Last time the Dodgers came to Coors Field, they dropped 2 of 3 games and gave Rockies fans all sorts of hope that 2012 might not be terribly awful. Since then, they got even better, to the point where even after a 4-game sweep by the Milwaukee Brewers, the Dodgers STILL have the best record in baseball. That's a bit scary. Then again, their pitching is very good. Still, 4 game sweep.
Eric Stephen of True Blue LA had this to say about the sweep:
To recap the series, the Dodgers scored all of eight runs in four games, they got swept in a four-game series at home for the first time in 19 years, and to a team that was 19-28 entering Monday. And to top that all off, the Dodgers lost their best player for a month.
Other than that, how was the play, Mrs. Lincoln?
But fear not, Rockies fans, for the ghosts of the Blake Street Bombers still haunt the plate in Coors Field, and the Rockies are swinging with the best of them right now. Over the past 14 days, the Dodgers are posting a park adjusted 116 wRC+ (meaning they are batting 16% better than the MLB average) and the Rockies a 114 wRC+.
The upside for Colorado is that Matt Kemp is out for the next 4 weeks with continued hamstring injury. The downside is that Colorado is losing Troy Tulowitzki for a 15 day DL stint.
But Dodger bats have been making up for the loss of their MVP candidate. Over those same 14 days, Andre Ethier (194 wRC+), Bobby Abreu (201 wRC+), AJ Ellis (138 wRC+), and Jerry Hairston Jr. (232 wRC+) have been making up for lost offensive production. Their pitching has been far from shabby as well, led by Chris Capuano's 1.38 ERA, as well as competent (if not downright good) pitching from Clayton Kershaw, Aaron Harang, and Chad Billingsley. Luckily, the Rockies will be missing Kershaw in this upcoming series, but we will be seeing Capuano, Harang, and Nathan Eovaldi.
This could be a good opportunity for the Rockies to utilize some momentum against the Dodgers' negative momentum and see if we can maybe make some ground up in the NL West. I'm not entirely counting on it, but there's no reason why we can't take 2 of 3 games in this series.
Expected Matchups:
6/1/2012, 6:40PM MT: Josh Outman vs Chris Capuano
6/2/2012, 2:10PM MT: Juan Nicasio vs Aaron Harang
6/3/2012, 1:10PM MT: Alex White vs Nathan Eovaldi