Chicago @ Colorado preview

Last Meeting ( Jun 28, 2011 ) Chi. White Sox 2, Colorado 3

THE STORY: Ubaldo Jimenez may be starting to rediscover his 2010 magic after a disastrous start to the season. The underachieving Colorado Rockies can only hope that’s the case. Jimenez takes the hill looking to lead the Rockies back to .500 on Wednesday against the Chicago White Sox. Chicago is seeking to avoid losing a second straight interleague series after winning 17 straight. The White Sox have the right pitcher on the mound. Mark Buehrle has won the most games in interleague play since its inception in 1997.

TV: 8:40 pm. ET, CSN (Chicago), ROOT

PITCHING MATCHUP: Rockies RH Ubaldo Jimenez (3-7, 4.50 ERA) vs. White Sox LH Mark Buehrle (6-5, 3.73).

Jimenez threw a career-high 221 1/3 innings last season and it has clearly had an effect on him in the first half. But he appears to be on the way to righting the ship. He held the powerful Yankees to two runs and four hits in seven innings on Friday for his second straight win. The hard-throwing righthander is 3-2 with a 2.43 ERA over his last five starts. Jimenez, who is 6-1 in his last eight interleague starts, has never faced the White Sox.

Baseball purists have disdain for interleague play, but Buehrle welcomes it with open arms. He is 24-6 with a 3.44 ERA in 39 games – 38 starts – against the National League. The lefthander allowed two runs and five hits in 5 1/3 innings but didn’t factor into the decision in a 3-2 win over the cross-town rival Cubs on Tuesday. This will be Buehrle’s first start against Colorado.

ABOUT THE ROCKIES (39-40): Expected to challenge San Francisco for National League West supremacy, Colorado continues to underachieve. The Rockies haven’t been more than two games over .500 since May 20 and trail the Giants by a season-high 6 ½ games. Tuesday’s 3-2 13-inning win ended a three-game losing streak. It was also their first win in five extra-inning games. Not surprisingly, Ty Wigginton came through with a walk-off RBI single. Wigginton has been one of the Rockies’ hottest hitters, belting six homers in the last 11 games. Wigginton isn’t the only one flashing some power, though. Colorado has hit a major-league best 17 home runs since June 17.

ABOUT THE WHITE SOX (38-42): Like the Rockies, the White Sox have failed to live up to expectations. Chicago has been fighting an uphill battle since a poor start and hasn’t been at .500 since it was 7-7 on April 16. The White Sox were hitting just .168 with runners in scoring positions in 14 games prior to Tuesday’s loss (they went 2-for-7 in that game). Overall, Chicago is hitting just .208 with runners in scoring position. Paul Konerko has been the exception to the rule. The veteran slugger is hitting .383 (36-for-94) with 11 homers and 23 RBIs in the last 25 games. He homered in five straight games earlier this month (June 17-21).

FINAL PITCH: “That was the worst game we played all year long, to me. We don’t take (advantage of) opportunities over and over and over and over.” - White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen, on Tuesday’s 13-inning loss.