After 163 game regular season October playoff baseball is finally here.

Though we traditionally keep to Fantasy Baseball/Football around these parts, we’d like to offer some commentary on the upcoming series’.  In case you missed our commentary on the Cardinals/Dodgers series, you can find it here.

At first glance, the series, which pits the Colorado Rockies against the defending World Series Champion Philadelphia Phillies, offers a little less intrigue than the  Dodgers/Cardinals series.

But the Rockies have surprised us before.

Colorado came into the 2007 postseason as baseball’s hottest team and rode that momentum all the way to the World Series before finally succumbing to the Red Sox.

Again, the Rockies are playing their best baseball heading into October and manager of the year candidate Jim Tracy has alot to do with that. Todd Helton, Clint Barmes and Troy Tulowitzki have had an unbelievable turnaround since former Rockies’ manager Clint Hurdle was deposed in late May.

That turnaround is not limited to the lineup, with pitcher Jorge de la Rosa starting the season 0-6, (on June 16 he was 2-7 with 5.81 ERA) and since has 14-2 record with a 3.52 ERA.

Ubaldo Jimenez, Jason Marquis, Jason Hammel and Aaron Cook all have kept the Rockies in games, while closer Hudson Street rebounded from early season struggles to compile 34 saves, with only one blown.

Veteran lefty Joe Beimel and rookie Matt Daly round out the bullpen—which is important against the left-heavy Philly lineup.

Anyone who has watched the season unfold recognize that the Rockies have crawled up from the bottom to nearly snatch the NL West from the Dodgers,  but one question remains.

Does momentum trump talent?

That is the key question as they head into Philadelphia to take on the Phillies’ devastating lineup.

2008 AL Cy Young lefty Cliff Lee gets the game 1 start and 2008 World Series MVP lefty Cole Hamels starts game 2. The Phillies can then bring rookie J.A. Happ, 11-4 2.79 ERA or Joe Blanton 12-7 3.95 ERA to face the Rockies in Game Three.

The heart of the Phillies order, including Ryan Howard, Jason Werth, Raul Ibanez, Chase Utley all have over 30 home runs and 90 RBI.

Those sluggers also benefit from Jimmy Rollins and Shane Victorino on the basepaths. These two, specifically, do the “little things” that successful teams need to do to win.

Those two strengths are offset by one HUGE weakness, the Phillies’ bullpen.

After a perfect season last year, with not one blown save in the regular season or post season,  Brad Lidge is having a nightmare 2009. Lidge is no longer the Phillies’ closer role after 11 blown saves, 7.51 ERA and a 0-8 record in the regular season.

I’m not sure even Phillies’ Manager Charlie Manuel knows who he will use in the late innings.

Ryan Madson, Pedro Martinez, J.C. Romero, Brett Myers are candidates, with Happ being mentioned as a “temporary” closer.

The Rockies have an enormous moutain to climb to take this series, even with the bullpen struggles of the Phillies. I just dont think Colorado has enough.

The pick is Philadelphia.

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