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Know Your Foe #Second-To-Last: Rockies Hope To Put Final Nail In Dodgers Coffin

The Dodgers still have an outside shot at landing that second Wild Card spot. It is the Rockies job to ruin their $250M hopes and dreams.

By Andrew Martin
Jamie Sabau - Getty Images

Let's get the easy/lazy stuff out of the way right off the bat:

LOL PAYROLL

LOL CONTRACTS

LOL CARL CRAWFORD

LOL NED COLLETTI

Ok, now that we're past that, let's break this down:

The Dodgers sit 3 games behind the Cardinals in the race for the 2nd NL Wild Card slot. This means that any combination of 4 Cardinals wins or 4 Dodgers losses will mean that the Dodgers will be golfing this October rather than playing any sort of meaningful baseball.

The Rockies' mission, should they choose to accept it, is this:

Be the NL Playoff Grinches for the Dodgers. There needs to be no joy in Los Angeles, for mighty Matt Kemp will have just struck out. Dakota Fanning will walk up to Wilin Rosario and say "Why? Why, Wilin Rosario, why are you taking our playoff hopes?" and Rosario will just give her a blank, confused look while eating a gigantic hoagie, and then Tyler Chatwood will ask her out, and it will be this big awkward thing. Because that's what happens in LA.

Dakota Fanning is 18. I don't think Tyler Chatwood is a creeper.

Thing is, despite Adrian Gonzalez and Juan Rivera killing the ball over the past 2 weeks, the Dodgers are merely 5-5 in their past 10 games. The Cardinals are 8-2 over the same stretch. Doesn't seem to me like the Dodgers WANT it as much as the Cardinals. They ain't HUNGRY enough.

To be fair, Dodgers' pitching has been killing it over that arbitrary 14-day period. Who told Josh Beckett, Aaron Harang, and Joe Blanton that they were allowed to pitch competently? Who cast some weird Harry Potter spell to fix Clayton Kershaw in time for him to make 2 starts before the season's end? And who the hell is Stephen Fife?

This is the best way for the Rockies to finish 2012, in my mind, is to wreck what's left of it for the Dodgers. Now, the Dodgers are certainly not the Cubs, but the Rockies played some pretty decent baseball these past 3 days. You see, I want the Dodgers to lose. I don't know why I so vehemently want this all of a sudden, but Lord, do I. Maybe just to pretend that the Rockies had some sort of impact on 2012. Maybe to show this toddler of a baseball team actually has sprouted some teeth and isn't afraid to bite. Maybe so I can call my grandmother in 3 days and make sure she knows that the Rockies ruined their season.

The important thing is to not let this sweeping momentum hit the wall and stop. Leave your fans with a good taste in their mouths, Rockies.

Expected Pitching Matchups:

Friday, September 28, 8:10PM MT

Jeff Francis vs Clayton Kershaw

Saturday, September 29, 7:10PM MT

Tyler Chatwood vs Joe Blanton

Sunday, September 30, 2:10PM MT

Jorge De La Rosa vs Stephen Fife

Batting

G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB K SB CS AVG OBP SLG
Nick Punto 19 29 6 10 1 0 0 0 5 7 1 0 .345 .441 .379
Luis Cruz 72 260 24 80 20 0 5 37 9 30 2 1 .308 .335 .442
Matt Kemp 100 383 71 117 22 2 20 65 38 95 9 4 .305 .370 .530
Stephen Fife 5 7 1 2 1 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 .286 .286 .429
Andre Ethier 143 536 72 151 33 1 19 86 48 120 2 2 .282 .347 .453
Adrian Gonzalez 30 123 10 34 8 1 3 21 10 23 2 0 .276 .328 .431
Jerry Hairston Jr. 78 238 19 65 13 1 4 26 23 27 1 2 .273 .342 .387
Ivan De Jesus 23 33 5 9 3 0 0 4 3 7 1 1 .273 .324 .364
A.J. Ellis 128 408 41 108 19 1 11 46 62 104 0 0 .265 .365 .397
Adam Kennedy 86 168 22 44 8 1 2 16 23 33 1 1 .262 .345 .357
Hanley Ramirez 58 230 26 60 11 1 10 43 15 58 4 3 .261 .313 .448
Mark Ellis 104 394 61 102 19 1 7 31 40 68 5 0 .259 .338 .365
James Loney 114 334 32 85 18 0 4 33 23 39 0 3 .254 .302 .344
Elian Herrera 62 183 25 45 10 1 1 16 23 50 4 2 .246 .337 .328
Bobby Abreu 88 193 27 47 8 1 2 17 34 51 6 2 .244 .357 .326
Juan Rivera 105 308 29 74 14 0 8 45 18 34 1 3 .240 .284 .364
Tony Gwynn Jr. 103 259 29 60 8 4 0 17 16 52 13 6 .232 .276 .293
Dee Gordon 85 302 38 69 9 2 1 17 20 62 31 10 .228 .281 .281
Shane Victorino 47 185 23 42 10 1 1 12 17 29 14 2 .227 .304 .308
Clayton Kershaw 32 53 2 11 1 0 0 1 2 17 0 0 .208 .232 .226
Justin Sellers 19 44 6 9 3 1 1 2 5 14 0 0 .205 .286 .386
Juan Uribe 66 162 15 31 9 0 2 17 13 37 0 1 .191 .258 .284
Chad Billingsley 25 42 1 8 1 0 0 2 0 18 0 0 .190 .186 .214
Matt Treanor 36 103 11 18 3 1 2 10 14 29 1 1 .175 .281 .282
Jerry Sands 9 23 2 4 2 0 0 1 1 9 0 0 .174 .208 .261
Scott Van Slyke 27 54 4 9 2 0 2 7 2 14 1 0 .167 .196 .315
Alex Castellanos 15 22 2 3 0 1 0 2 0 8 0 0 .136 .167 .227
Chris Capuano 33 53 3 5 2 0 0 3 1 26 0 0 .094 .109 .132
Aaron Harang 30 55 1 4 1 0 0 2 0 23 0 0 .073 .073 .091
Joe Blanton 9 14 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 5 0 0 .071 .071 .071
Ted Lilly 8 15 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 7 0 0 .067 .125 .067
Josh Beckett 6 14 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 8 0 0 .000 .000 .000
Nathan Eovaldi 10 12 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 8 0 0 .000 .077 .000
Jamey Wright 64 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 .000 .000 .000
Paco Rodriguez 10 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000
John Ely 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000
Javy Guerra 45 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000
Mike MacDougal 7 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000
Kenley Jansen 61 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000
Josh Lindblom 48 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000
Matt Guerrier 15 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000
Brandon League 25 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000
Randy Choate 35 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000
Josh Wall 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000
Tim Federowicz 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 .000 1.000 .000
Rubby De La Rosa 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000
Ronald Belisario 64 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000
Todd Coffey 23 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000
Scott Elbert 43 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000
Shawn Tolleson 38 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000

