Dodgers Open Denver Series On Rocky Mountain High

The Dodgers fly into Denver on a rocky mountain high. They just successfully Kersh’d the Giants by winning two out of three. The second game was a 17-0 blowout joy festival. The third game featured more Clayton Kershaw domination in a 4-2 win.

Dodgers Lineup @ Colorado

Gordon 2B

Puig CF

Gonzalez 1B

Kemp RF

Hanley SS

Crawford LF

Uribe 3B

Ellis C

Hernandez P

Roberto Hernandez-8-11 vs. Christian Bergman-2-3

To Kersh an opponent = To dominate the opposition. An utter whitewashing of your opponent. When the opponent has zero chances of winning. A mark of excellence.

That’s what Kershing means. There should be a new entry in the Webster’s dictionary. So the Dodgers roll into Coors Field with a three game lead in the NL West. All the Dodgers have to do is beat a last place club, then beat another terrible last place team and come home and beat down the Giants again. Then the NL West will be ours. Seems easy, but these things are never as easy as you think they are. Of all the NL West foes, Colorado is the least annoying. They’re just in a perpetual sleepy state of constant awfulness. The Dodgers should take advantage before getting out of town.

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Hyun-jin Ryu is scheduled to undergo an MRI on his ailing shoulder today in Los Angeles. We’ll know more about his timetable soon, but it appears unlikely he’ll make his scheduled start on Wednesday against Colorado. Carlos Frias is expected to pitch if Ryu is unable to go.

Tonight’s match-up features right hander Roberto Hernandez trying to snap a little losing streak. Hernandez has lost his last two decisions, not making it past the fourth inning in either of them. In those two starts he’s allowed ten runs, on ten hits over just 7.1 innings. Hernandez has been horrendous in his last few starts. Watching him pitch at Coors Field could be frightening.

Hernandez is 0-1 with a 9.46 ERA in three starts in his career against Colorado. He’s started only once at Coors Field, and it was a disaster. Hernandez has faced Colorado twice this year when he was with Philadelphia. In those two starts one was at Coors Field, and the other was at home. He earned no-decisions in both of those games.

Overall Hernandez is 8-11 with a 4.04 ERA in 29 games. The right hander is 2-3 with the Dodgers with a 4.75 ERA. Hernandez is supposed to be the ground ball guy with the good sinker. He better be because he doesn’t miss enough bats. (5.6 K/9)

Colorado is batting .281 (34 for 121) with four home runs and 16 runs batted in against him. Colorado has an .816 OPS versus Hernandez. Justin Morneau is the guy to watch. He’s hit .333 (12 for 36) with all four home runs and 12 runs batted in against Hernandez.

Name	PA	AB	H	2B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	IBB	HBP	GDP
Michael Cuddyer	53	48	12	2	0	2	5	9	.250	.321	.292	.612	0	0	2
Justin Morneau	42	36	12	3	4	12	6	3	.333	.429	.750	1.179	1	0	1
Charlie Blackmon	9	7	0	0	0	0	1	1	.000	.222	.000	.222	0	1	0
Brandon Barnes	6	6	4	1	0	0	0	0	.667	.667	.833	1.500	0	0	0
Josh Rutledge	5	5	1	1	0	0	0	2	.200	.200	.400	.600	0	0	0
DJ LeMahieu	4	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	.000	.000	.000	0	0	0
Drew Stubbs	4	3	2	0	0	0	1	0	.667	.750	.667	1.417	0	0	0
Charlie Culberson	3	2	0	0	0	0	1	0	.000	.333	.000	.333	1	0	0
Corey Dickerson	3	1	0	0	0	0	2	0	.000	.667	.000	.667	0	0	0
Wilin Rosario	3	3	1	1	0	1	0	2	.333	.333	.667	1.000	0	0	0
Nolan Arenado	2	2	1	0	0	1	0	0	.500	.500	.500	1.000	0	0	0
Jordan Lyles	2	2	1	0	0	0	0	0	.500	.500	.500	1.000	0	0	0
Juan Nicasio	2	2	0	0	0	0	0	1	.000	.000	.000	.000	0	0	0
Total	138	121	34	8	4	16	16	18	.281	.370	.446	.816	2	1	3

Colorado will counter with rookie right hander Christian Bergman. The 26-year old is a southern California native. He hails from Glendale, California, and attended the University of Irvine. Bergman has made seven starts this year for Colorado. He is 2-3 with a 4.89 ERA in 38.2 innings pitched. He’s whiffed 17 and walked nine, and allowed five home runs.

Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports

The Dodgers have never seen him before. According to the scouting reports he uses different arm angles, and has a pretty good fastball. He has a change, and breaking ball he can add in as well. he has long flowy hair, and a beard. I wish I could tell you more about him, but I’ve never seen him pitch.

This is not the usual Colorado club. They’ve become worse than anyone could have imagined. Carlos Gonzalez, mullet man Troy Tulowitzki, Tyler Chatwood, Jhoulys Chacin, are all out with injuries. Colorado is in last place with a 59-90 record. The Rockies have lost six in a row, and are 26 games behind the Dodgers. The Dodgers are 85-64, and have the best road record in Baseball. Regardless these games should be just as painful as the usual Coors Field games are. Lot’s of hitting, and runs scored, and a torched pitching staff. Thankfully this is the last time the Dodgers will visit Coors Field this season.

So no excuses here people. Even with Hernandez pitching the Dodgers should win anyways. Right?

Game Time – 5:40 PM

Go Blue!

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