Toronto @ Colorado preview
Coors Field
Last Meeting ( Jun 24, 2007 ) Colorado 0, Toronto 5
The league's top home run-hitting team visits one of baseball's most homer-friendly parks Friday night, which seems like bad news for the home side.
But the Colorado Rockies aren't concerned. They have Ubaldo Jimenez on their side.
Fireballer Jimenez looks for his major league-leading 12th victory of the season as the Rockies welcome the Toronto Blue Jays to Coors Field for a three-game interleague series. The teams have faced off in three previous series, with the home team sweeping each one.
Toronto won two of those series, but capturing a third will be a tough task. They'll open against a pitcher that has amassed an 11-1 record with a minuscule 0.93 ERA through 87 1/3 innings.
And those aren't the only obscene numbers Jimenez brings to the table.
The 6-foot-4 right-hander has allowed just two home runs all season, despite pitching in one of the most charitable hitters' stadiums around. He has held opponents to a collective .176 batting average, and hasn't allowed more than two runs in any start all season. Oh, and he also has a no-hitter to his credit, tossing the first one of the year April 17 against the Atlanta Braves.
He had one of his roughest outings of the season last time out, surrendering two runs on six hits over seven innings of work. He added eight strikeouts as the Rockies edged the Arizona Diamondbacks 3-2.
Given the way the Jays' offense has performed of late, Jimenez is the last guy they want to see.
Toronto is coming off a 3-2 victory over the American League East-leading Tampa Bay Rays, a solid finish to an otherwise forgettable series. The Jays were outscored 21-4 at Tropicana Field, hitting just one homer after belting a league-best 97 over their first 58 games.
Fortunately for Toronto, it has its own mound weapon for today's series opener. Left-hander Ricky Romero (5-2) is coming off an impressive showing against the New York Yankees, where he surrendered two runs in eight innings of a 3-2, 14-inning victory.
The Rockies find themselves in a dogfight in the NL West division. Even though they're sitting at .500 for the season (30-30), they sit fourth in the division, six games back of the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Things don't get much easier in June, with the Rockies squaring off against the Minnesota Twins, the Boston Red Sox and the Los Angeles Angels - teams that are all at or near the top of their divisions.
Meanwhile, struggles in St. Petersburg, Fla., dropped the Jays (34-27) 5 1/2 games back of Tampa and into fourth place in the highly competitive AL East race. The rest of the month offers them little reprieve, either, as they still face matchups with the NL West-runner up San Diego Padres, the Albert Pujols-led St. Louis Cardinals and the always dangerous Philadelphia Phillies.