Melvin prepared to take the heat

DENVER -- Trailing 3-0 in the series, Arizona Manager Bob Melvin stuck by his decision to keep Brandon Webb, the league’s reigning Cy Young Award winner, in the dugout for Monday’s fourth game of the National League Championship Series rather than pitch him on three days’ rest.

“He’s never done it before,” Melvin said of Webb, who led the league with 236 1/3 innings pitched. “The history of it, the volume of work, all those things. I didn’t want to do that to him for all those reasons.”

Still, with the Diamondbacks facing elimination, Melvin conceded his decision was sure to be second-guessed.

“It’s something that’s just part of it,” he said. “The flip side is, we’re not here in the postseason and these decisions aren’t scrutinized. So I’d rather be in this position any day of the week.”

One man who wasn’t questioning Melvin’s strategy was Webb, an 18-game winner during the regular season.

“We talked it over. . . . There’s just factors that have gone into it that really just make it kind of unnecessary,” Webb said. “We’ve got to win four more games anyway. Every one of our starting pitchers is going to have to win a game. I can’t go out there and pitch every game.”

Although Clint Hurdle’s Rockies have dominated Melvin’s team in the postseason, Melvin did better in balloting for the Sporting News Manager of the Year, earning six of 16 votes from rival NL managers to edge out Philadelphia’s Charlie Manuel for the award.

“Because of the fact that it’s voted on by the managers, it’s an honor,” Melvin said. “But for me it ends up being a group award in that you’ve got to have great players, which we do. We have a great coaching staff that prepares the players to play every day, so it’s a credit to them. And a front office that gives us the right tools and players to be successful with.”

Kaz Matsui and Yorvit Torrealba, who went into the postseason with the fewest RBIs in Colorado’s starting lineup, went into Monday’s NLCS game leading all NL players with seven playoff runs batted in each.

For Matsui, the postseason has been a continuation of a breakout regular season after three disappointing years with the New York Mets.

“Maybe he’s a little more comfortable here,” pitcher Jeff Francis said of Matsui, who batted a career-high .288 in his first full season with the Rockies. “I’ve played with teammates who are maybe journeyman types who have played on a lot of different teams and they say how important it is to be comfortable where you are and how much of an effect that can have on your performance.”

Hurdle agreed. “Obviously the environment is much different here,” he said of the second baseman, who came to Colorado in a midseason trade in 2006 and batted .345 in 32 games last summer. “So I think it was just a very good fit at a pivotal time in his career and it’s worked out very well.”

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kevin.baxter@latimes.com