Phillies knock out Rockies with ninth-inning rally

DENVER • Put the purple rally towels in the closet, along with the jackets, beanies and gloves. A chilly postseason, filled with offensive breakdowns, pitching struggles and a lot of questionable umpiring, ended Monday for the Rockies in painstaking fashion.

A frenzied, ninth-inning comeback by the defending champion Phillies spoiled late-game heroics that temporarily sparked new life into Rocktober, and Philadelphia beat Colorado 5-4 in Game 4 at Coors Field to win the NL Division Series.

Philadelphia will face the Dodgers in the NL Championship Series beginning Thursday in Los Angeles, while the Rockies, with a franchise-record 92 wins that produced their third playoff berth as the NL wild card, will spend the winter agonizing over too many missed opportunities to count in a 3-1 series defeat.

The Phillies scored three times in the ninth off Huston Street, who stood one strike from sending the Rockies to Game 5 on Tuesday in Philadelphia. With two outs, Street walked Chase Utley to put runners on first and second before Ryan Howard tied the score with a two-run double and Jayson Werth gave the Phillies the lead with an RBI single.

Colorado erased a 2-1 deficit in the eighth — Werth and Shane Victorino hit home runs for Philadelphia, and the Rockies got an RBI single from Troy Tulowitzki during a pitching duel between Ubaldo Jimenez and Cliff Lee — with some nifty base-running from Dexter Fowler and timely hitting from Jason Giambi and Yorvit Torrealba.

Giambi pulled Colorado even with a pinch-hit RBI single off Ryan Madson after Fowler walked and Todd Helton reached on a fielder’s choice, in which Fowler hurdled Utley to avoid a tag and Jimmy Rollins dropped a flip from Utley. Torrealba then lifted Colorado ahead 4-2 with a two-run double into the gap.

After Street’s collapse, Carlos Gonzalez and Helton ripped back-to-back singles against Scott Eyre before Denver native Brad Lidge fanned Tulowitzki for the final out. Phillies players rushed onto the field in celebration, a party that carried into the clubhouse, where champagne, beer and cigars were plentiful. The Rockies’ clubhouse was stunned silent.

“I’m in shock right now,” Street said. “You feel like you let your teammates down. ... We had something special, and we still have something special. That’s what makes it hurt – you feel for each other because you know you had a chance to do something special.”

“We showed a lot of heart,” Helton added. “This is a tough way to go out. ... We thought we were going to pull this out and hop on a plane, but it didn’t work out.”

The Rockies ended the series with a 5.14 ERA and a .254 batting average, including an 0-for-14 effort by Clint Barmes and a combined 11-for-52 effort by Helton, Fowler, Garrett Atkins and Ryan Spilborghs. There also were many controversial calls — a ball that Utley took in the ninth with two strikes would have ended the game.

“Was it a strike, as far as where the strike zone is top to bottom?” Rockies manager Jim Tracy said. “The answer is yes. What I can’t tell is where it was in relation to home plate, looking at it from the side. I can’t tell if the ball was on the plate or off the plate.”

Tulowitzki lamented blown chances down the stretch.

“You have the game in your hands, and then they drop three on you,” he said. “We had an opportunity at the end – that’s all you can ask for.”