A Tony Choice
Opting for postseason experience and left-handed power, Arizona manager Bob Melvin will start veteran Tony Clark at first base instead of Conor Jackson in Game 1 on Wednesday night.

The 35-year-old Clark, who played for New York Yankees in the 2004 playoffs, is one of only four Diamondbacks with postseason experience.

“He gives us a lot of things,” Melvin said.

The switch-hitting Clark hit .249 with 17 homers and 51 RBIs this season, and 15 of the homers and 48 of the RBIs came against right-handers. Arizona faces Cubs righty Carlos Zambrano in the opener.

The right-handed Jackson hit .284 with 15 homers and 60 RBIs.

Given a choice of rookie right fielders, Melvin will start Jeff Salazar over Justin Upton. Salazar hit .277 with one homer and 10 RBIs; Upton hit .221 with two homers and 11 RBIs, and struck out once every 3.7 at-bats.

Upton was hit by a pitch on the wrist last weekend at Colorado, but Melvin said an X-ray revealed no damage.

“He’s considerably better today,” Melvin said. “He will take batting practice and so forth, so I don’t think it’s an issue going forward.”

Bad Call
When the Phillies traded outfielder Bobby Abreu to the Yankees last year, general manager Pat Gillick said he didn’t expect Philadelphia to contend again until 2008.

Whoops.

“You guys are going to call me a liar for one game?” Gillick said, getting huge laughs. “If we lost that game Sunday, you might not be sitting here right now and it might be 2008.”

Making The Calls
Bruce Froemming, Gary Darling, Ed Montague and Dale Scott will serve as crew chiefs for the first round of the playoffs.

Froemming, who will retire after this season, will work his 24th postseason series. He’ll be behind the plate for Game 1 of the New York Yankees-Cleveland matchup. Laz Diaz, Ron Kulpa, Fieldin Culbreth, Gerry Davis and Jim Wolf will be on Froemming’s crew.

Scott will handle the Colorado-Philadelphia series. The rest of the umpiring crew will be Jim Reynolds, Chuck Meriwether, Jeff Kellogg, Derryl Cousins and Ed Hickox.

Montague will call the series between the Chicago Cubs and Arizona. Sam Holbrook, Greg Gibson, Mike Everitt, Mike Reilly and Mark Carlson will join Montague.

Darling will be at home plate when the Los Angeles Angels play Boston. His crew will include Dan Iassogna, Brian Runge, Ted Barrett, Tim Tschida and CB Bucknor.

Big Doings In Denver
The start of the Colorado Avalanche’s game Sunday was moved up an hour to accommodate the NL playoffs.

The change will allow local fans to watch the Denver Broncos kick off against San Diego at 2:15 p.m. local time, the San Jose-Avs NHL game at 5 p.m. and Game 3 of the Colorado Rockies’ series against the Philadelphia Phillies at 8 p.m.

“This coming Sunday will be a very special day in Colorado major league sports history and we wanted everyone to be able to attend these three events if they wished to do so,” Avs general manger Francois Giguere said.

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