Having lost the first two to the San Francisco Giants, now with a commanding 8.5 game lead over the division that is second only to the Reds' 11 game lead in the NL Central, The Rockies will try to take the final two games of this four game series.
Tyler Chatwood last faced the Giants on August 10th, in San Francisco, where he was fairly effective, lasting five innings allowing no runs on three hits and two walks. Chatwood, however, is one of only a select few pitchers on the staff to have progressively gotten worse since the All Star Break, rather than the other way around. He hasn't pitched a game where he's allowed less than two runs since August 23rd (whereas he only allowed more than two in just one of his first five starts since joining the rotation in early August), and his latest start against the Padres was the first time he allowed less than three walks in an outing since August 18th. None of Chatwood's result rates are particularly impressive, with dastardly high walk and hit rates. His strikeout rate is up this year, but it is still very low for a pitcher with such wild control and much lower than his minor league numbers.
Matt Cain, on the other hand, is having his best season since 2009, and 2012 has an excellent shot to replace it as his career year, while consistent with his career, are as good as they've ever been, with his hit rate remaining low alongside a career best walk rate and and the best K rate since 2006, his first full season in the MLB. Cain's last start against the Rockies came in that same mid-August series in San Francisco, where he allowed two runs on seven hits and a walk across seven and a third innings pitched. Cain's September so far has been unusual, and he is coming off a start in which he walked five batters.