updated 3:05 a.m. ET Oct. 7, 2007

DENVER - Philadelphia’s first trip to the playoffs in 14 years ended in a power outage.

The NL’s highest-scoring team in the regular season sputtered once the playoffs started, leading to a quick and dismal sweep at the hands of the Colorado Rockies in the NL division series.

Handcuffed by Colorado’s young but effective pitching staff and maybe feeling a little squeeze from the spotlight of postseason baseball, the Phillies’ late-season charge ended with a screeching halt in a 2-1 loss to the Rockies on a strange, gusty Saturday night in the Mile High City.

“This is the first taste we’ve gotten of playoff baseball and we were a little tight,” Phillies manager Charlie Manuel said. “I wouldn’t call it pressing. I would say we were anxious, like we wanted it too bad or were trying too hard.”

Led by MVP candidate Jimmy Rollins and All-Stars Ryan Howard and Chase Utley, the Phillies overcame a rough start to the season to track down the New York Mets, winning 13 of their final 17 games to take the NL East crown on the final day of the season.

But just when it looked like Philadelphia might have a chance to end its tortured quest for a championship, the Phillies’ bats went silent at the worst possible time — in two of baseball’s most hitter-friendly parks, no less. That led to their first postseason sweep since the 1976 NL championship series against Cincinnati.

After scoring 292 runs (5.5 per game) during the regular season, Philadelphia managed just eight against Colorado’s young pitching staff. The Phillies didn’t come close to their .274 average during the season, either, going 16-for-93 (.172) with 26 strikeouts during the series.

“We just didn’t hit,” said Aaron Rowand, who was 3-for-12 with four strikeouts in the series. “You can ask all the questions you want — we just didn’t hit.”

The worst of it came in Game 3, when the lights went out at Coors Field and on Philadelphia’s season. After a brief surge in Game 2, the Phillies were flat in the finale, managing a run and three hits, putting just two runners in scoring position.

“The way our staff was able to pitch to the top five of that Philly lineup was special,” Rockies manager Clint Hurdle said. “That’s as good a lineup as you’ll face every day. We don’t want to face them anymore. Three games was enough.”

It was a surprising conclusion for a team with so many stars.

Rollins never really got going at the plate or on the bases, going 2-for-11 with one stolen base. Howard, last year’s NL MVP, hit a homer in Game 2, but had two hits in his 11 other at-bats and struck out seven times. Utley struck out five times, going 2-for-11 in the series.

And when the Phillies needed them the most, the trio couldn’t come through, combining for one hit in nine at-bats, each striking out twice in Game 3 at Coors Field, typically one of the easiest places to hit.

“I honestly believe it would have taken one inning for us, one at-bat, one sequence for us to turn this thing around,” said Game 3 starting pitcher Jamie Moyer. “Coming into this ballpark, if we would have won tonight I think we would have won the series.”

But that one moment never came, sending the Rockies into their clubhouse to spray champagne while the Phillies walked off in disgust, extending a sports-mad city’s misery for yet another year.

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