Calling on Cole

Most of the Phillies NLDS checklist for Game 2 starter Cole Hamels seems to be in order:,/p>

Cole pitching on four days rest. Check.
Cole harping about early afternoon baseball. Check.
Cole facing the Colorado Rockies. Checkmate?

The Rockies are the only team to beat Hamels in the playoffs, besting him in his first postseason start in 2007. Colorado also racked up Hamels in April during a 10-3 Phillies defeat. Hamels now has a chance for some sweet payback, but he'll have to overcome a rocky (not Rockie) finish to a 10-11 season.

"I know my teammates know what I'm capable of doing. I know what I'm capable of. It's just a matter of being able to repeat what I can do best, and that's going out there and trying to set the tone early," said the Phils 2008 stopper.

Phils manager Charlie Manuel doesn't seem to be sweating Hamels' recent travails.

"I think he's one of the top pitchers in baseball. He can pitch any game for me that he wants," the skipper said. Such confidence would seem to be well-founded since his choice of Game 1 winner Cliff Lee made Manuel look like Baby Einstein.

Hamels will now try to match Lee and shut down a Colorado offense that appears to have left their bats back in Denver. Sinkerballer Aaron Cook starts Game 2 for the Rockies. Lifetime, he's 1-5 with a 6.02 ERA against the Phils.