This Day in Phillies History: October 3

Philadelphia Phillies beat writer Todd Zolecki noted in his October 3, 2007 Philadelphia Inquirer articl e, "Here is how long it has been since the Phillies have been in the postseason: An out-of-town sportswriter showed up yesterday at the corner of Broad and Pattison and wondered, 'Where's the Vet?'"

Cole Hamels was taxed by the Phillies on that October afternoon in starting their first playoff game in 14 years against the Colorado Rockies in the National League Division Series.

Hamels struggled, but put together an overall solid performance considering it was his first ever postseason appearance (and of course, we know what he would go on to do the following season.)

He pitched 6.2 innings, allowed three runs on three hits, struck out seven, and walked four.

The Phillies weren't able to get to Colorado starter Jeff Francis until the fifth inning when Aaron Rowand and Pat Burrell hit back-to-back solo homers.

But it wasn't enough to overcome the offensive explosion by the Rockies in the second, begun by a leadoff triple by Todd Helton. It was followed by an RBI-double by Garrett Atkins, a Yorvit Torrealba RBI-single, and a bases loaded walk to Troy Tulowitzki to make it 3-0.

Later, Tom Gordon also surrendered a solo homerun to Matt Holliday in the eighth.

The Rockies held on to the two-run lead to beat the Phillies in Game 1, 4-2. Colorado swept the Phillies 3-0 to advance to the NLCS versus the Arizona Diamondbacks, whom they also swept. The Rockies went on to lose to the Boston Red Sox in the World Series 4-0.

However, the Phillies making it to the playoffs for the first time in over a decade was just as exciting. Zolecki noted, "It still seems a little surreal to be at the Bank in October with the words 'NLDS 2007' painted on the field." And well, here we are longing to see those words again in 2022.

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