Pitching

W-L G GS CG SHO SV BS IP H R ER HR BB K ERA WHIP
Paco Rodriguez 0-1 10 0 0 0 0 0 6.0 2 1 1 0 4 5 1.50 1.00
Scott Elbert 1-1 43 0 0 0 0 0 32.2 27 8 8 3 13 29 2.20 1.22
Kenley Jansen 5-3 61 0 0 0 25 6 61.0 31 17 16 6 21 91 2.36 .85
Brandon League 1-1 25 0 0 0 5 0 24.1 15 7 7 0 14 24 2.59 1.19
Javy Guerra 2-3 45 0 0 0 8 5 45.0 44 13 13 1 23 37 2.60 1.49
Ronald Belisario 8-1 64 0 0 0 1 4 68.1 46 22 20 3 28 65 2.63 1.08
Clayton Kershaw 12-9 32 31 2 2 0 0 211.2 162 69 63 16 58 211 2.68 1.04
Stephen Fife 0-2 5 5 0 0 0 0 26.2 25 8 8 2 12 20 2.70 1.39
Josh Lindblom 2-2 48 0 0 0 0 2 47.2 42 16 16 9 18 43 3.02 1.26
Ted Lilly 5-1 8 8 0 0 0 0 48.2 36 23 17 3 19 31 3.14 1.13
Josh Beckett 1-3 6 6 0 0 0 0 37.0 37 15 13 4 11 33 3.16 1.30
Chad Billingsley 10-9 25 25 0 0 0 0 149.2 148 66 59 11 45 128 3.55 1.29
Jamey Wright 5-3 64 0 0 0 0 0 65.1 68 33 26 2 29 52 3.58 1.48
Aaron Harang 10-10 30 30 0 0 0 0 173.2 165 84 71 14 83 128 3.68 1.43
Chris Capuano 12-11 33 32 0 0 0 0 195.1 183 89 80 23 54 162 3.69 1.21
Matt Guerrier 0-2 15 0 0 0 0 1 13.2 8 6 6 3 7 8 3.95 1.10
Randy Choate 0-0 35 0 0 0 0 0 13.0 13 7 6 1 9 11 4.15 1.69
Nathan Eovaldi 1-6 10 10 0 0 0 0 56.1 63 27 26 5 20 34 4.15 1.47
Shawn Tolleson 3-1 38 0 0 0 0 0 36.0 28 19 18 4 18 37 4.50 1.28
Todd Coffey 1-0 23 0 0 0 0 0 19.1 17 11 10 1 9 18 4.66 1.34
Joe Blanton 1-4 9 9 0 0 0 0 51.2 59 32 32 7 16 45 5.57 1.45
Josh Wall 1-0 5 0 0 0 0 0 3.2 3 3 3 1 1 1 7.36 1.09
Mike MacDougal 0-0 7 0 0 0 0 0 5.2 9 5 5 0 6 4 7.94 2.65
John Ely 0-2 2 0 0 0 0 0 2.2 6 6 6 0 4 3 20.25 3.75
Rubby De La Rosa 0-0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0.2 0 2 2 0 2 0 27.00 3.00

Los Angeles Dodgers Injuries

15-Day

Player Injury Type Injury Date
Scott Elbert elbow 08/27/2012
Javy Guerra oblique 09/03/2012
Carl Crawford elbow 08/20/2012

60 Day DL / Out for the season

Player Injury Type Injury Date
Blake Hawksworth elbow 03/27/2012
Ted Lilly shoulder 05/24/2012
Todd Coffey elbow 07/03/2012
Chad Billingsley elbow 08/25/2012
Alfredo Silverio elbow 09/01/2012
Chris Withrow pectoral 09/02/2012
Adam Kennedy groin 09/08/2012
Jerry Hairston Jr. hip 08/12/2012
Justin Sellers lower-back 05/23/2012


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