Rockies-Padres Preview

The Colorado Rockies and San Diego Padres met last October in a thrilling one-game playoff for the National League's wild card. An amazing 13-inning victory sent the Rockies on a path that eventually led to the World Series.

The two teams face off for the first time since that October night in the opener of a three-game series in San Diego on Tuesday.

The Rockies went on an incredible surge to close out the regular season, winning 14 of their final 15 games to set up a one-game playoff at Coors Field against the Padres on Oct. 1. San Diego went ahead 8-6 in the top of the 13th, but Colorado scored three times in the bottom half to secure its spot in the postseason.

"It was definitely amazing -- something that 20 years from now, I'm still going to remember that game," catcher Yorvit Torrealba told the Rockies' official Web site. "It was amazing. It was crazy."

The hero of that game was Matt Holliday, who slid headfirst into home plate on a sacrifice fly to score the game-winning run. The left fielder said what happened last season is irrelevant heading into this series.

"I hadn't even thought about it, one thought," he said. "We've got bigger fish to fry than thinking about last year."

San Diego said it's moved on as well.

"The minute the umpire called (Holliday) safe," first baseman Adrian Gonzalez told the Padres' official Web site when asked how soon he was able to move past the tough loss.

Both teams have gotten off to slow starts this season, especially the defending NL champs, who lost five of their first six games. The Rockies (5-7) avoided being swept by Arizona over the weekend, winning 13-5 on Sunday as Holliday, Clint Barmes and Garrett Atkins all homered in the team's highest scoring game of the season.

Colorado had scored a combined five runs in the first two games of the series, and had scored more than three runs just twice in the 11 games prior to Sunday. Despite their slow start, however, manager Clint Hurdle doesn't believe things are grim for the Rockies.

"There is no must-wins in April," Hurdle said. "We've been around the block a couple times. Now we're a good team ... We've just got to play like we're capable of playing."

Colorado will send Ubaldo Jimenez (1-1, 4.91 ERA) to the mound on Tuesday to start the series. Jimenez allowed three runs and six hits in six innings of a 4-3 win over Atlanta last Tuesday.

The right-hander is 1-0 with a 2.08 ERA in two starts against the Padres (7-6).

Randy Wolf (0-0, 2.25) will counter for San Diego. Wolf has pitched well in both of his 2008 starts, but hasn't received much support. San Diego has combined to score just three runs in those outings.

Wolf allowed two runs and five hits in six innings last Tuesday in an 11-inning 3-2 loss to San Francisco. He is 3-1 with a 4.19 ERA in seven career starts against the Rockies, but hasn't faced them since 2004.

The Padres won two of three against the Los Angeles Dodgers over the weekend, including a 1-0 victory on Sunday. San Diego held the Dodgers to five hits and Paul McAnulty drove in a run with a sac fly in the fourth.

The Padres haven't won back-to-back games since opening the season with two wins over Houston.

Colorado won 11 of the 19 meetings against the Padres last season, going 5-4 at Petco Park.