Surging Rockies Charge Into Dodger Stadium For Three Game Set

The most expensive failure in Baseball history, the Dodgers will finish up the second and final leg of their six game home stand Monday evening by welcoming in the red-hot Colorado Rockies for a three game set.

The Rockies have won five in a row after sweeping the Giants in San Francisco over the weekend, and are now just two games behind the Dodgers for second place in the NL West. Troy Tulowitzki the former mullet wearing shortstop continues to have an MVP season, leading the league in batting , and slugging.

Ryu and Uribe are good buddies-Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports

Dodgers Lineup vs. Colorado-6-16-14

Gordon 2B

Hanley SS

Puig RF

Kemp LF

Van Slyke 1B

Ethier CF

Ellis C

Rojas 3B

Ryu P

Tyler Matzek-1-0 vs. Hyun-jin Ryu-7-3

The Dodgers are just 37-34 on the season, and still have a losing record at home. Even though they won just their third home series all year, by beating the Snakes two out of three, they’re still 15-20 at Dodger Stadium. Some people are still clinging to the fairy tale that the Dodgers will make the playoffs as one of the wild cards, or even overtake the Giants for the division. Of course if you’ve watched this mediocre club play all year, you know that isn’t going to happen. That’s like believing in the easter bunny, or the tooth fairy. Believe in whatever nursery rhyme that gets you through the day, but playoff clubs don’t have Jamie Romak’s and Miguel Rojas’s on the roster. Wake up.

Anyways, the Rockies will send 23-year old left hander Tyler Matzek to the mound. The Mission Viejo native will be making just his second major league start. Matzek was drafted in the eleventh round of the 2009 draft by Colorado. At Colorado Springs he has a 5-4 record, 4.05 ERA, and an 8.2 whiff per nine rate in 12 starts.

In his big league debut against Atlanta, he won. By pitching seven frames and allowing just two earned runs on five hits. He whiffed seven and did not walk a batter. The scouting report tells us thatMatzek throws hard, but also has three effective off-speed pitches. Considering how awful the Dodgers hit against lefties, he’ll probably throw a four-hit shutout.

Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports

The Dodgers will have left hander Hyun-jin Ryu on the mound to counter. Ryu suffered a rare road defeat in his last start at Cincinnati. He allowed four earned runs in six frames, and the Dodgers were shutout pathetically 5-0.

Ryu is still having a very solid season. He is 7-3 with a 3.33 ERA in 12 starts. He has struck out 58 and walked just 16 in 70 innings. He is 2-2 with a 4.71 ERA in four starts against Colorado in his career.

Colorado is hitting .370 (20 for 54) off of Ryu with an OPS of over 1.000. The Rockies have hit two home runs against Ryu, ( Rutledge and Stubbs)

With a left hander on the mound, we’ll more than likely see Scott Van Slyke and the rest of the lefty killing unit in the lineup. I laugh as I type this since the Dodgers are the worst lefty hitting team in the majors. It still remains to be seen whether Justin Turner will be able to play, as he is still nursing a leg injury. If he is unable to go, one of the other bums will be called upon to go 0 for 4.

Game Time -7:10PM

Go Blue