Colorado @ Los Angeles preview
Dodger Stadium
Last Meeting ( Aug 21, 2011 ) LA Dodgers 3, Colorado 5
THE STORY: Carlos Gonzalez has been instrumental in the Colorado Rockies' recent surge. The star outfielder looks to keep the club rolling and extend a pair of personal streaks when the Rockies visit the Los Angeles Dodgers for a three-game series that begins Friday. Gonzalez enters with a 12-game hitting streak and a run of nine straight contests with an RBI, while Colorado has won five in a row to climb within 8 1/2 games of the first-place Arizona Diamondbacks in the National League West entering Thursday's off-day. The Dodgers completed a three-game sweep at the St. Louis Cardinals on Wednesday but dropped two of three at Colorado last weekend.
TV: 10:10 p.m. ET, Root Sports (Colorado), Prime Ticket (Los Angeles)
PITCHING MATCHUP: Rockies RH Esmil Rogers (6-2, 6.00 ERA) vs. Dodgers LH Ted Lilly (7-13, 4.58 ERA).
Rogers will be making his ninth start of the season. On Saturday, he surrendered four runs and 12 hits over six innings against Los Angeles but settled for a no-decision in a 7-6 victory. The 26-year-old, who has won four of his last five decisions, is 5-1 in seven games - five starts - on the road this season.
Lilly also did not figure in the decision Saturday as he left the game with a stiff neck after allowing three runs in 4 2/3 innings. The veteran lefthander is winless in four starts and has won just once in seven outings but has yielded three runs or less in his last five. Lilly is 7-2 lifetime against Colorado and 2-0 in three meetings this year.
ABOUT THE DODGERS (60-69): Los Angeles scored 24 runs during its series against the Cardinals while allowing just seven. It was the Dodgers' first three-game sweep at St. Louis since August 1993. Matt Kemp has recorded two hits or more four times and driven in seven runs over his last five games. Kemp, who has 33 stolen bases, is one homer away from becoming the
second Dodger to join the 30/30 club. Raul Mondesi accomplished the feat in both 1997 and 1999. Lilly has held Colorado's Troy Tulowitzki to three hits in 23 career at-bats but has struggled against Gonzalez, who is 5-for-13 with three homers and six RBIs.
ABOUT THE ROCKIES (63-68): Colorado, which has a history of making late-season runs to make the playoffs, are coming off a 7-2 homestand. However, the team has dropped four of its last five on the road. Gonzalez is hitting .288 with eight home runs and 27 RBIs in August. By driving in a run on Friday, he will match the franchise record of 10 straight games with an
RBI set by Vinny Castilla in 2004. The Rockies' hopes of upgrading their rotation were dashed Thursday as the Houston Astros pulled back Wandy Rodriguez off waivers after being unable to complete a trade. Colorado had claimed the lefthander on Tuesday.
FINAL PITCH: "We’ve done it before. If one thing’s in our favor, of all the teams, we’ve been here before. We have to use that to our advantage. It’s still a longshot, but if anybody can do it, it’ll be us." - Tulowitzki on his team's history of late-season runs.