take the sting out of them early … I think it helped our confidence,” Rockies manager Clint Hurdle said.

The 2004 Boston Red Sox are the only teams to overcome a 3-0 hole to win a best-of-seven series. Boston did it in the ALCS against the Yankees.

“Until they win four and we can’t win four at once. We’ve just got to get one on the board first,” Arizona manager Bob Melvin said. “That’s what we’ve been trying to do all year.”

Torrealba connected in the sixth inning, three pitches after watching one of Livan Hernandez’s trademark “eephus” offerings poke across the plate for a strike – so slow it didn’t register on the scoreboard radar.

After a 60 mph bender that he fought off for a foul, Torrealba hit a fastball 402 feet into the left-field seats, then raced around the bases pumping his fists and hooting and hollering.

Rockies 4, D’backs 1

LOB—Arizona 5, Colorado 9. 2B—Torrealba (1). HR—Torrealba (1), Reynolds (1), Holliday (1). RBIs—Reynolds (1), Holliday (1), Torrealba 3 (4). GIDP—Drew, Ojeda. RLISP—Arizona 1 (Reynolds); Colorado 4 (Holliday, Tulowitzki 2, Torrealba). RMU—TClark. DP—Colorado 3

.

IR-S—Nippert 3-0, Pena 1-0. IBB—off Slaten (Atkins) 1. WP—Slaten. T—3:04. A—50,137.